Mlb tryout camps

So this is kind of wild for me, little background - I got into reffing this year and have had the pleasure of doing well over 100 games (all in the 2 man system) these games have included everything from mite games through tier 1 u18 with a majority being at the AA level of u14 and u16. I know that I was given this opportunity based on my skating ability and size as well as working games with assignors in my area(Played myself for the last 23 years and club in college). I'm extremely confident in the 2 man system but recently I was "noticed" by a few assignors and have been given the chance to ref 2 games this weekend that are a part of a tryout for the national development camps. I have two games in a four man system, the thing is I have never done a game in four man. I have read up on the USA hockey handbook regarding it but was hoping someone could give me some basics, feel free to dumb it down as much as you want. I will be lining one game (not really concerned here) and reffing the other.

I have an opportunity to attend an ID camp in June. Now the only issue is I don’t have transport and would have to go from New York to Washington DC. The total trip and the cost of the ID camp would cost me roughly $400. I’ve already been communicating with the coaches.
Do you guys think it’s worth it. I am a senior in high school and want to join the team, but I feel like I could always do that later as a college student with tryouts possibly.
Do I take the risk?

Hey all that see. I am registered for an oddessa jackolopes tryout camp next week. I've been focusing on practicing everything I think I need, but I was curious on what to expect. The info email says Thursday will be a 3 ice session for only goalies and will pick goalies to continue their weekend. Does anyone have info on what to expect during that? I don't know anyone that has played past club highschool to ask

With so many injuries and fluctuations in form across our defense, I'm wondering who are some of the best options (either short or long term).
Thankfully Casey Stoney said Naomi and Abby D are both getting healthy so at least for the Olympics I don't think it's a huge concern but these upcoming friendlies area great time to test our depth (plus tierna is still injured). Sarah Gorden and Sam Staab are the obvious shouts and I'd love to see them get a chance, though I think people are sleeping on Emily Sams. Demonstrated versatility by playing fullback (even though she's mainly a cb) and has been a monster on Orlando's back line, aggressive and physical 1 v 1 defender with a solid passing range. Our fullback depth is tragically thin, so would love her to get a call up. Besides Foxy, that left back spot is wide open. Jenna is so good on the ball but lacks pace and needs to improve defensively, so potential is there but we'll see. Not super confident in either Dunn or Krueger at the international level, Krueger is great for club but I just don't really see it translate as much for country.
What do you guys think? What options could get tryouts this camp or after the Olympics?

I’m getting a deluge of email invites to all tiers of junior hockey for my 07 (finishing his junior year of HS), tier 2 junior tryouts, coaches camps, AAA summer tournaments in Europe, tier 1 hockey combines - you get the picture. But no personal contact. They feel like mass emails, but I have no idea. I’m lost.
How do you know what’s worth doing? I guess my initial thought is let him do what he wants to do. But, potentially, that’s A LOT of money.
The only one I’ve signed him up for is the ACHA showcase. I kind of feel like all the others are fundraiser fluff. Maybe the ACHA showcase is fluff too, I don’t know. Am I wrong? Are there certain key words to watch for in these messages? Do I wait for an organization to reach out?
I know he’ll never do this past college, if he even gets to play college, but he is interested so I’m trying not to mess this up.
Any advice or experience you have is appreciated.

LeBron's been on PEDs since his first stint in Cleveland (which is why he had a MASS removed from his jawline twice, a tell-tell sign of PED use). Type into Google: "Lebron has a mass removed from jaw" and the article will pop up. It's one of the signs of steroid/HGH use.
Chael Sonnen STATED ON THE RECORD on Andrew Shultz's Flagrant 2 Podcast on YouTube, that Lebron takes EPO - the most expensive and most powerful PED known to man. How come he's NEVER denied Chael Sonnen's EPO allegations? He responds to EVERYTHING on social media. Why is he so quiet when Sonnen ON YOUTUBE said, verbatim: "LeBron James takes EPO and I know his supplier, we get it from the same guy." A simple cease and desist letter from LeBron's lawyers threatening a defamation suit would shut this down. Why hasn't he done so? DISCOVERY. He knows it's true.
