Producer: Hit-Boy
Album: good kid, m.A.A.d city
On “Backseat Freestyle,” Hit-Boy laced Kendrick with the kind of beat we imagine playing in a garage while aliens repair a crash-landed spaceship. In turn, Kendrick morphs into an extraterrestrial ready to bite your head off. Dot blacks out, splitting his third verse into a double-time and then a triple-time flow. Still, he maintains supreme control, stopping the track just to belt “Beeotch!” on occasion. It’s a straight-up rappity rap song, but the title gives it a setting within the larger narrative of good kid. So whether you listen to it as a piece of a larger puzzle or as a standalone track, Kendrick is still off to the races. —Insanul Ahmed
