Trigger Warning: This blog contains content that may be disturbing and upsetting to some readers such as topics of stalking, adult communications with minors that some may deem inappropriate and sexual assault. Yes, and this movie as a whole is a fucking problem. Let's start with Nick Eliot. Nick is a writer who is looking for a new place to live in Washington state for a job at Pique, a magazine. He has gone from place to place looking at subpar apartments, etc. He's single and 28 years old. He happens upon a tree lined street, driving, not looking at the road but trying to read a map which is terrible and ridiculous in itself. What the hell?! He hits the brakes immediately when Adrian Forrester, a 14 year old teenager, rollerblades onto the street. Btw, this is one of the most cinematic scenes I've seen… the introduction to Adrian. How her face looked when Nick pressed the brakes on the car and the staggering/slightly jittery/full stop angle was really dope. The best introduction to a character I've seen, thus far. Anyways, Nick is watching her intently, but I guess the shocked look on his face could be from nearly hitting the girl. However… he looked like he instantly fell in love. Sorry, but he did. Fast forward to when he decides to take the apartment. (I will get back to her parents later) Nick is fixing plumbing under the sink and Adrian's only friend, Cheyenne, walks in at the behest of Adrian. Nick asks if she is a friend or foe without looking up and Cheyenne says, "That depends" or something like that. Nick asks her name and she tells him. This fool asks if her parents are Injun. I'm sorry if anyone takes offense with what I say here but… that is racist. An absolutely, insulting and offensive slur to describe Native Americans (yes, there is a whole history to that friggin' word) and this fool Nick, instead of asking Cheyenne if she was Native American or of Native American descent, uses a foul ass word like that… and HE'S A JOURNALIST! So far, points off for not keeping his eyes on the road, looking at Adrian with "Whoa, she's hot!" eyes, and insulting an entire race of people. All within less than 10 minutes of the movie. NEXT! Cheyenne reports back to Adrian, who was waiting for a "report" from her friend to see what this new tenant was like. Cheyenne tells her that Nick's "Okay and kinda cool" but then delivers the "coup de Grace" by saying… "Oooolllddd". "Old" was the magic word. The trigger. I know it's not that simple but what if Cheyenne said he was young? Btw, Cheyenne had to have known about Adrian's issues and interests in older men because later in the movie she lets Nick know about another guy Adrian had a crush on that was significantly older than her. Question: Did Cheyenne even inform Adrian's parents? How about telling her OWN parents? It was clear Cheyenne was not that close to Adrian. Even Adrian made that clear when speaking to Nick by the lighthouse, the "make-out spot" - ick. Anyways, this fool Nick had the audacity to snap his fingers at Amy, a photographer co-worker of his at Pique who was just walking by. I mean he was just trying to get her attention but… ugh. Sorry, just needed to bring this up adding to his character... flaw. The Infamous Cigar scene… Nope, not the Monica Lewinsky situation. If you're my age or old enough to remember, you know what I'm talking about. Do your internet engine searching. Nick is at home writing one night, smoking a cigar. He notices the pool outside is vacant. Adrian comes by wearing a nightgown (inappropriate). Doesn't matter the length. It's a nightgown, at night. All very suggestive. Where were her fucking parents?! Oh! That's right, they're always working; one is always "in court" and the other one is always spending time at "airports". Adrian needed a nanny an alarm system. I will speak more about this later. Nick starts picking her brain about what he's writing about and Adrian decides she wants to play "sexy seductress" by sitting by Nick in another chair, sitting backwards on it, snagging his cigar and puffing on it. This nasty fucker Nick stares at her, asks her, "Are you sure you're really 14?" Once he comes to his senses he then says, "Isn't it past your bedtime?" Like, bro. Your first mistake already was allowing her to come into your apartment at all at that time of night without her parents or a parent being there - in her nightgown, no less! This does not come off as his first time encountering young teenage girls having a crush on him because he seemed to embrace this behavior WAY too fast and was very comfortable with her too quickly for my liking. He may have taken that place because of her and her only, not because it looked like a "struggling writer's paradise". Especially when you heard how Adrian's mother described the place and what he had to do with it. Nasty man. FINISHED JOGGING/MUST HEAD TO WORK SCENE… More ugh… Nick finishes jogging, I assume the next day or couple of days later. He takes a shower and Adrian just waltzes herself into his apartment and Nick is "annoyed". She says she knocked (yeah right) and even if she did, you hear no one answer, you simply leave. You don't just break into someone's place who is paying for it. But, hey, Adrian is an entitled, spoiled, loner brat who thinks she's smarter than anyone so... Fast forward and Adrian questions Nick about a picture of him and his grandfather. She wants the fucking picture (again, entitled and obsessive). He says no it's the only one he has. Mind you, dude is talking to her while he is still in the bathroom shaving and naked. Plenty of time to tell this meddling stalker to get the hell out, I'm a grown man who needs to get dressed for work. No, foolio doesn't do that, yet. Adrian asked Nick if he always writes on a computer and he said yes. She makes some remark I guess she thinks makes her sound like a grown-up capable of making grown-up jokes and Nick fake laughs and tells her to beat it and half-ass closes the bathroom door (I still think to this day on purpose). Adrian sits down on a chair outside the bathroom door, turns her head and sees the nasty naked butt cheeks of Nick and smiles to herself. What a disgusting POS. First off, teens are impressionable, they will push the envelope when it comes to adults. However, this dipshit Nick didn't even take the time to turn around, make sure Adrian made it to the front fucking door to leave, lock the door, then go back to the bathroom to finish up what he started. AT LEAST THAT! Instead, he decided it was best to tease her or, if you think he didn’t know better and didn't think he was thinking at all, just solely thought of getting ready for work. However, I've pointed out too much that points to the former. Moving on. Adrian gets him some sunglasses and he's smiling, grateful and thanking her. Fine. Foolio should be taking the hint that this is bad and a HUGE slippery slope. It gets MUCH worse. Later that night, Adrian's parents have a party at their home. Nick was invited and Adrian, earlier in the day, begged his funky ass to come and he said he would think about it. Nick that night was at home chillin' and heard the party commotion, looked outside his window and saw all the old dinosaurs going into the house. He decides to go. Why not? He went because Adrian was there. Pure and simple. Sicko. He gets there looking out of place, definitely not within the age bracket of these people. He runs into Adrian's mom and finally meets the father. Obviously the father is laid back and… eagled eye/observant… more so than his lawyer or judge employed wife (I will explain later why I say this). Interestingly the father mentions if a woman got her breasts done. Why would it be any of his business? Like father, like daughter. Nosy. I guess the mother as well. Anyways, Nick winds his way through the crowd and really starts noticing the piano playing and as if the music was summoning him to her, he finds his way to Adrian, faux playing the piano expertly and he is in awe of her. She looks stunning. Adrian gets up and walks away once she finishes the song. Once again, Adrian moves in a way that makes Nick follow her. She shakes the hand of an older, creepy gentleman that also watched her (nasty old pervs) as she walked outside the backdoor. Once outside and knowing this fool was following her, she turned around in dramatic fashion saying, "I knew you would come!" This absolutely fucking, distasteful ass man said to her, "If you were 10 years older…" Adrian said, "You would what?" Good fucking question, YOU P.O.S. PREDATOR!!!!!!! Those words should've never left your maggot filled mouth. Couldn't help it because you're a predator. Well, Adrian asked Nick how his boss liked the article and Nick is not happy about the fact that a 14 year old wrote it. He scolds her lightly. Before this, Adrian was bragging, pretty much pointing out what Nick had trouble with writing the article. So when Nick seems upset with her, she uses this to manipulate him, telling him she only wanted him to like her, which he said he did, and she pounces, saying she wanted to go for a ride in his car. This dumb ass, irresponsible man decides to take her to… well, "the place she wanted to show him" which turned out to be a "make-out" haven for teenagers. This man, who should've said no - HELL NO - should've been like, "Look, unless your parents are with us, I'm not taking you anywhere." But this nasty, horny man does just that! Take a 14 year old teenager in his vehicle without asking her parents who were in the house entertaining their guests, "Hey, can I take your daughter for a ride in my drop top convertible in the dead of night for a ride?" HELL NO! And he knew this. That's why he left with Adrian without a thought, even when he was pretending to be concern. Disgusting. They arrive to this lighthouse - the "make-out" place and Adrian apologizes to Nick for writing the article. That fool, instead of telling her "apology accepted", tells her essentially it's okay. Adrian, because she at least understands human appeasement, gives this "Woe is me" story about herself that, at first you may think isn't genuine but it's one of the only times she let her guard down. I will get back to that later. People think "I'm some kind of freak or something. Like I'm crazy". Well… yeah! You're obsessive, demanding and there are other things about you that rub people the wrong way. You also think you're above others, intellectually. The crazy part is interesting. I wish there was more context to this, like seeing more in the movie, more characters explain Adrian's background or something. We hear Cheyenne speak about Adrian's past. Anyways, after Adrian easily makes this fool Nick feel sorry for her for not having any friends, (side note: I do feel bad Adrian. She's manipulative but she was still a teenager who's developing. I will delve into this later) Nick puts his finger under Adrian's chin and tells her he can be her friend. Buddy, you already went too far now and it's barely 22 minutes into the film. You've been alone with her AT NIGHT twice, once in her nightgown and a few times alone. Although she is being manipulative, she is also being manipulated… by you. You're being too friendly when you should keep your distance, especially when she is giving CLEAR signs she has a crush on you and you know this. Now back to this unfortunate scene. As soon as she lifted his hand to gently kiss it, he, FOR SURE, should have pulled away. LOOK AT HIS FUCKING FACE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!! He doesn't look like a man who looks uncomfortable in the slightest. He looks seduced and aroused by a… goddamn it fill in the blanks! I don't care if Alicia Silverstone emancipated herself, Cary Elwes, the man who played Nick Eliot should've made a much better professional decision with this. EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE! She tells him "Don't be afraid of me" or something and kisses him. 4. Long. Excruciating. Seconds. Too long for him to all of a sudden pull back and say, "We gotta go". He didn't say, "This is wrong" or "WTF?!" - No. WE. GOTTA. GO. NASTINESS ASS MAN! WHADAFUCK?! He wanted that. I know people will blame her as people love to do that when it comes to these situations and yes the parents are culpable as well but HE'S THE ADULT WHO SHOULD BACK THE FUCK OFF IMMEDIATELY AND TELL THE PARENTS WHAT'S UP!!!! And now this fool telling this girl to "Come on" in a hush tone, all worried now. Yeah, you should be. Arrives home, downs what looked to be a double shot of vodka (I could be wrong) of possible regret… The next day, Nick is working, smoking a cigar. Suddenly he hears a noise. Well, his nosy ass decides to check it and what do you know… Adrian is sunbathing by the pool and if the camera shot on Adrian is supposed to symbolize Nick, it follows the length of her body, all the way up until she loosens the strap of her bathing suit. Adrian looks up. Smirks. Nick quickly close the blinds and sucks hard on the cigar. Yeah, you're disgusting and you better contemplate hard as to why you were grilling that hard at a 14 year old teenager. BTW, the music that plays during this scene is absolutely disgusting and deplorable and the everyone involved with the movie is fucked up. Producers, writers, directors - everyone. It screamed "ENCOURAGE THIS BEHAVIOUR!!!!" Well, Nick needed to create distance because clearly he has some sort of an addiction (I think he did), so what does he do? Has a BBQ. He invites his co-workers over and among them is Amy, the photographer - a grown ass woman - who also has a crush on him. So when Nick introduces Amy to Adrian (Two "A" names, huh? Okay…) he says, "My landlord's kid." He is trash. Trying to be flippant like he wasn't acting like she was damn near a full ass adult a minute ago. Nasty man. Later after her run-in with Adrian and the wasp hive in the orchard/wooded area, Amy and Nick are talking and Amy asks Nick what's with "your friend" Adrian. First off she said "friend" which was… bad. That's not his "friend" and that shouldn't even be normalized. Nick is taken aback, thinking they were getting along. Amy said, "She gives me the creeps." Nick seems to get a little annoyed and throws the little dishrag to the side and says, "She's just a kid." THAT'S NOT HOW YOU SEE HER! Because if you did, you wouldn't have asked her the questions you asked her earlier. Disgusting. So Amy tells his ass truths he needed to hear. The child has a crush on you. You can't blur the lines. (Sorry Amy, he already has) Nick shrugs off Amy, "Don't be ridiculous," then proceeds to play a message left on the answering machine by Adrian that sounded almost like what a girlfriend would leave for a boyfriend. This fool Nick asks Amy, "Do you think I did something to provoke this?" I love Amy for this. She asks, "Did you?" This fool Nick grins nervously (2nd time he does that, btw) and says "Of course not" and walks away. He knows he has. He's invited the bullshit. Amy should've taken the hint, though. Once he answered in that way, she should've taken a few steps back within HER crush with him and been like, "Is he the right one?" RED FLAGS! RED FLAGS! AMY, don't get too deep into him! In the next scene, Adrian wants Nick to come out and "play" and Nick says he's working. Adrian then tells Nick she received her "monthly visitor" and that she was "definitely not pregnant." This was seriously disturbing now and where Nick should have damn near ran to her parents and spoke to them about their daughter. But what does this man ask her? "Did you take my picture, the one of me and my grandfather?" Yeah, he looked a bit perturbed, but not for the right reason. Of course she denies it. So Nick goes over to Adrian's house, knocks on the door, gets no answer, calls out her name. He goes around to the other side of her home and looks inside. He sees a picture frame, clearly thinking it was the same frame as the one he had. He also decided to just open the door and walk inside. Forget about knocking on the door or walking away and waiting. Ain't no way he was that thirsty for a photo. Well, Eliot the Idiot walks into the house, and even though he says "Hello?", he was not invited in, therefore, breaking and entering - a crime. Not your home and you have no right to be in there, even if Adrian's thieving ass had your photo. Anyways, he makes his way upstairs and into Adrian's bedroom. He looks around, being creepy. Then he does something so fucking disgusting and vile. This nasty ass man sees, what I assume is Adrian's underwear under her bed - he friggin' takes the tip of his foot, drags it from under the bed to look at it for a moment then replaces it back under the bed. WTF?!!!!?! THIS GUY IS JUST....TRASH!!!!!!!!!! He then sees a heart shaped pillow Adrian made that had their initials on it. I could have sworn this fucker had a small smirk on his face. Anyways, all of a sudden Nick hears the shower come on and sneaks into Adrian's closet once he sees she was preparing herself for a bath. Adrian goes to her room and starts to undress. When she gets close to her birthday suit Nick's sick ass flinches hard enough to be heard by hitting some hangers in the closet. Adrian isn't dumb. She stops for a moment. Now she puts on a show which is so unfortunate but she's young and she has a crush on this dumb, disgusting ass man and thinks she's an adult. So, birthday suit on, she turns and faces the closet, smiling at him and this man watches it all, eyes widening. Nick has sunk below depths of shite-y hell. When Adrian walks away, can you believe this POS, nasty ass man comes out of the closet sweating?! I'm sorry, he was not in there long enough for it to be that hot. His sick ass was turned on by what he saw and when she left he tried to get out of there as fast as he could. And it didn't work. Cliff, the father, was just coming home with bunch of shit in his hands, surprised that Nick was all up in his house and he didn't look too pleased. Nick was caught and acted like it. He acted like a boyfriend who wasn't supposed to be alone with the girlfriend and was caught by the girlfriend's father. Cliff read the situation very quickly. So when Nick tried to scurry out of there quickly he was like, "I need help with these boxes, my back isn't gonna make it" excuse after he asked Eliot the Idiot why he was there and he said he was there to return a book he borrowed from Adrian. Cliff wasn't buying it. Nick follows Cliff to the attic where Cliff partly explains why Adrian acts like a grown-up. He builds her a carousel, hopes the attic turned into a playroom, she never took to it. Cliff watches Nick and says that Adrian is a special girl and foolio Nick agrees saying, "She's very bright." Then Cliff says, "This past year she really has blossomed… physically, I mean -" Eliot the Idiot says, "Mmm, I've noticed." Pause. The father paused. I paused. WTF?! The father smiled and it didn't reach his eyes. So Cliff starts talking about dreading the day a guy comes to see Adrian and… well… uses colorful words, but makes an idle threat while playing with pliers that I think was more towards Nick than it was toward the imaginary young fellas he hinted toward. Then laugh maniacally which prompts Nick to laugh as well. If he only knew. He probably did. Well, Adrian drops by the attic saying she was scared and didn't know who was up there. Nick looked worried. Nick tries to leave and Cliff, who was suspicious of Nick, asks Adrian what book Nick borrowed. HAHAHAHAHHAAAA!!!! Adrian really was no help because she gives it away by sounding confused saying, "Book?" then saying, "Oh, you mean Wuthering Heights" or something like that and the father, who I think was not buying their shit, said, "Wuthering Heights, huh? Sounds a little femme to me!" Yeah, he wasn't buying that story. Eliot the Idiot literally tells Cliff he was returning a book and Adrian was upstairs, acting clearly guilty. Then Adrian, instead of putting on some clothes, purposely goes to the attic in a robe, freshly bathed implying to her father that something may have happened especially the way she answered Nick and Nick's stupid, disgusting ass answered in the most guilty way possible. Anyways, the next scene the director and/or whomever greenlit/wrote this part are purely fucking disgusting. There was no need to see Adrian on the swing from that angle. NOT AT ALL. If you've watched the movie you know what I'm talking about. Moving along. On this same scene, Nick is once again being a weirdo, peeping through his blinds watching Adrian. Then he decides to go and confront her. Adrian continues to swing even when he asks her to stop so they can speak. He tells her he likes her and she tells him she like him as well. But, of course, Eliot the Idiot creep can't help but be creepy saying he likes her but as a friend and that "…let's face it, your 14, I'm 28…" Couldn't just stop at "just as a friend" huh? And even that's a no-no at this point. Weirdo, pervert. Ugh. So Adrian isn't hearing it, she's like whatever and he's being serious. He turns to walk away and she reminds him about what happened at the lighthouse or the "make-out" spot and Nick saying the kiss was a mistake (bro, you allowed it just like you allowed her to somehow get you to drive y'all to the lighthouse). Then she reminds him about being in her bedroom and he couldn't even answer her. Guilty as charged. Nick's nasty ass is furious and starts barking at Adrian saying she's too young for him and she is, at this point, seeing him as a joke and, of course, low key hurt and rejected. Dumbass Nick should've told her parents everything… with a lawyer at this point but I guess this fool was in too deep. So after Adrian done scratched up Nick's ho ass vehicle, Adrian's friend, Cheyenne, informs Nick she had something to tell him about Adrian and to meet her in the orchard later that night and she runs off. Clearly Nick has not learned anything. Another teenager you need not to meet ALONE anywhere without their parents. Yo ass can't stay away, can't you, Nick? Besides the BBQ and Amy, have we seen Nick with any adult friends? Male friends? SICKO, WEIRDO!!!! Since Adrian rigged Cheyenne's horse and was injured, Adrian ends up being at the orchard waiting, jealous and pissed that Nick was there waiting for her friend. She tells him why he wasn't going to see Cheyenne and tells him, "You can never be too careful…" So in the next scene Nick is driving up with Amy. I laugh because bro is using Amy at this point. He didn't seem very interested in her in any romantic way and she had to make the 1st move when they finally did kiss. THEY were more like friends, if anything. Amy was the one with the crush on him. But Nick is obviously trying to distance himself from Adrian… and his urges. Nick purposely hands Amy the keys knowing Adrian's nosy ass was always lurking and her parents were mostly never around, so he wanted Adrian to know he had a "girlfriend" now - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!! Adrian was indeed sitting on the steps of Nick's apartment and Amy walks up the steps. Adrian asks Amy if she ever been to the lighthouse. Amy said, "Shelter Point?" Adrian's like, "Yeah, make-out place." Amy said, "Not since high school." Adrian then says, reminiscing, "Nick took me… maybe he'll take you sometime." Amy took her sunglasses off on that one. RED FLAGS! RED FLAGS! AMY! Your crush is trash! Adrian may have severe issues but she wasn't lying. Even you knew that was a make out place. To make it worse, in the beginning you told that man about Adrian and he shrugged it off and what does he do? Plays a voicemail where Adrian left a message like a goddamn girlfriend he just started dating. I digress. Amy turns and runs inside and Nick walks up and pretty much ignores Adrian until Adrian says, "Hi." Nick turns and looks at her like she was shit, like he didn't know her. Fuel to the fire. So what does Adrian do? Fuck up Nick's super important article - deleting the file completely. What a MORON!!! How does this man not have a back-up… AT WORK? Even back then you can have back up floppy disks to back up your work files at work and home. He was already sloppy and not punctual, which he showed throughout the movie. What's interesting is - man, fuck him and his article. Only reason why he even got anywhere with the subject he wrote about is because Adrian wrote the first one and no matter what, since he never disclosed anything to his editor - his boss, regarding who wrote the article, he would be in violation of plagiarism. Nick should be fired. I'm actually surprised in the end Adrian didn't show proof to Pique magazine that she wrote the article, which would have ruined Nick's career. Anyways, he calls Amy all pissed off expecting her to know who screwed him over right away, snapping at her (RED FLAG AGAIN, AMY!) and then after he tells her to help him keep their boss, Michael, at bay, he then says to her he was going to move out once he finishes the article. "Smart move, Eliot!", Amy retorts. I find that funny. At least she knew, with her dry humor, that her crush was dumb and that he FINALLY saw that Adrian was a problem. Once Nick hangs up the phone with Amy, he notices a floppy disk on the ground and under it is a whole other room, sort of a basement, and he finds an obsessive love shrine that Adrian created with candles all over and a picture of Nick sitting outside that Adrian clearly took. (Madness to have lighted candles everywhere in place that is mostly made of wood… that would freak me out) Nick is even more pissed. It's on. So now Nick nails down the door of the room he was in and then works on the article and Adrian continues to call and call and call Eliot… over 99 times, possibly more because in those days, answering machines - not all - showed over 99 missed calls. He picked up and put the phone down. Eventually he stopped answering. He changes the lock on the door. And Adrian is spinning, frustrated. Nick completes the article, gets to work, interrupts his boss, which is quite bold, btw, and places the finished article down next to him and sits down, fully satisfied that was out of the way. Nick goes apartment shopping and this time doesn't care for aesthetics. The first time around he did… clearly, as he went from place to place and took his time. This time around we don't see that. The landlord isn't an attractive career woman with a young daughter living on the premises. The landlord is an older woman with an adult son who may or may not live on the premises. Furthermore, the place isn't attractive looking on the outside. The man wants out of what he now considers a hindrance to his life. Nick drives back "home" and looks up at the Forrester house. When he initially saw the house prior to moving in, he smiled. This time, he doesn't. Next scene he's packing and Amy comes over, bearing a gift, a bottle of wine. She's glad that he's moving but she seems nervous. She asks him to be her date to their boss' benefit and he's like, "You mean on a date?" Gee dude… you didn't give much flack to a fuckin' teenager who asked you to take her driving at the dead of night without the permission of her parents… where you mutually kissed her... you… Creep. I digress. Poor Amy, who should've not asked this creep-o out anyways, stood up to leave and foolio brought her back, was only worried about dating someone who works with him at the job. Amy explains she didn't want him slow dancing with their co-worker Samantha or a 13 year old. This fuckin' guy corrected her and says 14 year old. RED FLAG! RED FLAG! RED FLAG! Really?!?! That's the concern? Amy, a grown-up, grown-ass woman that has a crush on you is telling you how she feels and is super aware of these individuals in your life. She also really likes you which tells me, which is a bit presumptuous of me because it's only 1 man we see her crushing on but her judgment skills is sharp on everything BUT NICK! I don't know why this comes to mind but he looks a fuckin' penile implant. Anyways, after he corrects her, he kisses her. NOT A ROMANTIC SCENE! NO AMY!!!!!!!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!! And even with the so-called changes to the locks, Adrian was able to get in, see the after-sexed Amy and Nick and was hurt. Beyond obsession. Where are her parents? Btw, Amy, spooning Nick is telling. She is so much into him than he is of her. But we already know this. Anyways, so as all the noise was being made at the Forrester house, Nick couldn't wait to run over to check. There was no need to. As soon as he got close and saw her acting a fool, he should've turned the fuck around and called her parents. That's it, that's all. He can't help but interact with her. I like Amy, btw. The next day when she runs into Adrian and Adrian, who already knew what Nick and Amy did at Nick's apartment the night before, starts asking personal-assed questions, keeps it real with Adrian. She basically tells her, "When you grow up and get into a real relationship you'll realize Nick was a crush and you've completely forgotten about him." Sad thing is, I want this for you, Amy. Leave Nick, NOW! Adrian, thinking she is so much smarter and adult than everyone is doing what she did to Nick earlier, acting like she is taking the advice but in a condescending/mocking way. I don't blame Amy for shading her in the nicest way possible and driving off. Who needs that shit? Besides… Amy never even saw or met her parents which should've been… RED FLAG! RED FLAG! RED FLAG! So it sucks that Adrian did what she did to Amy in her darkroom… unleashing all those wasps on her because she didn't like that she told the truth. Btw, I'm still trying to figure out how Adrian was able to get her black and white photographic paper/print in Amy's darkroom. Maybe this happened days later and Adrian was able to obtain a copy of a key to Amy's lock? That usually doesn't happen. The paper/prints was within the other paper/prints that Amy dipped in the stop bath. Then again, the paper/print that Amy pulled out first was of Nick at the BBQ. I think Adrian may have infiltrated Amy's darkroom or have been watching Amy ever since after the BBQ at Nick's apartment so that she could put her own paper/print in the batch and waited to catch Amy slippin', possibly leaving the darkroom unattended. And since she knew Amy didn't care for the wasps... well... Next you see Adrian buttering up to Nick who was on the phone receiving news about Amy. First off, so rude once again walking up in there and starts talking about her upcoming horse whatever competition which I would have to say he probably didn't hear one word she said because HE WAS ON THE PHONE! She literally invited herself in. I will be nitpicky here. So smart she is but she asks "Can I come in?" Can you? Sorry, it's the smart ass-ness she displays. Everyone is dumb and she is a genius. I am by no means a literary genius but "May I?" is the appropriate way if you are seeking permission. Sigh, but once again, as frustrated as I can be with Adrian, this needs to be towards her parents for the most part, which I will get to. Nick states Amy is in the hospital and Adrian tries to be sympathetic, putting her hand on his and Nick snatches his hand away. The next scene poor Cheyenne's arm is in a sling and Adrian is lying to Cheyenne saying Nick was crying on her shoulder, which I'm sure her "friend" didn't believe. Adrian walks away, snobbery in full display. Adrian is on her horse looking for Eliot the Idiot in the crowd and can't find him. Her parents are smiling in the stands, supporting her but being nosy as the father, Cliff, had binoculars and was checking out the stands and the mother was reaching out a hand to Cliff to take them from him, but Adrian doesn't care, she only wants Nick. So what does she do? Takes a cab to the Nick's boss' benefit (I wonder how she knew he was there? Called his job? Tapped into his computer? Broke into his apartment? Probably the latter) and rushes towards Nick who is ironically standing next to Samantha (interesting… poor Amy) and comes right up to him in front of everyone and kisses him. Samantha, with eyes of daggers! ALL BAD. He asks her what she was doing there and she said she missed him at the show and he mutters go on and get out of here (I'm sorry but when he says that to her, I laughed). Adrian gives him one of the most nastiest slaps during that decade in cinema at the time. My goodness. ALL BAD. Everyone looks at him now and she is talking shit, making up a bunch of crap. This man proceeds to grab her arm and damn near drags her out of there and these people just stared, which is crazy. She looks like a teenager compared to them and they are staring. Dude on the right looks like a relative of Mitch McConnell... When they are out of everyone's sightlines, she starts acting more crazy. He tells her to stay away from him and she says she loves him and "You love me!" and tries to kiss him. She starts screaming and again she tries to kiss him and she succeeds and he slams her against the wall. He then says, "You're pathetic," and walks away, wiping the kiss off of his mouth. Sorry but I'm not convinced he wasn't into any of it. He was. He should've called the cops instead hiding the way he did. To make this all so terrible, not one of those adults called the authorities. Adrian screamed. Even before that, they witnessed her slapping HIM! Very nasty culture. Humans love watching drama. Listen to the song "Vicarious" from a band called, Tool, and you'll understand why I say that. Now that Adrian has embarrassed him in front of his colleagues and his boss at a job function, he needs to move now, so he goes back to the apartment he was supposed to move into within a week - at Mrs. Tinkerman's (I didn't mention her name earlier) and she was like, "Fuck off, the apartment's taken, I