And then on Patrick David's Podcast (also on YouTube), Chael Sonnen DOUBLED DOWN AGAIN and stated "I am stating for a fact that Lebron James takes EPO. This isn't an allegation, I know his supplier."
And then Victor Conte, the guy who knows more about PEDs than ANYBODY on the planet, stated on Jason Whitlock's podcast on YouTube, that LeBron's Trainer got caught with PEDs and claimed it was for Savannah, LeBron's wife. Do YOU believe that? LMAOOO. Tristan Thompson, Lebron's best friend, got caught with HGH. LeBron lost 65 lbs the summer before HGH testing and went on a TWO WEEK Sabbatical TO Miami in the 2015 season to "recuperate" and came back bigger stronger and faster than he was before. I wonder why...
The FBI seized documents from the Biogenesis Clinic in 2011 ran by notorious steroid and PED peddler Tony Bosch - the same Bosch that was selling PEDs to Alex Rodriguez, Jameer Nelson, Ryan Braun etc. In the FBI documents RICH PAUL'S NAME APPEARS as a CLIENT of Biogenesis who, according to transcripts by secretaries working there, would pick up a package of PEDs for a somebody with the initials "LJ" every two weeks.
Barry Bonds never failed a test. Lance Armstrong never failed a test. Both were PED CHEATERS because of JOURNALISTS who broke the story. Victor Conte, on Jason Whitlock's podcast, claims that he has a friend who works for ESPN and has been covering the LeBron James PED story for SIX years. He was about to publish his findings in a HUGE expose this year but, according to the ESPN journalist, ESPN's higher-ups BLOCKED HIM from publishing the article and forced him to REDACT several portions of his reporting. You can watch the interview for yourself on YouTube.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chael Sonnen states CATEGORICALLY that LeBron takes the most powerful PED known to man, EPO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACy8IJeGFMA
Chael Sonnen DOUBLES DOWN on LeBron's PED use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sne_48qSHE
Patrick Bet-David on Lebron's PED use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qOwEBnE9NQ
Kwame Brown on LeBron's PED use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch-ytgSMcV4
Victor Conte states that LeBron takes PEDs (but ESPN has to protect it's cash cow so is blocking any reporting on his PED use), the interview starts at minute 1:05:50:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0UgsXK6-r4
Jason Whitlock says the Lebron PED story should be the BIGGEST STORY IN SPORTS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz-sSoBc6nI
Kevin Garnett claims LeBron is steroids, "on that new Balco, that new juice":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0V_kssNTv4
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Google "Deadspin Lebron James PEDs." The article should pop right up.
Google "Biogenesis LeBron James Rich Paul." The article should pop right up.
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From the Daily Mail: "The NBA [Lebron James] star's former trainer, David Alexander, and his long-time friend and manager, Randy Mims. The DEA claims to have found that Mims obtained testosterone for personal use from a dealer known as Carlos Acevedo. Mims was allegedly referred to Acevedo by Alexander. Mims was reportedly only a client of Acevedo's for a few months.
'[He's] apparently an overweight guy,' the DEA's Kevin Stanfill told ESPN. 'And he went to him [Acevedo] about possibly getting some testosterone treatment stuff that they were giving a bunch of overweight guys in Miami, and they dropped a lot of weight.'
James was unaware that he was ever investigated, the player's representative told ESPN.
Acevedo is a former business partner of Tony Bosch, who was the focus of the Biogenesis investigation, which led to the suspension of dozens of MLB players, including Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and Nelson Cruz.
Daily Mail
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A representative for James told ESPN the current Los Angeles Laker had no knowledge he, his wife, or any associates were even referenced in the Biogenesis investigation until approached by the media organization last year. ESPN’s requests to interview James and Mims were declined after they provided James’ camp with applicable information to back up their questioning. It’s clear ESPN’s reporting on this subject took over a year’s worth of research. And while this is the first needle-moving action involving the Biogenesis case in several years, it’s surely not going to be the last.
DeadSpin
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The guy is a PED cheater. Without PEDs, he's NOTHING. This is why people now call him LeBalco.
Bronsexuals, please downvote me to death now. The Internet is undefeated and this will remain on here until Reddit ceases to exist. Peace.
