music megathread Megathread: Drake vs Kendrick in a War of Diss Tracks

[Samson]

Revisiting all of the songs and I think it's clear that Drake messed up by being unfocused, too obviously insecure, out of touch, and thinking he can punch down every rapper because he sells the most out of every artist except Taylor Swift

 

- A common pattern for Drake's beefs is that he's always punching down, or at least tries to. He's frequently taking jabs at rappers who are past their commercial peaks or never had the mainstream appeal that he has; i.e., his strategy is sonning rappers because they don't sell like he does. The weird thing is that in "Family Matters" (aka his "red button"), he attempted to son everybody except Kendrick. Not that he could son Kendrick (especially because Kendrick has sales and acclaim; Drake just has the former), but the departure from the strategy made his disses far less potent. Kendrick had no problem sonning him. Maybe I don't pay enough attention, but is this the first time the Drake has punched up in a beef?

 

- To continue on Drake addressing everyone a certain way but Kendrick: Why was he so unfocused in "Family Matters"? Drake tried to go so hard with this "1 v 20" narrative that nobody outside of his fanbase cared about. Barely anybody even tuned in to the one non-Kendrick response ("Champagne Moments")—Drake, as he didn't prerecord his responses, should have noticed this instead of trying to wack people who weren't even acknowledging him the first time he dissed them in "Push Ups". It made "Family Matters" way less lethal than it would have and more unfocused than anything.

 

- On the topic of "Push Ups": soft-launching the track via leak and then only giving it an official release once enough people said they liked it was a coward move. Namedropping Whitney after what happened to him when he mentioned Virginia Williams was a (stupid!) coward move. Dedicating verses to everyone but the person who actually had smoke for you on record was a coward move. Talking about cowardice…

 

- Drake's insecurities affect his every move; every rapper and every close observer of hip-hop knows it. His insecurities stem from the fact that Toronto is deemed soft compared to the backgrounds of most American rappers. Drake has always put on a persona to compensate for this—the difference is that at the start, that persona came from angst and hunger with a hint of introspection. Now (or at least since the late 2010s), he's no longer angsty, hungry, or introspective; it's pure performance. Pay enough attention and you'll figure out why his new music hasn't driven nearly the amount of cultural capital as his 2011–16 work did. This is open field for Kendrick to play in, and he sure enough went for it four times.

 

- Finally, Drake said some dumb sh*t that just proved Kendrick's point about him being out of touch with Black American culture or sensitivities. The "slave" line in "Family Matters" may have gotten a chuckle out of a few of his fans but it pissed off a ton of people. The fact that Kendrick took that one line and wrote a whole verse proving how out of touch Drake is with Black Americans says enough. Drake dedicating several bars of "The Heart Part 6" to a misinterpretation of a song about a specific trauma that affects many Black American households was another instance of Kendrick being proved right. People lashed Drake so hard for those lines that his fans had to come online and start trying to convince people that Drake was playing some sort of 4D chess—nobody bought it.

 

Now that the initial rush is over I've been able to organize my thoughts. The amount of faux pas Drake made throughout this whole thing is shocking once you start spelling it out. Maybe he should stick to punching down on sitting ducks like Meek Mill

[Wicked]

38 minutes ago, Samson said:

Revisiting all of the songs and I think it's clear that Drake messed up by being unfocused, too obviously insecure, out of touch, and thinking he can punch down every rapper because he sells the most out of every artist except Taylor Swift

 

- A common pattern for Drake's beefs is that he's always punching down, or at least tries to. He's frequently taking jabs at rappers who are past their commercial peaks or never had the mainstream appeal that he has; i.e., his strategy is sonning rappers because they don't sell like he does. The weird thing is that in "Family Matters" (aka his "red button"), he attempted to son everybody except Kendrick. Not that he could son Kendrick (especially because Kendrick has sales and acclaim; Drake just has the former), but the departure from the strategy made his disses far less potent. Kendrick had no problem sonning him. Maybe I don't pay enough attention, but is this the first time the Drake has punched up in a beef?

