Spotify’s podcast series Dissect may have just uncovered something in a Kendrick Lamar verse that I don’t think Kendrick himself may have realized. On Pusha T’s 2013 My Name Is My Name album, he and Kendrick teamed up on the song titled Nosetalgia. Kendrick strayed away from his usual subject matter and stepped into the realm of Pusha’s drug trade stories. However, its the numerology in Kendrick’s verse that has us talking about it 9 years later. Speaking of 9, it was the usage of 9’s and 10’ in the verse that will blow your mind.
Kendrick Lamar is the best rapper alive. pic.twitter.com/qLKOgiuQcA
— Dissect Podcast (@dissectpodcast) April 12, 2022
Dissect host Cole Cuchna highlighted Kendrick Lamar’s repeated use of the numbers 9 and 10 in his verse: “When I was 10, back when 9 ounces had got you 10/And 9 times out of 10, n-ggas don’t pay atTENtion/And when it’s TENsion in the air, nines come with exTENsions.”
Adding these 9s and 10s together, will bring the total sum to 87 — the year Kendrick Lamar was born. Furthermore, 9 plus 10 equals 19, completing Kendrick’s birth year 1987. It doesn’t stop there. He goes on to point out that Kendrick used three 9s and six 10s, cleverly setting up his use of the number 36 later in his verse: “I said ‘Daddy, one day I’ma get you right with 36 zips’ … Go figure muthafucka, every verse is a brick.” (A zip of cocaine is an ounce; 36 ounces is a brick.)
If Kendrick actually thought all of this out the way Cuchna broke it down, I gotta say that it’s pretty impressive. Best Rapper Alive may be a stretch while Jay Z, Nas, Drake and Wayne are still breathing, but you cannot leave Lamar out of the conversation.