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." - A Wise Man

I have a 8 year old who is top 10% of his rec league, 8 & 9 year olds. He'd like to have a more competitive experience, but struggling to find the right bridge to that for him. For travel tryouts he is generally in the 25% to 50% skill range. Since those teams tend to be established and only looking for a select few players he gets passed up.
We're happy continuing to play rec as he simple enjoys playing, but he isn't growing much from the experience as a lot of the coaching energy is on trying to raise the weaker roster members. He practices a lot at home and we support him thru camp opportunities too.
Also recognize he is just 8, but also trying to be supportive of his ambition.
Thoughts?

Hey
I don’t use reddit at all; in fact i just made this account because i need help or feedback or something idk i just want to talk about it with someone.
To add some context, i (16M) have been struggling in my relationship as both me and my girlfriend have been losing the spark we initially had in the beginning. To add to that, i have been getting around only 4 hours of sleep every day for a while now due to procrastination with work and exams coming. Idk if that has increased my stress since i was never someone to really bother about grades (my parents put the pressure). I would also like to add that i am in a boarding school so i am all alone here in terms of family.
So i went to sleep at 1am today which isn’t too late for me considering my recent sleep schedule. To begin with, my dream started like any do, not realizing it actually started. I don’t remember much from then but i remember that i lived in some weird reality version of where i live back in _ with my family. All i remember is that some military group had began advertising some type of simulation training that consisted of you being put in the simulation without realizing it. You would not be able to escape it until you actually realized you were in the simulation and the best way to describe what it looked like in the advertising is that everything went white and the outline or everything you were looking at became a long sharp spike of pixels that were black. There you would be greeted and rewarded for having been able to escape but the military group. Again i don’t remember the specific details but for whatever it led to my father sending me here (on good terms like if i wanted to). The military camp was based in Miami and i remember arriving in the airport where many “homeless” people were staying. There are small details that made it so realistic that i can mention if you want to know that made it seem so real. I remember that on my way there i went with my girlfriend where we had bonded like we hadn’t in a while until having arrived to Miami. The airport looked like shit though basically like a military base looking rusty metallic and old. All i remember is falling asleep in the airport i assume where i woke up like nothing happened and i was just living my life like normal like if i hadn’t even gone to the military camp and i was immediately arriving back to my home country where my family was. Visually, my house had already changed and something was definitely off, even for me in the dream. Every building was colorful like a Simpson episode and generally looked different to what my local area back at home looks like but i have had my home look exactly like that before in other dreams. I remember running to my house out of excitement when to see my family like if a long period of time had passed when i spotted my old roommate which had been expelled a while back (irl) for getting caught with rolling weed in our own boarding room. I have had many dreams about him before as we are on (really) bad terms due to an old situation that happened a few weeks after he left my boarding school. I regret what i did in that situation and i know that my constant dreams of him serve as a reminder for my regret. I went to talk to him, but like many other dreams i have had, we pretended like nothing happened. Now that a lot of time had passed, i saw that everyone i new including my brother had physically changed. Past classmates (before boarding) i knew who i never really think of were in my living room doing something like watching or playing something in the tv. Again, the best way to describe it is that i was in some type of Simpsons looking house. I rushed to my room to see if it had been renovated as well along with that old friend of mine where i just stumbled to more people in my room where i finally saw my mom who quickly commented on how that friend had being going the gym and getting big while i was still a twig. Also this is really weird but every time he flexed he went from being a short white scrawny American ican to resembling a younger latino friend i had. She didn’t necessarily say it rudely but it came off as condescending. I remember straight up telling her to shut up (which isn’t like me) before a gap where i woke up once again like my life had gone back to normal in boarding.
Once again, something was off, but rather in terms of the architecture of the school and the best way to put it is that it looked like what i thought it would before coming here. Every day i lived my life normally. With my girlfriend; and everything wasn’t just getting better but i was finally happy again and it felt like i had restored the spark in our relationship. Every single say got better and it finally felt like i was finally happy again. I don’t remember every detail of every single say but i remember the time passing like if it actually did.
