Drake and Kendrick Lamar trade predictable shots. Can’t we do better?
There are a few points of view on the ongoing Drake vs. World rap rivalry that have become acknowledged as all but holy facts. For starters, all of this is intended to be entertaining. Spotify, the multibillion-dollar company that declared a quarterly profit last week, in part due to laying off 17% of its employees before the holidays last year, leased up billboards in Times Square stating that rap is a “competitive sport.”
This was most likely their response to the months-long controversy that began with the release of Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You, which was riddled with hidden messages directed at Drake and contained the Kendrick Lamar-assisted smash track “Like That,” a shot heard throughout the rap industry and beyond.
Rap is undoubtedly competitive, and it has been interesting to hear more than one Kendrick verse in a matter of weeks. Even the continuous taunting on both sides online had its appeal at times, providing a nice respite from the sad news that typically clogs newsfeeds and For You pages. Kendrick’s six-minute hate thesis, “Euphoria,” was all fans of his and Drake’s spat had hoped for: a richly detailed critique of Drizzy’s whole rap career.
To be honest, I don’t fucking care anymore. In the hours between Kendrick’s release of “Euphoria” and the explanations of each lyric being posted on social media, military police assaulted nonviolent rallies at schools around the country, brutalizing and detaining hundreds of students and professors only weeks before graduation.
To be fair, Kendrick won the “beef” years ago with “Control,” particularly after Drake went on record in interviews and literally sobbed over it. Kendrick Lamar won the “beef” again by being the only rapper to get a Pulitzer Prize. Nothing that is going on right now is truly groundbreaking.
In reality, it feels unmistakably trapped in time, a resurrected struggle from a period before COVID and AI, and the widespread gaslighting of the populace in the face of slaughter.
This is not to argue that rap fans can’t be enthused about and engaged in the present dispute while still being politically conscious of what’s happening in Gaza and on college campuses around the country. It’s just hard to get too committed in a decade-old argument about two rappers approaching 40, where no one’s thinking is likely to alter anytime soon.
The current internet conversation claiming Drake has been a clandestine culture vulture for all these years appears to be flimsy at best. Nobody, not even Drake’s greatest supporters, believed that he was a “tough guy.” Just as no one with any sanity believes Future is a crazed drug addict,. Drake’s most recent album was dubbed “Fat D,” while his previous album was titled Her Loss. But, okay, sure. Assume Kendrick has placed Aubrey in the appropriate position.
What happens now? This entire dispute has begun to expose itself to be an ouroboros of attention and social media criticism rather than a true referendum on the ability of two rappers, which is why it feels like such a massive waste of energy, especially now.
Drake was justifiably chastised for utilizing the modified AI vocals of Tupac for his ultimately unneeded “Taylor Made Freestyle,” but collective respect for Pac’s legacy should go beyond the usage of his voice. During his career, Tupac was involved in one of the most renowned rap feuds of all time. He also became a regular adversary of people in authority since he was never hesitant to speak out against injustice, even as his fame grew.
Rap fans may certainly care about politics and rap feuds at the same time. Why don’t rappers do the same?
