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I'm not a Kendrick fan but this is far and away the best diss I've ever heard. Kendrick's high-pitched voice inflections shine through. Over six minutes and three wildly different beats he rips Drake's biracialism, reputation as a deadbeat, and inauthenticity, all in rhyme.

I can't choose which lyrics to point out — they're all good! Just listen and admire the wordplay.

Amidst all the carnage, you get the sense that Kendrick's not even trying. He raps,

I make music that electrify 'em, you make music that pacify 'em
I can double down on that line, but spare you this time, that's random acts of kindness

and later,

We ain't gotta get personal, this a friendly fade, you should keep it that way
I know some shit about n- that make Gunna Wunna look like a saint

It's lyrical homicide. I really hope this rap beef doesn't end here, because I want more of this.

The other songs in this beef up to this point:

• First Person Shooter (Drake ft. J Cole)
• Like That (Future, Metro Boomin, Kendrick Lamar)
• Like That REMIX (Kanye West)
• 7 Minute Drill (J Cole, later deleted)
• Push Ups (Drake)
• Taylor Made Freestyle (Drake)

Step 2: Hit the “Send” button.

Shortly after sending, the solution will present itself. I don’t know why this is. I don’t make the rules. But the solution frequently presents itself after you hit “Send” and no longer need the recipient’s help.

Step 3: Return to message you just sent and follow up with: “Nevermind. Figured it out.”

Ok, ok. This is in jest — a little bit. But it is a good method for getting yourself unstuck.

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Today’s song is “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

My relationship with Shée could be described, charitably, as a flurry of obsession—the way that you might describe any high school romance, where your worlds intertwine and become unrecognizable outside of the context of the two of you together. Phone calls that last for hours. Rambling emails and AIM conversations. Stretching out every last possible second to make the most of your time together before curfew. It was less about mutual connection and growth and partnership as it was about finding someone to shower with all of your big feelings and calling it love.

With Shée and me, there was no expression of big feelings more powerful than the sharing of music. I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that our relationship alone propped up the entire blank compact disc industry. We'd spend hours in my (dad's) Toyota Tercel, driving through country roads and suburban sprawl, parking in quiet lots, just listening to music we compiled for each other. Mix CDs filled to the brim with Taking Back Sunday; Blink-182; Green Day; Sum 41; Alien Ant Farm; The Used; Something Corporate; lostprophets; HIM; The Rasmus; Rasputina; David Bowie; Kenna; Res; The Darkness; X Japan; Zilch; Quarashi; Mindless Self Indulgence; Abandoned Pools; Dashboard Confessional; Phantom Planet; The Mars Volta; Jimmy Eat World; Snake River Conspiracy; O.A.R.; The Cranberries; Sublime; Marcy Playground; No Doubt; Third Eye Blind; Harvey Danger; Blind Melon; Placebo; Sneaker Pimps; The Goo Goo Dolls; Live; Jack Off Jill; System of a Down; Kittie; OK Go; Hot Hot Heat; Fountains of Wayne; Cake; They Might Be Giants; Marilyn Manson; Pinback; Caviar; Ida Maria; The Faint; Franz Ferdinand; Modest Mouse; Garbage; Junior Senior; The New Pornographers; Shiny Toy Guns; Kaiser Chiefs; The Von Bondies; The White Stripes; The Raconteurs; Chevelle; Cold; Spymob; The Vines; Silversun Pickups; Weezer; Semisonic; Smashing Pumpkins; The Polyphonic Spree; Fuel; Freezepop; Cibo Matto; Staind; Barenaked Ladies; Saves the Day; Simple Plan; Say Anything; Dispatch; Oleander; The Verve AND The Verve Pipe!¹

And those are just the bands I can remember! I can't recall who brought what to the table. Our musical tastes were so enmeshed that it feels like these bands just appeared before both of us simultaneously, bestowed upon us by Jeff, the God of Music. But credit where credit's due. I can say with utmost certainty that Shée was the one to introduce two bands to our relationship that were extensions of her as a person: Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

I'll never quite understand Shée's obsession with Interpol. Sure, "Evil" is an incredible song, and I think Turn On the Bright Lights and Antics are extremely solid albums, but her reverence for these blokes was otherworldly in a way that never resonated quite the same with me.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, though... Whatever she felt for Interpol, I felt for Karen O and the gang.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs entered my life when Shée burned me a copy of Fever to Tell and said I had to listen to track 6, "Pin." That was her song. And like literally every track on that album, it goes hard. I don't need to tell you. "Pin" is a revelation. To this day, whenever it comes on, I feel compelled to put it on repeat. One listen is never enough.

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam
Duhduh, duhduh, duhduh, duhduh
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam
Duhduh, duhduh, duhduh, duhduh

Is there a better chorus in all of music? Does any chorus rock harder? Is there any other chorus that makes you want to have really long fucking hair so you can dunk your head in a bucket of blood and then whip it around with a thousand bodies gyrating around you?²

I know why Shée loved "Pin." I also love "Pin." When I think of Shée, I think of "Pin." The two are inexorably linked.

But when I think of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I think of "Maps."

Because I often get obsessed with individual tracks, I sometimes miss out on listening to entire albums. So "Maps" snuck on by while I played "Pin" on repeat for weeks (months? Impossible to know). It wasn't until I was watching MTV one day when the video for "Maps" came on and I was immediately drawn in. Four minutes and twenty seconds later, I knew I had watched the best music video ever created. If you haven't seen it (or if you have), it's at the top of the post. Stop reading and treat yourself. I'll still be here when you get back.

There are few images more emotionally resonant to me than seeing Karen O on this small stage, barely holding it together, singing this song, begging him to see her. To feel her love. To come back. I don't know if I have ever identified with a stranger on a screen more than I have with Karen O here. Watching this video, listening to this song, feels like my own sense of self is unraveling. Am I me? Am I Karen? It's hard to know where she ends and I begin as I watch. I can feel the oppressive heat of the lights. I can barely choke out the words of the song. My heart is in my throat. It is the soundtrack of my own loneliness. It is the frayed thread that manages to keep me whole when the world is falling apart around me. Throughout my life, this song follows. Whenever I make a new playlist. Whenever I need to share me with someone else. Whenever I need something to make me feel. "Maps" is there. It has punctuated relationships, regardless of how bitter they ended. It has guided me through a journey to grasp my own identity. It is the melodic encapsulation of my despair, my desire to be seen, heard, and understood.

Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Maps
Wait, they don't love you like I love you

Is there a better chorus in all of music? Does any chorus love harder? Is there any other chorus that makes you feel every emotion about someone, about yourself, about the person you used to be, about the person you long to become, about the things you've done and wish you could take back, the things you didn't do and wish you could?

¹ And while "Bittersweet Symphony" is an absolute banger of a track, I'm sorry to say that it will never ever ever ever in a bajillion years top "The Freshman." Apologies, The Verve fans! Please leave your complaints with the maître d' when you pick up your jacket.⬏

² Rhetorical questions!⬏

Yesterday I used Anthropic’s Claude to help me prepare for a phone interview.

I didn’t ask Claude to fabricate a resume. (I’d already submitted my resume anyway.)

I simply asked it to help me tighten some things up.

Want more details for how you can responsibly use LLMs to help in a job search?

Check out the video.

P.S. This video is an example of how the best uses for tech are sometimes the least sexy and exciting uses for tech.