All of this happiness continued until one random day around a month to a year later when was i a class and i remembered out of nowhere about the military simulation experience which immediately caused me to notice every single sign that i was in a simulation for the past year (or the time that had passed) or so. I began to think about how to escape the simulation and the best way to put it was that i made this painful self squeeze to my own body along with my belly where identically to the military advertisements, everything went white and my surrounding classmates shifted into those same long spikes of black pixels i had seen before. I woke up surrounded by soldiers like im the advertisement with a female scientist standing around 5 meters before me in an empty field that was closed off by metallic walls in a circle with soldiers surrounding me from the front. I can’t exactly remember but also like in the advertisements i was chained to the floor. I was congratulated and let out for me to check my phone and realize that the last photo i had taken on my phone was one of my girlfriend the day i had arrived to the Miami airport. In this “real world” 1 month passed and i felt misled by the military even though this was what i had signed up for. I searched the only real thing i remembered which was my travel bag and used searched it desperately to convince myself that not much time was passed. Now, the feeling of this airport felt even worse then before, the best way to explain it was that it felt like there was some type of negative energy surrounding wherever i went and i noticed that the place i had slept in now looked like a shit hole once again full of homeless people that overlooked a some type of backrooms pools looking water stream. I don’t remember the airport but i remember being greeted by my friends in this now dystopian looking version of everything i had previously seen. All i wanted to do was talk to my girlfriend but no matter what i did she wouldn’t answer me when i messaged her. I explored this dystopian looking version of my previous memory of how the world looked where i revisited my boarding school for it also look dystopian and ran by road men i know?I remember walking down to leave the campus when i got a call back where my friend, who i have suspected may be into her (irl), sat next to her, along with a bunch of apocalyptic survivor emo looking people i had never seen before sat behind them in a weirdly structured dark blue bus. I did not recognize my girlfriend one bit as she had fully changed from a perfect blonde Swedish girl to a latina looking girl with long black hair and heavy amounts of makeup. I asked her what happened and my “friend” in the bus answered me by saying she got bored where she expanded on that by saying that 1 month was too long for her to wait. At first i felt heartbroken, until i realized that my girlfriend wasn’t like that, which to me provedd it wasn’t her.
Something told me i was still in the simulation which led to an infinite feeling loop of me thinking i escaped the simulation for real for it to just be another one, each with a different story to what happened, some being relieving as in not that much time had passed to other(s) being stressing this went on for around 2-4 simulations until i finally made it out, where i woke up to what i swear was Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luther who i had previously seen as a ceo or director of this simulation military tryout event that was happening. Remembering now at least in one of those simulations that i escaped had involved me defeating or confronting Nicholas Hoult as the military ceo. I woke up up in an advanced looking coffin that resembled those pods from the matrix. They even looked a little Egyptian since the material looked to be something like lime or sand stone. Nicholas Hoult disappeared due to me to somehow either defeating him. The place i was in was hard to tell of an origin as everything looked destroyed, but one thing i can say i remember was that instead of being surrounded by an airport it was the middle of a closed, cemetery looking field that had many surrounding greek pillars that also sat next to some sort of garden i remember going up to the garden to explore where i wast chased by a hoard of bees and wasps as this garden seemed to be some sort of honey farm. I was only stung by only one bee, which in real life, i have never been stung by. Since i have never been stung i have this recurring fear of being allergic to bee stings which ended the dream off with me looking at my hands and realizing they had swollen. In this dream sequence.
Many other things happened like being touched by a girl my age while unconscious and many more weird things that i have never really experienced before, but i think it’s fair to say i have given enough detail unless you would like to know more.
There is a lot of psychological things i can decipher from my dream that can show my current mental state but one thing for sure is that this dream helped me realize how much i really loved my girlfriend when all i could think about was her. It occurred during a period of 3 hours yet felt like a year. I don’t know if this was a sign from god. I genuinely don’t know what can explain why i suddenly had a dream that included so much emotion and events, but it left me in a puddle of sweat and shaking for the first hour after waking up.
Any ideas on what this dream could mean?

Hi! So I had color guard tryouts today and I really loved learning flag basics, but if I get put on dance, I can’t do it. I kept getting completely turned around in the 8 counts and missing steps, not to mention basic technique. The instructor seems really nice but I have some health issues I’m a little worried about during prep camp and one of the comps. I really love color guard but I’m scared to do the actual season bc of money too. The fees are kind of pricey ($350 to start) and then add ons later. Is it worth it? Should I back out if I end up on dance? I just don’t wanna cost the team awards, + dance isn’t safe for me (health issues).
