Over the past year or so, it’s become something of a trend for artists — especially rappers — to not only use the popular YouTube series A COLOR Show to expand their fanbase with hard-hitting performances but to also debut brand-new singles on the show as well. Previously, rising rappers like Flo Milli, Joey Badass, Guapdad 4000, and D Smoke have all premiered new music on the show, and this week’s guest continues the tradition. This time, it’s Top Dawg Entertainment rapper Reason dropping in to introduce his latest single, “Barely Miss,” going for a fuschia and tan aesthetic as he gets his whole body involved.
“Barely Miss” is the second new single from Reason this month after he teamed up with labelmate Jay Rock to drop the humble “Is What It Is.” Prior to that, Reason hijacked the beat from Jack Harlow’s Drake collaboration “Churchill Downs” for his own “Churchill Downs Freestyle” aimed at letting latecomers know that TDE is in good hands with its current generation of burgeoning rap stars. Reason’s recent activity seems to suggest an impending follow-up to his October 2021 EP No More No Less, which contained features from Adé, Benny the Butcher, Doe Boy, Isaiah Rashad, and Wale.
You can watch Reason’s A COLORS Show performance of “Barely Miss” above.
Last month, Reason returned with his take on Jack Harlow’s Drake collaboration “Churchill Downs” with “Churchill Downs Freestyle.” Now, he’s teamed up with Jay Rock for “It Is What It Is.”
An instrumental by Hollywood Cole serves as a cinematic, pulsating backdrop while the pair break into flows about their hardships, with Jay Rock posing serious questions: “Now would you rather go, hard or ballistic? / Keep it realistic / Nothin’ really move but that money, would you risk it? / I was broke and hungry, itchin’ to kill to somethin’, my ribs touchin’,” he raps.
Meanwhile, Reason recently had some beef cleared up with fellow rapper Logic, who was thought to be dissing Reason in his track “Vinyl Days.” “Hey bro @reasonTDE my boy @thisisrory said you thought I dissed you on my song Vinyl Days,” Logic tweeted. “If I was going to diss you, I’d diss you. I love you, you’re my brother. Let’s get ice cream together some time.”
Fans thought Reason had instigated a feud with Logic due to some of his lyrics on the 2020 track “The Soul (Pt. 2),” but Reason denied that he dissed Logic, saying, “It’s just small wordplay, and reasoning is close to logic. That’s really as deep as I thought about it. It’s really just a lesson learned that we’re in a different day and age, and rap is different. It’s a little bit more sensitive.”
For such an ostensibly nice guy, Logic sure does find himself embroiled in lots of beef speculation. The latest rumor circulating online involves TDE rapper Reason, who some fans believe Logic dissed on his new album, Vinyl Days. On the album’s title track, Logic raps, “Come on, homie, listen to the voice of reason / Yeah, you talk a lot of sh*t but don’t want the beef like a vegan.” This led podcaster Rory of the New Rory & Mal show to relay that the Del Amo rapper believed such lyrics were shots at him to Logic.
However, being the nice guy he is, Logic wanted to clear the air as soon as he was informed of the alleged misperception. “Hey bro @reasonTDE my boy @thisisrory said you thought I dissed you on my song Vinyl Days,” he tweeted. “If I was going to diss you, I’d diss you. I love you, you’re my brother. Let’s get ice cream together some time.”
Hey bro @reasonTDE my boy @thisisrory said you thought I dissed you on my song Vinyl Days. If I was going to diss you, I’d diss you. I love you, you’re my brother. Let’s get ice cream together some time.
Incidentally, Reason seemingly did diss Logic on his 2020 single “The Soul (Pt. 2),” rhyming:
N****s pronounce my name wrong, tell me that I ain’t did much
See y’all mistake my name for Logic’s, y’all got me f*cked up
How you compare a n**** that take from the culture
Versus a n**** that’s for it? This sh*t gettin’ borin’
However, in an interview with HipHopDX shortly after the song’s release, he denied that it was intended as a diss. ” I didn’t think that it was going to be perceived that way,” he explained. “If I thought it would, honestly, I wouldn’t have done it because I’m not into taking shots just to take shots at a n****. That’s not me. It’s just small wordplay, and reasoning is close to logic. That’s really as deep as I thought about it. It’s really just a lesson learned that we’re in a different day and age, and rap is different. It’s a little bit more sensitive.”
