Swagga Like Us
featuring Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil’ Wayne, and T.I.
vs.
My Favorite Mutiny
featuring Black Thought, Boots Riley, and Talib Kweli
To quote Jay-Z, OH BABY!!!! This installment of the Battle of the Posse Cuts is an All-Star match-up that features MCs from different regions on the same track. While these joints were released in 2008 and 2006, I am willing to bet that fans of the Golden Age appreciate these MCs. However, since there are more MCs on Swagga Like Us, Lil’ Wayne will sit this out as he is the man for another generation.
As you know, these battles are subjective and follow three rules. The competing songs:
- must feature at least three different MCs;
- cannot be from the same crew; and
- will be from a similar region (today’s All-Star match-up gets an exemption here).
Also note, that the battle is scored like a relay with each MC being scored this way:
0 – Maybe y’all should have just sang the hook instead of this verse;
1 – Okay, we hear you;
2 – Whoa, that was nice!; and
3 – DAAANNNNGGG, I’ll be repeating those bars all day!
Lead-off Leg: Kanye West vs. Black Thought
In 2008, the teddy bear mascot Kanye era was over. Shortly after Swagga Like Us, Kanye dropped 808s and Heartbreak and I got off the Kanye train. Dude’s creative chops are extraordinary and he evolved in ways artists should be free to grow; yet, there is no shade or exaggeration in saying Kanye is on some other sh**. On this track, we still hear the pesky little brother trying to show he belongs:
Mr. West is in the buildin’
Swagger on a hundred thousand trillion
Ayo I know I got it first
I’m Christopher Columbus, y’all just the Pilgrims
Thanksgiving, do we even got a question?
Hermès, Pastelle, I pass the dressin’
That Christopher Columbus line feels hella awkward considering the context of some of Kanye’s recent outbursts. But nevertheless, Kanye came out swinging but in this match-up, he is swinging at Black Thought. Dawg … Black Thought. This ain’t no rooty-poot, nah dawg, Black Mutha-F-ing Thought. Here’s a sampling as to why he is so esteemed:
The long walk will burn your bare heels
So throw on your boots
The game camouflaged like army suits
But I can see it more clear cause I came with the Coup in here
Ring the alarm and form the troops
Send ’em out into the world, go to war on a fluke
Eye to eye with the enemy you sworn to shoot
Now I’m comin’ at ya neck, sick of hearing something wrong with me
Motherf****er something’s wrong with you
With a Chief just way too smart to question
The enemy the brothers of a dark complexion
The governments of the world is shark infested
They heavy on weaponry like Charlton Heston
Kanye West – 2 Black Thought – 3
Swagga Like Us – 2 My Favorite Mutiny – 3
Second Leg: Jay-Z vs. Boots Riley
By now we all know Jay-Z, the god MC who is “far from being god but he works godd*** hard.” He is a legend, an icon, and most certainly that dude. No MC gets to be all that without skills and this how Jay flexes his on this track:
(No one on the corner…) Got a bop like this
Can’t wear skinny jeans, ‘cause my knots don’t fit
No one on the corner got a pocket like this
So I rock Roc jeans, ‘cause my knots so thick
You can learn how to dress just by checkin’ my fresh
Checkin’ checkin’ my fresh, checkin’ checkin’ my fresh
Follow my steps is the road to success
Where the n****s know you’re thorough when the girls say yes
Well … those bars weren’t godly. But only Jay could deliver them convincingly.