This is just a rant.

My Personal Ranking of Every Track Released In the Beef
14.The Tiny Potshot Tracks (Various Artists) - Future, Weeknd, Rocky, etc. all did zero damage to Drake with any of their verses and it looked corny as shit for them to try and get involved. Literally provide nothing to the beef but hurting their own side. Butt out.
Final Grade: NO GRADE
13.Seven Minute Drill - What hasn’t been said about this track already? I didn’t like it when it came out but I like it even less after the apology. J. Cole starts off with a mediocre beat and goes on to throw warning shots that essentially amount to ‘I think TPAB is overrated and ‘Kendrick doesn’t really drop very often’. I get that he was trying to frame it as him checking Kendrick and throwing warning shots, but this beef had been presented as mostly warning shots and every other warning track was better. This was the equivalent of being pushed, trying to swing back and tripping over your own feet before apologizing for even trying. I agree when Cole called it the lamest shit he ever did. While in hindsight his apology was smart, I think we would have all preferred he never released this track in the first place. Still tuned in for the Fall Off tho.
Final Grade: D-

1. Like That (Kanye Remix) - This track was ass. Kanye being a self important loser and inserting himself into the beef to do nothing but go ‘Look at Me!’ while saying nothing of substance is trash but it was pretty expected from me at least. He doesn’t even have a Drake line in the entire song other than saying that HE DOESN’T HAVE A DRAKE LINE! (And the Lucian bar) Maybe I’m just colored by everything that happened after Seven Minute Drill, but I rank this slightly higher just because that one shitty throwaway line about Cole music drying up pussies is funnier than anything on 7MD, and the fact that the beat was honestly amazing. Some of Metro’s best work.

Final Grade: D
11.The Heart Part 6 - This might end up my longest review of the list by far because it has a lot to unpack. I’m going to be honest, this song does have some genuine positives that unburdened by their flaws would likely see it around a high B or a low A. Drake for one sticks to his guns and doubles down on the Dave Free shit which (aside from the negatives I’ll talk about later) is a smart move since it puts the accusations regarding Whitney back in the mix and him pressing Kendrick for proof makes him look more credible by comparison. He also has some pretty nice bars in there like the whole “Whitney when I hit you back it’ll be a lot safer” and the A minor B sharp scheme as a response to Not Like Us. He also demonstrates that he’s willing to go even lower than he’d demonstrated in prior raps by making Kendrick’s “molestation” the punchline of a series of bars. I’m personally more impressed by his malice than disapproving. They’d both crossed the line a while back and willing to go dark is a positive IMO. But now comes the laundry list of issues with this record. They can be broken down into two major sections: 1. CREDIBILITY: Throughout the feud, a lot of very serious accusations have been made on both sides and most of them don’t seem to have much if any proof behind them. Proof may or may not come out in good time but until then they exist in a weird flux state of being not firmly true nor false. After all there’s no way to truly disprove the more serious accusations regarding pedophilia and domestic violence. The problem here is that Drake makes a laundry list of claims on this record that aren’t just unsubstantiated but noticeably shaky or even able to be debunked via publicly available information. The fake mole would make him look like an idiot if true because he let Kendrick overshadow Family Matters and if he’d simply provided the receipts after Meet the Grahams or just the DMs he would have likely won the beef right then and there. He waited days and let videos and posts with tens of millions of views circulate calling him a pedophile when he could have avoided it all. Also the song he mentioned on Mr. Morale has Kendrick state plainly that he WASN’T molested so that angle falls flat. Finally saying that being very rich or famous means you can’t be a pedo is funny considering almost every well known serial sex pest is one or both. 2. CONCEDING: Drake essentially says he’s done with the beef during this song and also doesn’t bring a lot of energy. It’s a big shift from the days of Push Ups and Taylor Made where he was begging Kendrick to drop and baiting him constantly over social media. It doesn’t look like he’s the bigger person, it makes him look exhausted and worn out. He was already in a position where most of the internet was saying he’d been destroyed so it doesn’t come across as him bowing out. Him taking a vacation could not have been timed worse. In conclusion a song with a lot of promised that’s the most flawed on the list.