Meanwhile, Logic has seen friction with peers like Joyner Lucas, Joe Budden, and Freddie Gibbs over the years. Maybe Reason’s right; you’re damned if you and damned if you don’t in hip-hop these days. If regular wordplay can be taken as a diss, it’s no wonder Logic wanted to quit to play video games.
One of the more fun aspects of rap fandom is arguing about which rappers are “best” — even if the criteria vary from person to person (or maybe because they do). Recently, we got the first big debate of 2022 thanks to TDE rapper Reason, who appeared on Van Lathan’s Higher Learning podcast and made a declaration that baffled the host. Claiming that New York rapper Fabolous is a better rapper than fan-favorite Andre 3000, Reason’s, well, reasoning led to an outbreak of Twitter users sharing their thoughts.
“I feel like if you lined up Fabolous and Andre 3000, I got my money on Fab,” Reason asserted. “I’m not about to hate on Fab, but that boy from Atlanta is a monster,” Lathan replied. However, Reason argued that “[Fab] out-raps Wayne. If you can out-rap Wayne, you can out-rap Andre 3000. He’s out-rapped Wayne on records. … I’m not saying it’s easy for Fab, but I think if Fab came in with the mindset of ‘I want the best verse,’ I think Fab can out-rap Andre 3000.”
Does Fabolous rap better than Andre 3000? My dear brother @reasonTDE think so, and I HAD to disagree. (LOVE Fab btw) what do you think? pic.twitter.com/yAEWGFmtnC
Reason posted a clip of the debate on his own Twitter, suggesting, “We need a Fab vs Andre Verzuz. Verses only! I got Fab! Somebody hand me the aux!” which naturally only prompted the debate to spread even further, with fans of all three rappers chiming in.
And while it seems as unlikely that Andre will ever agree to do a Verzuz as Jay-Z will, the debate made for some spicy banter on a relatively slow weekend. Check out the responses below.
They have two completely different styles but, I would still edge it to Andre3k. Fab is very punchline heavy but, andre is thought provoking, one of the greatest storytellers, his wordplay bar-none, also Andre has timeless verses we all can sing along to…not just rap verses.
Reason isn’t too far off here, but I slightly give the edge to Andre.
Even if 3ks verse wasn’t better, his absence amplifies the power of his wordplay. The anticipation for his verses gives rap fans rose-colored glasses before he even starts rappin.
On straight lyricism this is closer than y’all think… We talk rap not a verzuz battle. I still take 3K but it’s close “Sixteen” “Art of story telling 4” Andre a different breed. Soul Tape 1-3 Fab is a BARbarian. Remember when Fab put all the Wayans brothers movies in bars…
Carson, California-bred TDE rapper Reason has returned with a new EP, No More, No Less: Demo 1, which features appearances from Adé, Benny the Butcher, Doe Boy, Reason’s TDE label-mate Isaiah Rashad, and Wale. Reason calls the EP “a small collection of thoughts and moments that I’ve been asked for repeatedly” and explained that he released it because it was “something I wanted to give to y’all in the meantime” while he’s finishing a proper follow-up to his 2020 album, New Beginnings.
The three-song effort opens with “Left Hand” featuring Benny, Isaiah, and Wale, a block thumper that finds the three rappers trading verses over a variety of different beats. That’s followed by the hypnotic “Not For Me,” which reunites Adé and Wale and includes Benny, then the set concludes with the woozy, downtempo “12am In ATL,” which features Benny, Isaiah, and Doe Boy. Clocking in at nine minutes and 53 seconds in total, No More, No Less showcases Reason’s impressive wordplay by setting it alongside some of the most prolific and clever rappers in the game today.
The EP also helps set up Reason as part of the vanguard of the post-Kendrick TDE roster the label will have to get behind after a “weird time” for TDE in 2020. Along with Isaiah, Ray Vaughn, and Doechii, Reason is carrying the torch for the West Coast rap label as it evolves in the wake of Kendrick Lamar’s departure.
(@yuhboyISAIAH) 