 

- To continue on Drake addressing everyone a certain way but Kendrick: Why was he so unfocused in "Family Matters"? Drake tried to go so hard with this "1 v 20" narrative that nobody outside of his fanbase cared about. Barely anybody even tuned in to the one non-Kendrick response ("Champagne Moments")—Drake, as he didn't prerecord his responses, should have noticed this instead of trying to wack people who weren't even acknowledging him the first time he dissed them in "Push Ups". It made "Family Matters" way less lethal than it would have and more unfocused than anything.

 

- On the topic of "Push Ups": soft-launching the track via leak and then only giving it an official release once enough people said they liked it was a coward move. Namedropping Whitney after what happened to him when he mentioned Virginia Williams was a (stupid!) coward move. Dedicating verses to everyone but the person who actually had smoke for you on record was a coward move. Talking about cowardice…

 

- Drake's insecurities affect his every move; every rapper and every close observer of hip-hop knows it. His insecurities stem from the fact that Toronto is deemed soft compared to the backgrounds of most American rappers. Drake has always put on a persona to compensate for this—the difference is that at the start, that persona came from angst and hunger with a hint of introspection. Now (or at least since the late 2010s), he's no longer angsty, hungry, or introspective; it's pure performance. Pay enough attention and you'll figure out why his new music hasn't been driven nearly the amount of cultural capital as his 2011–16 work did. This is open field for Kendrick to play in, and he sure enough went for it four times.

 

- Finally, Drake said some dumb sh*t that just proved Kendrick's point about him being out of touch with Black American culture or sensitivities. The "slave" line in "Family Matters" may have gotten a chuckle out of a few of his fans but it pissed off a ton of people. The fact that Kendrick took that one line and wrote a whole verse proving how out of touch Drake is with Black Americans says enough. Drake dedicating several bars of "The Heart Part 6" to a misinterpretation of a song about a specific trauma that affects many Black American households was another instance of Kendrick being proved right. People lashed Drake so hard for those lines that his fans had to come online and start trying to convince people that Drake was playing some sort of 4D chess—nobody bought it.

 

Now that the initial rush is over I've been able to organize my thoughts. The amount of faux pas Drake made throughout this whole thing is shocking once you start spelling it out. Maybe he should stick to punching down on sitting ducks like Meek Mill

He so gravely miscalculated the situation its hilarious to think about. He also didn't see Kendrick as being on his level, which is the biggest mystery or all to me. I think he decided to address multiple people on Family Matters because he genuinely didn't have that much for Kendrick. Even Akademiks whose been in Drakes ear this whole time is saying he lied about the Dave Free thing, and plating evidence via a mole.  which leads me to believe not only did Drake get violently out-rapped by every technical aspect, but there's probably heavy truth to Kendricks accusations.

 

It's like Drake didn't study for a final but thought he had it in the bag just to get an F+ and every question wrong.

[Migs30283]

Not Like Us is back at number one on US Apple Music

[Specter]

48 minutes ago, Wicked said:

He also didn't see Kendrick as being on his level, which is the biggest mystery or all to me

Honestly I've thought a lot about how this could be and the only "theory" I got is conjecture about the way Drake typically moves — an overreliance on numbers/stats and clearly very little pen-game.

 

I think he knew Kendrick would, if it came to it, obliterate him lyrically; but Drake (and beefs he finds himself in) usually run the play of him being lyrically outshined (mostly) to then him dwarfing commercially, visibly, and (pop) culturally (see Meek) the other rapper. I think he bet on the fact that he could still do it to Kendrick, and /that/ I think is him thinking he's above K. Drake's strength is usually eclipsing the other party which gets sublimated as a "win" by him and his fans. It's not also entirely unique to him — bragging about money/success has always been the part of the game, but to him it has always seemed like /the/ game.

