The crown of rap is now in the West.
For more than a decade, Drake sat on the throne as many rappers tried and failed to dethrone him. The damage was done by Pusha T, but the Canadian MC was able to withstand the character assassination by his longtime nemesis. However, his recent beef with Kendrick Lamar feels different. “Not Like Us,” the current No. 1 song in country, is a scathing diss record masquerading as a party anthem. People dancing and screaming in unison that you might be a pedophile must be a surreal experience, especially for a beloved producer like Drake. He clearly underestimated his opponent.
Kendrick Lamar was calculated and deliberate. He seemed to be planning everything in advance — from teasing the final Dennis Graham Dossier a bit with the “6:16 in LA” cover to revealing the full picture with “Meet the Grahams.” The Compton rapper avoided posting on social media unless it was to drop a song and didn't leak records or information to popular streamers.
Drake took a different approach. Throughout this time, he trolled and joked on his Instagram Stories, used popular streamer DJ Akademiks as an unofficial spokesperson, and “leaked” songs unofficially. Unlike Kendrick, Drake also had to deal with a number of other beefs at the same time. His trolling may have gone a bit too far, however, as he had to take down “Taylor Made Freestyle,” in which he used AI to rap with the voices of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg, after the Shakur estate threatened legal action if he wasn't. t was wiped from Drake's YouTube channel and social media accounts.
Kendrick used all of this to his advantage as he crafted some of his most personal diss records to date. Each song targeted the character and cultural position of his opponent, thoroughly informing him that he is not what the culture feels like. We've broken down five ways Kendrick managed to win this battle.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/kendrick-lamar-drake-won-feud/
