The 15 Best Remixes of Kendrick Lamar Songs

You can't help it: Once there's a popular rapper or album, you can assume that there will be a cornucopia of edits, bootlegs, and remixes coming down the EDM pike. Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d City was highly anticipated, and delivered; we weren't expecting the trap producers, dubstep denizens, and glitch-hop goons to get so hype about reworking his material, but they did... to the point where we didn't even want to hear "Swimming Pools (Drank)" anymore. Lucky for us, there were some solid remixes that came out of that rush, and while we hope there aren't any new ones creeping into our inboxes, we felt it necessary to salute the 15 best remixes of Kendrick Lamar tracks.

Urban Noize is known for turning out some proper remixes, and their rework of "Westside, Right On Time" is no exception. The turned up the heat on the original, adding a great horn to the tune, giving Kendrick and Jeezy something triumphant to boast over.

JayCeeOh has a pedigree in remixes and mashups, and even though we know that, seeing the names Kendrick Lamar, Afrojack, and Carnage next to each other had us kind of surprised. It makes more sense when you realize that he just flipped the "every second, every minute" from the seductive "Poetic Justice" over Carnage's festival trap remix of Afrojack's "Annie's Theme." At the very least, we know that she can get it.

In this Archnemesis "restyle," Kendrick's "Backseat Freestyle" is thrown down the stairs, into the meat grinder, and turned into an entirely different monster. We guess that's what happens when you let Archnemesis in the driver's seat. Fans of glitch-hop, trap, and a little dubstep will appreciate how Kendrick's mantra gets ground down on this one.

This is called a festival edit, but it feels more like an epic edit, as At Dawn We Rage slides in the right amount of trap drums and washes to inject some hair-raising, anthemic vibes to Kendrick's song.

This one wins more for the concept used that the actual remix. Flipping Kendrick's "turn it up a notch" line from "Swimming Pools (Drank)" and blending that with Gent & Jawns "Turn Up" was a great touch. This is one of those reworks that's surely ringing off in the clubs, especially for fans of both tracks.

Madeaux satisfies with the turned down trap flavor on his rework, letting Kendrick's lyrics soak in perfectly over this all-the-way-laidback beat. You won't be bumping this in your whips, but when you're in chillmode and the phone starts ringing, you might answer it and blast this at them so they get the hint.

Cable with the huge trap send-up of one of Kendrick's most aggressive tracks? It fits surprisingly well. He makes it a habit of bouncing clips of Kendrick and some other sporadic vocal samples, siphoning them into this metabeast.

This is just vicious. Red Eye Jedi kicked the chair out from under this one and just let Kendrick's bars swing over a pit full of trap lions chomping at the bit.

King's from the street bass school, and they know how to twist hip-hop tunes into bass-y bangers. Instead of ripping one particular phrase from Kendrick's furious freestyle, King let's Kendrick spit a piece that he repeats, twists, and manipulates until the next line comes in. Great one to spring on your friends, unsuspecting-like.

We've got a thing for quirky melodies, and Eprom's "m.A.D.d city" rework gets the "trapped in an NES game" treatment, with all kinds of 8-bit weaponry being brought out for a video game gang war as hype as anything in San Andreas.

Oh how DAD misses the days of the drum & bass of popular hip-hop tracks. You couldn't escape white label bootlegs of tunes from Lupe Fiaso, Eminem, and other popular acts, so to hear Atlantic Connection's soulful flip of "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" was a pleasant surprise. It's pretty devoid of lyrics, but the anthem is in the chrous, and this wore those strings on its sleeve.

Bird Peterson is another producer that knows how to craft a great remix, and for his rendition of "Swimming Pools (Drank)," he brings a bubbly sound that feelis like the dribbling of the liquor pouring out of the upturned bottle from Kendrick's drunken stupor.

You'd think more trap rpdocuers would have attempted a serious reimagining of "Swimming Pools" to make their version stand out, but Kayzo took the cake. A hint of the Flosstradamus trap sound, some butter sirens, and that stutter edit on Kendrick's vocals and you have a damaging edit on your hands.

Didn't think Kendrick could be thrown on a house beat? You played yourself, didn't you? Star Slinger is a great remixer, and during a train ride to London, he took Kendrick to the house. It's a smooth refix, and something you could drop in a house club and not have the clientele get aggy.

In the original "Swimming Pools (Drank)," the beat is catered more to the regular Kendrick, but there's a lot of the devilish, alcohol-loving in it, and it feels like Blood Diamonds wanted to flip a beat where that red-suited side of Kendrick feels at home. Distorted and disgusting, Blood Diamonds knocked this one out of the park.