This might be a bit too tin foil but what ever side you fall on (Drake, Kendrick or neutral), I think the industry attack on Drake is too coordinated to not have a long play in mind. A lot of posters have made the point that if you’re getting Drake out the paint, you better have a good idea of what the landscape looks like moving forward because he financially contributes too much to too many stakeholders.
What if however the play isn’t to replace him as the figurehead with another rapper but to shake up a genre that was stagnant by all reports. It was being said that Afrobeats was the new genre of choice that would be prioritised - that’s probably not sustainable though as it’s unlikely that a genre that’s not from the US will dominate the US charts over long term period.
As long as Drake has been on top, the south has been on top for 20 years and while the players have changed, from Wayne, T.I and Jeezy to Future and Thug to Lil Baby, etc, the rap scene doesn’t look that much different to what it looked like in early 2000s - it’s evolved but slowly. The south can only carry the game on its back for so long so what it the play is to bring another region in to pick up the slack and diversify the sound of the genre? New York have the Boom Bap sound which is being led by acts such as Griselda, etc but in terms of radio play and mass market adoption, it’s not gonna move like Trap is/was moving. Chicago and NY Drill in terms of the sound works but they’re too aggressive for the girls to shake ass to.
West Coast however got a scene bubbling on the low - there’s acts like Kalan Fr.Fr, Larry June, Mozzy, G Perico, Greedo, etc who can tour nationally (and in some cases internationally) and in terms of the sound, it’s something that can play nationally like when Mustard had his run 10 years ago. The narrative on the west coast is that the gang politics holds the scene back - outside of the Drake attack lines however, the main line Kendrick has been pushing is that people don’t like the west and the new narrative post ‘Not Like Us’ is that Kendrick has united the coast. The track now is most likely gonna be the new number 1 song on the chart so it’s the perfect Trojan horse to usher in the west coast sound on a national level.
I said in another thread I was confused as to why the producers Kendrick was working with on the diss tracks (Cardo, Alchemist and Mustard) are so openly spitting in Drake’s face when being a producer relies heavily on label relationships and they’ve benefitted reputationally, financially or in terms of critical acclaim working with him. Pushing the west coast sound significantly benefits Cardo and Mustard though and even though Alchemist is more Boom Bap, he’s heaving represents LA so a shift in the scene benefits all.
Why Future, Metro and anyone non-LA affiliated would play into this I don’t know - maybe its opportunity to get out of the top guy’s shadow. Before the beef went full throttle last week though, Drake was posting pictures of Nas’ manager who has been working with Kendrick and has also worked extensively with Future so he seems to think he is a key figure in this. ‘Like That’ and ‘Not Like Us’ going number 1 indicates however that general public is tired of Drake and are ready for a change and this is the perfect opportunity to reset the landscape.
Again very tin foil but I don’t think everything we’ve seen over the past month and a half is by chance.
What if however the play isn’t to replace him as the figurehead with another rapper but to shake up a genre that was stagnant by all reports. It was being said that Afrobeats was the new genre of choice that would be prioritised - that’s probably not sustainable though as it’s unlikely that a genre that’s not from the US will dominate the US charts over long term period.
As long as Drake has been on top, the south has been on top for 20 years and while the players have changed, from Wayne, T.I and Jeezy to Future and Thug to Lil Baby, etc, the rap scene doesn’t look that much different to what it looked like in early 2000s - it’s evolved but slowly. The south can only carry the game on its back for so long so what it the play is to bring another region in to pick up the slack and diversify the sound of the genre? New York have the Boom Bap sound which is being led by acts such as Griselda, etc but in terms of radio play and mass market adoption, it’s not gonna move like Trap is/was moving. Chicago and NY Drill in terms of the sound works but they’re too aggressive for the girls to shake ass to.
West Coast however got a scene bubbling on the low - there’s acts like Kalan Fr.Fr, Larry June, Mozzy, G Perico, Greedo, etc who can tour nationally (and in some cases internationally) and in terms of the sound, it’s something that can play nationally like when Mustard had his run 10 years ago. The narrative on the west coast is that the gang politics holds the scene back - outside of the Drake attack lines however, the main line Kendrick has been pushing is that people don’t like the west and the new narrative post ‘Not Like Us’ is that Kendrick has united the coast. The track now is most likely gonna be the new number 1 song on the chart so it’s the perfect Trojan horse to usher in the west coast sound on a national level.
I said in another thread I was confused as to why the producers Kendrick was working with on the diss tracks (Cardo, Alchemist and Mustard) are so openly spitting in Drake’s face when being a producer relies heavily on label relationships and they’ve benefitted reputationally, financially or in terms of critical acclaim working with him. Pushing the west coast sound significantly benefits Cardo and Mustard though and even though Alchemist is more Boom Bap, he’s heaving represents LA so a shift in the scene benefits all.
Why Future, Metro and anyone non-LA affiliated would play into this I don’t know - maybe its opportunity to get out of the top guy’s shadow. Before the beef went full throttle last week though, Drake was posting pictures of Nas’ manager who has been working with Kendrick and has also worked extensively with Future so he seems to think he is a key figure in this. ‘Like That’ and ‘Not Like Us’ going number 1 indicates however that general public is tired of Drake and are ready for a change and this is the perfect opportunity to reset the landscape.
Again very tin foil but I don’t think everything we’ve seen over the past month and a half is by chance.
