"Control" is a song by American hip hop recording artist

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

, featuring fellow American rappers

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his Progressive rap, progressive musical styles and Social consciousness, socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most infl ...

and

Jay Electronica Elpadaro F. Electronica Allah (born Timothy Elpadaro Thedford; September 19, 1976), known professionally as Jay Electronica (stylized as J A Y E L E C T R O N I C A), is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in New Orleans, he ...

. The song was originally intended to be included on Big Sean's second studio album ''

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

'' (2013) or Jay Electronica's debut album, but was ultimately removed from the final track-listing due to

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

clearance issues. "Control" impacted American

mainstream urban Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso Mu ...

radio on August 14, 2013, as a

promotional single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

for ''Hall of Fame''. The track contains samples such as " Where I'm From" (1997) by

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

, "

El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido "¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!" (; English: "The people united will never be defeated") is one of the most internationally renowned songs of the ''Nueva canción chilena'' (New Chilean Song) movement. The music of the song was composed b ...

" (1974) by

Quilapayún Quilapayún () are a folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential ambassadors of the ''Nueva Canción Chilena'' movement and genre. Formed during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution th ...

and Sergio Ortega and an interpolation of "Get Bizy" (2011) by

Terrace Martin Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog ...

, which also features fellow rappers Kendrick Lamar and

Release

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

serviced "Control" to American

radio on August 14, 2013, while a release to

urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

radio followed on August 27. It peaked at number 11 on the United States ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart and at number 43 on the ''Billboard''

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart.

Controversy

Much media attention was brought to the lyrical content of Lamar's verse on "Control", in which he calls out, by name, 11 fellow rappers—

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...

;

Meek Mill Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his music career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group, ...

;

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

;

Big K.R.I.T. Justin Lewis Scott (born August 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Big K.R.I.T. (a backronym for King Remembered in Time), is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, he started his musical career in 2005. Af ...

; Wale;

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 20 ...

;

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...

;

Tyler, The Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future. Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...

and

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...

, as well as his co-artists on the song, Big Sean and Jay Electronica—and raps: "I got love for you all but I'm trying to murder you niggas / Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas / They don't want to hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas. " In the same verse, he proclaims himself to be "the king of New York" and "king of the Coast". Lamar's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account saw a 510% increase in followers in the week following the track's release, while his

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page garnered 200,000 page views.

Response

The song garnered many responses and

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the ...

s from several notable rappers in the form of song, many of which are labeled "Kendrick Lamar Response" or "Control Response." Kendrick Lamar responded to the amount of responses saying the best were by

King Los Carlos Coleman (born March 23, 1982), better known by his stage name King Los or simply Los is an American rapper and lyricist. He originally signed to Bad Boy Records during the 2005 in conjunction with his Bloc Incorporated record deal. After ...

, Joell Ortiz,

Joe Budden Joseph Anthony Budden II (born August 31, 1980) is an American media personality and former rapper. He first gained recognition as a rapper with his 2003 top 40 single " Pump It Up" and as a member of the hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse. In ...

and Chocolate Drop,

Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums. After winning se ...

's rap persona, also calling Papoose's the "comical joint". Rappers who responded via song include:

Reception and impact

"Control" received rave reviews from critics and fans alike upon its release, with many critics and fans praising Kendrick Lamar's verse in particular. ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' ranked the song number ten on their list of the 50 Best Songs of 2013. Rob Kenner said, "No matter which verse you prefer it’s hard to deny that "Control" will go down in history as a milestone in hip-hop, and easily ranks as one of 2013's most important records." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' also positioned the song at number 13 on their list of the 100 best songs of 2013. They said, "Lamar hops on this chipmunk-soul track and spits the rap verse of the year" '' XXL'' named it one of the top five hip hop songs of 2013. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' ranked the song at number 41 on their list of the 50 best songs of the year. It was positioned at number 73 on

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

's list of the 100 best songs of 2013. ''Complex'' also named Lamar's appearance the best rap verse of 2013. About the song, Big Sean said: "There’s a lot of negativity on that song, and I don’t fuck with negative shit. People love drama, people love bullshit. I knew when Kendrick did that name-dropping that it was just gonna set it off, and I could see why people gravitated towards that verse for that reason. I respected him for thinking of that. I never wanna shade anybody. I would’ve been a ho-ass nigga if I cut that out of his verse, or if I didn’t put the song out." In 2015, ''Rolling Stone'' wrote about the impact of the song during the 2010s and on Kendrick's generation; "Control" inspired responses from B.o.B ("How 2 Rap"), Joell Ortiz ("Outta Control"), Lupe Fiasco ("SLR 2"), Joey Bada$$ ("Killuminati Pt. II"), Meek Mill ("Ooh Kill 'Em") and many, many others. More than being the " Roxanne, Roxanne" of the new millennium, the subtext is that rappers responded to Lamar with actual songs and freestyles. Twitter rants, YouTube threats and random keyboard dissing no longer sufficed."

Charts

References

{{authority control 2013 songs 2013 singles Big Sean songs Kendrick Lamar songs Songs written by Kendrick Lamar Song recordings produced by No I.D. Songs written by No I.D. Songs written by Big Sean Diss tracks