Listen: World Goes Mad As Kendrick Lamar Covers Taylor Swift And Taylor Swift Raps To Kendrick Lamar
Never let it be said that Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift are limited in their musical tastes. The two music stars sort of switched places on Wednesday, with Taylor posting a video of herself rapping along to a Kendrick track and Kendrick dropping a freestyle over Taylor’s latest pop hit, “Shake It Off.”
Taylor Swift is on top of the pop world right now, and nobody even comes close. Swift’s 1989 debuted at the top of the music charts, moving 1.3 million units in its first week on sale. That’s virtually unheard of in a time when consumers are increasingly turning to streaming services like Spotify for their music fix, but thanks to hits like “Shake It Off,” Taylor is just about untouchable on the charts.
So how did Swift celebrate her album’s smashing success? She took to Instagram to rap a Kendrick Lamar track, of course. A post from Tuesday night sees the blonde pop chanteuse rapping along to Kendrick’s “Backseat Freestyle,” off the Compton rapper’s widely celebrated Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City.
Industry experts predicted 1989 would sell 650k first week. You went and bought 1.287 million albums. AND IT’S GOT ME LIKE:
A video posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on
And Swift appears to even know all of the words. That’s not too surprising, though, as Swift told Rolling Stone in September that “Backseat Freestyle” is her “go-to” track that immediately takes her “from feeling victimized to feeling awesome.”
“I know every word,” Swift said to Rolling Stone with a smile.
Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar showed he’s got a bit of love for Taylor as well, popping by K104‘s Dede In The Morning show to chat it up with the radio hosts as the video for his newest single “i” hit the internet.
Kendrick told the hosts he “loves” Swift’s “Shake It Off” single, even singing a few bars with a laugh. Things got real shortly after, though, when the hosts threw on the music from “Shake It Off” and called for Lamar to freestyle over the track, which Kendrick obliged.
Not his best effort, of course, but you’ve gotta admire Lamar’s willingness to play along. Lamar said that “Shake It Off” was “way out of the genre” from what he was used to, but that that made freestyling over the Swift track much more entertaining.
Kendrick is likely hoping that some of Taylor’s luck comes his way in the near future. Lamar’s follow-up to Good Kid is one of the more eagerly anticipated albums of the year, and his single “i” raised eyebrows upon its release. Lamar’s label head promised earlier this year that Kendrick’s newest collection would drop before the end of 2014, but we’ve yet to hear any new tracks beyond the lead single.
