We just witnessed an unprecedented weekend in rap music, with five diss songs and a quote keeping us away from our friends, our families, and (most importantly) our playoff games.
Drake kicked things off Friday night, releasing “Family Matters,” a 7:36 mini-song collection accompanied by a video that reportedly features the good boy, big city the truck crushes — with Drake and his crew also apparently flashing Pharrell's jewelry (supposedly melted) and a new G-Unit spinner chain in the clip, because Rap Game Sinister Six put him here talking like he is 50 years old. also posted a quote dissing Kenny and Rocky for “Buried Alive Interlude” he tweeted on his Instagram. Then, about half an hour later, Kendrick Lamar took things straight to hell (with creepy Alchemist production) on “Meet the Grahams.”
The next night, while we were all trying to watch Anthony Edwards do his job against the Nuggets with “Meet the Grahams” playing on our minds, the Compton rapper followed that diabolical entrance into the West's party anthem controversy Coast with the help of DJ Mustard. “Not like us.” We thought it might be over after that, because Drizzy knocked — but he was right back in the booth and responded with “The Heart Part 6” on Sunday night. As a rap fan I was excited, but as a rap journalist I was racing against the wind like Tre in Boyz n the Hood. We have never experienced anything like this before.
While we've seen artists go back and forth on wax over the years — there's been the Roxanne Wars between Roxanne Shanté and UTFO, MC Shan vs. KRS-One, Ice Cube vs. NWA, Jay-Z vs. Nas, and Ja Rule vs. 50 Cent, to name just a few of the more notable examples — all mostly conformed to traditional album and single release schedules. What really made this fight different from previous ones is the speed with which two of the biggest and most important stars in the genre have matched each other.
When this thing started, fans were pissed because it took Kendrick over two weeks to respond to Drake's “Push Ups.” Drake himself grew tired of waiting, following up “Push Ups” with “Taylor Made Freestyle” a week later — to troll Lamar and try to push him to finish what he started with the verse heard around the world in “Like That.” This is something Drake himself has been through before: When Meek sent out a tweet in 2015 about Drake allegedly using ghostwriters, the Canadian rapper responded with “Charged Up” on his Beats 1 radio show OVO SOUND about a week later .And when Meek didn't respond to that, he dropped “Back to Back” just a few days later. The Philly MC never fully recovered from that controversy the standard of the social media era for how long rappers now have to respond to a diss record, Kendrick beat Drake at his own game.
Since Lamar released “Euphoria” about a week ago, he's released three records — including an instantly certified bop on “Not Like Us” — with speculation that there are still more left in the room. Kendrick basically said to Drake and the rest of the rap world, “Don't let me do it to you, man, cause I'm gonna overdo it.”
At first, there was a lot of talk about timelines and rappers on the clock as the hip-hop community waited with bated breath for Kendrick to respond. Older fans, like me, wanted him to take his time. We were used to seeing these things play out over months, if not years. But that's the thing about old times — those old times. It's different times. I admit, even I wondered what Kenny needed as the days passed before the “euphoria” wore off. Those weeks seemed like an eternity. Instead, Rick Ross wasted no time responding to the jabs aimed at him on “Push Ups”: The Miami boss released “Champagne Moments” hours after the song was “leaked” online. Nowadays, if you get frustrated with a song, you better find a booth, open a laptop and start rapping ASAP. The crowd will expect nothing less.
Speaking of the mob: Social media now plays a huge role in how these battles play out. With each release, Rap Twitter (and Instagram) went into a frenzy not seen since the days before COVID. There have been many memorable moments in these abandoned applications, but this past week was special. Jokes and analysis were flying all over social media. Uma Thurman offered it Kill Bill suit to Drake. Rick Ross was informs us between each diss, with a user X to compare it to in a YouTube ad. Diss records were played during professional sporting events. The NBA on TNT The crew played a few during NBA Playoff broadcasts. “Not Like Us” was played as a musical ride on a The Dodgers game. And Stephen A. Smith signed First Take Monday morning telling them both to stop because it gets too personal.
No other species has this power.
The more you listen to “The Heart Part 6,” the more Drake sounds defeated. He mentions his combat jacket, rapping, “I'm a war veteran, skilled in preparation/ My jacket is covered in medals, honor and decorations,” and ends the track with a line saying that Lamar would be a more worthy opponent if all of this was for facts, which in reality, the rap beef was never really. If “Not Like Us” was “Ether” 2.0, then “The Heart Part 6” is essentially “Plan 3.” By the time the latter came around, Jay had already lost his battle with Nash — but they were still fighting, as the two continued to pick each other up on various songs until they squashed the beef on stage in 2005 during Jay War's 'I Declare' tour.
It's still too early for this beef to be squashed, and it may never be completely. This got personal and very weird in the blink of an eye, the wounds are still fresh, the accusations still have a stench in the air. However, Drake vs. Kendrick will be remembered as the defining rap battle of the streaming era and the most important since Jay-Z and Nas went to war to start the new millennium.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/kendrick-lamar-drake-rap-beef-future-1235676449/