Final Grade: D+
10.6:16 in LA - Same concept as Taylor Made Freestyle. A needling track made purely to antagonize Drake into making a response. I liked the beat on this but the first half is pretty filler filled and the jabs about Drake’s camp while strong are not too biting or even shocking considering how large Drake’s crew is. Not much to say here. Also whoever told Kendrick to sing here should feel bad about their decision making skills.
Final Grade: C
9.Taylor Made Freestyle - I’m not going to be one of those losers pretending this isn’t hard because it used AI. Nah this isn’t very hard because it doesn’t really do much. I get why of course. It’s a bait track to try and coax a response from Kendrick. The use of AI is certainly disrespectful and the angle is interesting but it doesn’t really say anything outrageous or even all that disrespectful towards Kendrick himself. It’s not a total abomination, but it falls noticeably flat compared to the dedicated disses and even compared to some of the one verse attacks that we’ll get into later. It gets the edge over 6:16 in LA for how much it pissed off Kendrick.
Final Grade: C+
8.Like That - Might be a little low for some people but we’re judging these as diss tracks more than as records (though there definitely is a bit of that involved too hence why this is even at five). As a pure song, this is easily top three and maybe even top 1 on the list. But the disses only come from Kendrick’s verse and Cole catches essentially nothing. The big 3/big me moment will be iconic for years to come and there were two pretty hard bars towards Drake with the Pet Cemetery line and the Prince Outlived Mike Jack. It also gets huge props for being the track that kicked off the official Drake Kendrick beef. But there’s one track that really kicked off the 2024 diss trend that nobody here wants to talk about…
Final Grade: B-
7.HISS - For whatever reason people don’t want to give Meg her credit here considering she released the first major diss of the year. She really gets in her bag here and comes out with so many different shots at so many different people. I think some people completely forget that she actually dedicated more bars to Drake here than she ever did Nicki. She actually brought up the whole surgery shit before anyone else and even gave the blue print for the higher ranked Euphoria’s ‘Drake’s an accent faking bad bitch’ angle. I can’t rank the track any higher in this specific list since it only comes at any of the beef participants for like four bars but this track is really underrated and managed to hit a lot of people decently hard.
Final Grade: B-
6.Champagne Moments - There are definitely people that are going to put this lower in their lists but personally I loved it. It’s not nearly as far behind the next two spots for me as it might be for some other people. I’ve never been the biggest Ross fan but the way he raps over this luxurious beat makes it feel like he’s beating Drake’s ass in a five star hotel. He definitely did focus a little too heavily on Drake’s race, but honestly it was super funny hearing the repeated “white boy’s” on the track. And while the track itself was ok, that outro was genuinely amazing and one of the most hilarious things I’ve heard in a long time. Plus there genuinely were some hard lines on the actual track.
Final Grade: B
5.Push Ups - Now THIS, this right here is how you respond to a diss track. Drake managed to shut down every single jab on Like That in masterful fashion before going on to expose Kendrick being allegedly extorted by his label, and clown him for being a midget. All the while he managed to throw shots at Future, Weeknd, freaking Jah Morant and most notably Metro over a song that is going to get played in the club with a fun refrain. Loved the energy here from Drake. My only criticisms of the track are ones he couldn’t exactly control for. Those being that he whule he neutralized a lot of Kendrick’s stuff he didn’t actually add much besides the extortion stuff with Top (which rings pretty hollow coming from Drake). I mean Drake didn’t really have time with how many people he had to address after all and the lines about his height were still pretty funny. Still a great diss track considering what he had to do during, but as you can probably tell by the spot I gave it, it wasn’t the best either artist could offer.
