Kendrick vs. Drake is an inevitable clash of hip-hop philosophies

If Drake and Kendrick end up having a rap battle for the ages, it won't be solely because of Kendrick's recent verse on Future and Metro Boomin's “Like That.” It won't (probably) be about industry politics we don't know about, talking about pillows, or any of the other trivial topics that have caused rap controversy in the past. I'm not the biggest fan of rap beef because, as Snoop Dogg told Latto, it's often a product of ego fueled by corporate forces that want to maintain division. But Drake and Kendrick's rift runs deeper than either man — it represents two hip-hop poles in a civil war.

Consider rap's consensus “Big Three” — Kendrick, Drake and J. Cole. Both Drake and Kendrick are and have been good with Cole, and both have made music with him. Kendrick singles out Cole on 'Like That' because he is very close to drake. But there are alternate universes where both Kendrick and Drake are okay with Cole being the other half of a “big two” because he represents a healthy balance of introspection, hip-hop traditionalism, and mass appeal. Drake vs. Cole or Kendrick vs. Cole isn't as polarizing. Drake and Kendrick, however, are simply too different for either of them to pander to the masses by saying they prefer the other. This will forever put them at odds.

Their catalog quality, release schedules, and artistic perspectives stand in stark contrast to each other. If they were friends, you'd imagine they'd mutually decide not to give each other career advice. Picture Drake advising Kendrick to release four albums in two years. Imagine Kendrick telling Drake to take a five-year hiatus and then come back with an 18-track concept album about being an evil consequence of patriarchy and slavery. I don't think Kendrick would take kindly to Drake suggesting a colorful, meme-ready album cover like Certified Boy Lovernor would Drake to Kendrick advise him to make surprise releases from his latest project that sound like experimental free jazz.

Both men have reached rap immortality by distinctly different paths. Drake is the virtual CEO of Drake Inc., a streaming behemoth that runs on autopilot with annual releases of projects that have a few tracks for everyone—it's hip-hop's most profitable example of rap as a product. Kendrick takes time between plays, which are often so thematically dense that they're easy to admire but hard to play consistently. His works are usually the most artistically and thematically ambitious in the realm of mainstream rap over the past 15 years. These disparate catalogs feed two different fan bases that are often at war with each other. Kendrick fans find Drake too flat, Drake fans find Kendrick too dense.

This isn't just about Kendrick or Drake, but the hip-hop community we've collectively cultivated. Both men represent facsimiles of two different hip-hop worldviews. Rap's amazing ambiguity allows two hip-hop heads to be equally obsessed with the art form and have completely different musical perspectives. That's why some rap fans will decry some music as “scaring hoes,” but Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA can humorously embrace the phrase in the title of their experimental album. We have X discussions and barber shop discussions that often end with each participant acknowledging how arbitrary this all is. These conversations happen because as hip-hop fans, we've learned to protect our values ​​and despise what we don't. That's why it's so common for die-hard fans to praise Kendrick or Drake while tearing down the other.

Drake and Kendrick were once cool. Drake was commercially established before Kendrick and gave the then-rising Compton rapper a career-span with a 2011 interlude Take care and an opening spot on his Club Paradise tour in 2012. There is a clip of it Drake gives the closing speech at the tour's San Diego stop. It's hard not to see Kendrick in the Russell Westbrook-like clip staring at the NBA MVP trophy during Kevin Durant's acceptance speech in 2014. Kendrick was momentarily fine with the kumbaya energy, but then came the verse of 2014's “Control,” which tore them apart on the prospect that they might never get back together.

Kendrick's verse, where he called out a who's who of his rap peers and asserted his desire to dominate them lyrically, was a 2011 Kurupt verse play; where he called himself “the King of New York”. Tellingly, while Pusha T (another Drake nemesis) said he recognized the lyric was about sports, Drake wasn't thrilled to be mentioned. “I didn't really have anything to say about it,” he told Billboard in 2013. “It just seemed like wishful thinking. That was all. I know it well and good [Lamar] It doesn't kill me, not at all, on any platform. So when that day comes, I guess we can revisit the matter.”

