Crenshaw’s Nipsey Hussle’s Victory Lap is only a few days away from release, but that’s not stopping him from dropping more heat to keep the buzz building. His latest single features none other than the Good Kid from Compton himself, Kendrick Lamar, as Nipsey reveals the “Dedication” that’s kept him hot for the last decade.
Featuring a breezy beat with the distinctive whistle lead and handclaps that signify an official West Coast banger, “Dedication” finds the two LA representatives trading verses full of intense visuals and street wisdom. While Nipsey breaks down the frustrations that plague the mind of a bright inner-city youth with few options, Kendrick takes a more autobiographical approach, painting ghetto tableaus of “playing Sega, daddy smoking Sherm, mama playing spades,” and taking sharp aim at an establishment that leaves few opportunities for his contemporaries and peers to build wealth and status (“For generations we been dealt bad plans with bad hands”).
Nipsey has been spilling hood philosophy since 2005 with the first of his Slauson Boy mixtapes, but somehow hasn’t run out of hard-won lessons or intelligent insights he’s picked up through a hardscrabble existence of self-made business success. Victory Lap, out this Friday, February 16th via his own All Money In Records in cooperation with Atlantic, is the culmination of 10 years of experience in the rap game as both musician and businessman.