Final Grade: B+
4.Euphoria - Let me get the criticism out of the way first. Kendrick didn’t really say anything insane before the Melly line and the track covers publicly discussed topics. But holy crap this was a strong track. Everything from that Melly bar onwards was nasty. I don’t think I went four bars without a strong reaction from then on. Every topic that had been talked about previously was perfected by Kendrick here. From the way he tackled his identity issues to him being a snake he managed to phrase everything in a variety of vicious ways. Hell he even managed to flip the fact that he said nothing new into a body blow about Drake as a father. I also feel like the replay value critique is overblown if not altogether false. While I’m not going to be bumping this as much as a Like That or a HISS or even a Push Ups, there are definitely a good amount of pretty nice quotables and that second beat is super fun. (And about a week later it’s still top 2 on Apple Music and Spotify so it’s definitely got replay value). Plus for me I’ve been catching more bars on follow up listens to the point that I like it a lot more on my last listen then I did on my first. It’s also in retrospect a very accurate prediction of how Drake was going to try and play the rest of their beef from there.
Final Grade: A-
3.Family Matters - This track was amazing. This was essentially Push Ups but better in every facet. We start off with the best from the end of Push Ups and Drake gets to singing which I don’t like very much, but he is a self proclaimed singing nigga so it makes sense. He hits Kendrick from some NASTY angles. He portrays Kendrick as an insecure, colorist, midget, cuck. He also makes the very serious accusation of Kendrick being an abusive fiancé and trying to drive he and his family apart. Had me looking side eyed at Dave Free myself (Or should I say Dave Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee). All of this over three fire ass beats with a pretty nice music video. Drake said this was his red button and as far as red buttons go, this was a very strong one. It’s only even this low because there are a few stand out problems with the record. First, the whole thing about him being ashamed to be seen with Enoch thing seems odd considering Kendrick just generally doesn’t get photographed a lot in public and the fact that he was on the cover of MMATBS. Also Enoch and Adonis being the same shade is pretty disingenuous to anyone with eyes. Another issue is actually the same thing I praised Push Ups for a little, and that’s addressing a bunch of other people during the track instead of going straight at Kendrick. Because here it feels forced and more like an excuse to seem like he’s being jumped by the industry. While his responses here are solid, most of these people took shots at him before Push Ups and other than Ross haven’t said anything since. I still rate this higher than Euphoria because instead of having a good minute and a half of mid, this had about two minutes of strong but misdirected content.
Final Grade: A-
2.Not Like Us - Usually I’m not big on a song being a banger as a plus, but here it really is what makes Not Like Us rank so highly. Because it firstly thoroughly dispels a major criticism throughout the entire beef being that Kendrick’s songs have less replayability than Drake’s. And secondly, because unlike every track other than Push Ups (Drop and Give Me 50, Metro Shut Your Hoe Ass Up and Make Some Drums Nigga) and to a lesser extent Euphoria (We Don’t Wanna Hear You Say Nigga No Mooooooorrrrreeee), the quotables and refrains are all disses directed towards Drake. And there are more of them than any other song on this list. (Freaky Ass Nigga he the 69 God, Say OV-HOE, Say Drake….I hear you like them young, A Minoooooorrrrrrr etc.) It already has seen play during an MLB game and during the NBA playoffs as of recent. It’s the biggest hip hop debut in Spotify history as well. Super catchy and unlike Push Ups or Like That, it’s very focused on one person and hitting them with the most damaging accusation you can. Even better, this song is hilarious throughout while also containing a really good verse reframing Drake’s relationship with Atlanta rappers. It manages to both be a really good diss and arguably the best pure song on this list.
Final Grade: A
1.Meet the Grahams - Genuinely what the fuck. This might be the most vile, malicious, damaging track I’ve ever heard. Now obviously the validity of the claims in the track is very much up in the air. I definitely have my doubts regarding lil miss Adonia being real at the very least. But honestly just taking the first and last verses alone would have me put this at number one. Kendrick is evil as shit for making this but it’s a piece of art. It was a systematic character assassination that for a lot of people ended the beef. This will never be played in a club. It probably won’t be played by anyone more than once in most cases. It’s uncomfortable, dark, and menacing in a way the lower ranked THE HEART PART 6 attempts to be but fails at. He talks about Drake’s (alleged) drug addiction, sex addiction, gambling addiction, poor parenting, insecurities regarding his body, insecurities regarding his culture and masculinity, inauthenticity, insecurities regarding his parents etc. without even getting into the pedophilia/fake child stuff. I don’t think we’ll ever get a track this cruel and poignant for a very long time. This is a classic.
Final Grade: A+