don’t rent to drug dealers." Of course who else could've told her that? You guessed it. Nick isn't taking no for an answer so he keeps banging on Mrs. Tinkerman's door until her son opens it and threatens him. Nick leaves. For all we know, Adrian may have done Mrs. Tinkerman a favor. Well, Nick heads back to the dreaded apartment he lives at but as he's driving… Nick stops at a red light or something. This weirdo watches kids play, 2 girls and a boy. He watches them long enough that the driver behind him honks their horn. RED FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG! Listen, no harm in watching kids play, man or woman, depending. However, we have collected enough evidence that show the grossness that is Nick Eliot. Nick drives up to the residence and there's police. Uh-oh. Nick asks what's going on and the policeman tells Nick to step out of the car. Nick asks again and the policeman, who becomes a little rough with Nick says, "sexual assault on a minor." Nick starts denying it and asks the policeman to wait and gets a look at Adrian and her parents, while handcuffed. Cliff sees Nick and starts running over to him while calling him an animal and attacks Nick which the cops let Cliff get a few shots in. The mom yelling, "Cliff!" in the most half-hearted, non-concerned way had me cracking up. No urgency in it. They throw Nick's dumb ass in the back seat and he gets a good look at Adrian who smirks at him. When Adrian lies and explains the "sexual assault", it's sad. Adrian says she and Nick went swimming and hung out a couple of times. There should be frickin' child protection services there just by that statement alone. Why was your daughter EVER ALONE WITH THAT MAN WITHOUT YOUR PRESENCE? Even though these are lies, all the other events were not made up. She WAS alone with him more than a couple of times. They've kissed. He's been in her home without permission, played peekaboo with her underwear and saw her naked. Now, the cops are with Nick and Nick is trying to explain everything Adrian has done to him. Of course they don't believe him. THE IDIOT NEVER REPORTED ANYTHING!!!!!! He never told her parents anything until his car was scratched up and when they didn't believe him with that, he never told them anything afterwards which is stupid that, 1. He didn't continue documenting Adrian's bullshit and 2. He didn't start looking for an apartment right after the car incident. He didn't take Adrian seriously because he didn't want to. He also had a crush on Adrian. YES, I am saying that. He did, which makes him a putrid, piece of shite. Amy warned him but Amy didn't know he already went too far with Adrian at the point. And here he is caught the fuck up, yelling at the cops at the top of his lungs (imagine if my black ass was in there yelling like that? No need to roll your eyes because I'm making it a race thing but the climate we're in - whaddya gonna do?) because his horny ass didn't know how to ignore a teenager and report her to her parents and if that didn't work - MOVE! The cops calmly bring the hammer down. They found, um, cement, in her. Read between the lines. Nick's pathetic ass is bailed out by his boss and attorney. They clearly don't believe him and I don't blame his boss only because of what he witnessed at his own benefit (although, um, he didn't call the authorities as well so…) They tell him the "cement" matched his DNA and pretty much kick rocks from that apartment as they, the parents, took Adrian out of town. They could barely look at this fool. Later that night Nick is packing and Cheyenne visits him, not believing he did the things he was accused of. Cheyenne, he has done some nasty things. Believe me. Nick, although he tells Cheyenne to kick rocks, decides he needs a little liquor. Besides, he's in the company of the demographic he's comfortable with. Nick drinks a lot. Always sweating. Seems to be the only person sweating. Btw, Cheyenne knew where the key was located for Adrian's backdoor. Now here's what's really interesting. Adrian starts playing the piano and Nick hears it at his place. Why is this interesting? If we go back near to the beginning when he came to the party, he decided to go to the party mostly because he heard the music playing but within the music was the piano playing as well. Adrian was the one playing. Kind of Pied Piper-ish. I'm assuming that was what this director/writer was alluding to. The reality is, at this point, her ass isn't supposed to be there. She's supposed to be "down the coast somewhere" with the parents so that Nick can finish moving out. Nick races over to Adrian's house looking for Cheyenne but finds another weird shrine dedicated to Nick and this time the picture of him and grandfather is found, but Nick's face is scratched out. Adrian appears behind him, jealous, thinking Nick wants Cheyenne now. Nick ignores Adrian's crazy talk and keeps calling out for Cheyenne and Adrian attacks him. When Adrian was about to kill, Nick, Cliff arrives home. Eventually everyone gets to the attic. Nick sees that Cheyenne is tied to the carousel that Adrian turns on. When Nick tries to rescue Cheyenne, Adrian attacks Nick and then turns into a victim once Nick gets the upper hand. Cliff attacks Nick but then his own daughter tells Cliff to "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" and clocks him over the head, knocking him out. Nick gets up and Adrian runs full speed at Nick screaming like a lunatic and Nick… quick jabs her in the face sending Adrian flying into linens, pillows and stuffed animals. Go figure. Nick is now living with Amy (NOOOOOOO AMY!!!), which is where I think he was moving to before all the craziness happened at the end with Cheyenne, Cliff and Adrian. He was napping or sleeping on the sofa… I'm trying to figure that one out, but I thought that was interesting. It might be that Amy is taking the relationship slowly and although they are living together, she isn't rushing to have him in her bed and/or bedroom yet. If that's the case, good on her. Amy tells him he missed a meeting and throws a stack of mail at him. He thumbs through it and it's mail from Adrian that was sent to Pique, Nick's employer's office. Okay. First off, his employer should be all over this shit. They should be suing Adrian's parents and/or ceasing any further harassing contact toward their employee. Because this is harassment still. At this point, it's been proven Adrian has mental health issues as you see her being put in a non-padded cell sans a straightjacket. It doesn't matter if this is "homework" from a doctor. First off, the doctor would know that you're not supposed to actually send the letters to the person who was actually harassed! That's insane. Well, Nick and his dirty thumb nail go through the mail and that's the last you see of him. Looking confused. Looking like Eliot the Idiot. Adrian moves on to her next crush, which is another dummy who is being finessed in every way and is as questionable as Nick. Interesting that the doctor has a brunette for a wife. These dudes have a thing for young blondes. Sickos. And the cycle continues. Final Thoughts: There is a specific co-worker, a guy I think that didn't like Nick very much. Y'all be the judge of that. I believe it was the case. He seemed to always had the same stank face every time he is seen around Nick. I thought he was at the BBQ Nick had with his co-workers but it wasn't the same guy. Dude definitely not feeling Nick and I don't blame him. Adrian was menace but she clearly, clearly had mental issues. Although I want to sit and get on her for so many things, I'm unable to. I think she grew up a loner that actually needed her family and somewhere along the way she stopped needing/wanting them and decided to attach herself to adult men. Which brings me to her love for Wuthering Heights. Adrian has Wuthering Heights plastered all over her room. She seems obsessed with a book that's partly about obsession, toxicity and revenge. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a Gothic novel about obsessive love and revenge on the Yorkshire moors. Below is a loose summary of what the book is about that I obtained froma search engine. Read it, don't read it, up to you. The Frame Story 1801: Mr. Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange and visits his landlord, Heathcliff, at the gloomy Wuthering Heights. The Ghost: A snowstorm traps Lockwood. He has a nightmare where the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw tries to enter through a window. The Tale: Lockwood's housekeeper, Nelly Dean, tells him the dark history of the two families. Rise and Betrayal The Foundling: Mr. Earnshaw brings home a homeless orphan named Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights. The Bond: Earnshaw's son Hindley hates Heathcliff, but daughter Catherine falls deeply in love with him. The Split: After Earnshaw dies, Hindley reduces Heathcliff to a servant. Catherine loves Heathcliff, but chooses to marry the wealthy Edgar Linton for social status. Heathcliff overhears part of this and runs away. Revenge The Return: Heathcliff returns years later as a wealthy gentleman, bent on total revenge. The Destruction: He ruins Hindley through gambling to take Wuthering Heights, and marries Edgar’s sister Isabella just to be cruel. Catherine's Death: Catherine falls ill and dies after giving birth to a daughter named Cathy. Heathcliff begs her ghost to haunt him. Resolution The Next Generation: Heathcliff forces young Cathy to marry his sickly son, Linton, seizing control of both estates. The End of Malice: Exhausted by his obsession and visions of Catherine's ghost, Heathcliff stops eating and dies. Peace: Young Cathy and Hindley's son, Hareton, fall in love and plan to marry, ending the cycle of hatred So with that explained (thank you search engines), it makes me wonder if Adrian is the biological daughter to the Forrester's and if they tried to have more children and couldn't. Adrian is more likely than not their biological child. I digress, though. Adrian raised herself and that became the problem in the end. Showed up with his shirt all dirty and breath probably humming... Inside Nick's car... ugh... Nick. This moron walked himself into the pit when he didn't have to. Movie would've ended in 5 minutes, probably, unless she didn't take "No" for an answer. Several people needed to run several background checks on Nick. He sounds like he's from England. Who knows how long and how many times he's been out there playing these weird games with young'uns. He didn't come off like a novice and when Amy questioned him he became defensive and weird. Nick didn't alert her parents right away and warned them that if Adrian did that shit again, coming up into his apartment without him knowing or whatever, he was moving and he wanted his goddamn deposit back. Nick had his own compulsions, unfortunately. Once it started to fuck with his life, and too many people can see INTO his personal life, including Amy, he didn't want them to see that side, he didn't like it and wanted… out. Had he been caught with Adrian, he would've been charged with child molestation. Nick is nasty. The parents. Sadly, in this scenario, the parents have to share in the blame for Adrian's mental health. It seems their careers came first. Some children are self-sufficient, independent, and well-rounded, as long as they are supported, heard and financially stable. Then there are some children who need their parents presence. I think Adrian may have been that type of child who needed their parents presence and verbal support. So fast forward to when both parents explain the personality of Adrian. Her mother called her, "Headstrong" and her dad still saw her as a little girl that he didn't want to grow up. The mother saw her more as an independent person, which can be dangerous. When Nick and Adrian were at the lighthouse and Adrian apologized for writing the article and explained it wasn't okay regarding what she did, she further explained her parents made her skip 2 grades in school. For some children that's isolating, because they don't get to be with the friends they may have grown up with but instead now be with older classmates while being the youngest and they may or may not relate to you because of age and your ability to learn and/or absorb information more quickly and/or efficiently than other children. So her explanation about Cheyenne being "forced" to be her friend may be correct but I think Cheyenne, who comes off as a sympathetic character, may have felt pity for Adrian and was willing to keep her secrets...up until the end. Once Adrian's mental state opened up Cheyenne's eyes even more with her own horse riding accident, she needed to spring into action and could no longer be a bystander/witness to Adrian's instability and descent into madness. Adrian's parents, sadly, saw Adrian as a trophy child, a creation they made that exalted them into a higher social status amongst the mummies in their social circle and that's even sadder. Never once was there a scene showing them as a family seated together having a conversation and Adrian expressing some sort of feeling/emotion and the only time she did well...I will mention this when her mom tucks her in bed for the night in a moment. Let's move back to when Adrian explains the fake assault to the cops and her parents: The thing is, when Adrian reported that Nick assaulted her, the cops and DA would also have to follow up with an investigation into the parents because… why was the 14 year old left alone with a 28 year old man on their property? The mother was clearly some sort of lawyer or judge as she spent her time in "courts" so she would know the law better than anyone and should have known not to leave her child with some random ass man, even if she vetted him…right? Another thing that was interesting was, after Nick and Adrian came back from the "make out" spot, and Adrian's mother was tucking her in for the night with a kiss, Adrian said, "I love you, mommy". The mother turned off the light, got up (Adrian's smile disappearing from behind her back, btw), gave Adrian a look, then closed the door. That scene was telling. It made me think her mom knew her daughter very well and probably saw her more as an adult than daughter so the childish act Adrian was putting on wasn't lost on her. And she never told her daughter "I love you," back. So maybe the mom's lack of "mothering", made Adrian respond to her father, who continued to see her as a child still, like an adult, saying things like, "I ride real horses, now." Also, the lack of mothering is partly why Adrian acted like a grown woman and her father's treatment of her, like she was still a child under 12 and like his princess, is why she liked older men and wanted their absolute attention and adoration from them. Her parents mixed messaging fucked her up. Very Sad. Alicia Silverstone emancipated herself so she could play the role of Adrian in this movie. I'm speechless. I won't even bother going further into this one but go ahead and do some research. Easy to find her talking about this. Can you friggin' believe this story is based on events that happened in the writer/director's life? The person whom he based Adrian on sued for using her real name, so Adrian was used. Alan Shapiro - Write/Director of The Crush First off… how brazen, how foul, how- we live in a fucked up world. We truly do. Because this writer/director Alan Shapiro found absolutely nothing wrong with putting a movie out regarding statutory rape or even the flirtation of it - oh, and letting people know based on the events of his life and that "I'm such an asshole and don't even use a completely different name for the teen, I use a name dangerously similar." THIS WAS OKAY IN 1993. And still in this day and age we still blame the children, the teenagers. The ones who are still figuring out their bodies, dealing with new and changing hormones - both boys and girls. The adults get away with it. And continue to get away with it. Thanks for dropping by! Like, share, comment, subscribe and donate (link is on the main page) if you can. Thanks for your patience and support!

*****CAUTION: SPOILER ALERT! PROFANITY LADEN AND GRAPHIC CONTENT!!!***** I will say it right off the bat. The movie “Casino” is one of my favorite movies of all time. I feel that all 3 main characters should’ve won an Oscar for their prospective roles. They made the story believable even though the real story is different from the movie. Sam "Ace" Rothstein Ginger McKenna Nicky Santoro I digress. What will this be about? Oh yeah, the characters - specifically the main ones who left us captivated the entire movie. For one, many people laude Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert DeNiro's character), a serious, highly intelligent, precise gambling expert handicapper as the hero and wronged. However, I will, I guess "break down" why he is no better than Nicky Santoro and Ginger McKenna who were made to look like the only bad people in the movie. And this is the genius behind Martin Scorsese films; the character development is amazing and layered. You must watch out for the signs, words and actions. Nicky Santoro So Mister Sticky Fingers Nicky is a “made” man from the Chicago Outfit mafia. A crude, snarky, disrespectful and extremely tough guy who’s married with a son. He adores his son a great deal. His wife, Jennifer, seems to be a ride or die but I don't get the sense that Nicky loves her as much as he loves his son with her. Her responsibilities seem to be to take care of the son and whatever bullshit Nicky wants her to do that's illegal. Anywho, Nicky was nothing but drama. He was sent to Las Vegas, which he wanted because it was where all the action was… and he also loved the showgirls. He really wanted to be his own boss, knowing that the mafia outfit couldn't "see" what he was doing in Vegas. So, besides watching Ace's back to make sure no one fucked with the "Golden Jew", he started making it known in Vegas, to everyone, who he was, and he was not to be fucked with. Now I want to start with Nicky because some would say he is easily the "baddest" of bad guys in this film. He is also the easiest one to talk about in terms of character. Let's start with his wife. Jennifer Santoro It's clear his wife was a rock; very loyal. It's quite sad though, because she helped smuggled in diamonds for him in her hair, which she could've gotten caught up by security at the airport and been arrested for his BS. She had to befriend Ginger (she probably didn't care to) due to Nicky's connection to Ace, just so they got the lay of the Vegas land. She probably had to deal with Nicky's volatile attitude, abuse and stubbornness which can't be easy. (I wish they explored a little character development with her, btw) She also had to chat on the phone with Ginger a certain way since the phones were tapped, just so Ace and Nicky can quickly speak to each other and/or meet. Ew. Nicky didn't seem to take her anywhere. He was having a good ol' fucking time, creating his restaurants, fucking showgirls, meeting and greeting Las Vegas elites, and gambling. Wifey was nowhere in the picture during these "fun times" sans his fuckering with showgirls. Mind you, his wife is gorgeous! But, you know, Nicky is a greedy fucker and a cheater. Frank... I don't think Frank liked Nicky. Why do I say this? Well, Nicky flexed his muscle with Frank, although I understand in some ways why he did so. You're a gangster/"made" mobster who had to make sure his people are in line and let them know that he's with the shits and not the type you should ever "go over his head" or fuck with. Nicky telling Frank he would have "ratted by now" and saying the shit he said prior to that when they were torturing Tony Doggs, to try to get him to tell them who ordered the hit to Remo Gaggi's bar (the mafia boss from the Chicago Outfit). Ugh. What a dick! No real faith in Frank. Even if he was joking, Frank didn't respond like it was a joke, "Yeah…thanks". When Nicky decided to start sleeping with Ginger and Ginger wanted Ace "terminated permanently" Frank didn't seem at all happy about it but just went along with the program. And who could blame him? He was asked directly by Remo if "the little guy was sleeping with the Jew's wife" and he flat out lied and said he hadn't heard anything. He protected them all - what I'm calling the 3 bad main characters in the movie - by lying to the top boss, which could've gotten him killed (and for all we know, it probably did. Remo could have sent Frank and others to take care of Nicky and his brother Dominick out in the cornfields to face his homeboy and take his ass out… then once he got back to where-ever, was killed by the same dudes who put Nicky and Dominick in the ground - just for lying to him. It was telling when Remo stressed him to tell the truth. We saw Frank alive in the end, but I think had the movie went on or if it was in the scripts at some point, Frank was killed as well. I got the sense Scorsese sympathized with Frank a little bit) all because Nicky needed to stick his ick with a d inside of Ginger. Even when Frank was beating Dominick to death, you can hear the frustration from Frank, like he was holding back how he really felt until that very end of Nicky's and Dominick's life. He was sick of them both. Speaking of Ginger… Nicky’s scazzy ass sees Ginger for the first time when Ace introduced her to Nicky and Jennifer and he was in awe when he saw her. You can damn near see him plotting like, "Me nuh getting she from he, forreal!" What a dirtbag. So once Ace starts having problems with Ginger, getting her pimp boyfriend Lester beat up by Nicky's guys, Ginger runs to Nicky to complain (I will get back to this scene later). Instead of Nicky saying, "Ay, let's discuss this with your husband together or - better yet - leave me out of this. I'm a married man," something to that effect, he relishes in the fact that she runs to him, like he's a savior and yet, he was the one who was behind Lester getting his ass whooped. He didn't bother to advise her that he was there, and it was his guys, just only telling her that Ace may not have known who Lester was - and Ginger quickly corrects him. Nicky just sits there, listening to her bad mouthing HIS SO-CALLED BEST FRIEND, and watching her. After her rants, he acts like this concerned "friend", telling her to ease up with the drinking and told her she was beautiful. So, miss thang hugs him, then gives Nicky soft pecks on the lips at least 2 or 3 times. And Nicky does nothing… but has a strange smirk on his face, almost like he was restraining himself and uncomfortable at the same time but reveling in the faux adoration Ginger was giving him. (Great friggin' acting by Joe Pesci here. To get across emotions on screen with the body language he showed was incredible to me). Nicky could've backed off immediately if his friendship with Ace was really that important to him, if he truly cared about him, but he didn't (I will get into this later). Later, he would come to regret "fucking with this broad" after she made it obvious to Ace she was plotting something nefarious (offing him) with Nicky (although Nicky made it obvious as well by even entertaining and being around Ginger). The fact that in the opening of the movie Nicky mentions Ace and then Ginger (I understand, they were the main characters) and not his ride or die wife as a part of him and his life speaks volumes. Envy, power, greed, violence and Ginger were the center of it all. Nicky really wanted everything Ace had. I think he wanted to BE Ace. The mafia bosses adored Ace because of what he could do for them that really no one else could all the time. He was always going to be protected as long as he kept "winning" and making them money. I feel Nicky wanted that talent, that gift Ace had since it was the best insurance policy in the mafia world. Nicky didn't have that; he was just the muscle and thief who followed orders. There's a high percentage of people who can be “a muscle" but there is a low percentage of people who are like Ace. It's rare. I also think Nicky wanted Ace's calmness to a certain extent. Nicky was impulsive, hot-headed, hard-headed and stubborn. He always acted like he was the smartest man in the room (Ace as well) but he was also quick to violence, which can be perceived as a weakness. Ace didn't have to be violent to be “respected”. People flocked around him because of his personality and probably his style. Plus, he was running a casino, which Nicky WISHED he had that option. Now back to the hard-headedness of Nicky. Nicky barely listened to anything Ace said. Ace warned him about the local cops and the "Black Book", which was filled with dangerous criminals that, in essence, can get you banned from entering certain states and/or premises. He warned him a few times but - no - never heeded the warnings. He just did whatever the fuck he wanted and then complained when shit hits the fan, leaving Ace basically like, "I told you so". So, Nicky continues to double down on trash behavior because he still needed to "earn". Nicky then started to turn his back on the Chicago Outfit, mostly because he wanted to do what he wanted and was tired of taking orders from them when Ace only had one order to comply with and that was to keep making money from the casinos so they could benefit from it. Other than that, he was his "own man". Nicky wanted to be a boss and seeing Ace come off like a leader in his own world - being rewarded, running a casino the way he saw fit and was in contact with super elite individuals - he wanted that but more. Another thing that is interesting about Nicky is, for as much bravado he has, he carried guilt. Case in point, when he volunteered to go on some heists with his crew, he didn't like the people he was stealing from looking at him, so he turned the picture frames he saw in their homes upside down so he didn't have to see them. It could be that he's religious, most likely Catholic. However, I think if any of his crew saw this action, they would've thought of him as weak. I sure the fuck would have! Especially when he told that "beaut" of a casino dealer at the Tangiers that "if he had any heart he would've been robbing for a living" or something like that. Yet, yo ass can't rob a place with people's family photos staring at you? Ugh. Punk behavior. When Ace and Nicky started falling out, Ace clearly was able to keep it moving as he had other friends he could hang out with. He didn't need the company of Nicky. Besides, he had his own life there before Nicky even arrived in Las Vegas. But to see the jealousy and clear attention seeking behavior from Nicky was childish. Like, bro, you pretty much threaten the man's life in the middle of the desert which YOU told him to go to, and you think he was going to look at you with warm eyes and greet you with glee? No way. Ace clocked you from that moment on and never trusted you again. (I always told my guy, some Gems only need you to do some fuck shit once and you're never trusted again) Side note: The coolness to which we move on comes off mean and cold, but what the fuck are we supposed to do? Let people continue to treat you like shit? I'm not one of them. However, not all Gemini’s are like this. If you even believe in that kind of thing. Sherbert getting hit with a phone by Nicky And what does Nicky do? He goes to the Tangiers Casino, which he wasn't supposed to be there at that point since he was banned, decides to play "21" table game and wanted his money, yadda, yadda, yadda but he was really there to get Ace's attention, since the "night" before Ace didn't acknowledge him and his crew at a nightclub. "Love Bruises" on Ginger. Then we have Nicky fucking with Ginger and Ginger wanted Ace to be "deleted". Nicky also wanted Ace erased. His life was spiraling out of control with the drugs and booze, and he wasn't the same "Nicky" anymore, not as strong and was becoming sloppy and part of that sloppiness was following pussy he desired which was Ginger. He wanted to have her, and it inflated his ego so much that she ran to him for assistance. He felt like a hero. So now he has the "affection" and attention from Ace's wife, he wasn't going to let that go. So, these 2 coked up mofos decide to fuck with Ace and Ace immediately understood what was happening. And, again, Nicky realizing his mistake, after sleeping with Ginger a few times, that Ace knows what they're up to and, after kicking Ginger out of his restaurant establishment for being demanding and then hitting him, he may be in a world of trouble with the Chicago Outfit for sleeping with "the Jew's wife". Once shit hit the fan, feds knowing what was going on (partly because of Piscano) and start raiding Tangiers, his crew and more, Nicky skips town to wait for the "heat" to die down. It's crazy that he left his crew hanging and didn't have them with him, especially his right-hand man, Frank. Nicky showed how selfish he was, and I found it telling that Scorsese made sure (or whomever wrote the movie) you saw who got rolled up (arrested) from Nicky's crew. Nicky fittingly saw his demise at the hand of the one person who had to deal with his volatile, dangerous shit - that put him in danger most of the time - which was Frank. That was no mistake by the writers. Lastly, Nicky blowing up Ace's car, essentially trying to kill his so-called, "best friend" was ridiculous. He allowed his jealousy, greediness and paranoia to ruin his friendship even more and he knew if he killed Ace, the Chicago Outfit would lose a substantial amount of money. He tried to kill 2 birds with one stone, then have the audacity to come back from skipping town, thinking everything would be okay - all would be forgiven, even after everything he did. Surveillance of him kissing Ginger, trying to kill Ace, not listening to the boss' "back home" anymore and not asking for permission to make moves. The Chicago Outfit realized their "made muscle" had to go. Nicky was not a savvy gambler, and his hustle game was only good when he acted as the muscle, but not as someone with a crew that knew how to properly hustle a casino without the sheriffs noticing. You must be pretty bad for the sheriffs to notice and yet many hustlers come in, do their shit and leave. Hell, even the dudes Ace caught were doing their crap for years at the Tangiers Hotel and Casino. However, Nicky was a great thief, like I said. Nicky sucked, for the most part, but he wasn't wrong on a few occasions. Miss Ginger… Ginger is the most misunderstood character in the movie. Just like Nicky, she was made out to be the "bad guy/girl" but there are things I feel people should've understood about her and, honestly, it says so much about our society and why some women deal with shit internally and act out later in life, etc, etc. and how most people view women when they are not at their strongest and so on. "Ginger's mission in life is money…" - Sam "Ace" Rothstein Let's talk about Ginger and why she is misunderstood before talking about all the horrific shit she's done. Ginger clearly had trauma. Yes, she is beautiful, statuesque and smart woman. However, she was damaged. Very damaged. Lester Diamond. Yeah. Someone named that name is most likely some sort of hustler and/or pimp, which he was both. He was a "mooch" and another selfish individual whose priority in life was to make money by any means… through girls and women, specifically Ginger. As he said on the phone with her when she just got married, he remembered seeing her as a 14-year-old with long legs… just gross. He was manipulative and wanted her to continue the grift within the marriage. Ginger clearly has been controlled by Lester since she was a child… CHILD. We know nothing about her parents. However, I do feel there was a hint of pain (more than a hint) when Ace proposed to her and she asked Ace if he knew anyone who had a happy marriage because she didn't. She looked on the verge of tears when she said that. It makes you wonder if her parents had an unsuccessful marriage or that they were in unsuccessful marriages. Whatever it was, being married frightened her. Let's stay in the scene of Ace proposing to Ginger. Ginger was direct and honest with Ace that she wasn't in love with him but she cared for him and apologized. However, Ace convinced her by using money and "security" so she can say yes to him. What's sad about that is, it was mostly what she knew - all she knew. Be a hustler, use her feminine wiles and get money any way she could. Lester, in essence, "raised" her and now the man who promised marriage to her, Ace, the guy who acted damn near "holier than thou" was running damn near the same play on Ginger. What do I mean by this? Well, Ace knew her background. For all his intelligence, he didn't invest in getting her mental health before having a child with her (who happened to be a girl). Ace just wanted her to be his "trophy wife", parade her around in expensive clothes and have her looking presentable and "coiffed" - all to make HIM look good. For all of Ace's posturing, he pimped Ginger out his own way. I will get back to his ass in a second. Ginger did everything Ace asked for; hustling high rollers, making sure the staff received huge tips so they can get specific drugs, etc that's needed to make the high rollers happy and stay pretty. Ginger was a little girl trapped in a grown woman's body. It didn’t help that the man who supposedly loved her - men - used her. Not to say she wasn't manipulative (Ace was as well) but she truly needed help and I think she probably would've respected Ace more if he focused on that. I think she really needed someone to see behind the beauty, brawn and "talent" and try to get to know the real Ginger. Who she really was. However, no one cared to