If you haven’t heard of Boots Riley, man, you are missing out. He is a part of The Coup, a hella dope group from Oakland. Look, I’ll put it to you like this – he has a track called, Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night, and that joint is dope. Any cat rolling with Jesus ain’t scared of a god MC. Boots makes that known when he says:
Death to the pigs is my basic statement
I spit street stories ’til I taste the pavement
Tryin’ to stay out the pen while we face enslavement
Had a foolproof hustle ’til they traced the payments
I was grippin’ my palm around some sh***y rum
Tryin’ to find psalm number 151
To forget what I’m owed, as I clutch the commode
And read ‘put down the bottle and come get the gun‘
Let’s get off the chain like Kunta Kinte with a MAC-10
They want us gone like a dollar in a crack den
Steadily subtracting seeds & stems
Mind cloudy through the wheeze and phlegm
Numbing my brain off of that and the Jesus hymns
If we waiting for the time to fight, these is thems
“These is thems?” Yep, these are the times for which we have been preparing. In fact, we are going to break from the norm and allow Boots to finish his verse:
Tellin’ us to relax while they ease it in. We gettin greased again
The truth I write is so cold, It’ll freeze my pen
I’m Boots Riley it’s a pleasure to meet you
Never let they punk a** ever defeat you
They got us on the corner wearing pleather and see thru
All y’all’s gold mines they wanna deplete you
I ain’t just finna to rap on the track, I’m finna to clap on ’em back
And it’s been stackin’ to that
Five hundred years before Iceberg ever leaned back in the ‘lac
Before they told Rosa black in the back
Before the CIA told Ricky Ross to put crack in the sack
And Gil-Scott tradin’ rappin for smack
This beat alone should get platinum plaques
I’d rather see a million of us ecstatic to scrap
Cause if we bappin’ ’em back we automatically stacked
Really, that verse would be a better match-up for Jay-Z’s verse on the Dead Prez’s Hell Yeah remix. But things being as they are, on this match-up, it goes like:
Jay-Z – 1 B oots Riley – 3
Swagga Like Us – 3 My Favorite Mutiny – 6
Anchor Leg: T.I. vs. Talib Kweli
T.I. defies the old and erroneous stereotype that Southern rappers can’t spit. Not only can he spit, T.I. made hits. Prior to the release of Swagga Like Us, I would say T.I. was the least nationally known of the MCs on the track. But he is the MC that saves the song from mediocrity, when he came with:
All my verses picture-perfect all is meant to serve a purpose,
You ain’t living what you kicking then you worthless,
Looking from the surface it may seem that I got reason to be nervous
Then observe my work and see that my adversity was worth it,
Verses autobiographical, absolutely classical,
Last thing I’m worried ’bout is what another rapper do,
Ain’t nobody hot as me
Even if they rap they a** off
Blast off and have outstanding qualities,
Sell a lot of records I respect and salute that,
But spitting real life on hot beats I’m the truth at
You kick it like me no exaggeration necessary,
Living revolutionary, nothing less than legendary,
Gangsta s*** hereditary, got it from my dad
Flow colder than February with extraordinary swag
Yep, the Rubberband Man spit that swagga. Now what about Talib Kweli? Well, I’ll be forthright and say I have purchased (not downloaded for free, but actually supported the artist) more Talib joints than T.I. My list of Talib favorites is long and that gives me an acute listening ear for his verse.
But the beast got it twisted, I’ll untangle it
Black mind intertwined like the ropes they used to hang us with
This is my favorite s***, I came in the game with a new way to spit
That got you questioning who you bangin’ with
Take it back to Imhotep
Go a step deeper like a Poor Righteous Teacher with Holy Intellect
Killer flow for all my real n***** left
But inform the family of the jigaboo that there’s been a death
If you’re new to Talib – where the hell you been? – allow me to state this fact: those are not classic Talib bars. If he was some random MC, they would be tight. But compared to Talib’s body of work, the other MCs on the track, and even – in this case – T.I. In a contest where the god MC only scored a point, I can’t play favorites.
T.I. – 2 Talib Kweli – 1
Swagga Like Us – 5 My Favorite Mutiny – 7
Swagga Like Us turned out to be 2004 Lakers – all that talent (and a banging beat) with just a so-so outcome. T.I. did his best Kobe Bryant but it wasn’t enough. As far as My Favorite Mutiny, despite the rare circumstance of Talib not knocking out the park, the classic verses by Black Thought and Boots Riley was like Jordan and Pippen leading the team to the win.