 

From that perspective, it tracks that he just clearly did not pay attention to Kendrick's lyrical prowess. One thing that floors me about this entire beef is how intimately familiar K is with Drake's catalogue (as the many underrated puns on his discog that are peppered throughout the disses show) and how the reverse is simply untrue — Drake cannot even correctly understand one song (which is also why he gives himself a pat on the back mid-song on "making a connection" ). It would not surprise me if the moments Drake took most notice of K's presence were say, when Humble was popping, or when LT went #1. I honestly think he has little familiarity with K's discography cause if he had to pull out some punches, you actually can use some things K has said on his own songs (at least from what little I know as a non-stan but enjoyer of most of his music).

[Raiden]

4 hours ago, Specter said:

... bragging about money/success has always been the part of the game, but to him it has always seemed like /the/ game.

 

Nah it has not always been part of the game with everyone. Clearly rap (like every other genre) had different lanes throughout its history. There was the easygoing and fun stuff and the more serious stuff. Chuck D and Public Enemy had a beef with the LAPD and Reagan and Bush, not with MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice...

 

Drake forgot his lane (that he was a limited act with only commercial value.

[JBJT2786]

4 hours ago, Specter said:

Honestly I've thought a lot about how this could be and the only "theory" I got is conjecture about the way Drake typically moves — an overreliance on numbers/stats and clearly very little pen-game.

 

I think he knew Kendrick would, if it came to it, obliterate him lyrically; but Drake (and beefs he finds himself in) usually run the play of him being lyrically outshined (mostly) to then him dwarfing commercially, visibly, and (pop) culturally (see Meek) the other rapper. I think he bet on the fact that he could still do it to Kendrick, and /that/ I think is him thinking he's above K. Drake's strength is usually eclipsing the other party which gets sublimated as a "win" by him and his fans. It's not also entirely unique to him — bragging about money/success has always been the part of the game, but to him it has always seemed like /the/ game.

 

From that perspective, it tracks that he just clearly did not pay attention to Kendrick's lyrical prowess. One thing that floors me about this entire beef is how intimately familiar K is with Drake's catalogue (as the many underrated puns on his discog that are peppered throughout the disses show) and how the reverse is simply untrue — Drake cannot even correctly understand one song (which is also why he gives himself a pat on the back mid-song on "making a connection" ). It would not surprise me if the moments Drake took most notice of K's presence were say, when Humble was popping, or when LT went #1. I honestly think he has little familiarity with K's discography cause if he had to pull out some punches, you actually can use some things K has said on his own songs (at least from what little I know as a non-stan but enjoyer of most of his music).

I can dispute that part. I think he did at one point have familiarity ( hench he tried to bring him up with him....looking back now for financial gain...which worked) with K.Dot and thought he was a dope rapper. But the Control verse happened and his ego set in. I can even give him TPAB as the last K.Dot album he paid attention to. But think around DAMN is when he stopped ( probably around the same time Kendrick probably started realizing this man is truly a culture vulture cuz of his adaptation of accent  on Views...in my opinion the last good Drake album).

 

[Virgos Groove]

8 hours ago, HarajukuPrincess said:

Truth be told, I had not actually listened to "The Story of Adidon" prior to this…

 

ALL of Kendrick's disses make it sound like a nursery rhyme  no shade

Adidon may not seem as great when compared to MTG, but let's not pretend it isn't an amazing diss too.

 

It's so economical. In 3 minutes, he dragged the weird evolution of his music, his complicated relationship with marriage and how that stems from his abandonment issues, his insecurities in his Blackness, his inability/unwillingness to stay on topic when beefing, the attempted rebrand of his babymama, the hidden child and how Drake's just doing exactly what Dennis did, his best friend's MS disease, a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting about, and still found time to brag about how great his album is. Hell, even the cover art and the beat are disses too.

 

There's a great interview where he explains the process of writing it and you can tell just how meticulous he is. God-tier hating.

Edited May 13 by Virgos Groove

[Wicked]

3 minutes ago, Virgos Groove said:

Adidon may not seem as great when compared to MTG, but let's not pretend it isn't an amazing diss too.