But that day didn't come, both of them went on their rap journey and barely mention the other. Despite, or perhaps because of, their distance, it's hard not to see them as the yin to each other's yang. For many, Kendrick represents the essence of rap, Drake its commercial height. Drake feels worthy of the iconic crown due to wear and tear, Kendrick through what many would consider a spotless discography. Last year, Drake subliminally noted Kendrick's release schedule, with Kendrick saying he needs time to “[protect] his soul in the valley of silence' on By Mr. Morale… “Savior.” The road to being crowned king of rap could go in many directions, but both men likely scoff at the idea that the other's approach makes the most sense — and so do their fans.

In a later interview, Drake said PULSE about “Check” that, “I think [Kendrick’s] a fucking genius in her own right, but I also stood my ground. And with that came another step, which I then have to realize I'm being baited and I won't fall. “Jordan didn't need to play pick-up to prove he could play ball, no offense.” Months later, Kendrick responded during a BET Hip-Hop Awards freestyle where he rapped, “Nothing's been the same since they put on 'Control'/ And they put on a sensitive rapper in his pajama clothes/ Ha ha jokes on you, high five … I'm bulletproof/ Your shoots never get through/ Pin the tail on the donkey, boy, you were fake.” Drake felt like he overreacted to the bait, while Kendrick feels he's “susceptible” to “Control” being perceived as “bait” and “fake” because he doesn't fight back. There are rap fans who would strongly disagree on both sides of this debate.

In fact, Jordan was a maniacal competitor who put a clause in his contract allowing him to play pick-up ball against anyone. But, thanks in large part to Jay-Z, rap's perception of Jordan became a “too big to compete” prospect that wasn't always part of rap's ethos. The competition was involved in every element of hip-hop. even graffiti crews competed for real estate. From The Juice Crew vs. Boogie Down Productions and Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J, rap's early years were defined by lyrical sparring. On the remix of LL Cool J's, “I Shot Ya” he rapped, “I'll fight any nigga in the rap game quick / You name the spot, I'll make it hot for you bitches… And female rappers, I don't give a fuck boo!” This came from a rap king who was starring in a TV show at the time.

Rappers were expected to fight back when challenged. When hip-hop was an up-and-coming scene that was still underground in the broader sense of pop culture, all rappers had was their fame. But then came the hip-hop commercial boom, and rappers began to weaponize their financial power by undercutting their peers due to commercial success.

50 Cent made his first week sales numbers a talking point. Younger fans were beginning to see rap as a race to dominate the radio and sell the most records. Some fans began to treat these talking points as marching orders in discussions, prioritizing numbers over intangible factors like musical quality and impact. Artists are now forced to consider their careers as a capitalist enterprise as well as an artistic one, creating variant possibilities. Do they want to be the sickest, the richest or the most powerful? Kendrick vs. Drake represents a clash of rap's greatest impulses of the last 50 years.

In the epic Jay-Z and Nas beef, Hov competed by touting his commercial achievements and slamming Nas' pro-Black messages: “Shit is trash, what you tryin' to kick knowledge?” Nas clapped back, lamenting, “You traded your soul for riches.” Fans debate Jay-Z vs. Nas to this day because their approaches and career paths are so different that the debate becomes a litmus test of what kind of rap fan you are. Do you prefer the top-selling artist with hits and mass appeal, or the artist who has hits but also tends to eschew mass appeal for experimentation? Do you want your favorite to be as ubiquitous as Jay-Z in the early 2000s, or to take time out in between projects so they can come back rapping stories like “Rewind?”

These kinds of conversations will permeate a full Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef — if it happens. Kendrick and Drake respectively embody what rap was and what it has become. Choosing between the two walks along dividing lines that shape one's hip-hop philosophy. Thankfully, their feud doesn't seem to run any deeper than rap – but sometimes, that's all one needs.