learn. There was a moment she was happy to be Mrs. Rothstein, because of the status she obtained from it. However, she knew it was all a farce and that she could never really escape her past. He said that with a straight face, btw. I have to say this was hilarious! If you know, you know... And she was right that Ace didn't love her…HER. He only loved the idea of her and what she outwardly represented to him and for the rest of the city of Vegas. In some ways, he had her more under lock and key than Lester, which I will explain later. Now for the fucked up-ness of Ginger. Just like Ace and Nicky, she was stubborn, greedy and liked to have her way. No, not by trying to get her jewels and money that Ace promised her. I will get back to that later, but by, again, using her allure and body to get what she wanted. Ginger knew - KNEW that Nicky had a crush on her, which is specifically why she sought him out to complain about Ace after Ace asked Nicky to “sic” his goons after Lester. She didn't go to her dear "friend" Jennifer to complain because… what could she have done in the long run? The long con started with Nicky, because she knew she was going to eventually leave Ace and get what she was owed by him. Nicky was the "right" person to help her with what she wanted and was happy to do it… well because like I explained, he also wanted Ace gone. I'll say they used each other, but one of them REALLY wanted to get in that puzz and desired her way more than she would ever desire Nicky. (Btw, I wanted to point out names here: Nicky and Dominick. That's all.) Anyways, super fucked up that Ginger cared so little about her "friendship" with Jennifer and starts sleeping with her husband. Bad enough the man was rarely home and was sleeping around but for Ginger to be that manipulative and selfish is unfortunate. I would like to think Jennifer went on to have a wonderful life without the abusive and controlling fuck that is Nicky. I digress. Ginger doesn't trust Ace (for good reason in some ways) but then says, "He's a Gemini. Triple Gemini. A snake", something like that, and you see Nicky's face looking amused and low key agreeing with her. I mean, the real-life Nicky and Ginger were the sign of Taurus. Not surprised they shared the same sentiment. I laughed at the scene and always do. Why? Because these 2 were the biggest, gotdam snakes in the movie! The shit they were doing behind Ace's back, fucking each other and plotting to kill the man was insane. The nerve of these 2. Plus, what's interesting is when they introduced Lester, Ginger was wearing a snake printed robe dress. She also wore an Emilio Pucci abstract snake dress when she walked away from a “mark” she provided pills to while he was in the bathroom. In fact, Ginger wore a lot of animal/snake print clothing! So, I guess her clothing told us a story about her if you catch my drift. Eww. Look up Dale Evans and understand why I said that. And to top it off, Ginger attempted to kidnap their daughter, Amy, which is beyond foul. Horrible fuckin' mother, btw. It wasn't just the kidnapping, it was the fact that Ginger would have her daughter around Lester the Molester, who has been pimping her for years, since SHE was a kid. Unfortunately, she didn't see Lester as a bad guy, more like a fucked up "parental figure." And yet, they checked in to some hotel/motel under the name, "Mr. and Mrs. Rothstein" so she was acting and probably hoping that her life would be rich and plentiful… with Lester and not with Sam "Ace" Rothstein. Sadly, Ginger couldn't see that Lester was the bigger scammer in her life and didn't care about her at all, only cared about what she could DO for HIM. During this messed up kidnapping plot, Ginger is chopping and snorting coke in front Amy, which no child should ever see, and decided to tell her daughter, "Don't do this" was responsible parenting. Wild and disgusting. Super infuriating! I think Ginger envied her daughter a little, which is why she exploited her the way she did. Her daughter came into the world with money and a father, Ace, who purely loved her. Ginger clearly didn't care for her daughter's well-being and went as far as tying her daughter up in their home and leaving her alone. Drugs and alcohol were also the problem. Now let me go back a second. I get the sense that Ginger and Lester would've tried to do what Lester did to Ginger when she was kid to Amy. Read between the lines. Even how Lester was speaking about Amy was telling but the writers were careful not to be too obvious. Ransom but also, if Ace didn’t pay up… I will leave it at the that. After tying her poor daughter up and leaving her alone, she heads to Nicky's restaurant. Their plot was so bad. Because, at this point, Ginger was numbing herself with alcohol, Nicky was getting sloppy and both didn't think Ace would figure out they were in cahoots with each other at this point and not just in a sexual way. Ginger hid behind Nicky, essentially, while a furious Ace reems down at her as quietly as he could. Once they had their short argument when he finally got her home, which I will get back to later, she leaves again, goes back to Nicky's restaurant to let him know what happened. Nicky knew all of this was bad and it wasn't going the way he thought it would and Ginger is like, "Just kill him already". When Nicky doesn't comply with what she wants, she attacks him, he smacks her and throws her out of the restaurant. Now, at this point she's ruined both relationships and she knew Ace would never look at her the same or forgive her. Now she wants her money and whatever else so she can go. Finally free. She didn't even bother trying to get custody of Amy at that point. She was smart enough to know she would've lost that fight. That “child” within no longer had to answer to her other "father". She had her money (and more) and was gone. Unfortunately, with that freedom came even more moochers, addicts and users, that ran through everything she left with and her meeting her maker. And you know what? Never heard from Lester again. By then he probably didn't need her. To him, she fucked up the biggest score they would ever have by leaving and divorcing Ace. Also, Lester may have seen her as washed up at that point due to the booze and narcotics. Yes, Ginger was a grown woman and could've gotten help for herself. It's just unfortunate she couldn't and wouldn't get away from the same cycle and same type of people. She struggled to stay on a path filled with rules. She never met anyone who truly trusted and loved her… the former sadly for good reason. The cycle. Sam "Ace" Rothstein… Yeah I left him for last. Like I hinted earlier, Ace was also a bad fella in this. Many people see him as a victim; just a caring guy who just wanted to run a "square place" and have his life "nice and quiet". Pfft! Bro, you work for the fucking mob! Square place? They were skimming! You were a part of the shenanigans! Hell, you were ripping off motherfuckers all day and night because seeing anyone really "win" was like losing a million bucks! Mr. Rothstein, sir, you didn't like the "whales" that came through, betting vast amounts of money and winning. So, what do you do, create a scheme where they are forced to come back to the casino and bet again… and again… and again until they lose all of what they played. YOU DIDN'T EVEN LIKE WHEN THEY TOOK FREE SOAPS AND TOWELS! Back then that wasn't an anomaly, you were allowed to take these items. However, you're so cheap as well as needing to make sure all the money lost would go into the greedy pockets of YOU and the fucking mob. Ugh. And yes, the point of a casino is to keep people spending. The house always wins. However, people have brains and if they aren't gambling addicts, some would stay away from casinos that are straight losers and won't go back to the establishment and will go to the casinos that have a higher winning output. Ok, let's start a bit from the beginning. Sorry, I have a lot to say about him. Didn't mean to jump in and lose it a bit. Ace is an interesting character. You're supposed to love him. Seems solid. He had the right to be irritated with Nicky, but everything wasn't Nicky's fault - or Ginger's. Ace suffered from OCD. Not fun if you’re diagnosed with it. I know. There are many degrees of OCD and Ace was up there in high level category. Wait - you know what? OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder) is what he had, with some sprinkling of OCD. He needed to be in control. Hell, he told Stone he didn't want interference and wanted to run the casino "his way". On top of that the dice had to be right, the chips stacked correctly, etc. To make it more interesting, not one hair or clothing was out of place (down to his home). In some ways, he needed someone in his life to disorder his orderly life, a challenge… and saw someone who was not too different from him, which was Ginger. (Oooh I will get back to her) And somewhat because of this diagnosis that he may or may not have known he had, this is all the messery this dude did. Let's start with Tangiers Hotel and Casino. Ward was an idiot but was also scamming for the very people who wanted the mob out of the casino business and out of their city. When some slots machines provided people with the chance to win at a high probability, Ace lost his shit. I laughed because Ward said something even I said, even though I knew he was scamming the Tangiers and Ace. My boy said, "People have to win sometimes…" Pure GOLD! Hahahahahahahahaa!!!!!!! Yes, that was funny and true. As I said before, Ace needed people to come to that casino to keep losing. This is why he continued to watch the casino even at home, frickin' CCTV for crying out loud in his gotdamn bedroom to make sure "people weren't robbing him blind". Bro… you lost your shit on someone scamming from the casino, yet you were literally doing the same. Ace thought because he was this incredible handicapper in betting where he rarely, if ever, lost a bet - got this shit down to a science - that he was better than many and of higher morale ground… and he wasn't! (Btw, I will be saying that last part a few times regarding Ace. Watch out) Did I say this man said in the beginning of the movie that he was "given" a casino that was "legitimate" and that as a bookie and gambler he had to always look over his shoulder due to being hassled by the cops? You weren't "given" anything. Your job was to "run" the casino. You couldn't even say you were the boss! You had to keep changing titles every blessed week. And that casino was not legitimate! Ok, if you mean legitimate as it's an actual friggin' casino and not some faux shite, ok, you're right. However, nothing done at the Tangiers was legitimate. Yes, you're not wrong for getting the cheaters out, which kind of includes Ward but Ward was tricky. He leaves; everything dies. Anyways, I understand all of that - the job you had to do was to make sure money in, a lot less money out - all for the "bosses". However, the hypocrisy is hilarious and, again, you act as if you're above the cheaters, crooks and skanks. Hell, you were under the control of the mob. You're there to make that money and not let the money make you! (If you watched Player's Club, y'all should know who said that hahahahaaaa!) You were no different from Ginger. You were being pimped, Ace, just not sexually. You told Nicky, if anything happened to the casino it was "his ass" not Nicky's. Yeah, glorified "hoe" who had no choice but to make sure yo' pimps were fat and happy and not given any trouble. Let's add more onto the OCPD diagnosis. Yes, super gross of the "cowboy" sitting at the poker table with his nasty ass feet resting on it. For Ace, this was him wanting to remind Mr. Cowboy that he was running a high-end casino and trashy, nasty habits and actions was not going to be tolerated. Absolutely agree. Then him weighing the European dancers who were off a couple or so pounds during weigh ins. Oof. He was exacting in every way. And yes, I know it's not an anomaly that dancers usually must weigh in, be measured, etc to maintain a svelte look. How about Ace sitting behind his desk and, so that his pants aren't wrinkled and to keep the seams crispy, he has his pants hanging up in the closet, with a few other items of clothes just in case he needs them? The infamous muffins hahahahaaaa! Absolutely didn't blame him for his irritation here. The muffin he received while speaking with Phillip Green looked dry, barely any blueberries in them. Obviously, something was wrong in the kitchen. Could've been that the batter was uneven. But the chef's facial expression and single question was hilarious, then looking at Ace like he was crazy. Another thing was he was so obsessive and fixated with his work, especially when the issue of not having a gaming license came to fruition. He continued to watch the news about it in his "John Barrymore" robe at night. Then in the daytime, he's seen in the same attire, smoking, and watching it again. I do find it crazy that he thought he would have a fair trial. At the time and with all the heat coming down on him and Nicky and the mob, that wasn't going to happen EVER, even if he never got into it with the racist Commissioner Pat Webb after firing Ward. They were looking for a reason to get someone who was working and/or affiliated with the mob and super sketchy past gone from "their town". Mind you, this is a man, Ace, who pretty much enjoyed what he did (I think he thought he was some sort of comic book hero, a character with special powers), worked 18 hour days, so he says, while Ginger enjoyed the best things in life… I will get back to this soon. No wonder the man had ulcers. Him gurgling his Mylanta. The smoking didn't help. So, let's give Ace a break here. He was right about so many things. The number of warnings he gave Nicky was ridiculous. Nicky did say, "Do I have your permission?" when asking about moving out to Las Vegas, even if he was being sarcastic. I think he said it that way knowing Ace likes to think of himself as the boss in damn near every situation. Nicky never wanted to truly listen to Ace because also in Nicky's mind he was "over" Ace. He was a made-man, legit. Ace was just a gambler/impressive ass handicapper. Ace has some paranoia, for sure, but for good reasons. So, when he was providing Nicky those warnings, he cared… but also knew his friend very well and knew he wasn't going to listen to him. Reverse psychology probably worked. I think Ace wanted to keep Ginger safe. Yeah, that's as far as I will go with how he felt about her. He called her a "good fuckin' actress". He was a good fuckin' actor himself. With mostly everyone. He was, for the most part, honest with Nicky. Break over. Let's move to the "jag-off" Nicky stabbed multiple times with a pen. You see Ace walk in and while the "jag-off" was speaking to the women at the bar, Ace and the women exchange "Hellos" and he walks over to Nicky. You see the jag-off say "Who's that guy?" and Ace, seeing a pen on the bar counter, taps the guy on his back and asks him if the pen was his. Mr. Jag-Off disrespects Ace, and Ace stands there acting confused and innocent when, of course, as a muscle, Nicky hears what was said to Ace, takes the pen in question and goes to town on the Mr. Jag-Off's neck. So why is this scene important? A couple of reasons. Even though the interaction was… innocent enough, Ace cuts in while the women are talking to Mr. Jag-Off to say hi to them. It wasn't just a walk past kind of "Hi". He interrupted their conversation (and not saying excuse me) long enough to look at the women with his body slightly in between the women and Mr. Jag-Off, looks at Mr. Jag-Off and walks away. All brief but definitely temp checking and establishing dominance. Then he's all surprised that Mr. Jag-Off snapped off at him. And yeah, it got him stabbed up but, for Ace to then say what he said after Nicky did what he did to him was hilarious! He was questioning why Mr. Jag-Off became so upset. Ace loves the innocent act. He knew his homeboy was going to lose his shit and he didn't mind it at all. Standing there trying to faux stop Nicky at the end from beating the guy up further. Now fast forward to when Ace won an award and Ginger was all dressed in gold (the symbolism is insane here. Such a trophy wife). He's standing in another room with Ginger and they're talking and smiling at each other. A young dude comes over and interrupts their conversation to say congratz to Ace. He then looks to Ginger, grabs her hand, gives it a kiss in a "polite" gesture and compliments Ginger for her beauty and Ace for being… lucky. You can see Ace was not happy about that and once the dude walks away, Ace says, "What balls on this guy," and fires dude the next day. Ace may not have done the hand kissing gesture to the women at the bar who knew him and was wordy with them. However, it was damn near the same situation. The difference is Ace wasn't as obvious as the young dude. Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal - The real "Sam "Ace" Rothstein"... I also think, because the real "Ace" was not much of a looker (DeNiro is very handsome to me) that he didn't care for any man getting close to Ginger, which included Nicky (can't really say I blame him) . DeNiro, in the film was, supposed to be "unattractive" in a sense. Let's continue with his Ginger issues. As I said before, he worked long hours, 18 to be specific, while Ginger enjoyed the perks. I feel this is why his ass never got to truly know his girlfriend/wife. How the hell was the relationship ever going to survive - bump that - how was she ever going to "grow" to love him as he said before, when you are never there and when you show that you didn't trust her by questioning everything she did? Huh? And, yes, money going to Lester? Trash behavior no matter what. However, he already knew she still in contact with that man and once again, remember, Ace knew how Ginger felt and pretty much "bought" her, which is fucked up. Let's go to the beginning a bit. Mr. Rothstein, sir, you fell for Ginger when you saw her on those security cameras hustling/stealing from her "mark". First thought was, "What a move" and instead of doing what you have been doing for a while, getting security to kick her ass out or confront her about what you witnessed, ban her from the casino and then kicking her out, you stare at her and "fell in love". You, Mr. Rothstein, sir, saw how beautiful she was, then her hustling ways, then she became "your mark". Yes, I said "your mark". Ginger didn't care about you or the Tangiers at that moment. She was going to keep it pushing. You chased her. Some would say YOU were the mark, but she didn't know you, your tastes in women, etc. You chased her because she reminded you of YOU. Then you found out a little bit about her. Then in barely 3 months you wanna marry her. Even she was thrown off. As she said you barely knew her and you said pretty much you knew all you needed to know… which is horrible, btw. You didn't care to know more about her because her aesthetics and charming personality were more important than getting to REALLY know and love her. Ginger told you the truth, telling you she cared about you but was not in love. But just like you kept narrating about Nicky, saying "He didn't care" and "He just didn't care", apply that to yourself. Even the way you proposed to Ginger was not special and it centered around you. "I do one better. I'm trying to marry you," or some lame bullshit he said. Really? Ginger is clearly a "grand gesture" kind of woman and proposing by sitting next to her on a sofa, which isn't the problem, but it's you saying, "I'm 43 and I'm not getting any younger, I wanna have a family, settle down", something like that. No real mention of her and/or caring for her feelings. She even asked, while choking back tears, if he knew anyone in happy marriages because she didn't (Interesting since she met Jennifer, hung out with her and Jennifer was married. Ginger probably knew Jennifer and Nicky weren’t a happy couple). It seemed clear she was triggered by her past, probably her parents, and you sat there talking about trust and all this other shit - pretty much salesman your way into her heart. When she told you she was not in love with you, you then started explaining to her about what "love" is and then you pretty much threw money in her face when her next question was how she was going to be taken care of if they divorced - RED FLAG BTW - and you got her to marry you by throwing money and jewels in her face. Ace, you - were - THIRSTY!!!!!!!! The little you learned about Ginger, you used it against her when you were upset, or she did something fucked up. Yes, she deserved ALL the smoke when it came down to kidnapping your daughter and having her around Lester, tying her up later and then leaving her by herself, then wanting to have you killed, but YOU CHOSE HER! YOU DECIDED TO PROCREATE WITH HER knowing full and well she was impulsive – I will say somewhat spontaneous! Right when you first saw her you saw her hustling in full sight, then made the guy lose all the rest of his money. You would think that was a HUGE red flag, that she was who she was and made no apologies for it, unfortunately. Her past wasn't a problem as long as she kept it cute, schmooze with your antique-looking elites, players, movers and shakers in town and kept you abreast of everything she was going to do and was doing. Ginger was a frickin' trophy wife. The scene where she was in that beautiful gold dress was no damn accident by Scorsese. Then you saw the spotlight close in on Ace, which was really interesting because, to me, it made me think at the moment it was all about him and yet what he says about Ginger is SUPPOSED to be sweet and beautiful when it wasn't at all. He liked the way she "worked" the room. If I decoded what he meant by everything he said, it was "I love the way she makes ME look. Successful, rich with phenomenal taste and I can bag women like her. I'm a catch!" No. Mr. Rothstein you're controlling and boring. The best wife for him would probably be Elvira Hancock hahahahhahaaa! Or maybe not considering what I just said. So Ace takes Ginger to banks with him depositing "shakedown" money, jewels, etc, to show her he trusts her "completely" because somehow that shows "love", you know, giving her the ONLY key that would get him back alive. (Btw, where was her "shakedown money" in case SHE was kidnapped?) When she had jewels btw, he asks her, "Do I keep my promises?" No, sir, you do not. Near the end of the marriage, when Ginger wanted to leave, you - Mr. Rothstein – sir - flat out denied her what she was promised. At this point she didn't do those crazy things to Amy, their daughter and wasn't sleeping with Nicky yet. So, a lot of shit could've been avoided, and you would've won custody of Amy had you just divorced her, gave her the shit you promised her and let her go. At this point, she was overdoing it with the drinking and prescription drugs. Once she cut her hair, she became a full-blown coke, pill-popping alcoholic and was becoming even more crazy, like someone who was trying to escape a stalker. Money kept her with you, not love and you knew that and that's why you didn't want to give anything of value to her unless she continued to pretend “love” you. The charade was important. The guy at the bank even asked you if you trusted your wife. You hesitated! Then you said yes and asked why. You spouted all that shit about trust, even going as far as asking her a few times, "Can I trust you?" and yet you didn't trust her AT ALL. There was no trust in the relationship. Some may roll their eyes at me seeming to make Ginger into a victim… Like I explained earlier, she was someone who desperately needed therapy and, I think, most importantly, someone who cared to truly listen to her and get to know her. When Ginger was laid out on their bed after the Lester Diamond beatdown from Nicky's crew, Ace was questioning her about his meds, which she is foul for taking his medication, and she lays there defending nasty ass Lester, saying he didn't have to have him beaten up. When Ace tried to comfort her, she had every right to snap at him seeing she didn't give shit and that he didn't care. Why? This fool said the wrong shit to her, saying, "People look up to you in this town". If he knew her, he would've known that didn't matter. Ginger seemed to want genuine, "see me beyond my looks and get to know me" love. Since every man she seemed to encounter saw her for just her physical attractiveness, she just continued to use it. Then Ace said, which was the infuriating part, "I know you better than you know yourself". Wow. YOU DON'T KNOW HER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Down to when you straight up told her after she was on the phone whispering to someone that she wanted to have you deleted, you screamed "You never loved me in the first place!" YOU GASLIT AND LIED TO YOURSELF!!!!!!!! Ginger already told you she wasn't in love with you AND she never said she loved you! She said she cared about you. You literally thought throwing money at her, which she didn't have much control of, was going to cure her of whatever trauma she was going through?! That status and "respect" in town would be the end all, be all?! NO!!! She was already making money on her own and had more freedom but not by a large margin (being with Lester). Hell, you brought over HER CLOTHES to the house YOU bought for y'all (so controlling you didn't find a home WITH HER). She had her own and somehow her being with you seemed like she was in jail. Then you and your homie Nicky said to her that she was "a tiger" and “a toughy" when, again, you both didn't know her. You can't bullshit a bullshit-er and Ginger was the queen of knowing how to make other people feel good. She saw manipulation and fraud around her. She was a part of it. What was telling was that Ginger never agreed with what they said. Yes, Ginger was street smart, but she wasn't tough. She seemed to be in pain and did her best to self-protect herself but wasn't very good at it by continuing to attract the same type of men. Even when she threatened to go to the FBI, she didn't bother to snitch. All that yelling, threats, hitting cars and such and… nothing. She even came back to Ace after the attempted kidnapping because she's been tricked in her mind that Ace was "safe" but also unpredictable and she couldn't read him. She also came back after wishing Ace was deleted. The reason she left for good in the end was because she knew she fucked up so bad, messing with a mobster and all the irreparable damage she caused with Ace. She had no choice. Sam - excuse me - Mr. Rothstein, sir, you said to Ginger at the restaurant, who was sitting there either drugged up and/or drunk out of her mind after she tied up Amy, "…and let you disgrace me!" He made it very clear their marriage was more for him and, as I said before, to make him look good in the Las Vegas community. He truly didn't think his shit stank. But it did. You have a past - as you said before - and Ginger had a past and… let's be forreal. Do you think the movers, shakers and elites didn’t already know who the hell you and Ginger were? OF COURSE THEY DID!!!!!!!!!!!! You both were like animals in a zoo; on display for people to observe, learn and look at. Same with Nicky and those types of people going to his restaurant. It made them feel hip, important and marveling at the fact they were so close to "danger". Y'all were the bottom of the barrel of society, no matter how y'all tried to present yourselves. Sadly, I'm not done here, Mr. Rothstein. Let's go back to when Ginger asked for the $25k and you questioned her about it. Then she gets annoyed, heads to the bank to get the money, then she goes to meet Lester. You show up, berate nasty as Lester, which is fine, but then you tell him, "If you ever come around to take her money again, bring a pistol…" Wait - HER MONEY? Not too long ago you were damn near making her beg for the money - YOUR MONEY. Once again, it's all about the front; making it seem like the marriage was a joint, equal affair rather than one-sided. Ace, you held all the cards. Remember, she couldn't get her money and jewels when she simply requested it at the divorce lawyer's office. Ginger literally had to go to the extreme. Once you gifted these things, it was hers and she could do whatever she wanted with them, unfortunately. In the end, you saw her for what she was by throwing her past in her face. Yet, you hated it when you were rejected for a gaming license knowing that the County Commissioner and others in the town didn't like you and who you were. Besides, the "books" you brought to the hearing were cooked to perfection. YOU WORKED AT A CASINO THAT WAS SKIMMING!! You thought you were the elite and you even threw demeaning insults at Ginger like she was beneath you, which was telling. Btw, I think you were seeing Trudy, the host of the Tangiers show you had. Another woman… working for you. They were smart in how they did that, not making it obvious in the film. Which reminds me… the Chicago mobsters wanted Ace to do things "nice and quiet" after the fallout of the gaming license. Well, because Ace felt like a big part of his power was taken from him, he decided to do that boring ass "Ace's High" show. Ace is not much of a talker, which was clear. Ace's ego, however, was horrible. The reason he really wanted to be on TV was because of control and needing that back. Also, he needed adoration and respect again. It was slipping at this point. So, Nicky was right about him at the desert. And, yes, Ace wanted Nicky to be gone, and yes, Nicky was a nuisance. However, Ward was fired and that's when everything went downhill for Ace and the Tangiers. Ace’s real love was the casino. It was not Ginger. Ace set himself up as a victim; made an "all-in" gamble and lost big with Ginger, already knowing who and what she was from the very beginning and expecting anyone to feel sorry for you on that end is hilarious. Now we move on to some last thoughts and observations. I found it very interesting that Ace set Little Nicky Boy up to little league with a coach who was a Metro Intelligence cop. Nicky shrugged it away, but I always thought it was Ace, in some ways, wanting Nicky to get caught up or be watched. I can see it another way as well. The front. Make it look like Nicky was an upstanding member of the community and just wanted to show these cops that Nicky - well, they as a whole - were just good people that wanted normal and "square and quiet lives". I do understand to a small point why Ace didn't want to give Ginger what he promised. After all the horrible fuck shit she did - I get it. However, that man didn't inform the sheriffs that Ginger's scazzy ass left their daughter by herself, tied up in the dark. He did nothing like that. We also didn't see him go back to the lawyers. The crazy thing is, if they did go to divorce court, Ace most likely would have had to provide Ginger what he promised. Nevada, at that time in the 1980s had a "No Blame" kind of clause, which spouses don't have to prove cruel acts or adultery, which Ginger was guilty of. Also, marital property and debts were equally split up. To make it worse for him, he already had money hidden, which forensic accountants - if hired by Ginger and no doubt she would've done it - would've found not only the money, who knows what legal/tax problems it would've created for him if she wanted to be even more despicable. He should've just gave her the jewels and the million dollars that he promised her and be done… and make sure there were witnesses to that so she couldn't come back for more. Side note: Nas, the rapper if you don't already know who he is, seemed to be a fan of the movie Casino. He released a music video for the song, "Street Dreams" from his album "It Was Written" released in 1996. The music video had some usually suspects from the movie itself, such as Frank Vincent who played Frank. Frank is supposed to be "Nicky" in the video. Hype Williams, the director of the video really was going for that cinematic feel and look. He is considered one of the best music video directors in modern history. Recently, Nas has partnered with Resorts World New York City in his home borough of Queens and the commercial for it once again pays homage to the movie "Casino". Nas is one of my favorite lyricists. I digress. I bring this up because, if I could have a word with Nas, I would tell him this: Nas and the casino he is partnered with Being inspired by Sam "Ace" Rothstein is not a flex as Ace was not cool or a "good" guy. I used to think he was cool when I was younger but then as I continued to watch the movie over and over again for years, yeah, the revelation came to me. Martin Scorcese and everyone behind the movie were genius' for the character development and the small details that can be easily missed. I really hope Nas doesn't see himself as Ace but, hey, he's the only one that knows himself. I will just chuckle if I continue to see more Ace Rothstein inspirations from him. Lastly, the overt racism by Nicky and Ace. Nicky's name calling of Ace plus middle easterners, etc was purely disgusting. Ace calling Ginger an "Irish B&%$#" when he was furious regarding the tying up of Amy and leaving her alone. The irony of Nicky holding "snake eyes" - rolling a total of 2 on a pair of standard six-sided dice, where both dice land on 1. Listen, they were all terrible people and abusive in their own ways. Like I said in the beginning, they were greedy and selfish but, hey, that's what Vegas can do to you. There were no goodfellas here. Thank you so much for hanging in there with me! Like, comment, subscribe (donate if you can) and please share! Thank you so much!