 

It's so economical. In 3 minutes, he dragged the weird evolution of his music, his complicated relationship with marriage and how that stems from his abandonment issues, his insecurities in his Blackness, his inability/unwillingness to stay on topic when beefing, the attempted rebrand of his babymama, the hidden child and how Drake's just doing exactly what Dennis did, his best friend's MS disease, a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting about, and still found time to brag about how great his album is. Hell, even the cover art and the beat are disses too.

 

There's a great interview where he explains the process of writing it and you can tell just how meticulous he is. God-tier hating.

Pusha T, like Kendrick, myself, legends like Prince and Michael are Pisces moons, we hate different. Artistic hating.

 

[thirdward]

13 hours ago, JBJT2786 said:

Mines is F.A.N., 69 God

 

Or from Euphoria (even before Not Like Us came out) : U don't know nuttin bout that

 

Push a T cracks me up bc why he said it like that  

[liquiddiamonds]

2 hours ago, Wicked said:

Pusha T, like Kendrick, myself, legends like Prince and Michael are Pisces moons, we hate different. Artistic hating.

 

ong im one too. they hate to see us hating

[HarajukuPrincess]

One of my fave quotes is 

 

"Mm-mm, your son's a sick man with sick thoughts, I think ****** like him should DIIIIIIIIEEEEE

Him and Weinstein should get ****** up in a cell for the rest their LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFEE"

 

Them inflections keep me cackling 

[Virgos Groove]

Well okay then!

 

[Eóghan]

8 hours ago, JBJT2786 said:

(probably around the same time Kendrick probably started realizing this man is truly a culture vulture cuz of his adaptation of accent  on Views...in my opinion the last good Drake album)

 

everyone in the universe knows that his last good album was "Nothing Was the Same". after that it's only been trend hopping and excellent singles but terrible body of work. "Views" is half soporific fillers, half well crafted dancehall, even Sorpion is better at incorporating southern bounce music + samples for a more cohesive work but it's still lifeless and superficial. at the end of the day, Drake's biggest weakness since "Nothing Was the Same" over than shifting more into commercial/generic music is that he can't edit himself anymore, his albums are unecessary long just for the sake of pulling big streaming numbers. and I'm pretty sure it's further encouraged by the team of "yes" people around him. 

[99sandthe2000s]

 

 

 

[wehavetostan]

[Virgos Groove]

32 minutes ago, Eóghan said:

everyone in the universe knows that his last good album was "Nothing Was the Same". after that it's only been trend hopping and excellent singles but terrible body of work. "Views" is half soporific fillers, half well crafted dancehall, even Sorpion is better at incorporating southern bounce music + samples for a more cohesive work but it's still lifeless and superficial. at the end of the day, Drake's biggest weakness since "Nothing Was the Same" over than shifting more into commercial/generic music is that he can't edit himself anymore, his albums are unecessary long just for the sake of pulling big streaming numbers. and I'm pretty sure it's further encouraged by the team of "yes" people around him. 

I'd throw in IYRTITL too, but you're right. Despite the occasional great track, all of his projects since Views have been bloated beyond belief, with the sole purpose of boosting his streaming presence (it worked, and you can tell a certain other popstar is currently following said formula to a T ).

 

It's a shame because his 2009-2015 work is excellent, but he got caught up in his formula (sound hopping + "waaah, a 21-yo model unfollowed me on Insta, waaah" ass lyrics + Vito Corleone cosplay). Wayne told him to keep it Canadian and he didn't listen.

 

By the time we get to FATD, his albums are unlistenable. Actually, I'm just gonna quote what I posted when it came out:

 

On 10/7/2023 at 5:01 PM, Virgos Groove said:

This "drop a great song, get everyone excited, and then release a bloated mess of an album" shtick has ran its course.

