Today Madonna dropped off two heat rocks, reminding us all that she is the OG Queen of this pop thing, the MJ of this shit, whichever one: Jordan or Jackson. One features Chance the Rapper and Mike Tyson (“Iconic”), and the other features Nas (“Veni Vidi Vici”). Back in December she let loose “Bitch I’m Madonna” featuring her heir to the pop throne, Nicki Minaj, and the Diplo-assisted “Living for Love.” And I must say, she’s back like she never left.
“Iconic” and “Living for Love” feature hard-hitting dance beats. They’ll make you want to go hammer with some glow sticks and tongue a stranger down on the dance floor. “Bitch I’m Madonna” and “Veni Vidi Vici” are more of the traditional pop variety one would hear on a Top 40 station, a tactic that she’s perfected. Nicki, Chance, and Nas spit nothing but fire on their respective features. It’s dope that she has rappers on her upcoming project because it’s a show of respect to a genre that, over the course of her career, has gone from a “fad” to the driving force in popular culture.
Never one to shy away from controversy, Madge found herself in one with her Rebel Heart online marketing campaign. She replicated her album cover by placing the various “rebel” faces of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Bob Marley, and Jesus Christ in bondage or whatever you want to call it. I’m still trying to figure out the point of that album art. She tried to compare herself to those icons and then she apologized for doing so. This made me skeptical of the whole project at first. The aforementioned online campaign was sketchy at best, and she’s also 56 now and hasn’t made a great album in nine years, which made it feel forced (don’t hate on my opinion!). But I digress.
Once upon a time my friends and I would get lit to various Madonna albums. Mind you, we were street kids from North Jersey. We’re in our late 20s, early 30s now, and Madonna’s music was just as familiar to us back then as say Wu-Tang’s music. We would pregame to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor or a mix of her greatest hits with various drugs in our systems. Play drunk Twister with a group of pretty girls while listening to Madonna before you judge the kid. These new tracks remind me of those times. I’m writing this as “Sorry” plays, and I’m feeling froggy. I wish I had some ‘shrooms or some acid, to be honest. Roc-A-Fella, Dipset, Max B, Madonna, piff, and Henny got the god through college in one piece, feel me?
Accept no duplicates. Lady Gaga can’t wash the Queen’s throne. She’s a hack at best, a shock jock. Not to say Madonna isn’t, but she manages to come across as original while Gaga comes across as trying too hard—she’s already washed up. The only ones who come close are Onika, Azealia Banks, Rihanna, and Beyonce. “Truffle Butter” samples the deep house cut “What They Say” by Maya Jane Coles, and Broke With Expensive Taste is a brilliant mixing of genres, something Madonna does very well. Rihanna is a hit-making machine, and Beyonce was born to perform. Madge birthed them all, and we must honor and respect that legacy. I’m expecting Rebel Heart to go platinum in like two weeks. “Bitch I’m Madonna” and “Living for Love” have a combined 5,253,598 Spotify streams.
Let us all bow our heads because we are not worthy. I for one can’t wait to turn up to Rebel Heart when it drops. Thugs fuck with poppy, dance bullshit sometimes too, lord. Only God can judge me. I’m going to play some 2Pac after this, though, for sure. I’m sounding kind of crazy, but fuck it, it’s the truth. ‘Pac used to fuck with Madonna, and so should you.
uk.complex.com
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