The song “Die Hard” on Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers is overlooked lyrically but not musically. It’s very catchy and you bounce your shoulders and dance as the syrupy voice of Amanda Reifer sweetly sings the chorus, Blxst, as a matter of factly, simply blazes through the bridges – both singers, in essence, balance of masculine and feminine – and duality. Then Kendrick, who doesn’t hide the emotions of what he is singing about, channels and connects to the masculine and feminine so effortlessly, as the song is serious, playful, sad, reflective, confident and… coded. Rarely anyone converses about the lyrics because it seems surface level. However, NOTHING on MM&TBS is surface level. It’s intensely layered, quite possibly the most layered album Kendrick ever released. So, I am going to peel back, to some extent, a layer on the song “Die Hard”. (WARNING! SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD!) It Hit Me: I was watching the friggin’ movie… “Die Hard” as I was working. The first movie from the installment came out in 1988. I needed a distraction. Let me tell you a story: (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!) John McClane The Anti-Hero and... Ladies Man In 1988, John McClane, a humble, insanely observant and smart mouth NYC cop, a man who effortlessly attracts women by doing absolutely…well…nothing, and a man of few words, decided to visit his estranged wife, Holly and family for the holidays. Holly and their children live in LA. After a rather entertaining limo ride with his young, cool and somewhat astute limo driver, Argyle, who offered him a lil’ “flavor” to his usual holiday music to chill John out a bit since he seemed tensed and was low-key pre-judging Argyle’s green and youthfulness. Holly Gennaro McClane Anyways, they arrive at Nakatomi Plaza in Downtown LA, where Holly is working and her co-workers are celebrating a Christmas Eve party. John arrives there and meets with her boss, Joseph Takagi, and a pricky, coked up co-worker who’s vying for her position named Harry Ellis in her office. John and Holly saw each for the first time in a while and it was super, friggin’ sweet. They greeted each other, lovingly, but it’s stiff. The boss and coworker leave to head back to the party and soon after John mentions, while freshening up, that wifey is going by her maiden name, Gennaro, and not McClane. Before this realization there’s a mild flirtation while he freshens up after a long trip from NYC to LA and she wants him to stay at the house with her and the children, clearly wanting some of that “thang thang” with him because she missed her man, albeit it in the spare bedroom. He missed his lady. But that gets shot to shite…thanks to John. John wants her to be a married woman for everyone there at Nakatomi… and in day-to-day life. Holly thought more of her position at the company considering the company she worked for was Japanese and if you’re married you may have “one foot out the door” philosophy and she took the opportunity. John is like “so you know what this decision could do to our marriage, right?” to which Holly responds back with “It didn’t do dick to the marriage other than change wtf you think our marriage supposed to be!!” Now John says, “You don’t know what my idea of our marriage should be!” and Holly claps back, “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK OUR MARRIAGE SHOULD BE!!” Holly’s pregnant assistant interrupts their argument to let her know Mr. Takagi needs her to make a speech and backs the fuck out of that tension-filled ass room. Holly said she would be back in a few minutes and leaves John, banging his head against the side of the wall a few times, annoyed – at himself – for starting an argument with Holly. RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!!! Hans Gruber and his goons Hans Gruber and his goons wreck shop and then some to get into the building. Hans said he was there for a “cause”, when his greedy ass only wanted $640 million in bearer bonds. So now it’s up to John McClane to save his wife, the hostages, the money, the building and whatever else these whackos had up their sleeves. And he did. His marriage was saved. Until the next time… And the next time… And the next time… Kenny and family Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers… Die Hard… Lyrics I pop the pain away, I slide the pain away I pop the pain away, I slide the pain away Okay, before I get into the lyrics you’re probably wondering where this is going and I will explain. Mr. Duckworth, like many of us, is influenced by pop culture. In this instance, he has incorporated it in full view, and no one has clocked it until now (unless I’m wrong, of course) . It's one of my theories. Die Hard is one of my fave movie franchises of all time. Especially “Die Hard with A Vengeance”. I was watching it for the umpteenth time just like I was listening to MM&TBS for the umpteenth time, and it clicked hard (pun intended) that Dot drew parallels of the John McClane character to himself. So, with that being said… The lyrics above… The Dot. Our dear Kenny was going through it, wasn’t he? And like many with the weight of many worlds, burdens, tasks, goals and obligations, it’s heavy. Numbing can sometimes be the only way to deal when you have no choice but you have to keep going because… who else is going to do it? He may not have been “literally popping” anything, but there was unresolved pain. I think this was another entendre… for Drake. Kenny is the master of entendres. In Die Hard with a Vengeance in the beginning of the movie, after the big explosion in Midtown Manhattan, in the next scene you see all of John McClane’s co-workers looking down at him. Why? He looks “like shit” pretty much what Inspector Cobb said to him. John is sitting on the ground of a police van as they all make their way to Harlem and his hair is disheveled – HE’S disheveled – and needs aspirin – more than one, btw, cigarettes, and coffee. The man has a hangover. Inspector Cobb is asking about the kids. John says, “I hear they’re ok…” and Cobb presses on by asking John if has spoken to Holly, and he said he didn’t speak to her. Well, once John understands the request of the bad guy, “Simon” wants them to do (and be) in Harlem, John makes a remark saying something like, “It’s nice to be needed” and Cobb jumps in saying, “Frankly, you haven’t been much-” John cuts him off and barks, “Mind your fuckin’ business about Holly!” (This is all going somewhere. Trust me.) Throughout the movie, John is running around all over the city with a goddamn headache and hangover with Zeus Carver a.k.a the G.O.A.T. Samuel L. Jackson (ironic, huh? Cough *Superbowl* cough), and needing aspirin from supervillain Simon, who turns out to be Hans Gruber’s brother from the 1st movie. But John can’t be too emotional when dealing with this shit, with saving the world. Too dangerous. Especially in this movie here. “Popping” the pain away. Moving on. Lyrics I hope I'm not too late To set my demons straight I know I made you wait But how much can you take? I hope you see the God in me I hope you can see And if it's up, stay down for me Yeah In Die Hard with a Vengeance again, near the end of the movie, John and Zeus are tied to a huge ass bomb. John looks to Simon and asks him one last question after calling him “Fuckhead”. “You got any aspirins? I’ve had a bad fuckin’ headache all day long”. Simon laughs, tells him it must be his lucky day, throws the bottle at him and tells him to keep it (that part always makes me laugh) and runs away. John and Zeus get to talking while tied to this bomb. While Zeus is trying to get the cuffs off he asks McClane if he has a wife and he said they were sort of separated and explained she lives in LA, he lives in NY, they had a fight on the phone, she hung up and he didn’t call her back and it’s been… a year since they spoke. Ridiculous. Zeus laughs and John says his wife’s “a stubborn woman”. John and Zeus managed to escape. John goes to call Holly via collect call (IYKYK) at the phone booth. He takes the aspirin from the bottle Simon gave him. While waiting for Holly to get on the phone, John realizes the location on the bottom of the aspirin bottle given to him by Simon, at this point knowing where the bad guys are at and runs away, dropping the phone and now needing to complete the fucking mission, the day. (Btw, I find it interesting that John, an NYC cop, needed to find Simon in... Nova Scotia, Canada. Interesting, eh?) Anyways, poor Holly comes to the phone yelling John’s name and once again she's not the priority. Yes, we know for the most part – HUGE part – Kenny is very private about himself, his life and family as he should. I will tread lightly. What I take from these lyrics and how they connect into some of the characteristics of John McClane are the possible vices and linear focus Whitney probably had to deal with with Kenny from time to time. Patience wasn’t a practice; she may have mastered the art and the evils that were chasing and plaguing Kenny. He had to get them aligned, face them and out of the way to unburden his loved ones. Lyrics Do you love me? Do you trust me? Can I trust you? Don't judge me I'ma die hard, it gets ugly Too passionate, it gets ugly First, I must point out that Kendrick makes fun of Drake by using his own melody/how he sings from the song “In My Feelings” from the album “Scorpion”. Such a whiny guy, my goodness. Anyways, Kendrick may have been conveying to Whitney and/or loved ones, that what he was about to embark on will have some rough waters – very rough waters – and it will be bad before it gets better and implores his loved one(s) to understand him, and that what he’s going to do is going to be pretty nasty… albeit it will be roughly 4 years later. Lyrics: I got some regrets I-I-I-I-I-I-I But my past won't keep me from my best I-I-I-I-I-I-I Subtle mistakes felt like life or death I-I-I-I-I-I-I John, like Kenny, with all the regrets they had, big or small, no matter what, they will always be the best at their work. John, for one, was in dangerous situations where one wrong move and/or a small mistake damn near could have killed him. Kenny may have gone through the same situations but possibly not as literal as John. Lyrics: The world be reminding me it's danger I'll still risk it all for a stranger Kenny has seen and knows things, and I won’t say what I think they are. Some of it has already been said in his music, some information is out there already (DarkKenny, for example). And like John McClane, Kenny had a mission to carry out in 2024 and was one of the only ones, next to Pusha T, that was ready to take down Drake. The difference is, Kenny made sure to plan everything to a T so that Drake couldn’t get away with what he got away with when it came to his beef with Pusha T. John risks his life for strangers all day and night. We all know the “stranger(s)” Kenny is talking about. Observations and Parallels (other than what I initially pointed out): Die Hard (1st Movie) Lucy and Jack (A.K.A John McClane Jr.) So, one that isn’t planned, of course, is that McClane has 2 children: Lucy and Jack (John McClane Jr.) Lucy is the oldest. Dot has 2 children and Uzi is the oldest. I wonder if Dot thought about this in terms of incorporating Die Hard themes in the song. You never know. The Cowboy… John McClane was first called a “cowboy” by Hans (in the first movie), and it seems to be somewhat a moniker for McClane and/or people like him. Rogue, tough, independent, innovative with a whole lot of heart and almost fearless. Cowboys also have a code of being loyal, honest, with emphasis on working hard and hospitality. Nat Love And speaking of cowboys, let’s not forget some of the original cowboys who were African American such as Nat Love. Nat (Nate is the pronunciation) Love was one of the 1st known black cowboys (and a Gemini) who, at the time, taught himself how to read and write when he was a kid, although it was prohibited. His father helped him. Nat started off working at a farm and since he was good at horse training, he hustled and then left his hometown at 16 years old. Once he arrived in Kansas, he found work as a cowboy and fought cattle rustlers. He trained himself to be a marksman and, of course, a cowboy which garnered him the nickname “Red River Dick” (he had other interesting monikers like Deadwood Dick). Love, not his last name, is what caused his retirement from being a cowboy. Kendrick was inspired by the Compton Cowboys, who have their own line of clothing. I wouldn’t be surprised history also played a part. Is there any other reason why Kendrick calls himself, “Compton Cowboy”? Dot adopted another alias which is “The Compton Cowboy” and he and Baby Keem have called themselves, “The Hillbillies”. Look at them fits!!! Dot is very much a cowboy. Of course, not in the literal sense like vaccinating animals and tending cattle… unless there is something we don’t know about yet hahahahaa! A Good Day To Die Hard's Komarov - main bad guy in the last Die Hard movie. Difference in expression on the face Another observation from the OG Die Hard movie I noticed was when Hans fell from Nakatomi Tower at the end of the movie. I remember when I was younger this scene was super cool to me, the cinematics of it; drama and reaction. Well, the Compton Cowboy utilized this in the music video, “Swimming Pools (Drank)”. Of course, Dot isn’t always super literal with what inspires him and, in this instance, he may have thought that scene was cool in Die Hard and was inspired to capture the dramatics of that scene and match it to the theme of the song in a different way. John has a sister. I'm not sure if the sister is younger or older. Kendrick has a little sister who he has spoken about and referenced in his songs. The other thing that is on some fandom wiki’s, John McClane was born on May 23rd, 1955, making him a Gemini. I saw some birthdates online that said March 13th and March 19th, 1955. When I rewatched “Live Free and Die Hard”, Thomas Gabriel, one of the bad guys, dug into John McClane’s background, I saw John’s I.D. and it does indeed say May 23rd, as the date of birth, although the year is a bit difficult to see. And yes, Dot is a Gem, himself. Die Hard 2 In the 2nd installment of the series, we learn more that John is not a fan of technology. In the OG movie he looked for Holly’s name in what appeared to be a touchscreen, and you can see the slight grimace on his face, and of course his further displeasure of seeing his wife’s maiden and not married name logged into the system of Nakatomi Towers. In the 2nd movie, Holly mentions to the older lady next to her on the plane that was heading to Washington, D.C., that John wasn’t a fan of technology and when she gets on the phone with him on the plane, he mentions that technology stopped when they created microwave dinners. Even Al Powell, the twinkie-eating cop that was a huge help to John in the 1st movie, chuckled at John for using a fax machine to fax some fingerprints from a bad guy who was killed by John. In the 3rd Die Hard movie, John becomes angry at a cell phone in the car that he was using to contact Inspector Cobb that goes out when he drives through a tunnel. He screamed, “Goddamn cellular fucking phones!!!” Kendrick, I think, likes certain aspects of technology. However, he may dislike the way it’s been used. Tech connects to social media and many other things. So, for example you have Drake who has used social media to troll or to be petty, etc. Many people are guilty of this plus talking too much and showing too much of themselves and life. The other thing to note is how Kendrick communicates online and how he takes pictures, with some saying he’s like an old man who hasn’t or doesn’t know how to use a phone to take pictures ever in his life (which I love that he does this). On the social media accounts we know of, he rarely posts anything. Moving on. John had to deal with a jealous cop, Captain Carmine Lorenzo, who refused to listen to him when it came to John’s concerns about the nefarious shit going on at the airport. Carmine mentions that he knew who John was, called him a “hot shot L.A. cop” – all this hater-aid because John saved hostages, which included his wife, from Nakatomi Tower and he was labeled a hero. Reminds me of all the people that have been jealous of Kendrick, up until now. Especially when it comes to the Great Rap Battle of 2024, the way Dot demolished Drake has made some of these rappers feel a certain way about themselves. Some of them wanted to be the ones to oust Drake from the music scene themselves and some were enamored by the skills and strategy of Dot in the battle. Very few applauded Kendrick for what he did, and many showed their envy by downplaying the battle/beef. Die Hard with a Vengeance Samuel L. Jackson. Yes, one of the most obvious connections to Kendrick is Uncle Sam… the Uncle Sam who opened the Super Bowl 2025 Half Time Show. As I said before, Samuel L. Jackson’s character’s name is Zeus Carver and he is largely the reason John McClane is alive because he would’ve either been severely injured or dead had Zeus not thought fast enough to have John act as a mental patient (and snatching the gun taped on McClane’s back) in front of the group of guys not at all liking the sign he wore (IYKYK). Yippee-Ki-Yay, Motherf**ker! Oh yes, the famous line John says at the end after he kills the villain or right before doing so. The one word he uses is “motherfucker”. Well, Dot has been using “Motherfucker” as of late; he uses this word at the end of “Man at the Garden” and on the Clipse’s stellar album, “Let God Sort ‘Em Out” on “Chains and Whips”. I still feel Dot will drop an East Coast type album (I mention this on my video, “Kendrick Lamar may be dropping an…East Coast album”. Go check that out that video or read it on the blog to see why I think he might do so. I appreciate it and the support!) because of the little signs he’s left since the rap beef (Mr. Morale and possibly before that) and now the “Die Hard” series makes it a little more potent. John McClane is a NYC lieutenant, but I think he was born in New Jersey. On the Grand National tour in 2025, Dot and company made a stop in NJ (I went to the 1st show) and Dot not only brought out Baby Keem on the 2nd night, but the red GNX was revealed (Also check out my theory of the red GNX which is on my blog and YouTube which is called “Was Kendrick Lamar inspired by Knight Rider and… Transformers for GNX album?”). This, of course, didn’t happen in any other city or country they visited. Totality of it all… K-Dot probably didn’t want to be the one who upended Drake in a battle where he’s pointing out the many disgusting flaws of Drake and things he may have done. No one else was stepping up to the plate. Instead, they continue to exchange subliminals to each other and that becomes tedious and…boring. However, Kendrick stepping up to knock that bitch down is what saved hip-hop, contrary to what some naysayers are saying from the beginning of the battle and as of recently. John McClane was not on a mission to save everyone from these horrible thieves and terrorists. He was always at the wrong place at the wrong time… although I would say not really, as his ex-wife Holly was twice saved by John (I will come back to these movies for an in-depth analysis). John, in his mind, had no choice. “Serve and Protect”. This is what he swore to once he became a cop. In “Live Free and Die Hard”, Matt Farrell, the young guy John had to save from the tech terrorists, said that he couldn’t handle anymore people trying to kill him and John said, “You get used to it” as he walked away from Matt. I wonder if Dot had similar thoughts, possibly being questioned about the plethora of subliminals from Drake and other rap artists. There was also Matt and John referencing each other as “that guy”. Let’s see, Kendrick called himself, “That ni**a” and Tyler the Creator called himself “That Guy” in the song titled as the same over Kendrick’s “Hey Now” production from GNX. All the villains - Hans Gruber Colonel Stuart Simon Gruber Thomas Gabriel Komarov The baby. Btw, the bad guys are a bunch of greedy, stealing bastards who pretend that what they are doing is for the greater good when it’s absolutely not. Everything is for them at the end of the day and if people must die for it, so be it. It’s all about their bottom line. Drake is a seriously greedy person who only cares about himself and has tried to pretend that some of his actions, like the recent court case he has against UMG, are for independent artists and artists alike. Him passing out money, mimicking XXXTentacion in 2017 with “God’s Plan” music video when he knew full and well, he was making a killing off of the song and the album, “Scorpion” and nothing he did came from the heart. Putting artists “on” but then they end up in the OVO sweatshop. Dude taking songs from independent artists like from SoundCloud and other places, purportedly, and using that music for his own albums and Eps/LPs and mixtapes. There’s more. Selfishness to the core. In the end, Kendrick, like John McClane, takes his career very, very seriously. As Kenny said before he would die for this shit. It’s his love, the love of his life and even in the song “Gloria” he speaks of the ups and downs of the love for his “pen”. Just like John McClane was a born police officer and defender of innocent people, Kenny was born a musician. “McClane is a man who does not like himself much but is doing the best he can in a bad situation”. Bruce Willis also said, “Even though he's a hero, he is just a regular guy. He's an ordinary guy who's been thrown into extraordinary circumstances.” He didn’t want to be a hero, just like Dot isn’t anyone’s “savior”. John’s a man who needed desperately to work through his issues. Unfortunately, whatever happened caused Holly and him to divorce. Dot did the work and has been doing the work to be a better and healthier person for himself and his family. Dot doesn’t want to end up like John McClane in his faux personal life. However, Dot has his heart and that’s what makes him… that guy. THE END!!!!!!!! Thanks for all of the support! I appreciate you all!

Lisa Todd Wexley - Probably one of the few outfits that's dope. Lisa Todd Wexley . I feel like there's a lot of misunderstanding with her life. Personally, I don't see the point of her character being there if she's not there to be a part of the main cast. I think it's lame that she's not a part of them as much, I'll go into that in a second. The boob - I mean - Herbert Wexley... The 3RD SON CALLED "A HUSBAND"... Let’s talk about the husband. I think his name is Marion or some bullshit like that. I don't like him . I don't like him at all. I feel like he's one of those guys that unfortunately, how can I put this nicely? His name is Herbert. That's his name. I feel like he's one of those dudes that he became so complacent in the relationship, meaning like he’s just so happy with what he receives from her. She’s always there, taking care of everything. This man has a mother, if I remember right and I'm thinking to myself, bro, she's not mommy number 2. This is ridiculous. But I also must blame it on LTW, too. She's partly the blame on what she's kinda given out. That's a lot of us women. We give so much to our relationships that we forget about us. We forget our wants and needs in relationships and Herbert is no exception. Herbert sucks . A team... I guess... - Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO There are times, though, where he shows up for her. For example, when LTW's assistant editor or editor was offered - I think Alexander McQueen or something like that, or Steve McQueen - a position and she took it and she had every right to. She waited 8 years or something like that for Lisa to get all her stuff correct with her kids and be there to raise them, right? New mommy business. But it was time for her to do what she wanted to do. Honestly, I felt like they just wanted to write her out because they had a new interesting story to give Lisa, which I'll get into that. So, the husband, I mean, obviously Lisa was upset, but the husband, once he found out what was irking her, kind of had to “talk” her off the ledge. Okay. I mean, so there are times where he does show up for her, but I feel like he, as a grown ass man, he has not shown himself to be an adult in their relationship enough for me or at least making sure that the kids were independent. Now her kids - their kids – seem very bright, very intelligent, well-rounded children. But my problem with it is, like, I think it's one of the episodes where her daughter was like, “ You're never here anymore! ” Lisa didn't get these specific waters or whatever that she wanted. And I'm like, “Get the fuck out of here with this shit!!!!” They're in New York. They live probably in the Upper East Side. They're old enough. That's another thing. These kids are way old enough to go to and from school and go into any store, any Whole Fuckin’ Foods or any Artisan type markets that they have up there. Gristede's, which is a staple in New York - I don't even know if it's still around, but these kinds of stores exist. They don't need their mommy to get them. I think it's fucked up that Herbert isn't also - and Lisa as well - that they're not allowing these kids to have some sort of independence or teaching them independence. I think that's lame. I don’t like that at all. She's part of whatever PTA that they have at the school. Then on top of that, now she must come back and take care of Herbert and children. 2 out of the 3 Wexley children - Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO Listen, I at times used to have to take my ass to and from school from New Lots all the way to Bed-Stuy, BKLYN. No school bus picking me up. I had to take the B10 at the time and go to school and come back home at times by myself because my so-called brother that is five years older than me was not responsible enough. Mind you, he was 11. But our “hag of a mother” worked in the city - in Manhattan. So, we had to do shit for ourselves and go back and forth to school. There were no nannies. There were no adult figures looking after us (unless you count the neighborhood adults who kept a “watch” on you…dealers, maybe some neighbors, etc. That’s the ‘hood, for ya). We had to deal with shit ourselves. So, these kids who are basically teens at this point or preteens in Manhattan could go to a store that's probably around the corner. I think it's bullshit and it kind of tells me the type of people who were writing this part of the show. It's disgusting, but I'll move on. NANNIES? Why don't they have nannies, right? Would it make sense if they had nannies? But on the other hand, I could understand Lisa not wanting to have nannies. The same goes for Charlotte. They don't want to have nannies raising their kids and I totally get it. I think a great example I'm going to give is an episode on the show “ ATLanta ” called “ Trini 2 De Bone ”. It's absolutely the most perfect episode to watch to understand why I can understand why LTW and Charlotte didn't hire any nannies. As an example for myself, my “hag of a mother”, (and just a warning, that's what I call my mother. My mother and I do not talk. If I say hag or hag of a mother, I'm talking about my biological mother), worked in Manhattan. She was a nanny and a housekeeper. She's still a nanny. So, I think that, for some parents - and I'm talking about the parents that have money that are hiring these nannies and whatnot - they're not there for the kids as much. I mean, enough that they pretty much call their nannies their mom or their second mom. That's what they do. I grew up watching this in real time, having gone to Manhattan, having been around these kids, played with these kids, and “hag” has been in their life and been more supportive to these kids than she ever had been to me. For most children, that's very devastating. I got used to it. One, I didn't like her around. For some kids, it's extremely devastating. Especially the community I grew up in, Brownsville. There are kids whose parent(s) were working all the time. A lot of us had to fend for ourselves. But in this case with Lisa and Charlotte, I can see them probably meeting a lot of these nannies or these families and (and this is me just writing in a plot here for the show because they're so terrible at it) they've met parents who barely even know their kids. Which is sort of the case with me because both my parents don't know me as well as they think they know me. But I can see them wanting to be there from start, to as close to finish as possible with raising their children because they don't want to be accused of being “those” kinds of parents in the city, specifically Manhattan, because it used to be a thing. It used to be a thing amongst a lot of the nanny community. It's dark. It's not pretty. Always busy... - Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO Some parents say they miss their kids or they don't have time for them as much, because they're working 12 hours a day taking care of other people's children. They’re getting their meals at 5 o'clock, 4:30 at times. They're getting their play dates; they're getting this or that in a timely fashion due to having their nannies (meanwhile, the nannies’ kids at home have fun by themselves or with siblings) There are communities of women - a very high Caribbean population of nannies and housekeepers that would come together and have play dates. My whole point is just to say that it's not easy. I can imagine it's not easy for LTW or Charlotte, especially if they want to be there in their kids' lives the entire time. They don't want to miss anything. So, I commend them for it and for wanting to be there. Maybe having a part-time nanny would be cool, but since their kids are older it's kind of a moot point at this point. Maybe having a housekeeper, that will run those errands and do those little things they’re too scared to have their children complete. But personally, I feel like all their kids are old enough to do for themselves, to go shopping, etc. They need to be prepared to be adults, especially since they're talking to them hella crazy, talking to them a certain fuckin’ way. These kids are out of their fuckin’ mind! So that’s my thought on that. Moreover, this is New York. You should want to be independent. There’s a different air about New York as a teen. I used to hang out in the West and East Village. My high school was in Manhattan. There's something about that independence that's beautiful and it's weird that these kids are super attached for New York City kids. Very odd. I don't know. I don't get it. It's whatever. That's the story they want to go with. Cool. The 'Mentary that was Docked. Permanently. I want to move on to that documentary that LTW is working on. From the YouTube videos I watched, I do crack up on it because a lot of people are like, they don't care for it. I agree . I don't care. It's not even going anywhere. If this whole thing was going somewhere for real and was a bit authentic, it would make sense. For example, remember in “ Sex and the City ”, Miranda wanted to become partner, right? If you noticed in every season, you knew that Miranda was working on being a partner and it was cool, there was growth, emerging. Then what happens? She becomes partner at the law firm only for Steve to dump her for being “out of her league”. So, I think that is something that they're lacking in the show. We don't even see anything cool about the documentary. We don't see any kind of like, oh, she's playing some of it. We're just seeing these weird stills and maybe some movement. Oh, my God!!! I hate it. I hate it. I don't blame people for being irritated with it. I just wish they would do something where we can feel there is something they understand as the writers that, she's doing something for African Americans and unsung and hero sheroes, but they're not doing that. You know why I feel like they're not doing that? Because they don't even fuckin’ know what the hell that woman's doing. They're just putting it out there as a filler. Let her do something that's very black. I think that’s so nasty and such a throwaway. I think that's lame as fuck. I don't care for them. You know, if that's the case, scrap the whole fuckin’ thing. It's stupid. I get it. It’s been 8 years since she's been working on this, but it's bullshit. So, I totally agree with people being annoyed by this whole storyline with the documentary. Marion... the new editor. Now suddenly, she might cheat (she doesn’t). I don't know what the fuck they're doing. I must go into why it's such a disservice for black women on the show. Like you're not even trying to delve in deeper into black history, American, black, black American history, African American history, where it would not come off pretentious and a throwaway, but like you're really trying to be inclusive when it comes to her. You’re not doing shit. So, I don't know. It pisses me off with them. Some of the outfits are horrible. Not all of them. Actually I will say it's more the accessories and sometimes the wig. (My YouTube video doesn't have this recent edit) I don't know if it's done on purpose. I don't know if it's intentional, to be covered up (part of her character) or some shit. Beautiful without it - Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO Here's what I feel when it comes to her outfits and certain things. Number one, notice that she's not really around the other women, the other four girls around Seema. She's not around Miranda. She's not around Charlotte. I don't even know how she even said 5 words to others or five sentences to Sarah Jessica Parker. I mean, I'm sorry, Carrie. This is my thought on it. If it's not a storyline thing about her clothes, I think it's done on purpose. I feel like Lisa Todd Wexler or Wexley - whatever her friggin’ last name is - I think this is the Samantha effect. She is the woman who is Samantha. What do I mean? I think low key Sarah Jessica Parker is jealous of her. Yes, I am saying that. Nicole Ari Parker (another Parker, huh?), I feel like she is jealous of that woman because she's damn near the same age as her and looks fabulous. She is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Samantha, beautiful. Statuesque, blonde. All of that. I feel like she's getting treated the same way. Now, if you notice in every goddamn episode, damn near, everybody must compliment Carrie. I personally think Carrie and Sarah Jessica Parker are the same people. They're both narcissists. She is a narcissist. I'm putting it out there. She’s a fucking narcissist . HARD G . I think that's one of the biggest reasons why Kim won't fuck with her. She recognized she's a narcissist and some people don’t recognize narcissists outright. Great example of how SJP is dressed and the frumpy looking dress LTW is wearing. SJP was not about to let anyone outshine her. Gross - Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO But I digress because that is coming up on another blog. I feel like that's how Nicole Ari is being treated. She is being treated like Kim. She needs to be the most beautiful mutherfucker and I'm not saying Seema is ugly. She is not ugly. She's beautiful to me. But she's older and she looks older. Sarah Jessica Parker needs to be around people that she feels like she looks better than and let's be real. She doesn’t look better than friggin’ Charlotte, that's for sure. But Charlotte got some work done. She looks a little different but she's still beautiful. I also think that Charlotte is around or Kristen Davis is around because no offense, probably kisses her ass a little bit. You can have a seat at the table. But the fact that we're not seeing LTW around tells me she's purposely doing that. She is an executive producer. She has a lot of say in there. Not saying that Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Davis don't have pull, but there's no reason for them to want to exclude her. I feel like it's very, very, very much SJP who is responsible for this. That's what I think. So, you guys let me know what you think about that one for sure. Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO Another thing is, I feel like LTW is sort of the new “Miranda”. Hear me out on this. Okay, so the reason why I feel like she's the new “Miranda” it's how many times she shows up for everybody. Now, I'm not saying that Charlotte doesn't. Charlotte has always been there, for the most part, for her friends. But I feel like the difference is that Miranda rarely gets a thank you for it. And again, not saying that Charlotte didn't either at times, but Miranda REALLY doesn't. We've seen what the fuck this woman has gone through, even in the movie, the first movie. But she is another very busy woman, has a career, has her children and what is she doing? She's helping Anthony. She's helping all these people all the time. She's always there. She's always fuckin’ there. She can't even have a seat at the damn table at the end of episode 9. The fuck is that?! That's some Bullshit!!! I think it's lame. And I feel like, yeah, she's the black Miranda. I'll even go as far as say she's the black Miranda-Charlotte. I think that's whack. Like she's supposed to be everybody's servant or something. Like the snap of their fingers and it's like, you could come run and take care of this, then see your way out. Hell, her own husband treats her sort of the same way. That money must be really good for her to want to deal with that or to have her storyline be so ass. Marion and LTW... tsk...tsk... plop - Credit: ...And Just Like That/HBO So, the last thing I want to talk about really in the end of it all is her crush on this new editor. I think his name is Marion and why that's even happening. It’s a bit simple. So obviously, they need to write something for her. Let's be real, right? If we get to the bare bones of it, they need to write something with fireworks when it comes to Lisa, if you want to call this “fireworks”, it's the same old fuckin’ story, right? It'd be funny, though, to find out that he was gay or some craziness. Not if they wrote it that way. Who knows? But yeah, I mean, I think he had a wife or something like that. But I think the reason why this is happening, and it's simple, is basically Groundhog's Day for Lisa. Every single day. I know how that feels. No one needs to live like that for someone who has all this money and can do anything she wants and live anywhere she wants. But no, her man wants to be a Comptroller. But, for LTW to just go on vacations and just… “be” for a while. Every single day she has the same life, same routine. That is very, very, very depressing. It's a hard life to live. I know this because that's my life now. I see that with her. So, this shiny brand-new guy, different, probably smells different. He looks different from her husband. I think for her she’s attracted to the “new” and that's why she's responding that way because she's always dealing with her home. She's dealing with her family. It's all the fuckin’ time. That's a lot for anybody. Now, I'm hoping she doesn't do anything stupid or crazy (She doesn’t). That’s so far what I think of the whole dynamic with Lisa and her family and friends. I think it's cool that her and Charlotte have a great friendship. I just feel like she should be included within that circle. Personally, they need to kick Carrie out the fuckin’ group because she's a cunt. My rant on Carrie is going to be later. It's right there in my chest. I have so much to say about that woman. It's refreshing to see other people saying similar things that I have with my thought process with her, but mine runs a little bit deeper. Just A tad bit. Who knows? That's what you guys can discern.

