When Kung Fu Kenny dropped his latest Drake diss track “Euphoria” last week, one bizarre line instantly went viral for all the wrong reasons. Well, maybe the right reasons if you love iconic hip-hop flubs.
The lyric in question finds Lamar spitting: “Am I battlin’ ghosts or AI? N— feelin’ like Joel Osteen / Funny, he was in a film called A.I.”
To anyone with working ears and a basic grasp of pop culture, it’s glaringly obvious Kendrick mixed up televangelist Joel Osteen with child actor Haley Joel Osment – you know, the dude from The Sixth Sense and yes, the movie A.I.
The “Joel Osteen AI” Lyrical Fail That Keeps on Giving
This colossal名mix-up between a smiling megachurch pastor and the kid who could talk to dead people instantly set the internet ablaze. The memes, jokes, and roasts came flooding in as hip-hop heads struggled to understand how the greatest rapper alive could botch such an easy reference.
“Kendrick really just put Joel Osteen in the same sentence as A.I.? My dude needs to lay off the reading rainbows for a minute.”
“I’m dying at Kung Fu Kenny confusing the fake Bible-thumping millionaire with the dude from A.I. Maybe he should stick to rapping about Compton.”
“TFW Kendrick mistakes Joel Osteen for Haley Joel Osment like he’s an eccentric Hollywood kid from the 90s.”
The stratospheric levels of slander aimed at Lamar’s “Joel Osteen AI” lyrical catastrophe just kept multiplying across Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and every other social platform.
Unpacking Kendrick’s Mistaken Movie Reference
While the mix-up provided plenty of laughs, some critics believe the “Joel Osteen AI” line carries deeper metaphorical meanings about Drake’s use of artificial intelligence in music.
By conflating the famous pastor with the creepy kid from psychological thrillers like The Sixth Sense, Lamar could be commenting on the “artificial” nature of Drake’s AI-generated vocals imitating deceased rappers.
The “Joel Osteen” half represents an Uncanny Valley-esque fakeness, while the “AI” movie purposely links to Osment’s cerebral sci-fi flick exploring humanity and machine intelligence.
It’s a dense, layered wordplay metaphor – either completely accidental or a genius bit of misdirection from Kendrick’s pen.
But at the end of the day, whether the “Joel Osteen AI” bar was a conscious decision or an all-time lyrical botch, it’s just too hilarious not to celebrate. Because sometimes, hip-hop’s most iconic moments come from its biggest flubs and controversies.
Shoutout to Kenny for reminding us that even rap’s modern-day Shakespeare can choke on a movie reference from time to time. The “Joel Osteen AI” line will forever live in infamy.