 

That he peaked artistically in 2011-15 and has been declining ever since isn't news, but this year he's reached his lowest low. His lyrics have gone from specific and memorable to vague and bitter. The once rich soundscapes have turned into trap anesthesia. (Seriously, I can not believe this is the same man who released songs like Tuscan Leather or The Ride, or who sampled Jamie xx at one point.) His relationship with women used to give us songs like Marvins Room or Jungle, now we get loser behaviour like Calling for You, Search & Rescue or that Rihanna diss. We used to get Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross features, now we get 21 Savage and Lil Yatchy (at least we got the J Cole feature tho).

 

I defended CLB, thought HN had potential, and still think he's capable of greatness when he tries (8AM in Charlotte, Meltdown, Sticky), but this new album has proven that, no matter what happens or how old he gets, the modus operandi will not change. He will never drop a great album again.

[Revel]

KENDRICK ******* OWNED THIS WEEK! I knew Not Like Us would be a #1 smash from the moment I heard it. Glad to see King Kenny on this chart throne.

[Specter]

9 hours ago, Virgos Groove said:

Adidon may not seem as great when compared to MTG, but let's not pretend it isn't an amazing diss too.

 

It's so economical. In 3 minutes, he dragged the weird evolution of his music, his complicated relationship with marriage and how that stems from his abandonment issues, his insecurities in his Blackness, his inability/unwillingness to stay on topic when beefing, the attempted rebrand of his babymama, the hidden child and how Drake's just doing exactly what Dennis did, his best friend's MS disease, a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting about, and still found time to brag about how great his album is. Hell, even the cover art and the beat are disses too.

 

There's a great interview where he explains the process of writing it and you can tell just how meticulous he is. God-tier hating.

!!! I think TSoD is excellent, and in my opinion, on par with Euphoria (though MTG and NLU are better imo). 

 

It's just a different energy, and I think K's progressive, seething rage may dwarf TSoD. I think the bar about 40's MS is absolutely nasty, up there with a few of K's most vicious bars. Pusha also had Drake running defense for the devastating cover art of the diss djgjfht. He didn't respond to the track but RAN to defend that weird ass photo shoot he did lmao. 

 

I also love how TSoD ended. Pusha was laughing in his face and told him to maybe try again  that gotta STING, and TSoD also shifted (perhaps for the worst?) how disses now require "evidence."

 

But then every Drake beef is kinda either a gender reveal or a CSI Miami episode atp

[B-Luke]

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

Drake thought he would smash, but instead a song calling him pedo landed the #1 spot on the charts  

[Virgos Groove]

Imagine explaining to someone last year that the #1 song in the whole world would be a Kendrick club banger calling Drake a pedo.

[Samson]

1 hour ago, Specter said:

I also love how TSoD ended. Pusha was laughing in his face and told him to maybe try again  that gotta STING, and TSoD also shifted (perhaps for the worst?) how disses now require "evidence."

This is the only "negative" thing that I have to say about "The Story of Adidon"—and I put that word in quotation marks because it isn't Pusha's fault. Kendrick tried to keep this beef from turning into TMZ article fare like Drake/Pusha did, but Pusha going down the gossip route with Drake probably taught Drake to do that the next time he got in a beef, and he did. Kendrick obviously had "Meet the Grahams" in stock, but we probably would have never heard it if Drake didn't allege criminal behavior against Kendrick on "Family Matters".

 

Too bad that Drake was actually the first to mention people's family members in this whole thing Literally the one thing he shouldn't have done. If that "bodyguards like Whitney" line never made it out of the booth we'd never hear "Meet the Grahams" or "Not Like Us" and "Euphoria" would have an entirely different set of lyrics (i.e. the "not like that" bit would probably be missing). The whole dynamic would have been so different

[Virgos Groove]

[JBJT2786]

 

 

God's Plan was 14 days...

[Virgos Groove]

13 minutes ago, JBJT2786 said:

 

 

God's Plan was 14 days...

Drake forfeited all his artistry for record-breaking numbers and now Kendrick is taking those away like it's nothing, we LOVE to see it

 

What was that line again, Drake? Numbers-wise you're not huh? White flags while the whole club does what??

 

Edited May 14 by Virgos Groove