Did we miss some things said and/or shown in the music videos and/or songs released by K-Dot during the great "beef" of 2024? First I would like to mention this lyric below: Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, Dot, fuck 'em up Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, I'ma do my stuff So, the website Genius has an explanation for it that I don't entirely agree with. If you want to see what it is, check out their website. I could be reaching here with what I think this is but when I originally heard this I told my guy right out, "Meg Thee Stallion". Why I say this? I truly think, in how it was worded and said, that Meg may have contacted Dot for all we know and told him literally "Fuck 'em up" or "Fuck that crew up" or whatever on some lyrical shit and Kendrick replied back he would. "Wop" is most likely "WAP", which is the title of the song Meg Thee Stallion and Cardi B created, which was a huge hit in 2020. Meg did release a song called "Hiss" dissing Drake at the top of 2024 (I don't like genderizing, but she was the only woman to confront him) and I wouldn't be surprised that Kendrick and Meg had a conversation about Drake and Kendrick paid homage to and/or mentioned Megan in arguably one of the greatest diss tracks of all time. (Any of K-Dot's songs during the battle is up for debate, hence why I said arguably). Kendrick even shined a light on Rihanna with the lyrics "Man Down, call an amberlamps, tell him, "Breathe bro"". "Man Down" is a song from Rihanna's "Loud" album, which, to me, is one of her best songs ever. (I'm Caribbean American and love reggae and I think Rihanna did an amazing job on that song). Anyways, Meg did a great job calling out Drake on "Hiss". Too bad Nicki thought that song was solely about her. Another reason/scenario could be that it's still "WAP", still paying homage to Meg but the conversation never happened. I mean, we know "WAP" mean "Wet Ass Pussy". However it can be a combination of "WAP" in the first line and "Wop" in the second line. That's just my take on it. Not Like Us music video: Tommy the Clown - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang I think it's obvious that one is supposed to see an owl or some kind of resemblance to a face when seeing this set up. I saw an owl. I haven't seen anyone mention this, though. At least not in the spaces I frequent. I did also notice (I could be reaching here as well) that this could also resemble Drake (eyebrows could be the horizontal slash in the speaker). I think this could have been Dot's play on a "Rorschach test" for the viewers. I also believe Tommy, Kendrick and the dancers are all in a shipping container, btw. Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang Now here the above picture is interesting, and I saw no one commenting on this. Tommy the Clown presses play on the record player. However, there is no record there. What does this mean? I see no grooves of a record. The combination of photos have led me to believe that this set up is supposed to be Drake and the record player may be Drake's brain... that has no musical talent, or something to that effect in it. Tommy just presses a button and the player spins. Mind you, a clown is pressing a button on this record player in a room that resembles a shipping container or Conex box. If I'm right, this is truly a diabolical visual diss. I guess the lack of hair makes it even worse. Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang Now this maybe a "schizo" sighting on my part but no one has said anything about it, and I noticed it the first time I watched the video. I told my guy, "Are those eyes?" He didn't see them at first. I had to pause the video a few times for him to see it. The more I did that, the more I was like "these look like owl eyes". Everything K-Dot does is intentional. I've watched this video so many times. This was in full view and not hidden. I tried looking up other shipping containers that may have this kind of logo and nothing showed up. It made me wonder if this is a stamp/logo that Drake allegedly has on his shipments so that other companies know what to pick up/ship. If you watch this part of the music video, which you can watch on YouTube, Kendrick doesn't hide this logo/whatever this thing is at all. I feel like there is something to this, but I may be wrong. There are also other numbers and identifiers on these containers people in the Kendrick reddit community (y'all know who you are😉) researched on this. I'll leave it at that and let y'all find that on your own. The Boogeyman... Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang I watched the video without sound a few times while researching for the blog and realized something while putting this together. What if this music video is created with K-Dot literally in Drake's head? Is this Drake's living nightmare and/or nightmare/Drake having a dream? Like Dot is supposed to be Drake's nightmare? (Which he is😁) Look at the beginning of the video. Kendrick shows up, adlibs similar to Friday the 13th btw, and is moving through a dimly lit hallway wearing white, flicking lighters (a signature to Lil' Wayne, which could signify some things, one of which I think is Lil Wayne was the one who put Drake "on" in the first place but Lil' Wayne shows up in Drake's "nightmare" in the form of Kendrick Lamar. In the beginning of the video, we all know it is Dot but he's indiscernible initially) while the lights are also flickering on and off. It almost seems like Kendrick shows up as a Boogeyman... and a God. The opening alone seems to have layers. You then see the next scenes which are the photos above with Tommy the Clown. Dot did say "I see dead people" on the track and in the video. When Dot says this... is he saying this as Drake or as himself? Or both? I say this because Drake has been allegedly accused of XXXTentacion's and possibly other's demise. Drake may be haunted. I can see this meaning more, of course, the obvious being Dot obliterating Drake in this rap battle. Tommy the Clown's next line is "You're late..."which can mean many things: You're late - You should've been axed out a long time ago, allegedly, for the demise of important figure(s) in music and our culture You're late - You should've been called out for your fake gangsta ass a long time ago and many people should have appropriately checked you for that and those people are just as questionable You're late - You should've been called out for every fucking lie you've been caught in and there's been many... You're late - G.O.A.T.? Really? Not when you have ghostwriters, which have been made painfully obvious after the battle. (Even before the battle, let's be forreal. J Cole can hold you up only so much) You're late - Let's add to the last one: Using a phone in a freestyle at Hot97 in 2009 and stupid ass Funk Master Flex allowed that shit? I'm from BKLYN. No respect for that. Not-a-one. You're late - You should've been kicked down uneven, jagged steps many times for disrespecting women, especially of color and artists with solid families because you're a broken, unhappy man-child. You're late - Allegedly stealing your own artists music as well as independent artists on Soundcloud, etc. Pathetic. You're late - Consistently being a bully on social network platforms and in music and then love playing victim You're late - There is probably more. However, for those who may have been victims, allegedly. Lastly, for the little ones who have yet to know about a DNA test and learn of their lineage. Fill in the blanks. Lastly, "You're late" - For the rap battle (which was the most obvious), via Drake's perspective. It may not mean any of this, but this is my interpretation. Drake should’ve been gone a long time ago and should've never been as big as he was before the beef. Before social media, he would have been called out. I would delve into my thoughts of Drake in another blog, probably. Tommy the Clown - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free & pgLang I digress. I'm still figuring out why Tommy the Clown looked shocked after Kendrick said what he said at the door and why he stepped away from the record player with his hands up a little later in the video. Is the camera supposed to symbolize Drake's eyes on everything? Or Kendrick's? Or is Kendrick and the amazing dancers facing Tommy and the record player set up? I must add that when Kendrick flips the bird the next shot is the one above. The latter question makes more sense. 12 people facing Tommy the Clown, operating a simple digital record player with no record that looks like an owl or a person (whatever you may interpret it) is interesting. Does 12 people represent a potential "jury"? Possibly. Very cheeky of Dot, btw, if that is the case. Drake's on trial, figuratively and literally. Dave Free and Kenny - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang I won't go into much detail here because this is one of the quickest edits/shots of the entire video and is one of the most controversial. I will say this: Dot and Free is clearly doing a familiar "handshake" that OVO does. Now, what led up to this rapid-fire series of edits is Dave, who is seen on a cell phone with a jacket over his forearm and a young lady next to him (who resembles one of the dancers). "Business" is being conducted, shall we say, with a deal being closed with Dot, wearing a suit, is now on the phone. I'm assuming the "handshake" is really, allegedly, some OVO "mafia" type shit that Drake may think he originated. When I see the OVO handshake or the "OK" sign, it makes me think of white supremist’. (I will come back to this in a later blog) The Family - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang When the family appears, the way the camera changes is interesting. It looks as if someone is watching them. My thoughts on this are I think this is supposed to be Drake watching Dot with his family enjoying themselves, living their life... and subsequently celebrating and dancing over his "grave". Drake supposedly thinks he knows K-Dot and his life when he doesn't at all. Super dope for Whitney to get her lick back, though. But, let's face it, Drake comes off like he wants to know more about Dot's life. A bit "Peep Freakish" if you think about it... If you understand what I said above, you would understand this scene. Credit: House Party/New Line Cinema - 1990 The G.O.A.T. - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, pgLang Near the end of the video Kendrick is seen with 3 clear reflections of himself. I liken it to him seeing himself (and he said it on the song, "Like That") as the number 1 MC in the rap game thus far, the G.O.A.T...and "Big Me". No more Cole or Drake on that list. One Last Thing The arm of one of the dancers - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, PgLang "Girls Don't Cry". Just like some things I pointed out I haven't seen yet mentioned, this is also one of them. I'm going to be careful with this one. I remember listening to a “live” of a content creator and one of the members commented about the tattoos saying some were fake and the rest were real. I never forgot that. So, I fixated on the "Girls Don't Cry" one (I won't touch the '444' one) because I know I saw the design before. (I have no idea if the tattoos are fake, btw) The design. Now... fast forward a few months later I decided to finally research this and this may be the most well-hidden piece so far. When you search for this phrase, you will see t-shirts with this phrase printed on them with this exact design. Verdy, a Japanese designer, is the owner/creator. He isn't the point of this but once you click on the link (which is very obvious, as you will see girlsdon'tcry.shop link) you will see a word that stands out as it stood out for me which was Harajuku. This made me think immediately of "Tanea", a lady who, allegedly, was invited to one of Diddy's "parties" and stated she saw younger females dressed as Harajuku girls on a program (I don't need to explain in detail what I mean by "younger females". Watch the interview on YouTube) who was interviewed on a YouTube program called "Soft White Underbelly", which the interviewer speaks to different people with different and relatable issues and problems, ranging from mental, abuse, drug abuse, etc. The initial interview with Tanea was in 2022. The next one that mentioned the Harajuku girls was in October 2024. I feel only a few people would know what that tattoo REALLY meant, and Dot made sure this was in full view. This message was loud and clear, and Dot may know some things about Drake. Some may wonder what does this have to do with the Boy? Well, since Drake had partied and had been at Diddy parties (assumedly, as well as Dennis Graham), allegedly, he could have known and been in the presence of young people who shouldn't have been there in the first place. With that being said... Final Thoughts Diddy's trial starts on 5/5/2025. There will be A LOT of revelations, and it won't be pretty. Drake must know this. I also think this is why of all the songs released in the beef, NLU needs to go, according to the Boy. In fact, if Drake gets his way, all of those songs he would make sure they are banished because they reveal way more than some of us even realize, allegedly (and some of us have already) and he's stressed and stressing over it. Oh well. Don't be a bully and there won’t be any problems. Some of these findings may be something or maybe nothing. They were on my mind, and they feel like they fit somewhere in the jigsaw puzzle that is this "beef". The real ones must know by now it is bigger than a rap beef. If you know, you know. I'll leave at that. "Not Like Us" music video is one of the greatest music videos created for a rap battle, layered and, not only catered only to the Boy but for our people, who continue to forget who they are and prioritize money, attention and status over education, mental health and strength, empathy and culture. BTW, I changed my mind. The camera, to me, is supposed to be Drake watching Kendrick's every move. Makes sense. UPDATE 2/6/26: As I said above, I believe camera angles in NLU music video, down to the fish lens shots are all supposed to be the interpretation of Drake constantly watching Kendrick's every move. We've seen most recently that Drake likes to pretty much copy what Kendrick does (hence the "How to be like Kendrick Lamar book in the music video Squabble Up") in his music video "Nokia", clearly copying "NLU" and "Luther". Most importantly, Drake seems to want to know EVERYTHING about Dot, his contracts, etc, which he made clear on his lawsuit towards UMG. Like I said before, Drake comes off a bit peep freakish... and the following stills from music videos Dave Free directed conveys this possible theory: Where's Waldo? More like Where's OKLAMA and Baby Keem... - Family Ties - Credit: Baby Keem/pgLang (Doesn't help a few years later Kendrick was seen sitting in a loft-like room with other people including Dave around him wearing a "Where's Waldo?" type look... see below. ⬇️ Project 3. Where's Kenny? I really wonder about these images on Family Ties... money exchanged on the street... surveillance as people shopped on the top right...hmmm... - Family Ties - Credit: Baby Keem/pgLang Same as above minus the money exchange... - Family Ties - Credit: Baby Keem/pgLang Camera angles matters. In this scene he directly looks at the camera and says, "Ho" as the camera zooms in quickly - Family Ties - Credit: Baby Keem/pgLang And here we see peak "Peep Freakish" behavior where it seemed like another vehicle pulled up to see what was good with Keem and Normani. Normani signaled to Dot, who took care of business and this vehicle veers off. So many questions...- Family Ties - Credit: Baby Keem/pgLang Here you see Dot summoning, in my opinion, Drake (because, as I said, in NLU, the camera is supposed to be Drake watching) to come closer, money flying all over the place because - well - you can't buy THIS CULTURE. And Drake has done that. So Kendrick needed to put him and anyone else who needed some education up on some game. - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang One of the few times Kendrick looked directly into the camera in this video. He wanted to make a point. A clear point. - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang Back to "Where's Kenny?" again... - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang Dot waves to Drake. - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang This is interesting and didn't fully notice this until I slowed the video down. Right before the next scene of Dot looking at the owl, we see a group of young black girls. This is a message in itself. The camera doesn't look down at them, it looks UP to them. - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang Quite possibly the most incredible captures in music video history. The story it tells. You can't even see Kendrick's eyes. Menacing. No remorse. And there's a reason for it. - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang And this is where some people felt sorry for Drake. Some will say they felt bad for the owl itself, and yes, for some that's true. However, there are some people who saw the owl cowering away from Dot, seeing Dot as the aggressor, the "real" bully, and Drake, in essence being the victim. I also think pgLang did that intentionally, like a psychological study on what happens post-beef. They weren't wrong with their results - AT ALL - if the reactions we have seen thus far are what they predicted would happen. - Not Like Us - Credit: Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free, and pgLang Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading. Disclaimer: (Um, oh yeah, so these are my thoughts and opinions, and these thoughts and opinions are ALLEGED so, if you think this weighs more than 300lbs, I can't hold you.) Entertainment purposes only.

A revelation I realized while editing to make the YouTube video for part 1 of this video. Kendrick utilizing Michael Knight makes more sense now than ever and I stand on this 100%... but I can still be wrong. As I said before Michael Knight is a crime fighter, hero, etc. Yes, Kendrick has made it known "he is not your savior" on MM&TBS on the song “Savior”. However, what he is trying to accomplish, so far in terms of music and when it comes to young and even older people, is clearly putting belt to ass to those who deserve licks. With that said, the name "Michael" means "Who is like God?" and is a warrior against evil. To add to this, In Christianity, Islam and Judaism, from the Book of Enoch, "Michael" is an archangel - one of the 7 archangels. Michael, in Revelation, is the one who ousts Satan out of heaven, and weighs souls on Judgment Day. Look below. Archangel Michael - painting by painting by Guido Reni The Archangel Michael from afar - Credit: Rockstar from Hubpages Michael the Archangel: Warrior against evil - He is the chief angel but is also called a chief prince (in different biblical areas, testaments – very involved information I won’t be getting into because it is VERY deep) and military commander for some of the angels against Satan. Guardian/Protector- He protects and guards humanity and takes care of those who help others. He guides people and protects the Church. Now, who again is Michael Knight supposed to be in Knight Rider, that I described on my earlier blog post/video? Someone who serves and protects the innocent against evil, bad people. Archangel Raphael - by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Archangel Raphael (also means “God Heals”) AKA Divine Healer: Raphael is the guide for travelers and a patron of physicians, the blind, medical workers and nurses that brings spiritual, emotional and physical healing. His job is to guide those that are in need, heal earth and humanity and that’s how he serves God. He’s also respected for wisdom and protection. He mentioned in the several books, one of them being the Book of Enoch, in which he will be the one to sound the trumpet for Judgment Day… Archangel Gabriel - by Leonardo da Vinci Archangel Gabriel (also means “God is my strength”): Gabriel is the divine messenger that delivers very important revelations (such as announcing the birth of Jesus to Mary) Gabriel brings guidance, inspiration and warnings and makes sure God’s messages are understood and usually appears with a lily. He helps people understand divine purpose, clarity, inspiration and to make God’s will known. Archangel Metatron... without the angelic form Archangel Metatron (Has been called the “Celestial Scribe” or “Voice of God” – believed to be the human prophet Enoch, then elevated to an angel status) Metatron is considered a powerful angelic figure in Jewish mysticism. He is God’s mediator. He documents human deeds in the “Book of Life” and guiding souls, wields insane amounts of power and has divine wisdom and acts as “King of Angels”. Because of this he is considered the most powerful archangel second to God, commanding other angels. (I will also add this: Drake has NEVER rebutted this. He made Kendrick's point in "Meet The Grahams" when Kendrick said "'Cause you lied about religious views'". There is a high probability Drake has no idea who Metatron is. He probably thinks he's a Transformer 😒) Why do I bring any of this up? Why does any of this matter? Once again, it damn near starts with “Family Ties”. ...walking on water.... - "N95" - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang Kendrick has incorporated religious mentions, themes, etc in his lyrics throughout his albums. But “Family Ties” was when he really added specific names from the different religions/books (namely the angels) in a song where I feel the beginning of the “New Kendrick” begins. There are other religious mentions but the ones I mention here are the ones I choose to focus on (I implore anyone else to build upon what I haven’t. That’s the point. To get people thinking, expanding their minds more. It’s also why Dot creates the way he does: for us to figure it out, as we should. Hell, I’ve been doing this kind of thing before listening to Kendrick). I feel like this is when he decided to start telling us his story of why he was coming back out and that the 2020’s were going to be one for the record books, as I said above… but more than that. (Family Ties Lyrics) I'm not a trending topic I′m a prophet, I answer to Metatron and Gabriel We already know that Metatron is God’s intermediary, recorder of human deeds and so on and that he acts as God’s spokesperson. We also know that Gabriel inspires, is God’s messenger, provides guidance and warnings and makes sure that God’s messages are understood. Would it be far-fetched to say Kendrick was probably trying to say in “Family Ties” in my clearest terms: “Even in my absence I’m powerful. I am influence. However, some sucka shit happened during said absence. Before and after. I know everything. Before and after. And I know what will happen in the future, too. It’s law. It’s written. So, I’m sending you this communique to let you know it’s up. You’ve been warned." Interesting visual from "Family Ties" - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang Here I think of the visuals of Family Ties, Dot first appears (when rapping. He first appears in the beginning of the video) on a huge screen with a lighter, sunglasses on the right screen and on the left screen he comes off like a mythical creature, ghostly…dare I say angelic, on the other screen. Comes off like someone who can’t be reached. Just popped up on a screen. Lots of overlays going on in this scene on the screen itself. The Rebirth - "Family Ties" - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang The Resurrection of Jesus - Credit: Daily Excelsior In the next scene Kendrick is wearing all white and dancing with the pgLang flag behind him. Very much like "Jesus has risen" with the angels around him and Jesus holding a banner, symbolizing Christ's victory over death. Here is where Kendrick shows that old Kendrick is gone. He’s been resurrected. He’s stronger, wiser, much more composed, much more in control, insanely dangerous and powerful and with this he cannot be touched, he, and those he holds dear will not be touched. From TDE to pgLang (although I think he may hold investments with TDE and/or be on some sort of board with the TDE). He has ascended and now, with the knowledge, education, self-understanding, awareness, self-awareness, wisdom and strength he carries, no fucks will be given. Once he’s done with whatever mission he is on. Kendrick on the invisible "Cross" - N95 - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang The interesting thing is the music video for “N95” wasn’t released until May 14th, 2022. Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers was released on May 13th, 2022 – Whitney’s (Kenny’s partner in love and life) Birthday. In N95 music video, you see Dot over the water, hanging on an invisible cross. The intro of the song tells you of what’s to come but also Dot is the messenger and will make sure people hear and listen to what he has to say – that certain someone(s) is lying. On top of that, in this visual Kendrick has been crucified. Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers On Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers album, to generalize it, you can say Dot, “died for all of man’s sins” and sacrificing himself for his children and the woman who captured his heart, hence, for the latter, the photo adorned on the album and Kendrick wearing the crown of thorns. Many people thought it was blasphemy what Kendrick was doing but everything Dot has done has meaning and is by no means linear. There’s a long, continuing debate on whether Jesus was Michael before his earthly life, which apparently is something Jehovah’s Witnesses believe, as well as others. However, some would say there is enough information out there that would say that Jesus and Archangel Michael are the same person, that after Jesus’ resurrection, he became Archangel Michael, hence the name “One Who Is Like God”. One of the believers was Martin Luther… Luther. Martin Luther Luther thought philosophy didn’t teach one about loving God. There was a point where he devoted himself to fasting, lots of confession, hours of prayer and pilgrimage and at that point of his life, he was in a spiritual despair, having lost touch with Christ. So, Luther reformed himself by studying some of the Bible and found that due to a new translation of the Bible, certain terms he couldn’t stand by anymore and became convinced the church was corrupted and lost some of their core Christian truths. So, what did Luther look at? The Doctrine of Justification, which is God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous by faith alone through God’s grace. He began to teach this – that salvation or redemption is a gift of God’s grace, achievable only through faith in Jesus as the Messiah. For Luther, faith was a gift from God, and it was like “being born again”. Jesus Christ died “for our sins and was raised again for our justification…” Because Luther was outspoken about so many things regarding corruption (I will spare y’all the details) in the Roman Catholic Church with his writing of the Nine-Five Theses (Btw, I think this is also where N95 comes in. Another title entendre for y’all), airing out the Pope’s misdeeds, the theses was checked for heresy. Case and hearings were brought against Luther (sounds familiar?) and at one hearing – or disputation rather, which was at a place called Leipzig, Luther straight up said in the debate that popes don’t have no exclusive right to interpret scripture and therefore neither popes and church councils were perfect. Well, the Pope warned Luther with the papal bull (mentioned in Casino, ha ha), which is an official document issued by the pope and risked being cut off from the community to repent or “excommunicated”. Luther decided to set fire to the bull and then wrote a book about it. So, the Pope excommunicated him in 1521 and although the Lutheran denominations, Methodists and Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unit agreed on a “common understanding of justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ,” the Catholic Church never got rid of the 1521 excommunication. Edict of Worms Furthermore, at the “Diet of Worms” (ha ha don’t ask, that’s where it was at, okay? Worms is an actual city in Germany and “Diet” is a formal assembly), to answer formally for the burning of the papal bull, copies of Luther’s writings were splayed out on a table, and he was asked if he stood by his work. He prayed, etc, etc, then tripled down, saying he didn’t trust the pope and in councils and often made mistakes and contradicted themselves. He stood by his scriptures and “my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.” Luther was then declared an outlaw (interesting) and his literature banned and called for his arrest. The law allowed for anyone to kill Luther without legal ramifications, but it was a crime for anyone to give him food or shelter. [Intro to N95] Hello, new world, all the boys and girls I got some true stories to tell You're back outside, but they still lied Listen, there was much more to Martin Luther. I just needed to point out what I thought was pertinent. (6:16 in LA Lyrics) Raise my hands to a fallen sky, I fantasize Me jumpin' planets immortalized, I correspond Three angels watchin' me all the time Put my children to sleep with a prayer, then close my eyes Definition of peace Tell me who gon' stop me? I come from love Estelle cover my heart, then open me up Remember when picked up a pen, lyrics that I can trust Timid soul, stare in the mirror, askin' where I was from often I know this type of power is gon' cost But I live in circadian rhythms of a shooting star The mannerisms of Raphael, I can heal and give you art But the industry's cooked as I pick the carcass apart The “3 angels” have been spoken about several times in the last few months – Dot’s homies whom since passed, his wifey and children and more. This could include Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Dot is unstoppable at this point and backed by impenetrable support. All sides. 2024. This is the message. Kenny in the...garden - N95 - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang Agony in the garden vs Man at the Garden After the Last Supper, Jesus enters the Gethsemane (according to Luke 22:43) with the 3 Apostles, and ask Peter, John and James to stay awake and pray and informs them to do so. Jesus prays for what’s to come to pass, so to speak, but he looks over to his Apostles and sees them asleep. Jesus continues to pray understanding he would soon be betrayed. What's suppose to be the judas kiss - N95 - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang In Man at the Garden, Kendrick is praying in a similar fashion. I’ve done all I could. I’ve kept the spirit of hip-hop pure by continuing its true nature – competitive and lyrical. Yet I pray for those who prayed against me. He is also the man who seems to be doing everything but giving into any bullshit, any enemy – NADA. He is fighting. This song is opposite of what took place at Agony in the Garden is about. Kendrick says, “A close relationship with God. Whisper to me every time I close my eyes. He says, "You deserve it all". Keep these bitch niggas away from me…” Hence, the blood that Jesus had sweated in the garden won’t be blood something Kendrick will be sweating. In fact, the proverbial “blood” that will be spilled that’s just “paint” to him is much like the throwaway verse of “Like That” (that certain people were “chipped” by), and we heard how LETHAL that was. What I outlined in purple it looks like it says "Gabriel". Looks like a custom-made Chanel "GNX - Gloria" shirt on Whitney Lastly, as for the song “Gloria” – more so the title and some of what was said, there’s been a ton of theories behind the song, and I think it’s worth looking into. I do, however, think, now understanding what could be behind the veil of Dot’s transformation, GNX, MM&TBS and a few other songs, “Gloria” puts a small “dot” on GNX… for now. The name “Gloria” is known as the “Hymn of the Angels”. So now with all the archangels spoken of, accounted for, for the most part, you have at the end of the album the song “Gloria”, which makes sense. To add to that, in Latin, “Hymn of the Angels” means “Gloria in excelsis Deo”, which means “Glory to God in the Highest”. This is part of the Present-Day Coptic Text of “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”: You alone are holy; You alone are the Most High, my Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Glory to God the Father. Amen. Every day I will bless You and praise Your holy name forever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen. Since the night my spirit seeks You early, O my God, for Your commandments are a light on the earth. I continually pursue Your ways for You have become a help to me. In the morning You hear my voice. Early, I stand before You, and You see me. Now the end of “Gloria” on GNX: Gloria, I wanna take you to euphoria Bitches want you, but they ain't strong enough I heard her talkin' we notorious It's so much, I can only I see you, you see me Both see what we want, oh, oh I see you, you see me Both see what we want And, yeah, “Euphoria” could be another spin on saying “joy of the lord” or “deep joy to God’s presence”. The thing is, I’m not religious. If I were to put a label on myself, I’m more spiritually agnostic. So, before anyone thinks this was a deep dive from someone who is deeply rooted in religion, you would’ve guessed VERY WRONG hahahahhaaaa! I have, however, been raised with friends who are religious and I've been in relationships with men who either grew up in religious homes or they themselves are religious. Final Thoughts: The song "Wacced Out Murals" has Dot rapping with an "old ass flow" sounding very much from the 1980's, staying with the theme of paying homage to the era he was born in. Furthermore, on the same song, as soon as Kendrick says, "Yeah, nigga, going up yo rank", and for the rest of the song, you hear Dot and the producers paying homage with their own spin of... the Knight Rider theme music. Anyways, just a theory of what came out of the Knight Rider/GNX Cover that spun out of control. Also... Back to N95. Some may remember the show "Family Ties" that ran from 1982 - 1989 that starred another Michael... Michael J. Fox. Well, the show premiered on 9/22/1982. It was cancelled on... 5/14/1989. 33 years later we get "N95"... where OKLAMA has "risen". Btw, K-Dot, I'm wondering about those interesting, super dope Michael Jackson inspired clothing and accessory designs you have had going on the jojoruski IG account... Like I always say…I could be wrong. All good though. Just keep reading…and thinking. Thanks for all the support! Like, comment and subscribe and donate, if you can! *Btw most photos are slightly altered by me for any copyright purposes.

