Rap beefs are as common as inflation in 2024, but one is particularly noticeable right now.
And it's everyone vs. Drake.
Drake has a decades-long feud that was fueled by Future and Metro Boomin's album “We Don't Trust You.''
The verse from Kendrick Lamar's “Like That” track received the most attention. The Compton rapper criticized Drake's previous sneaky diss, putting him ahead of Drake and collaborator J. Cole for the top spot, saying, “Fuck the Big 3, no, that's just Big Me. ” he rapped.
Drizzy countered with his own diss, “Push-ups.” Along with Kendrick, Future, and Metro, he also shot at Rick Ross, The Weeknd, and NBA player Ja Morant.
Ross responded with a diss of his own called “Champagne Moment” and social media trolls. Rumor has it that a second Kendrick diss track may also be on the way. Uma Thurman also chimed in on her beef, offering up the suit she wore in Kill Bill.
It feels like everyone is teaming up against Drake right now. good.
It's not clear where this rap civil war is going, but what I do know is that Drake has been expecting it for a while.
Many fans have criticized the popular rapper's slow growth as an artist. On this week's episode of “I Know That's Right,” we spoke with host and hip-hop enthusiast Jack Morrell about misogyny, an aspect of Drake's stagnation.
Although his music wasn't free of misogyny, Drake went from making music for women to rising up from disrespecting women.
“At some point, someone or something broke Drake's heart, and he's been fighting for it ever since,” Morrell said of the notable change in his music.
“This is very indicative of what's happening to a lot of really wealthy, successful people. They become more and more insular, they gather around themselves more and more 'yes men,' and that As a result, they become increasingly paranoid,” Morrell said. “They start lashing out at things they can't control, which is other people. And that's probably the women in his life.”
On “Circo Loco,” Drake drops a subliminal line to Megan Thee Stallion that many believe suggests she lied about being shot in the foot by Tory Lanez in 2020. Megan fired her own subliminals at Drizzy with her “His” and she accused Drake of getting shot with her gun. Plastic surgery.
The line “Circo Loco” itself was unnecessary and fed into a harmful narrative that Black women’s pain is unbelievable. But there's also a hint of sexism in Drake's omission of Megan from “Push Up.” It feels like he's being selective about who would be a worthy opponent, and god forbid a female rapper fits that criteria in 2024.
Also, Drake always needs to weaponize the women involved with his adversaries. He did this during his feud with Pusha T in 2018. On “Duppy Freestyle,” Drake dissed Pusha's then-fiancée Virginia Williams by name. And he brought out Kendrick's wife, Whitney Alford, again in his latest song.
No one can predict where Drake's current beef will go or who will win. But one thing's for sure: he needs to be called out for his shit a lot more than he already is.
For more interviews, pop culture overviews, and more layered conversations than social media threads can capture, subscribe to I Know That's Right. With new episodes added weekly, this show is sure to entertain, inform, and make you scream, “That's the right thing to do!” sometimes.
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