Kendrick Lamar, squabble up | Bangerz N Bopz 🔥

In the 97^th edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2024), we highlight “squabble up” performed by Grammy and Pulitzer-winning rapper, Kendrick Lamar.

Bring on the bold, fierce songs! Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 serves up background info and insight into songs of various styles, especially songs that raise eyebrows and stir the pot.  Featured records can be classic or brand new. In the 97^th edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2024), we break down “squabble up” performed by Kendrick Lamar.

“God knows / I am reincarnated / I was stargazin’ / Life goes on, I need all my babies.” Kendrick Lamar kicks off “squabble up”, a gem from his sixth studio album, GNX, with a bang. “Squabble up” is a surefire banger.  Not only is it fun and funky (as in G Funk, West Coast vibes), but it also finds K-Dot impressive with his pen, personality, cadence, and flow: “Woke up lookin’ for the broccoli / High-key, keep a horn on me, that Kamasi / IP, ownership, the blueprint is by me / Mr. Get Off, I get off and mop feet.” Each line deserves decoding and annotation – see Genius! Lamar produced it with Scott Bridgeway, Jack Antonoff, Sounwave, and M-Tech. “Squabble Up” earned a special distinction: it debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100! So, addressing the elephant in the room, what does squabble up mean?

According to the gift that is Urban Dictionary, squabble up, Los Angeles lingo, has two meanings: to fight (square up) or to dance.  Kendrick Lamar captures both meanings superbly in “Squabble Up.” At the end of the clever first verse, Lamar asserts, “I got the money and the power both gyratin’.” Gyration can be associated with music and dancing.  The second and third verses continue to show how impressive the second track from GNX is. “I got friends, I got foes, but they all sitting ducks,” he asserts in the second, adding, “Hit his turf and get crackin’, double back like deluxe.” Oh, snap! In the third verse, some colorful lines are addressing his beef with Drake:

“It was woof tickets on sale ‘til I silenced it

Pipe down, young, these some whole other politics

Bitch with him and some bitch in him, that’s a lot of bitch

Don’t hit him, he got kids with him, my apologies.”

Gah-day-um! Beyond the verses, the crème de la crème – the crowning achievement – is the chorus.  It is infectious lyrically, not to mention the personality K-Dot shows:

“I feel good, get the fuck out my face

Look good, but she don’t got no taste

I walk in, walked out with the safe

Mando, let me know what the play.”

Despite its brevity, “squabble up” kicks ass and takes names.  Kendrick Lamar killed it!

Kendrick Lamar // GNX // pgLang / Interscope // 2024

Kendrick Lamar, squabble up: Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 No. 97 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; pgLang / Interscope; cottonbro studio, Harry Shelton, Kool Shooters, Lucas Pazeta, Mavluda Tashbaeva, Teddy Yang, Wesley Souza from Pexels]