You can watch the video if you don't want to read the blog. Hello, thinkers! For me, the GNX era and album cover is an ode to Knight Rider. I haven't seen anybody talk about it. I think Yahoo News did a little news snippet that kind of mentioned Knight Rider, but they didn't go into much detail and didn't connect any dots. Now I could be wrong, but when I saw how Kendrick was dressed on the GNX album cover, I kept thinking there was more to this album and the vehicle other than what's been explained by Kendrick and, you know, what's been on Wikipedia and what's circulating online. So, as we know, the Grand National is a vehicle that's very important to Kendrick. In 1987, his pops drove him home from the hospital in a GNX after he was born. For an album that mostly sounds like the West Coast, it's to me, fitting that Kendrick informed the world of this sweet story and origin of why the GNX holds importance for him. However, I do believe Kendrick was inspired by Knight Rider. As you know, Knight Rider was an action crime drama played by David Hasselhoff. Some people may not know about that, may not have been born in the 1980s. Some may have grown up in the 1990s and may not have known what Knight Rider was. The character on that show was named Michael Knight, and he has this dope ass car that's named K.I.T.T. and it's basically a friggin’ AI vehicle. GNX - Kendrick Lamar - Credit: pgLang Knight Rider - Michael Knight sitting on K.I.T.T. - Credit: NBC First, what's obvious, of course, is the cover, right? And you have, if you were to look up some pictures you have David Hasselhoff. He is very similarly dressed to Kendrick or Kendrick similarly dressed like him sitting on a vehicle. Their demeanors as well are similar. I don’t know why but my brain just said, “A vehicle is a man’s best friend…” I’m chuckling. Don’t ask. The character of Michael Knight is that his real name is Michael Long and what happened with him is that he was shot in his face that was nearly fatal, and he was given a new face through plastic surgery and a new name. He was reborn as Michael Knight. He was rescued by a billionaire named Wilton Knight and at the time, Michael Knight, original name Michael Long, was a police detective lieutenant at the time. Now, if I go more into this character of Michael Long, or, you know, AKA Michael Knight, was born outside of Los Angeles. He was raised with a blue-collar family. He joined the army. He ended up working in counterintelligence in Vietnam. He was captured during a mission. He escaped, but then he had an injury, a brain injury that required surgery and then he had a metal plate in his head. He gets discharged from the service, returns to Los Angeles and joins the LAPD. Now what happens to him is he gets betrayed by an informant and was shot in the head and the metal plate deflected the shot. However, it screwed up his face. He becomes declared dead to the public and he gets taken care of by an organization called FLAG, which is Foundation for Law and Government. F.L.A.G. is a private crime fighting arm of Knight Industries, which again is this billionaire, Wilton Knight, who's behind all of this. Long story short, the whole thing - the whole point of Michael Knight is he believes in justice. He believes in protecting the innocent. That is the easiest way to explain who he is. He's about protecting the innocent. And I think that's interesting, just on the character level of it, because what has Kendrick been basically doing all this time? Really think about that. What is his whole thing right now? Drake, right? Taking back hip hop, making it hip hop again… and vindicating those who need to be vindicated. But it's more than that, right? He accused Drake of very fucked up shit. But one must question, as much as the courts want to say it's hyperbole and all this stuff, the character is a little bit adopted, right? That's how I feel. Many people may feel differently. I won't say adopted. I'll say it's sort of a “slight embodiment”. Let's put it that way. That being said, he’s this crime fighter, “I want to protect the innocent,” all of that, right? But what's interesting about his character, we know he's not an original “Knight”. His last name is Long. Michael Long. Apparently, how can I put this without laughing? Garthe Knight is the son of Wilton Knight. He has his own backstory. Knight Rider's Garthe Knight - The Evil Brother Are we for real here? Sorry, but Garthe always made me laugh (makeup, etc – too funny) Garthe Knight resembles Michael Knight almost identically, right? (insert obvious eyeroll) But his mustache and his soul patch is what sets him apart from Michael. He hates Michael because he feels like he has usurped his life and pretty much took his father away from him. Replaced him. Garthe’s background, which is also quite interesting, he spent several years in an African prison and was sentenced to three life sentences. He met with an African revolutionary named Tsombe, who's a member of the Pan-African Liberation Movement. He's able to avoid a life sentence because of a top official who was taking bribes on leases on diamond mines. So, there's that. Now on the show, what he does is he comes back to the United States, works with Tsombe and his mother, Elizabeth Knight, to steal missiles from the government called Red Bluff in Nevada (Lightly letting you know who this guy is) Basically, he's supposed to be a bad guy, okay? That is who he's supposed to be in this. He's the “bad” of the “Knight” Brothers. Garthe Knight - check out that...nevermind... So why do I bring this up? Well, for one, it could also be loosely tied to this show and how angry Garthe is, how he feels, emotions, whatever, right? I also think that in the song “Wacced Out Murals”, K-Dot basically warns, he's saying, “look, who I was before, I'm not that anymore now. I'm on some crazy shit”. What I find is interesting is that on a tour, I don't know if anybody has seen any of the concerts on the GNX tour yet, but he has made a point on “Family Ties” that certain people don't compare to him. He led in peace, giving out warning after warning after warning every show and if you guys haven't read my “Family Ties” blog post, it's very interesting that he says this during the “Family Ties” performance, which for me ties back to Drake and what I think - that he was the real problem. And the reason why Baby Keem and Kendrick created Family Ties. There is no way this man only just put money on the street to get information. Just no. I'm pretty sure many people have tried to when it came to Kendrick. However, I think this time it may have went further than that. I think it was might have been more diabolical. Hence why Dot’s is constantly alluding to the XXXTentacion's “conspiracy”. Like this man is more than what you guys think. All alleged. It seems he might have had a hand in a lot of people passing away and I feel like he may have tried to do the same thing with Kendrick. Allegedly. But I digress. So, with the Garthe Knight character, I feel like that's who he's supposed to be. Is the “I don't give a fuck” individual. I thought it was interesting when looked up K.I.T.T. I decided to check out the person who voiced the vehicle and it is a man named Peter Cullen. Peter Cullen also did voice work for The Transformers: The Movie, the 1986 movie and voiced Optimus Prime (Btw the best Transformer movie of all time I mean that's objective but for me, the best) It was emotional, action-packed - everything about that movie was amazing. I think everybody should see the very first Transformers in the 1980s at least once. Optimus Prime - The Transformers: The Movie - 1986 Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime - Credit: Paramount Optimus Prime was basically the hero of the story, whereas Megatron, who was a Decepticon, he was, of course, the bad guy. In the story, Optimus Prime is also known as Orion Pax (You have to see the movies/series and/or just read somewhere how Orion became Optimus Prime vice versa in the first place. I won't spoil anything). He embodies strong moral values, right? Leadership, strategic, has the most advanced weapons, knows martial arts… (Hmm…Kung Fu Kenny). I think that's kind of funny, but okay. And you know what? We don't even know if Kendrick even knows that. I wouldn't be surprised, though. I don't think he's the type of person who's going to sit there and tell everybody every fucking action he makes and thinks. Anyways, he wants justice and peaceful coexistence with humans. He has this cry, rallying cry that's called, "till all are won”. Which is really an interesting quote. However, he was reborn as Orion Pax and reclaimed his role as Optimus Prime et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I think with the original story, this is what I feel Kendrick was going for. Duality. That's the theme. To add to the whole point, what was Michael Knight? He was about justice and peace. Right? Optimus Prime, the same thing about justice and peace. However, they had to deal with that “other side”. What I also found was interesting when I went back to check Peter Cullen’s background and I laughed. This man who, again, one of the best voice actors of our time, was from Canada. Layers. The GNX album cover is super dope and extremely clever. My 1980’s eye couldn’t help but see things, even down to how they made the photo slightly aged. It seems so minimalistic even down to the belt. The belt. Last but not least.... About that red GNX popping up at the concerts... Coincidence? As always I appreciate your thoughts and thanks for the support. Kendrick has an awesome sense of humor. However, he is a layered person. Everything means something. Check this out... Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading and supporting! Disclaimer: (Um, oh yeah, so these are my thoughts and opinions, and these thoughts and opinions are ALLEGED so, if you think this weighs more than 300lbs, I can't hold you.) Entertainment purposes only. If you like what I create and would like to contribute to my CashApp click the link below. I appreciate you, immensely.

J. Cole in "ATM" ⬇️ ⬇️ The series of the screenshots are from J. Cole's music video, "ATM". The song and music video conveyed the message of addiction to money. It was also a foreshadowing to 2024 in some ways. As you read on you will understand why. UPDATE!!! 1/17/26: To everyone - Cole fans, Kendrick fans or a combination of both: The first few paragraphs will seem hard to read for most Cole fans. This isn't about making Cole look good or bad. It's simply about what Cole has done, which is out there already, what I theorize Port Antonio may really be about (which NO one has dived into because mostly everyone thinks he's team Aubrey) and another song he's done after Port Antonio that many people don't talk about. I will also give an unpopular opinion at the end, since the new single for "The Fall Off" has come out, which is fine because, in the end, we are supposed to agree to disagree, not get in our feelings and be childishly reactionary. We're supposed to be adults. So with that said... Let’s play ball! Most of the YouTube world might as well create their own “We Don’t Trust You” and “We Still Don’t Trust You” albums about J. Cole. He’s spoken out of both sides of his neck in their eyes and ears, apologized one too many times and doesn’t stand on business. I understand. There have been some things, in my observations, that might have been misconstrued. Might. J. Cole leaves the battle...and beef - April 7th 2024 - Dreamville Fest - Video Courtesy of G Let’s start with the apology at Dreamville Fest 2024. There was this rumor that Schoolboy Q warned Cole not to get in the battle between Dot and Aubrey. I don’t believe that crap at all. Never did . First off, Kendrick wanted the smoke and wanted BOTH of those mofo’s. Apparently, the original track to “Euphoria” was 19 minutes according to Punch from TDE. Dot had A LOT to say, and I remember DJ Hed saying on “The Bigger Picture” he spoke to Kendrick after the battle, after “Not Like Us” dropped on the phone. Dot was eating and DJ Hed said, “Hey bro, you won!” or something like that and Dot simply replied, “Yeah, for sho”, not sounding too excited. TDE also never confirmed the rumor that Cole was warned was true. I remember before hearing this on TBP, I said to my guy that J. Cole cheated K. Dot out of a “real hearty” victory because Drake was a cakewalk lyrically (and musically, of course). Dot was not too happy about Cole dropping out, hence his line in “Wacced Out Murals” on GNX saying, “Fuck apologies, I wanna see y’all geeked up!” And Jermaine decided to drop out of this battle. Most of J Cole’s music is him puffing his chest out, saying he is braver, better (as I expect most rappers to do) and have more guap than you. The 1st two is what everyone is annoyed at for good reason and it’s due to what seems to me – my opinion here – is Cole’s never-ending imposter syndrome (which it sucks he has in the first place) and having all bark and no teeth. (Unless it's one hell of a gum job…) Case in point : It’s in his lyrics. Musical packaging. I listened to and looked at his albums just a week ago (beginning of December) and can tell that, just from his lyrics he was watching what Kendrick and what Drake was doing when he should’ve been confident about what he was doing. I think he was trying to fit in between those two so much that musically – not entirely lyrically – the production, for me was not matching what he was saying and/or conveying lyrically. It may not make sense to a lot of people and that’s fine. There’s a reason why so many people love “No Role Modelz” from Forest Hills Drive because it’s close to perfection as a song. Cole, in my opinion, finally starts carving out his lane and shutting out the noise when he created, “4 Your Eyez Only”, which I think is a conceptual masterpiece and yet, one of his most “discussed” and “polarizing” albums thus far. I wouldn’t be surprised that this discouraged him in some way and he went back to the same old thing which produced “KOD” and “The Off Season”. People love these albums and that’s fine. Me not so much. “For Your Eyez Only” was THE package. Grown up. Lyrical. Production was immaculate. He also had a hit song that never became a hit which was “Foldin' Clothes” which many hated and I appreciated because it was so grown up and cheeky and such great production. Now, the reason why I say, “For Your Eyez Only” was different from all the other albums he released is because he leaned heavily on the same subject matters: hos, “I cheated but ain’t no one like you, babe”, best rapper, The Ville, homies, snakes, and money. Yes, there are some deep and thoughtful tracks he’s created so I will not say he hasn’t done that, unlike Drake’s one note ass (I can’t wait to dig in on that mofo). “For Your Eyez Only” was refreshing to listen to because it did seem like, he started to evolve his style into a more bohemian look, he was starting to step away from Kendrick and Aubrey. 2024 Disrespect presented to Cole...profiling as he shops for one of the enemies' vehicles - Video Courtesy of Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey Sad thing is, as much as Cole wants to make people think he’s this bohemian, humble type dude… he wasn’t. Cussed out the Grammy’s because “ them crackers ain’t never done nothin’ for me ” on “7 Minute Drill”, the deleted diss track toward Kendrick Lamar. He was seen going to a Tesla car dealership in Manhattan for Christ sakes – dressed humbly – and was kicked out basically and those people not knowing who he was. I was disgusted that he would be at a Tesla dealership for as intelligent as he is but – no. Just because a dude rides around a city on a bike wearing dreadlocks looking very much like one of us, doesn’t mean he isn’t every bit the “money spending shallow celebrity” he probably is. But, hey, even how he dressed when he first came out with his mix tape – that’s who he probably still is at the core (but needed to stand out in some way) just probably a little more responsible with his money. However, the costume he wears doesn’t work on many people. And Jermaine dropped out of the rap battle. Now I’ve mentioned a costume. Someone whom he was close to was Aubrey “Drake” Graham. Aubrey loves costumes and has plenty of them. Both Jermaine and Aubrey became very close, I think, because they understood each other more. Not because of the “costumes”. Growing up mixed race has its own set of issues and only so many understand. That’s fair. Daddy issues and so on. So, I can understand them being close… First Person Shooter video... the boy looks like he never truly hit someone in his life. Be honest. Be yourself. It's so much cooler. Believe me. Btw, whose idea for this video was this?!? But let’s skip to 2023 to “First Person Shooter”. They fucked up. Well Cole did (Aubrey fucked up a long time ago). He thought he could play both sides and Kendrick… let’s just say Kendrick knows how to play poker very well. Dot wasn’t having it, called their bluffs and they, Cole and Drake, decided it was best for them to respond back in 2024 to show who's boss, because, hell, they're over 6 feet for crying out loud! Check the stats above! (😆) Cole, I think, although he KNEW Kendrick was lyrically insane, thought he could push Kenny around because… possibly due to his height, like I said. A simply stupid reason, I know, but sometimes it usually is. Look how many times they used short jokes on the man! Who knows what side Dot was showing these guys years ago… maybe just the hungry, lyricist side and not the mean side which his people have said he is. One thing’s for sure: Cole responded and it wasn’t sincere… other than his jealousy. And Jermaine decided to drop out of this beef. Now here’s where I need everyone’s full attention because it’s about to get interesting what I’m about to dive into. Port Antonio… So, let’s forget about that unfortunate “ Grippy ” song, shall we? He tried. I do recommend listening to Tems, btw! J Cole is featured in one of the songs and that was one of his best features of 2024. Earlier I mentioned that some things may have been misconstrued with J. Cole. One of them may have been the song “Port Antonio” that many people were pissed off at Cole for releasing. People may be right. However, I listened and re-read the lyrics a few times and it leaves me wondering… Was J Cole collecting receipts on Drake? Did J. Cole ever like Drake? Let’s dive in: Mano y mano, I'm Bono, I'm you times two Now I'm bougie, I done outgrew the fountain blue These were the lyrics, that when people were dragging Cole, my eyes popped wide open. Why? DarkKenny (I can no longer find the info there, but it was there) I’m on that subreddit daily and I remember there was a post about the Fountainebleau Hotel. Click the link above for the story Read their faces. Neither one of them forgot that day. Fear is in one person's face, though. You see, Sean “Oily” Combs and lil’ Drake had a nasty little altercation outside of this hotel on Miami Beach in December 2014 and some said it had to do with disputing over rights to the song “0 to 100/The Catch Up” and some said Drake, who was drunk, said something cruddy to Cassie Ventura. Diddy decked him 3 times. Lil’ Drake ran away with a dislocated shoulder. Too many witnesses. Chubbs didn’t crash nothing. 👀👀 So, I find it very eye narrowing, for a song that was supposed to seem like he was still “cool” with Drake… he said that. It’s shaped to seem like he is dissing Kendrick with the “Bono” line – or rather the “Mano y mano, I'm Bono” due to Bono’s belief of knowing how God wants Christian songwriters to write. However, Cole is too much of a good writer and I think he definitely threw that in there to confuse Drake and his people… if they did any research. That mano y mano line and the rest of those lyrics are about Drake. I've seen good, I've seen bad, had my melanin mocked Remember I mentioned this was something him and Drake had in common, right? I found it interesting that he didn’t include Drake in this painful memory. I wouldn’t be surprised Drake spoke to him about these commonalities. But they’re supposed to be cool though. Moving on… He was a mean-ass wing with a hell of a shot But if no team draft King, he gon' bet on the block He’s a great writer, I said. So, what does Cole do? He points out “Draft King” which really is Draft Kings Sports Betting. Drake’s frickin’ behind is part of Stake Sports Betting. This is minor, yes. But, again, there’s no need to bring this up, unless... He wanna ball 'til he fall or 'til the federals knock And sit his ass on a bench for movin' careless with rock No one talks about or points this out, not even Genius. And btw, EVERYTHING I SAY IS ALLEGED AND ALL ENTERTAINMENT! Drake in his own lyrics seems to tell on himself, like in the song “Jodeci Freestyle” on his album “Care Package” he says “I'm in your girl's ear planting seeds like a grow-op. We move the operation to Cali soon as the snow drop’”. Okay, yeah, it can just be flexin’ like in any rap song. But this is Drake. Mind you, the same dude who told the world at the end of “The Heart Part 6” that all his shit “was facts”. So… I get it, all he said on the songs released in the battle of 2024 were “facts” (no) but what about on his own albums? It seems when speaking on others Drake likes to…embellish. Now, when speaking on himself…there’s truth, lies and exaggerated mixes of both, heavy on the whining, complaining and gloating. And here is Cole saying the lines above on Port Antonio, like he knows something. He frames it like he’s speaking about himself, but entendres are one of the beauties of hip-hop. And I wonder… what DOES Cole KNOW about lil’ old Aubrey? Oh yeah, and J. Cole was featured on Jodeci Freestyle so there’s that… But the rappin' gave you some positive thoughts, so you jot 'em down You jot 'em down Once again disguised as speaking about himself but definitely talking about Drake. Cole cleverly mentions “jot” and most of us know it simply as “writing something down quickly so not to forget”. However, “jot” has another meaning. Jot looks like a tiny apostrophe or a dot, but it is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and it refers to the letter “Yod” (‘). Now there is a phrase “not one jot or tittle will pass from the law” (Matthew 5:18) which means that not even the smallest detail or part of God’s law will disappear until everything is fulfilled, emphasizing its complete and lasting authority. Drake may have had a bar mitzvah, but he probably doesn’t know or understand Hebrew or probably much of anything to do with his Jewish heritage. Also to “jot em’ down”, with the meaning I provided… it comes off like Cole is saying Aubrey memorizes scripts/lyrics or what’s given to him if you get what I’m saying. But I can play devils’ advocate, of course. Just like Cole told Kendrick to pretty much get his blows in since he dropped out of battle, Cole may have taken it up himself to throw tiny subs as a distraction that he was talking about Drake. So, with this “jot” line, a jot in Hebrew also looks like a dot (ha-ha) and with the phrase could have been speaking to both Kendrick and Drake, like, “Don’t worry, I’m still coming for the crown, but on my own terms, not yours or anyone else. Um… we will see. Y'all niggas ain't stoppin' me Y'all niggas ain't stoppin' me He was clearly speaking about all the critics, those whose spoke negatively since “7 Minute Drill” (notice I didn’t say since the apology) and to all the hip-hop artists/wannabes in his way. Moving on… I'm scaling heights higher than birds can perch Oooh... yeah. Someone is flexing on Drake. Again… is there a reason for this? I think so. And these words that keep echoing in my head from Kendrick, “ You did Cole fowl, I don’t know why you still pretendin ’…” Absurd times, where the fake get toted as wise I can see hate in both of your eyes, but the third's blind So you search lines, but you struggle Which explains the puzzled look on the dull face as the word finds I hate what rap's become, but like do-not-disturb signs Can't knock it if I see it's 'bout the dough They instigate the fuckery because it's profitable But singin' "stop the violence" tunes when dudes in hospitals I do understand where Genius comes from with what they are saying but this is my thought on this. When Cole talks about “fake get toted as wise” he isn’t talking about Kendrick. He’s talking about Kanye. (Counted Cole out to not say anything back at Kanye. Ye himself probably thought so himself...) We do remember that man straight up dissed him on “Like That Remix” saying “ Play J. Cole, get the pussy dryyy! ” On top of that, with everything that man has said up until that point, people see Ye as a wise dude that can do no wrong, with every horrible thing he’s said and done in his life and career. He’s made himself out to be “pro-black” at the beginning of his career only to show he isn’t at all. Ye has shown a great deal of his fakery. What has Kendrick shown though, that could be labeled "fake"? And if Cole was truly speaking of Dot (and truly had “ammo” so to speak), he would have stayed in that battle for sure. To add to this, Cole wouldn’t have given Kendrick his flowers on that stage that night at Dreamville Fest, especially asking the crowd if they loved him and then saying, “ As do I ”. And besides, didn’t Kendrick mention on Euphoria “I hate when a rapper talk about guns, then somebody die. They turn into nuns, then hop online, like "Pray for my city". He fakin' for likes and digital hugs…” Cole just echoes this by saying, “But singin' "stop the violence" tunes when dudes in hospitals”. “They instigate the fuckery because it's profitable” is Cole talking about the content creators, labels, other artists with platforms, artists coming out with projects who are getting interviewed on huge platforms/publications and so on. Cole knows damn well if he stayed in the battle and it didn’t go where it went, which I will touch on later, he would’ve had no problem with it had he “won”. Moving on. I will get back to the “ search lines ” bar later. As for the “I see hate in both your eyes” … uh yeah… and I think you know why and you have been trying to get them to peace it up knowing good and damn well that would never happen… and I bet many questioned – including Kenny himself – why you were standing next to Drake at all! I pulled the plug because I've seen where that was 'bout to go They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow They see this fire in my pen and think I'm dodgin' smoke I wouldn't have lost a battle, dawg, I woulda lost a bro I woulda gained a foe, and all for what? Just to attain some mo' Props from strangers that don't got a clue what I been aimin' for? Okay, so this is where Cole lost a lot of people and I understand very much. However, I think some people thought when he said, “They wanted blood”, he was talking about Kendrick and Drake, which I did see people saying this and also in comments. Cole wasn’t talking about Dot and Aubrey. He was talking about the content creators, bloggers, live streamers, etc. The line “I wouldn't have lost a battle, dawg, I woulda lost a bro…I woulda gained a foe”, here, he’s talking about Kendrick. For one, he apologized to Dot, publicly. He sure the hell didn’t do that for Drake or had said he wished he could’ve continued participating considering they did First Person Shooter. Nope. And Drake waved away Cole’s dropping out ass (Btw, interesting in the latest bs with 21 Savage, him trying to get everyone together, there was absolutely NO mention of J. Cole? Just saying. I get it, he’s not a trap musician per se or whatever but… something to think about for like... 2 minutes) Also, the other reason it seems this line is about Kendrick is the use of “dawg”. Kendrick says “dawg” a great deal in his songs with this spelling. If you didn’t know before, you know now and you won’t be able to unsee/unhear it. NOW, I understand lil’ Aubrey says “dog” as well. However, the vernacular is different though as, for the most part, “dawg” is used mostly in the West Coast. “If that means I gotta dig up dirt and pay the whole team Of algorithm-bot niggas just to sway the whole thing On social media, competin' for your favorable memes” Who the hell else was he talking about!?!?! Definitely not no fuckin’ Kendrick! Cole knows damn well that little Boy he’s been standing next to does that crap. He’s got his number. And who was the dude allegedly paying bitcoin to find out shit about Dot? Yeah… let’s move on. To be considered best or live and rest? The weight of both things I understand the thirst of being first that made 'em both swing Protecting legacies, so lines got crossed, perhaps regrettably My friends went to war, I walked away with all they blood on me Now some will discredit me, try wipe away my pedigree The other set of lyrics that infuriated people so much and I agree. This is where Cole is muddying the waters a bit, in my opinion, trying not make the song seem “bias” but he still came away sounding like a victim. The reality is/was… he really wanted them all to get along. But Cole (I’m looking at and talking to you) how can you want that when, it seems, and I don’t know entirely of course, but it appears that you seem to be an instigator and envious person in this situation over a decade or so ago? As I always say in all my blog posts… I can be wrong but that’s what it looks like. What’s clear is you see them as your friends at the time of creating this song. I will say more about this later. Moving on. “They stripped me of my spot, and now I'm finally free, my nigga” Cole came to the realization that he no longer cares about “the spot”. Now, this is why I started the blog the way I did. I wanted to speak on the albums that I felt were J. Cole trying to “fit in” to the musical landscape back then, trying to be someone he really wasn’t because he was too busy watching what Kendrick and Drake were doing, in my opinion. So, for me, when listening to him, I felt there was a big percentage that wasn't him and those albums people seem to like a great deal. Then he releases “4 Your Eyez Only” and that was really HIM. Shutting out the noise and completely focused on being an artist like he should have been. What I mean by “Noise” is a couple of things: Seemingly not caring about comparisons because what he created sounded like a J. Cole album through and through and it being a wonderful cohesive album. So now Cole, it seems, doesn’t feel the pressure anymore and he’s fine with it. With the song “cLOUDs” it just might be the case. Because that’s one hell of a song compared to what he released prior. “My dawg texted me, I'll share the words he said to me "If you refuse to shoot the gun, don't mean the gun ain't deadly," uh I guess in that metaphor, hypothetically, the gun is me I text him back like, "Guess a gun ain't what I'm tryna be, my nigga" Now that I think he was talking to Kendrick when he mentioned “dawg”, could it be possible that Kendrick had a conversation with Cole? If it was the case that Dot and Dumbass – Drake – had discussed the perimeters for the “battle” which was not to mention family, then it is likely that Dot and Cole spoke AFTER the apology. Like I said before, Dot wanted to battle Cole. If I follow what Cole’s “dawg” was saying, he was trying to instill some friggin’ confidence in him, hype him up. But no dice. Cole didn’t want none of that. He didn’t want to be the “gun”. Although he did shoot first…and second… first with Drake (FPS) and then “7 Minute Drill”. “Fuck apologies, I wanna see y'all geeked up” Hence Dot was disappointed… and the response to DJ Hed…allegedly. They say I'm pickin' sides, ayy, don't you lie on me, my nigga Then start another war, ayy, Drake, you'll always be my nigga I ain't ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my nigga Fuck all the narratives This was smooth but so many people were piiiiiiiisssed at this. This is also where my ears started to perk up more because I knew there was something more. First off, just like most of us Kendrick Lamar fans hate when people look at Kenny like he is some linear lyricist, J. Cole is definitely not one of them and my eyes narrowed like… something is up here… but what am I missing? When he said, “pickin’ sides”, he’s right. He didn’t at the time. Drake fans thought he chose Kendrick because he dropped out, praised and apologized to Dot. Vice versa once this song came out with Kendrick fans once the rest of those lyrics were said. I think I know whose “side” Cole is on, now that Cole may, at this point, know more things that may have come to light, but if what I’ve written thus far hasn’t hinted or shine a small light for anyone yet, I don’t know what to tell ya. Cole saying, “Drake, you'll always be my nigga”, is just a thank you and appreciation like the next line. Like Southern hospitality. But man, what this dude says next is cold and no one caught it. “Tappin' back into your magic pen is what's imperative…” OH MY GOD! Okay, when this song came out and I first heard it I remember telling my guy there’s something with this line and I know he’s talking shit about Drake’s alleged writing. Cole was getting dragged on this line as well. Many just thought Cole was being complimentary and choosing his side/stance. To me… absolutely fucking not. The ultimate ghostwriter... - Video courtesy of John Kirk: As Seen On TV Guy Magic pens are special ink that disappear or change color, creating effects like 3D art, instant color shifts or secret messages. Leaves no mess. Kids use this for practicing handwriting - you know – tracing and such. Disappearing. Color change. The entendres don’t end there. The thing is the invisible ink. Ghosts, by definition, are invisible or barely visible. They can come in many forms, colors, etc to people, if you were ever privy to see a ghost in your life. Cole straight dissed this man by proverbially grabbing him by the shoulders and telling him it’s important for him to get back to working with his ghostwriters because he “knows”. “Thank you for your assistance, and yeah, we gotta get back to being at peace (whatever the fuck that ever was), being artists, inspiring minds and all that but you? You go back and work with your ghostwriters and code switch because quite frankly, we may never speak again. With love, Cole out”. Magic pen, my rass-hole! Hahahahahahhahaaaa!!!! With everything that has come out. Yeah… okay. Ain't know way Cole is saying Drake is the author of his own music. Too many ghostwriters for Drake would come out and PEEKABOO his ass into a lawsuit of their own. And the thing is, there is probably more to that line I’m not even thinking of now. If anyone sees it, comment and we can all discuss it. So you search lines, but you struggle Which explains the puzzled look on the dull face as the word finds So, I said I would come back to these lyrics before I conclude. Cole struggled because he didn’t have anything to say about Kendrick and it showed in “7 Minute Drill”. The reality is Cole could have just kept it rap. He didn’t need to go dig up dirt or whatever and I’m sure Dot would have reciprocated in kind. Cole most likely knew this. His other dilemma was really Drake. It wasn’t Kendrick as many people like to think. As we saw, Drake likes to play dirty and likes to bring families into everything. If Cole really wanted to have that top spot, he knew for sure it wasn’t going to be a one song and done situation with Kendrick. He would have to go after Drake. No more “hugging and kissing” on stage. No kumbaya. He would have to get at the Boy. And just like I think Cole knows things about Drake, Drake knows things about Cole. So, Cole dropped out of the battle, in my opinion, because I think he spoke to Drake and knew what was about to happen. Cole already heard “Like That” and responded. However, something happened after “7 Minute Drill” released or even during – but something happened, that had him saying, “Nope, not bothering with this shit”. No matter what, J Cole could have stayed in it without the “Tea”. All it does is make me think there are some things Drake has on him, but he also knows J. Cole probably has shit on him, too. WHY THE NAME “PORT ANTONIO”? The cover of the single has a silhouette of Cole and what looks to be of Drake in what looks to be in the West Indies. Okay. Seems innocent and it’s supposed to seem that way…but is it? Yes, Drake and Cole may have been to Port Antonio, Jamaica and may have had a great time there and memories. However, does this friggin’ song reflect that? No. Not at all. If anything, it points out some negative things about Aubrey, allegedly. Shit, this picture probably isn’t even in Port Antonio. Drake frequented there, apparently, and he went to Geejam Studios, which is a resort and recording facility where many recording artists go to, which includes Rihanna. Ok fine but… Jamaica has also been in the headlines for child trafficking/tourism and one of the locations is Port Antonio. But wait! Hold on! Apparently, Kendrick also recorded at Geejam Studios as well, but it seems like he hasn’t completed any works there. Drake has, though, which was “Thank Me Later” between 2009-2010. Kendrick didn’t meet Drake until 2011. However, J. Cole knew Drake from around 2008-2009. So, again, what does Jermaine know? Could the title of the song be just part of a good memory or memories or something deeper? I wouldn’t be surprised if J. Cole purposely made it look like he was a “victim” in all of this and a “punk” or whatever. It could be some sort of strategy for Drake to come out and diss him outright because Drake may see him, Cole, as weak now. Because y’all know Drake is pissed at him, right? Let’s be forreal. Cole left him all alone to face The Boogeyman. What I think is J. Cole is most likely very prepared for Drake if he tries him and I think he wants that. And just because Cole follows both men on Instagram doesn’t mean they fuck with him. But, again, as of the recording of Port Antonio, Cole said, “his friends”. Is there reciprocation? But, hey, this theory could all backfire and Cole could suddenly appear on the “Icemannish” album for lil’ Aubrey and/or take a photo op for the graham/gram. Woof. UPDATE!!!! 1/17/26 Hol' up! I have so much more things to add and I completely forgot about. I also have an opinion of the recently released J. Cole song and many people's reaction's to it. RUBY ROSARY... Let's keep this very simple, shall we? Ruby Rosary is a rap song that came out in 9/6/24. Port Antonio came out in 10/10/24. It's A$AP Rocky's song featuring Cole and produced by Alchemist. Rocky is completely dissing Drake. There is no real subs other than not saying the little man child's name. Cole doesn't appear to be dissing on the song. In fact, he hints at the upcoming album. Question : Why would Cole be on a song - 1. with A$AP Rocky who is a known OPP of Drake's, 2. where A$AP is dissing Drake and 3. the producer of one of the coldest diss tracks of all time is the featured producer on the track - if, for argument sake, Drake and Cole are close with each other? We know how Drakey-poo feels about loyalty... reminiscent of DJT. You must be all about him . It's not particularly reciprocated... especially if you're talented and better than him. But as I always say... I could be wrong . FINAL THOUGHTS... There are many people who are very passionate about J. Cole, about "The Fall Off" and the new song and video he released. Nicest way to say it. I will say this: It's 2026. We have real world shit going on - like we may not even have too long the freedom to express ourselves the way we do right at this moment if our administration doesn't start getting their shit together and in some ways it may be too late for that. I'm saying this because I can point out so many other things - so many other people rather - who deserve so much more vitriol than someone who, throughout his career said he was about the smoke, decided he didn't want the smoke for whatever his reasons are/were, apologized to Kendrick, might possibly still poke the bear by saying "He's the greatest" on "The Fall Off", maybe be some sort of Judas and untrustworthy, and as I said before, talking out of both sides of his neck. The dedication of frustration I've seen and heard regarding J. Cole is unfortunate and ALL fan bases involved need to cut it out, especially when it's whole adults who are doing this. We have rappers out here who have been willing to sell out black folks and have no qualms doing so. Bullying - and for what? So they can shuck and jive and make it look like they're on THEIR side. Rappers out here committing crimes. Rappers out here treating women and their children like shit, saying horrible shit about them - to them. I think that energy is best service on them. It's easy to dump on Cole. There's nothing wrong about being disappointed about J. Cole not participating in the battle/beef. But for some people to have listened to the newest single - once to a handful of times - and then say it wasn't very good or comparing it to Nas or Dot, when he's been speaking of his plan of action since the beginning - not just in one song, or an album but throughout the majority of his albums (BTW, I'm not a voracious listener of Cole. Very casual listener and I stress casual) - speaks to what he always wanted to do. What Cole did on the new single was STILL hip-hop and lyrical and I tell you what, I would rather listen to real lyricism than hearing for the umpteenth fucking time about fuckin' Aubrey Drake Graham (other than the lawsuits, btw), who people seem to enjoy hearing and talking about his parasitic BS on a daily basis. And for most fans who don't care for the Lil' Boy, how does that look? It's why I called it "The Cole Conspiracy". We don't fully know. There's evidence to back up both sides' arguments and even what's in between. Way too much going on to be swollen up in the chest over Jermaine Lamarr Cole. Until the album comes out we don't know what comes out of this. Be cool. Especially on this one. Our emotions are best served on many other MEANINGFUL and IMPORTANT things in life... like if we will even have democracy ever again. With that said... Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading. Thanks for the stopping by and supporting as always!

? - By XXXTentacion You can also watch/listen to the video and support my YouTube Channel! Trigger Warning: This will go into some graphic information about deceased person(s) and the nature of their passing. Keep them in your thoughts, always. What's up, thinkers? This blog piece was definitely heavy to put together. Not because of the research but learning a little more about XXXTentacion, someone whose music I didn't particularly listen to. However, I really hope I did some sort of justice with this by acknowledging some of what Kendrick is allegedly conveying in his imagery and lyrics to the world for XXXTentacion. Alright, everyone. Read it through carefully! It will all make sense at the end! The pop star named Drake had a problem with XXXTentacion. XXXTentacion was talented, had his own lane and style. XXXTentacion was Jamaican-American. It’s alleged pop star Drake stole his flow from XXXTentacion – a song named “Look At Me”, while XXXTentacion was incarcerated. This was in January 2017. In March 2017, XXXTentacion had made a comment about Drake’s mom looking cute and how she can get it and put a photo of himself over Drake’s father – an old family photo of the Grahams – which was posted on Twitter. Of course, little Aubrey had people speaking for him between this time in March and June 2017 and threats and fights (physical for the latter) that ensued toward XXXTentacion. X embarked on his first and last tour in May called “The Revenge Tour”. In August of 2017, XXXTentacion released an album called “17”, which Kendrick Lamar praised on Twitter and was on his “5th” play of the album. In October 2017, XXXTentacion stated he wasn’t releasing any new music citing he was, “tired of being mentally abused”. In November 2017, XXXTentacion was attacked and stabbed and accused Migos of doing it. Later he posts footage of the attack on Twitter. XXXTentacion apologized to the Migos for accusing them of the incident, thinking it was them due to the pendants worn by the perpetrators. In January 2018, XXXTentacion started “Helping Hand” on YouTube, where he was handing out PS4’s in his hometown in Florida and encouraging people to start doing good deeds and if they do, they will receive personal rewards like tickets, free shows, etc. Also in January 2018, XXXTentacion previewed a song titled “Beverly Hills” on Instagram, but it was later changed to “Floor 555”. Very clear it’s about Aubrey. Interestingly enough, “Not Like Us” music video is exactly 5:55 minutes in length. 555 does have a meaning and XXXTentacion may have been sensing/seeing something. "Not Like Us" music video with 5:55 video length - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/Dave Free & pgLang In February 2018, Drake goes ahead and drops the “God’s Plan” video. In the video he is visiting XXXTentacion’s home state of Florida handing out money and gifts to people – which was obvious he was completely copying the “Helping Hand” challenge XXXTentacion created but doing it in a way that many would consider it a much larger and flashier scale. (and completely self-indulgent, self-serving way that benefits his ego and mocking XXXTentacion) Later in the month XXXTentacion posts a photo of someone that looked like Drake with what appeared to look like jizz on their face. DJ Akademiks warned XXXTentacion he “might provoke a dangerous reaction from Drake”. Two stories from XXXTentacion were posted by XXXTentacion stating that Drake would be responsible if he was killed. Then he walked back that statement by apologizing and saying his account was hacked. In June, Since Spotify enacted the “Hateful Conduct Policy”, which would have removed music by XXXTentacion, TDE put Spotify on notice that if they decided to remove XXXTentacion’s music, they would remove their artist’s catalogues from their streaming service. Later that month, fuck ass Drake releases “I’m Upset” music video. Ironically this music video was directed by Karena Evans who also directed “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar featuring Sza. Karena also directed “God’s Plan”. Btw, the music video for “I’m Upset” seems super vanilla and full of optics. Degrassi all in it. This music video was released on June 14th, 2018. On June 18th, 2018, XXXTentacion was murdered in his home state. A day after Kendrick Lamar’s birthday. His girlfriend was pregnant with their first child. At the end of June, Drake’s album, “Scorpion” was released. Named his album “Scorpion” and it might be his undoing Kendrick references this album quite a bit, and for good reason. “Good Credit” by Playboi Carti featuring K-Dot also references Scorpion. Drake is saying very damaging shit… the kind of shit that makes someone look at him like he had something to do with “it”. Allegedly. But, hey, this is the same pop star, Drake a.k.a. Aubrey Graham who was against lyrics being used against artists and is now suing UMG for defamation regarding Kendrick Lamar’s, “Not Like Us” lyrics. He’s saying that people are perceiving that what Dot is saying about him is true, right? "I'm Upset" by Drake from Scorpion Although it was released a month before XXXTentacion’s passing, that seems to be very… on the nose. The single also has artwork that is like XXXTentacion profile pic. One would think this was purportedly planned. X was shot twice at a downward angle in his neck. He was shot 3 times. Conspiracy "solved" but never solved: John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the United States' 35th president for 3 years. He was the youngest president elected from Massachusetts, a Democrat. Behind the scenes he was considered a playboy – a man who had lots of affairs and he was full of personality. He was popular and considered, at that time, one of the most popular presidents ever. Ironically, he won a Pulitzer Prize in Biography for a book he wrote called “Profiles in Courage”. However, many years later it was confirmed it was ghost written. I digress. The one hotly debated subject is JFK’s demise. JFK and Jackie O, the first lady at the time, climbed aboard a midnight blue 1961 Lincoln Continental Convertible limousine and their secret service, the governor and his wife, were in another motorcade. As they moved through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas at 12:30pm, 3 shots were fired. The bullet entered JFK’s upper back and exited his neck. The second bullet struck the back of his head. I won’t even post what was heard that Jackie O had said after the 2nd bullet struck… Lee Harvey Oswald was named the assassin and was killed 2 days later by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub operator. Lee said he was a “patsy” and didn’t kill JFK. Many witnesses attested he was there at the Texas School Book Depository where they say the shots were fired. However, there are many who think there were 2 shooters. After all, Lee Harvey Oswald was apparently not much of a skilled shooter even though he was a Marine. K-Dot's lyrics on "Good Credit" For some reason, they say, JFK’s autopsy was rushed by request of the family and the White House, so the doctors rushed it, and it wasn’t completed. Three years later, JFK’s brain was missing. It was supposed to be preserved. Allegedly the family transferred it to the National Archives. Some say it may have been because the gunshot wound entered from the front and not the back. Only those who know…know what really happened. Super Bowl Ad - Kendrick Lamar with Sza - Credit: NFL Sza in "Luther" music video - Credit: Kendrick Lamar/pgLang Dodger Blue/Peekaboo… So, what does this all mean? JFK's 1961 Lincoln Continental Convertible XXXTentacion drove a BMW i8. JFK was in the Navy. Although he never flew a jet, a jet is still a symbol of the military and government. He flew seaplanes, though. And what is another name for BMW's? Credit: wuoltk As I stated earlier JFK was in a midnight blue Lincoln Continental Convertible the day he passed. And, you know, those guys who blocked off XXXTentacion vehicle on 6/18/18 on that fateful day were driving a Dodge Journey… that was blue. “Peekaboo” is track “9” and “Dodger Blue” is before it on the GNX album on track “8”. XXXTentacion made an album called " ? ” released in March 2018. On that album there is a song called "Infinity (888)” featuring Joey Bada$$ where XXXTentacion is clearly coming at Drake, but he also mentions… JFK. XXXTentacion's lyrics on "Infinity (888)" featuring Joey Bada$$ from the album, " ? " Why did you really leave L.A., Aubrey? JFK was assassinated on 11/22/63. 61 years later Kendrick releases GNX. It wasn’t just sending the boy a message that it was going to just be “head shots for the year”. It's more than that. Deeper than that. Allegedly. Kendrick told the boy he hated the way he “sneak dissed” – where Drake does it where only the parties involved would know what he's talking about. The boy was surface level with it, like boiling milk with the film on top. Dot's providing a masterclass of psychological warfare… and only the boy would know what Dot, and everyone else who has jumped in sending sneak disses and subs, are talking about, only this is far more worse. They pulled up in a blue Dodge. 1 of them mentioned the boy. X thought JFK was the realest. Peekaboo. R.I.P. XXXTentacion. Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading. Disclaimer: (So these are my thoughts and opinions, and these thoughts and opinions are ALLEGED so, if you think this weighs more than 300lbs, I can't hold you.) Entertainment purposes only.

Grand National Tour - NJ - 2025 You can watch/listen to the video which is a little over 20 minutes or read the blog which will take you less than 10 minutes to read. What's up, thinkers! Hope your days and nights have been going well. My mind has been spinning since this mini-battle came around and needed to share my thoughts on it. Last year (2024) I told my guy after the battle Kendrick had with Drake, that Kendrick was going to drop an album. After I saw the “ Not Like Us ” music video, it really made sense that he would do so. I saw many people saying Dot was dropping an album in 2025 and there was NO WAY he was dropping one this year.   Then the Super Bowl announcement came, and it cinched it for me. He was DEFINITELY dropping an album in 2024. So many people could not see it. I kept saying in chats and convos with my guy, mostly, that Dot planned this whole thing out and there must be an album coming since there’s a Super Bowl in February 2025.   Then GNX drops on November 22nd, 2024. It surprises many, considering how he dropped it. The teaser some call “Bodies” on his IG - or as Jeremy Hecht has temporarily named it, “Tiramisu” - then he released the album on DSPs and eventually on vinyl, etc.   And wow. Just wow. Bonafide West Coast hip-hop album for the ages.   I said, a West Coast hip-hop album. You know, when I listen to “ Bodies ” I’m immediately in love with the song. It has suspense and drama I love that Kendrick is so great at capturing in his work. I noticed he continues to perform this song in the current GNX tour.   And tomorrow he will be in his home state. Many think this song includes Black Hippy , which comprises of Schoolboy Q , Jay Rock and Ab-Soul . I can see that, for sure. I can see Kendrick – in fact – I can almost see a Black Hippy reunion of some sort forming again, album and all.   However, it’s not possible now. “ Bodies ” may feature Black Hippy, but Ab-Soul has his own shows coming up and he dropped his album last year as well. Kendrick also is currently touring, and Jay Rock is said to be creating and/or dropping a project soon.   So, what do I think might be going on?   WARNING! I could be wrong… In 2012, Kendrick rapped on a very well-known song called " Control ”. He said:   “I'm the King of New York King of the Coast; one hand, I juggle 'em both ”     I think Kendrick will attempt to do this. He has never created a full, up and down West Coast sounding record before GNX (Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City comes super close to me, personally) and he has literally dominated it critically and commercially with GNX. He has always made music, however, that’s influenced by both coasts, especially the East.   I feel Dot is going to spin the block on what he said on “ Control ”, be literal, especially with all the momentum he has at the moment, and I think he already (I hope) has secretly worked with East Coast producers and/or Sounwave helped make some amazing East Coast, dope ass production for the ages and he will quite literally be “ The King of the Coast ”.   To make it more poetic… Joey Bada$$ deciding he wanted smoke with Dot. Bad move. A part of me thinks Dot shouldn’t give him the time of day. However, if Dot is doing what I think he’s doing, he would have set his plan in place for Joey and Loaded Lux , since they wanted and want his attention since earlier this year up until now, and Dot, who said, “ My Gemini Twin back powerin’ up ” and “ No more handshakes and hugs ” (I can relate to both), he will strike at his enemies that are on the East Coast… that may include J. Cole . You never know.   Overall, I think Kendrick is coming out with an East Coast hip-hop album. Bar heavy, lyrically beyond the word “impressive” and fuckin’ indescribably “GOD”-tier -but…wait- The other signs that Kendrick may be dropping an East Coast album: Sza in Avirex - Mineesota 2025 - Night 1 of Tour - Credit - IG: @gnxtour -Sza was seen wearing an Avirex jacket on the first day of the tour in Minnesota. You see, Avirex , for those who don’t know, is a brand of clothing very known in NYC, born in NYC during the 70’s. I have an old black and grey Avirex with a hood with faux fur lining but it’s not leather. Some people think Avirex is out of style. I don’t think it is and for those who do, you must be out of your fuckin’ mind – I mean – it’s your preference so I understand. I don’t remember ever seeing Sza wearing an Avirex coat before this year. Anyways, many greats have worn them in the 90’s, Biggie, Method Man… and Nas . Put a pin in Nas for a second. -Kendrick released a song on 9/11 … 2024 that has been dubbed “ Watch the Party Die ”, on his Instagram. On it there is a picture of an old beat-up pair of Black Air Force 1’s . The song was released at the same time MTV Video Music Awards started. The awards were live in New York. Hmm. The song is certainly a statement. What’s interesting is in the early 80’s Avirex provided aviation apparel to the U.S. Air Force. What does that mean? Not sure. “if I catch flight, it's gon' be direct” MetLife Stadium, NJ, Night 2 - Deluxe and/or Warning? Credit - IG: @gnxtour -When Kendrick and Sza was at MetLife in NJ performing for the NY/NJ crowd on night 2, May 9th 2025, Kendrick revealed the GNX under a red tarp. Now it’s been rumored he was going to the studio in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, but we don’t necessarily know (on The Bigger Picture 5/24/25, Jeremy Hecht was trying to coax DJ Hed to reveal if he was in the studio with anyone but also started naming other artists. Jeremy tries. It’s funny. I can’t say I blame him). I do think it’s very interesting that Kendrick reveals this red tarp in the NY/NJ area. Like a big red warning. Something’s coming to your area. Be prepared . Nas and Kenny. -GNX was, like I said, a West Coast album. However, throughout the album Kendrick has dropped clues of Nas. Yes, Nas shouted him out on IG and congratulated him, hence Kendrick mentions him on “ Wacced Out Murals ” (I wonder how orchestrated that was… hmm…), the theme of “ruling the world”… so we have “ If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) ” with Nas and Lauryn Hill, with the latter ironically from New Jersey and Dot is touring with Sza (from Jersey as well), then there’s “ One Mic ” from Nas (The lyrics from this song resonates very much to Kendrick now and back then. The envy. All the bullshit unnecessary criticism Dot had to endure for no reason other than putting out quality music and minding his fucking business. Read the lyrics) which he interpolates in “ Man in the Garden ”. Lastly, we have “ Luther ”, from GNX that samples “ If This World Were Mine ”, covered by Luther Vandross (Luther Vandross was from NYC) and Cheryl Lynn (from LA) and I feel like Dot may have chosen this song because the lyrics can be construed as a “love letter” to hip-hop in his mind even though it’s a love song. Layers upon layers. ****Oh yeah, btw, “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” was released on June 4th, 1996, 29 years ago. Kendrick and Sza will be in St. Louis, MO on June 4th, 2025. Possibilities of something releasing then? A reveal? We’ll see. It would make for an interesting homage… One of the NYC inspired fits - Credit - IG: @gnxtour One of the NYC inspired fits - Credit - IG: @gnxtour I am wearing a wallet chain, Euro Hiker Timberlands, baggy jeans cut and unhemmed at the bottom (didn't wear jeans much and still don't), and I have baby dreadlocks (my friend at the time didn't take not the best shot of me. This pic is not cropped up top if anyone was wondering) bubble vest, and baggy light grey hoodie. I hung out in the Village in the late 90's/early 2000's most times - BKLYN Early 2002 Me with my head intact - Example of the fit then - Early 2002. -Kendrick’s outfits for the tour are very NYC, reminiscent of DMX with an East Village/Punk vibe to it. Army fatigues, leather jackets (on some days), jeans with some patchwork in some spots on the pants, Timberlands or what looks like Timberlands (Last time I’ve seen Kendrick wearing Tims… I think it was during the "To Pimp a Butterfly" days… maybe the “Alright” video?), a t-shirt over a long sleeve shirt, skull or pullover hat/cap and a chain wallet or wallet chain. I used to wear army gear, pullover hats, Timberlands (not the traditional ones) and wallet chains from the 90s into the 2000s and still wear some of these fits to this day. Not to say people in other parts of the world didn’t wear these clothes, of course, but it was synonymous with the NYC scene. I feel Dot is sending subs with his fit… and clues. Dot's hair cut on night 2 in Inglewood, CA. Now look at Joey... interesting how they even both have on leather jackets. Dot trolling Joey in real time and Joey doesn't even know it. -GNX Tour - On the 2nd performance at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, Kendrick showed off a new haircut. Notice any similarities? Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading. If you like what I create and would like to contribute to my CashApp click the link below. I appreciate you, immensely.

Like, comment, share and/or subscribe! Warning: This isn’t a “breakdown” of lyrics. A few of them will get that treatment. Maybe. This post will focus more on other artists’, podcasters, etc, reactions to Euphoria and my opinion on this and how this REAL bomb drop of this beef rattled not just Drake, but the entire hip-hop community. Also, I should mention I curse a lot through this so if you’re sensitive to that, this may not be the best blog post to read. Check out the other blog posts if you haven't already. *** FLASHING IMAGES AHEAD for those who suffer from seizures or any other similar condition.     This will damn near be a rant. Viewer discretion is advised. The Boogey Man... Credit: Lollapalooza   My reaction:   When Euphoria dropped, I was completely in shock. Not because of the drop. Mostly everything Kendrick did I guessed he would do. I was in shock because of what that man released into the world, at the time, was arguably the greatest diss track of all time. Personally, all of Kendrick’s diss tracks are a league of their own and the best bullets of diss tracks ever launched at one person… (and others that may or may not know yet) and affected others. Ripple effect.   Dot had a target and knew his assignment. No distractions.     I never worried about when Kendrick was going to drop his full length diss because a grown ass person who isn’t a follower and marched to only their rhythm didn’t rush for anyone but themselves even if it was 2024, in this current, “hurry up!!!!!” climate. Just because the younger generation and even the older fuck asses were telling Kendrick to hurry up and release music doesn’t mean Kendrick needed to do so. Hilarious that old heads wanted him to hurry up considering how long diss tracks took to come out back in the days, in the 90’s and so on. Due to us having instant access to social media, streaming services, YouTube, etc., where people are speaking endlessly about their opinions on the battle and pushing narratives, positive and negatively, truthfully and/or fake to the masses, it makes people more impatient, and they want their specialty burgers with everything on it NOW even though they just ordered it a mere 2 minutes ago. People are ridiculous now. Kendrick could’ve waited a month or more and I would’ve been fine with that.   However, Dot was beyond prepared and strategic. Suspense. Dot knew his opponent very well. Impatient. Childish. Peep freak . Anyone who wants to dispute that last part… dude literally can’t stop being all up in everyone’s relationship business then trolls on IG like it’s his personal pink diary with daisies on it and a spiral pen for dramatic effect. Not cute. (Check out my Not Like Us post to understand my " peep freak " comment in more detail if you haven't already)   Before the song dropped:     The amount of hip hop, media personalities and so on who already saw Drake as “ahead” after “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” was ridiculous, disgusting and shocking to me. Especially when it came to some of the East Coast legends and the more lyrical MCs in the game. Some of these individuals couldn’t see Kendrick in a battle against Drake (Listen, I listened to Drake’s disses to Meek Mill in their rap battle for the 1st time last year and I will never understand why this battle was a big deal. That’s how you know hip-hop was on a looooooow ass tier at that point and the masses cared waaaay too much about fuckin’ ass Drake. What? Because he said, “You gettin’ bodied by a singin’ N****?!” REALLY?!?!?! Meek revealing that he had ghost writers was more eye-opening and still, they were both weak diss tracks) which is hilarious because a true hip-hop fan that cares about lyricism would have known Drake wouldn’t have stood a chance. Drake knew this, hence why he wasn’t happy that J. Cole dropped out of the battle. No one to hide behind and act like he was throwing the more lyrical bars when J. Cole IS a lyricist.   Too bad for all the envy J. Cole may have towards Kendrick, he didn’t dislike him enough to battle him like that. Or maybe Cole’s not a battle guy at all and likes people to think he is. Personally, I think he doesn’t like to be challenged by anyone that is top tier lyrical and prefers to stay in a comfortable place… which is why musically Cole hasn’t grown a whole lot (Although “For Your Eyes Only” is an incredibly slept on concept album that was sort of like MM&TBS and I’m ONLY speaking on some of the honesty and growing into adulthood part of it) but I think with the right producers (let go a little Cole!) and some dope music arrangements and hooks, he would be on fire. Ugh, but his homie is Drake, so…   Moving on, all these dumb ass countdowns for Dot to drop. Again, no countdowns for the fragile ass “Boy”, who, in essence, took longer than Kendrick to drop “Push Ups” (3 weeks, by the way), but let’s baby the “baby”. I saw none of this for Drake, only for Kendrick. TACKINESS. Since when do we have countdowns in rap battles/beefs? I’m telling you, duck lips, acrylics and scrunchies must be something y’all who condone this nonsense wear in secret. Low key smackin’ ya lips, rolling ya eyes in y’alls head and saying, “KENDRICK NEEDS TO DROP LIKE RIGHT NOW CUZ… I AIN’T ABOUT TO WAIT FOR THIS NIGGA, FORREAL…” Every fucking time I heard someone said Kendrick was on the clock, this was the vibe men seem to be giving- AND I’M NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT THE GEN-Z MOFO’S!!! All of you who are Millennials, Xennials (I am one) and friggin’ Gen-Xer’s were out of control, acting like you’re standing on a corner shaping your nails with a blunt in your mouth, gossipy, actin’ spicy but trying to act tough – ALL TO SUPPORT ANOTHER LIP SMACKER NAMED AUBREY GRAHAM?! HUH?!?! Gross. The motherfucka took 3 goddamn weeks, if you wanna do fucking countdowns. Kendrick took 2 friggin’ weeks but somehow this was spun like HE took the longest. Soft fuckin ass brains a la social fucking media – fuck it, the INTERNET.   Think for yourself.     Those guys I mention below. Credit: It Is What It Is Podcast     Now where was I? Oh yeah, for instance, Mase and Cam’Ron, who were seen wearing OVO jackets. I’m snickering as I write this. Like forreal, y’all? These men, who are respected lyrically in hip-hop, sat there on their program I don’t care to mention was beyond the word “bias”. Because I didn’t even know they would be like this because I stopped paying much attention to them for years, to hear the shit they said, especially when Euphoria dropped confused me. But I watched their demeanor, what and how they said it.   Mase said “It was interesting…” as he nods with nearly an uncomfortable smile on his face, then says, “Um, I thought it was cool…” starts grinning uneasily while Cam’ron asks him who’s winning. Mase fixes his mouth to say that “Drake is winning from an MC standpoint, you know it took a while for him to get – for us to get the record from Kendrick and when you wait a while – it got to be like out of this world. I think if Kendrick dropped this record right after “Drop and Give Me 50” (not the name of your Boy’s song btw, even if it was titled that way prior to release) it would have been crazy.” He goes on to say, still looking uneasy, “But we waited.”   Da Fuck?!   So, then Cam’ron, who equally looks uneasy, says when asked what he thought by Mase, “I don’t know man, I think Drake is winning. Euphoria didn’t really move me. I’m expecting lyrics from Kendrick Lamar. You’re expecting certain things and so it was kind of long, took too long to come out for us (I’m cracking up now) and I’m not saying it’s bad…” and Mase adds, “It was a good record (says it again), that we waited a while for. It was a good record we waited a while for.” As Cam’ron continues to babble about a record can still be hot after waiting “2 years…4 years later”, Mase grins with Cam’ron and says in what can be called “lame-assed seriousness” fake sagaciously says, “There’s a certain thing you have to have in a record that Kendrick doesn’t have in his record-” and then Cam’ron chimes in saying, “You gotta school these niggas!!” Laughing but comes off like we’re supposed to think it’s confidence there when, for me, I hear none. Anyways, Mase says “You gotta say something that make niggas look at the nigga different and when he did the whole ‘I don’t wanna hear you say nigga no more’, that was a - pause - angle we already heard before…”. Cam’ron then says the most ignorant shit ever (although they pretty much said enough) by saying, “I’m not saying that this rap beef isn’t entertaining but-”, he goes into his “when we used to do this shit” spiel he says, “People had the potential to die, like literally, or get seriously hurt and I just don’t feel that in these battles – AND I DON’T- I’M NOT PROMOTING THIS!”   Cam’ron said it doesn’t have a dangerous atmosphere for him.   I pause.   I’m a New Yorker. Brownsville, BKLYN. Born in the early 80’s. Any of us who were born in the 80’s, 70’s, 60’s, etc understood what happened during 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G.’s beef and the swell of the East and West Coast rivalry it created, thanks to dummies like Diddy and the press. Some would even say Suge Knight. A fucked up time and to see 2 of my favorite rappers pass away less than a year from each other is traumatizing for a teen. It was traumatizing for EVERYONE during that time, adult or not. I think most of us still have PTSD from that time and this fucking moron Cam’Ron, who lives in his own comfortable bubble within his bubblehead, fixed his fuckin’ mouth to say this battle doesn’t come off as “dangerous”.   SINCE WHEN DOES A RAP BATTLE AND/OR BEEF NEED TO GET TO DANGEROUS FUCKIN’ LEVELS?!?! Are y’all that bored?! Nearing your 50’s and/or in your 50’s and y’all need it to be a violent beef so y’all can get engagement?! Views?!   East Coast hip-hop OG’s were grossly disappointing during this beef. I should have heard them rallying for this and giving some perspective. REAL prospective. Real friggin’ hip-hop!!! Only a handful – HANDFUL of them who respect lyricism and the true art of hip-hop spoke out and their respect for what was at play, specifically Kendrick’s masterful dissection of Drake. I also saw East Coast OG’s who reacted to a few videos, meme’s etc in favor of Kendrick. I also saw some who reacted to Drake shit on Instagram – the positive shit about him. There were artists I expected to see because of shit they’ve said in interviews, past and present, them equally slaughtering on the mic and showing why they are THOSE emcees. Beautiful to see them stand on art, lyricism and respect for this culture and not letting their ego get bruised when there isn’t any reason for that to happen in the first place.   Which comes to why I’m using Cam’ron and Mase as the example for all the men who said or DIDN’T say anything about this battle but specifically when Euphoria dropped. There's a reason why the men I mentioned above was saying what they said and acting how they were acting. Not just the fact that Drake had Dipset on stage with him, btw. A lot of men were acting so fucking cringey, jealous and pathetic when K-Dot dropped this song AND AFTERWARDS. Gillie the Kid, who said “Euphoria” was “Whack sauce” or something to that effect, Ice Cube, who, for some reason needed to remind everyone that “No Vaseline” was the best diss track of all time and that he was “Kendrick before Kendrick” and wasn’t at all that supportive at first (which is sad), and Ice T made a shady comment that surprised me because I definitely would have thought he would’ve loved all of this, as a metal head and hip-hop star? Come on!  Then you have all the other super silent rappers that may have sat there and said, “I don’t listen to this music-,” which I somewhat don’t believe. The silent rappers and not so silent ones- you know what Kendrick did to them that has never been done before in the history of musical hip-hop battles?   He emasculated them. With one song.   That is the word. Emasculated. He made Gillie, Cam’ron, Mase, Fat "fuckin’ mouth" Joe- all these mouthy ass dudes and those who didn’t say A THING (or slickly said shit on their albums that subsequently came out after the battle ended. You know who you are) during this battle feel like they had no hanging balls that dropped. Pene done turned inward, hid and shivered.    Kendrick’s 1 song made these men feel a certain way. About themselves? About their abilities as rappers? Questioning their pen? It can be all or some of the above. Just like one verse from “Like That”, changed the game, “Euphoria” was the start of changing rap battle history but what that man packed into this 6 plus minute song was nothing short of jaw-dropping.   Euphoria is masterful and exactly how I pictured Kendrick would “whoop feet” . Opening the song with an R & B soul sample, Teddy Pendergrass, and packed the opening with lyrics, measured not slowly delivered to brace everyone for what’s to come. It irritated me when I saw people being so friggin’ impatient for Dot to get to where it will get intense, lively or “faster”. I call these fuckers “10 second chumps”, can’t hang and need everything to hurry up and get to the point. I hope y’all don’t fuck like that… just saying. What Kendrick was doing was building suspense .   Suspense . Something we have long missed in music, although I can count a few people who still practice this art… this design. Suspense is what we loved about every goddamn song before the fuckin’ 2000’s came along. Immediacy has become “the meal to consume” for nearly 2 decades. BORING!   Not only did Kendrick tap into his own artistry/creativity, but he also tapped into his musical (and possibly theater/movie) influences to carve out such vocal display with impressive inflections and changing of voices and music theory in the first official full length diss track from him. The bar certainly was raised by this quiet giant.   And the production… sigh. Fabulous and perfect. The beginning was poetic, with this hilarious sense that everything was going to be calm… at least to the people who ARE NOT fans of Kendrick and fans of real well-crafted music. But it was such a slow and cool bop to it, at least for me, I had the "squint in my eyes and head nod" going strong.   Then came the horns and “Shoooo! Shoooo! Shoooo!” and that was it. More rapid suspense before he dropped the first verse. You see, Kendrick clearly understands and thinks how a song will sound live and how a person will react to it. I think artists (minus rock and some other musical genres) need to think more in this light. Again, this is what I missed about the music I listened to growing up and hip-hop is surprisingly not the genre I consumed the most. Yes, I grew up on hip-hop. This Brownsville girl who loves metal, rock, funk, R&B – my first concert was Metallica in 1997 at Madison Square Garden… the day after Biggie died.   I digress. Songs like “All Night Long (All Night)”, by Lionel Richie, “Little Red Corvette”, by Prince, “A Night To Remember”, by Shalamar, “Something About You”, by Level 42, “The Choice Is Yours”, by Black Sheep, “In Particular”, by Blonde Redhead, "One", by Metallica and so many, many more I can name that have suspense in various parts of their songs - in the beginning or throughout. That feeling of when a song makes you excited and when the song is done you crave more of it. Because of that “build” or “build up” that has grips on you and you’re about to lose your mind because the musicality behind it and the chords played; so well thought out to make you, the listener want to move some and/or all parts of your body to the music.   So, yes, Kendrick’s first full length diss track was going to be… cinematic… and suspenseful… and it had to be. Why? The differences between him and Drake… Drake doesn’t have suspense in his music. Straight to the point, checks all the “what must be in a hit song for the 2010’s” boxes which is what is “popular” now. Talk about women- excuse me for being considerate about women  - “bitches and hoes”, money, fame, trap beat, halfway decent hook, probably a feature, autotune probably somewhere in the song... BORING !     I feel like Kendrick had to remind people what real rap songs – thought out rap songs, sounded like again.   Some thoughts on some of the lyrics:   I don’t have a whole lot because there are many deep dives out there but some lyrics that caught my attention.   “Try cease and desist on the "Like That" record? Ho, what? You ain't like that record?”   The audacity of Drake to sit there and accuse Kendrick of sending a Cease and Desist for “Taylor Made Freestyle”- I’m sorry I’m laughing as I type this – like…how dare this fuckin’ dude?! As Kendrick said, “he’s a master manipulator and habitual liar, too.” This dude produced not one bit of proof but Metro Boomin’ sure did for “Like That” and I wouldn’t be surprised if this case Aubrey has for UMG makes it to trial, this evidence will come out.   Now that I mention the case with UMG… who is the most likely person sending cease and desists? You’re right Drake, “cease and desist are for hoes” so I guess you were talking about yourself.   Remember, Aubrey. Discovery.   That's ho shit, I got a son to raise, but I can see you don't know nothin' 'bout that Wakin' him up, know nothin' 'bout that Then tell him to pray, know nothin' 'bout that Then givin' him tools to walk through life like day by day, know nothin' 'bout that Teachin' him morals, integrity, discipline, listen, man, you don't know nothin' 'bout that Speakin' the truth and consider what God's considerin', you don't know nothin' 'bout that       Kendrick was so slick here. SOOO Slick! I think Kendrick played with how he pronounced his words, and it makes this whole part of this section of the lyrics have a double meaning. “You don’t know nothin’ ‘bout that” what I also hear is “You don’t know nothin' ‘bout DOT” . Listen to how Kendrick sings this part.   Kendrick essentially tells Drake he knows nothing about how to raise a child and be a good example in his life. However, in between telling Drake what he doesn’t know about being a good father, Kendrick is also telling him he doesn’t know a fuckin’ thing about HIM .   Or it could be a combination of Kendrick and Dot that Drake doesn’t know, and he doesn’t. The Boy had to go on social media and half ass listen to “Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers” to find anything on Kendrick. Google searched for information on Dot and all he got was the R. Kelly/Spotify shit. Sad as hell.     What I learned is niggas don't like the West Coast And I'm fine with it, I'll push the line with it...     Yes, Kendrick, you’re right about this 100%. I am going to speak for the East Coast, mainly New York. Yes, it’s true that New Yorkers do listen to West Coast music. A lot. Not always with the homies, though. Growing up I always heard all hip-hop music no matter what the region was, blaring and/or out of the projects/apartments/homes, etc.   However, New York is ridiculous when it comes to other rappers being from anywhere other than the 5 boroughs. There is almost a sense that New Yorkers feel like hip-hop belongs to them and only them which is, again, ridiculous. If anyone dares say that someone from another state or region is the best rapper, to them, it’s not true and it almost can’t happen because New York is the state that birthed this thing called “hip-hop”, therefore, anyone being better than someone from New York is bullshit and there must be some sort of conspiracy, etc. For the most part, it just doesn’t happen. My god, fuckin’ New Yorkers didn’t even want to acknowledge New Jersey! Go find the latest interview with Redman on “Sway In The Morning”, where he talks about his beginnings in rap and how it went for him in New York. The bias of New Yorkers with hip-hop is sad and I dislike it immensely.   Hey New York! It makes us look weak! We’re supposed to be the ones looking at everyone in other regions/states, nodding like, “Yeah, that’s influence.” We should be proud of how many people love this art form and look to us as the originators. But, instead, there’s a jealousy that the West, specifically California, has mostly taken the art form and has rivaled the East Coast, specifically New York, with the very sound they originated with their own style and have been insanely successful with it. We know damn well that’s really where our annoyance lies. The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac. You're missed. Credit: Biography   Some say it’s because of the 2Pac and Biggie beef. Because ‘Pac “switched” sides and started to represent West Coast.   Here’s the thing: Tupac knew where he came from and never forgot it. He always said he had love for the East Coast, for New York. He was born there. HOWEVER, the sheer amount of negative shit he’s gone through in NYC is crazy. I can understand why he felt the way he felt. Quad Studios attempted murder was what pushed him over the edge. How the fuck would you feel if this happened to you? For some, you would be looking at your birthplace sideways for a while.   I digress. The narrative of the Biggie/Pac shit – I don’t buy it. The West Coast had insane talent and that was hard to swallow for New Yorkers. Because no one can be better than New York and that is unheard of. And that, is pure shite. Talent is talent and if it meant the best lyricist was from fuckin’ Council Bluffs, Iowa, then so be it. Where a person is from should never fuckin’ dictate who is better or what sound is better. Music is fuckin’ music. Art is art. Love it, enjoy it and shut the fuck up.   And this is why I’m disappointed that not too many MC’s/OG’s in the hip-hop game came out and had an opinion on someone who was being lyrical, bringing it back to the 90’s and before.   Emasculation.   Common, Pete Rock, Big Daddy Kane, Xzibit, Nas are some of the few people who have spoken positively about Kendrick in this battle. To now see some of the older rappers from the 80’s and 90’s putting out albums, almost like “Oh shit! It’s safe to come out and be lyrical again!” It’s wonderful to see but, from these older rappers, I get a sense that they wanted to remind the West Coast – and the world, who the true masterminds and originators of this art form is rather than it be a celebration of the man who stopped the Owl from continuing this shite-y course of lazy music – and a celebration of lyricism is loved again.   Btw, New York, I am blaming you for what happened to hip-hop in the early 2000’s up until Kendrick had the balls to say, “ Enough is enough ”. The beginning of New York’s stranglehold in music started slipping with Puff Daddy.   Shiny fuckin’ suits and sampling in the production that was so friggin’ obvious it makes you clench your teeth. Lazy work equals millions of dollars made at the expense of true lyricists such as Biggie and Craig Mack. Yes, Biggie made those songs what they were, but Puff and his team didn’t do much with their samples. It was the sample, maybe speed it up or slow it down some, and then put a beat over it right quick and - Voila!   I couldn’t wait for Biggie to leave Puffy so he could work with a real producer who could really curate and work around his high level of lyricism, charisma, creativity and power. At least Tupac was able to work with whom he wanted. Big, not so much. It hurts so much that we will never be able to hear/see that. Forever under Puff’s rule… and production.   Because of this design made by Puffy, this started to follow suit. Not much brain power to make a pop/rap hit. Once Biggie passed, music changed. Biggie and Pac’s passing put hip-hop in a bit of a depression, even though Jay-Z, DMX, and a few others were banging out hits. Something was always missing that should never have been missing and Big and Pac has since been always mentioned in music. They left a huge fuckin’ hole that has never been fully filled and might never happen. Anyways, New York okayed Puffy’s behavior and allowed that man to rule hip-hop for far too long, enough that he became a friggin’ billionaire.   Not just Puffy I have to blame. A lot of rappers started pivoting from hip-hop to pursue other endeavors such as acting. There’s not one issue with that. However, when you nearly abandon hip-hop, what the hell do you think other regions/states are going to do?! Just sit there and twiddle their thumbs and wait for New Yorkers/East Coast to come back around to their art form?! No. Other talented and not-so-talented mofo’s came out to play. All inspired by New York.   One last thing – y’all cosigned Drake (Insert fuckin’ Funk Master No Flex. No FUCKIN’ WAY any man or woman who isn’t half-white would get a pass for using a PHONE to FREESTYLE!!! Absolutely no respect for anyone who thought this was okay. People like Funk would not be okay with Kendrick or other rappers he could care less about freestyling using a phone. THAT’S NOT FREESTYLING!!!) Y’all take up for that. Which is insane to me. Y’all would rather say Drake is better because he isn’t a threat. Y’all know full and well that fucker doesn’t touch Kendrick in lyricism and creativity. Easy to like a non-threatening mofo than one who could challenge y’all. That’s lame and weak and unlike the New York I grew up in or thought that I grew up in.   So, with that said, East Coast and/or New York, thank Kendrick for putting confidence and competitive spirit back in you, again.     I be at New Ho King eatin' fried rice with a dip sauce and blammy, crodie Tell me you're cheesin', fam We can do this right now on the camera, crodie     Kendrick had a double entendre with the New Ho King reference. Just like what I pointed out in my “Family Ties” post, I think, allegedly that Dot’s fam and/or Dot may have been threatened. “Dip Sauce” in urban slang could mean stylish. May mean nothing but “Blammy” is a gun. Hmmm. Dot appears to be with the shits, and I will walk away and say nothing more on this one. Draw your own conclusions.   Dot challenging Drake to battle on camera is excellent on all fuckin’ fronts. Drake would lose miserably, because from what we saw, that man cannot freestyle on command. Using a phone is not freestyling. Even the BS songs he has released with part of the title having “freestyle” in it is annoying and lame. I swear the definition of “Freestyling” has changed since the 90’s. The fact that anyone in the hip-hop community has allowed Drake to run with these shite-y titles because he became “successful” is ludicrous. Anyways, K-Dot knows Drake wouldn’t accept that challenge and he sure did not when Euphoria was released and heard what Dot said to him. He’s not writing those lyrics he’s been known for all these years. You know what? I find this lyric of the song to be very overlooked in some ways, especially when some of the bigger platforms like Joe Budden Podcast (who seems to side with Drake even if they were seen dancing to NLU and singing Dot’s praises on the battle but continue to nitpick every freakin’ fuckin’ thing Kendrick does but not necessarily Drake. The bar is low for Drake on that podcast so if he does one thing right, Kendrick will have to do about 5 more things better to get equal respect. Disgusting. They should rewatch their own episodes. You can like Drake for being a decent actor and knowing how to “pen” pop songs, not as a rapper/lyricist but don’t sit there, as a forum to the “culture” and be lazy and hypocritical and not do real research on subjects you speak of. The moodiest podcast ever…) who seem to ignore a lot of what Dot said on the record and this line, for me, is what I feel Joe would’ve been perfect to have an opinion on Drake’s ability to battle Kendrick on camera – shit, or even in person! Nope, not what we got. Just lazy reporting with no research. Just people walking in and writing on the board what’s trending and interesting for the day insert eyeroll .   I almost wish that they did battle on camera. Drake’s “L’” would’ve been much worse. MUCH WORSE, although his “L” is horrifying enough.     “We don't wanna hear you say "nigga" no more…”     Finally, the last line on Euphoria that people mention in passing. People think this line is only directed at Drake. I don’t think it is. This was a shot at Kanye as well.   The way Dot sung this line was directly taken from Kanye’s song, “Get ‘Em High” from his album “College Dropout”. Dot used Ye’s own melody/cadence, which was super dope… but not for what people think, especially those who are active fans of Kanye. Kendrick didn’t say this line in this way to pay homage to Ye. In fact, it was the opposite.     The body language from these two said a lot...   Kanye’s three-faced ass decided to jump into the battle, saying, “I got you, Dot!” (I’m laughing my ass off as I write this… I’m sorry) on “Like That (Remix)” which was mediocre at best. Yes, his best line was towards J. Cole but he added nothing to the sauce, really. (I will soon begin writing my blog post on J. Cole as well – stay tuned for that) I don’t think Ye thought Kendrick would come out being so insanely successful in the battle. I think he knew Dot would win but the display, the strategy – what Dot did is the word I will keep saying on this post – Ye fell victim to emasculation. It didn’t matter that he is a successful musician in his own right. What Dot did was simply masterful and spun most of the rap world into little jealous children.   And yes, Ye became a jealous child. J. Cole is also added to this mix. For him to make that record, “7 Minute Drill”, being the first one to put out a full-length song – Cole purged all his envy into that song. Everything he felt about Kendrick Lamar underneath it all came flying out. Then wanted to backtrack and “apologize” and then still send the man more subliminals… me with an eagle eye stare at Cole.   I digress. Kendrick said what he said at the end of the song because, simply, Ye has displayed how much he doesn’t care about his people – more so black women, but he so badly wants to be accepted by any other race than his own. The incredible amount of harmful shit he has said about black people, supporting a cock-bag like Trump who cares only for himself and definitely doesn’t care about people of color – Ye went out of his way to distance himself from people of color but only uses us when he wants to whine and complain about “the man” doing something to him and because we are such a forgiving people we go and back this idiot. (Listen, I can support a person’s right to their political beliefs, and I do. However, when they lean so far away into Hell to the point they care not for the very people who support you, that look like you, I have a problem with that. Some people are Republican purely because they have economic beliefs, and so on but not because they dislike people of color. Read up on different types of Conservatives. I sure the fuck ain’t one) Kendrick sent that scathing stray, “We don't wanna hear you say "nigga" no more…” because he sure the fuck doesn’t want THAT man to be using a word that he TRULY means it when he says it with the hard “ER”. Kendrick, to me, showed that he was tired of Ye and his bullshit.   So, it came as no surprise that Kanye started talking shit about Kendrick. I wasn’t surprised at all.     IN CONCLUSION     We are all seeing it. The insane, high-level standards they have for Kendrick like he isn’t a human being first, and then try to say, “Well he criticized this person and that” not realizing that he isn’t the only fuckin’ artist who has criticized and/or have opinions about other artists. Hell, we got mutherfuckers who’ve been out here pushing drugs on their own people, rap about it then have all the goddamn opinions in the world about other artists and their lifestyles. But – OH NO – Kendrick can’t have opinions because he’s “Mr. Morale” and “Mr. Alright” and “Mr. Loyalty” and “Mr. Good Fuckin’ Kid”. GET A LIFE!!! The jealousy is sad and pathetic and, unless K-Dot did some shit to these people – rappers, music producers, etc – come out and say it then! But no, I doubt that will happen. It already would have been done.   Kendrick doesn’t need to acknowledge/work with every mutherfucker in the rap industry, past or present, so that y’all can feel important. I feel like that’s part of the reason some folks in the industry are salty. Kendrick has already paid respect to the “OGs” in the game. Many times. Seeking validation from a grown man is unfortunate and I suggest these same individuals who are going through this particular symptom should listen to “Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers”. Dot has some medicine he’s already prescribed in that album. DO yourself a favor and listen. If it were someone not as lyrical as Kendrick that slayed Drake, the outpouring for for that person would have been momentous and hugely substantial because "it won't be no threat."   In the end, Euphoria, this 6 minute plus giant of a song had people in their feelings and emasculated many, many men... Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading. If you like what I've created, spoke about, etc and would like to contribute to my CashApp click the box below. I appreciate you, immensely.

You can watch the video instead and support my new YouTube Channel! Hello to all the "thinkers" out there! Thank you for stopping by and reading my first post here and taking the time out and to read. I really wanted to give us all the space to get back to reading and writing again, a break in streaming and YouTube videos. I hope this is becomes that space for you all! I appreciate you! Ok, sorry for interrupting... Did we miss some things said and/or shown in the music videos and/or songs released by K-Dot? Or am I one of the only people who had noticed these things and few has spoken about any of them? First up is "TOP5" being mentioned on Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar's award winning song "Family Ties". I may now have a better understanding as to why this song is even titled "Family Ties". Guess who this is... It's safe to assume fans think "Family Ties" title is directly about the familial relationship of K-Dot and Baby Keem. I do think it ties into Dot's "affiliations" in LA, California (I wouldn't be surprised in Illinois as well). No need to elaborate on that. Kendrick, I felt, wanted to remind certain individuals of this fact. He also wanted to inform these individuals he was aware of a certain individual that was in his "backyard" so to speak. That individual is Top5. Now that this guy has revealed himself in such an embarrassing way, I am assuming many things that makes sense to me but I can be wrong. Top5 said very publicly who he was on DJ Akademics platform, knows Drake and apparently does "work" for him (Read between the lines) Drake has also helped him out by paying for his legal fees, according to Top5. It's possible that Top5 was sent... to put it mildly... "deal" with the "problem" that is Kendrick at some point before Family Ties came to fruition. Anyways, why would this be happening? Most of us have no idea but I bet Drake and Kendrick knows for sure. Let's look at the lyrics: (These are the ORIGINAL lyrics seen on Genius's website and not the updated ones we hear now) [Chorus: Baby Keem] Jump in that— (Hah, hah), summon that bitch Jump in that— (Hah, hah), jump in that fire (Hah), jump in that bitch Hittin' that fire (Hah), jump in that whip (Hah), thumb in that bitch Cum in that bitch (Ho), drummin' that— (Hah, hah) Drummin' that bitch (Huh, say, huh) [Verse 1: Baby Keem] I keep playin' with the dead (With the dead) Family ties, with the burdens in my head (They in my head) I keep tabs on the ones that mean no good (They mean no good) They all act when I tap back in the hood Amino acids for the kids Raised around the fire, alcoholics on the ledge Racin' to the lobby, Ricky Bobby on yo' body, oh I keep gang beside me, whole autopsy on the Audi , yo What I get from this (and I could wrong) Keem is ready to do damage on a mutherfucker that fucks with his family and his people, when he needs to get shit poppin' off, is with the shits or in simpler terms, is going to have his back. Also, they are always watching. [Verse 3: Kendrick Lamar] I thought you'd known better I been duckin' the pandemic, I been duckin' the social gimmicks I been duckin' the overnight activists, yeah I'm not a trending topic, I'm a prophet I answer to Metatron and Gabriel (Ah, ah, ah) Bitch, ain't no discrepancies I am a legacy, I come from the '70s The Al Green offspring, guns and the melody The big shot, wrist on cryotherapy Soon as I press that button Nigga better get right like the ambulance comin' Us two ain't alike, he ain't been through nothin' Dave Free got at least one B in the oven I'm trippin', I'm juggin', my mental is— Amazing, brother I think Drake never took Kendrick seriously when it came to who he was affiliated with or maybe affiliated with and/or... how many people in his 'hood truly care about and look out for him. So, allegedly, Drake tests him. I need not say more on the first line on Verse 3. Kendrick knows things. He knows a lot about Drake's misdeeds. This 3rd verse alludes to that, specifically the "that button". And because Drake may have done something that Dot may never forgive him for, he is letting him know he is aware of who he sent and also knows a few things about him, with an insult to add with it, which is something he later states in "Meet The Grahams" when he says "he ain't been through nothin' ", which is very diminishing to say the least. But why should Dot care at this point? Even if Drake had issues sans money problems, it wouldn't matter. This man, to Dot, is horrible and has done horrible things that are unforgivable. I found it interesting how his voice switched when he spoke on his mental state on Verse 3. He gave nothing away, with his voice going flat and nearly uninterested. Unreadable (Very Gemini). I think that was the point and it was a point well made. I do find it interesting that people are still trying to sort of connect the dots on this but not many people have referred to this song and when I've seen it people are still saying Dot is referring to "Top 5 rappers" in the Hip Hop game. They mention Top5 but not the connection to why Kendrick would mention "Top 5" in the first place or maybe they have and just can't utter the same damning words I refuse to utter myself. In my opinion, Dot didn't just come out of nowhere and decided, with Baby Keem to title a song called "Family Ties" and if you re-read the lyrics, it seems a little clearer to me he isn't speaking about smoking on anyone's "Top 5 rappers". Besides... didn't Drake move out of California? I also don't think it's a coincidence that Drake named his supposed nuke of a diss track, "Family Matters" because he "casually" mentioned Kendrick's family and business associate(s). To me it's a response to “Like That", "Euphoria" and "6:16 in L.A." in addition to "Family Ties" with Baby Keem. The music video for "Family Matters" was telling as well and some may think it is a stretch but... this man loaded a faux "good kid m.A.A.d. city" van, crushed, in what appears to be a mortuary fridge. All part of the beef, I thought... until “Meet The Grahams.” I digress. Maybe because of what had transpired sometime between 2017-2022 , the result is what we see on the cover of Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers . I won't post the picture here because I want people to go to that album and pay close attention to the visuals and then find subsequent photos that were released in 2024, ironically, after the beef, photos we didn't get to see from the photographer Renell Medrano, who had an art exhibition called "Lambon" in October 2024. Now listen to the album and/or read the lyrics very carefully. I digress. K-Dot showed on Family Ties that this was the beginning of showing how he was going to handle Drake in 2024. The many sides of the Dot. Oh, and if this is what I think it might presumably be, Kendrick Lamar has every right to be angry and protective of his family. Oh and btw, Kendrick was right, MM&TBS is a classic and will be for those who didn't believe in it in the first place. Comment, share, and/or subscribe and thanks for reading. Disclaimer: (Um, oh yeah, so these are my thoughts and opinions, and these thoughts and opinions are ALLEGED so, if you think this weighs more than 300lbs, I can't hold you.) Entertain purposes only. If you like what I've created, spoke about, etc and would like to contribute click the box below. I appreciate you, immensely.