"Kendrick's next album won't feature anyone he named" - Drake [Update: More Comments]
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Who's up for that rap Grammy this year? Who's the likely winner?
@23statcity I think you may be missing the point of being competitive AND collaborative. Mattafact, a lotta heads in this post are missing that point. The real beauty of an art form like hip-hop and what Kendrick did is that it INVITES competition WITHIN collaboration, much like sport. The first Dream Team, according to Jack McCallum's book, had their most competitive game against EACH OTHER. Magic led the Blue Team and MJ led the white.
At that point, Magic and Larry Bird both werebut MJ knew them to be top-level competitors and he was
and took it to them in practice frequently. Neither of them backed down or felt hurt by it. They felt it elevated them, especially at that time in their careers when they both saw him taking over the league and wanted (maybe) one last shot.
Drake is showing, with these replies, trying to diminish to "Control" effect and all the while saying he "loves hip-hop" and the competition (I mean, the nikka admitted in TWO interviews that he watched URL TV and Smack regularly, chills with Hollow Da Don)... and also saying that he doesn't "respect the sentiment" of the Kendrick verse -- he's showing he's ALL THE WAY in his feelings about it. Which is it, bruh? Do you wanna compete, load that gun and fire it backwards? But when someone comes at you like that it's? What that bout?
@Napoleon you have made great points about Drake being a worthy artist, worthy of respect and attention. But I think even you'd admit that he's been issuing conflicted statements about competition -- both on the record and off. He's clearly got some nerves around this Kendrick thing, and it must rattle him somewhat that, on the heels of his most concentrated work, people are talking about someone else NOT named Do Right And Kill Everything. He might even be wondering if he has the shelf life he so aspires for.
And this ain't coming from a Kendrick "stan" or whatever. I'm one of the people who believes there are several rappers in the game who could BODY Kendrick with a verse, Drake being one of them. But I also believe Drake views him as worthy competition, an equal peer and potentially someone who could best him. I think that's evidenced by the fact that he put Kendrick on "Buried Alive" but stepped nowhere near lacing his own verse there. He doesn't even want to take the RISK of not looking as good. That's not MJ-level competition or Magic-Bird level competitive camaraderie.
That's just ho sh*t.
Respect 'em both, but it is telling that only Aubrey Graham has taken exception to Kendrick's verse enough to swear off working with him.He was ALL OVER Kendrick's work when he was on the rise, enough to PUT HIM ON HIS BEST ALBUM TO DATE... he does no favors. That was a strategic move to up his profile.
It backfired and now that n*gga scrambling and doing the Toronto two-step like he don't care.
I HONESTLY believe Drake felt that doing some petty beef shyt and calling nikkas out and then claiming its no big deal can't be flip flopped like that.
But I don't think it's "beef" in this literal way everyone is talking about. It's extremely clear, by the response both by the fans and the rappers named, that Kendrick has the utmost respect for those guys and has done songs with almost everyone on that song and named in that verse. Shyt, Big Sean PUT OUT the song and was one of the people with the most to lose (seems like he did lose a lot on that one actually)...because he didn't take it as an affront.
It wasn't petty nor was it a beef. It was a call-to-action. In sport, that's what people do ALL THE TIME. Rap is music and it's sport. It's unique that way in that it gets to be both. Actually, a lot of music genres are competitive but rap is explicit about it and that's part of how MCs differentiate themselves. Drake has, many times, said that he is a rapper, including in that latest CRWN interview with Elliott Wilson. He knows what comes with the territory. Why is he shying away from it selectively?
Mac Casper
@adonnis - pull up, there's refreshments
You wasted your life typing this, if that's how you feel . . great. Drake doesn't have to agree with you on how you think he should feel about his name mentioned
Thats the thing though. Drake can reply however he wants to...but why is he now obligated to say he wants to work with Kendrick now?
So now if he doesn't mind, then he cops pleas? But if he takes offense then he's being petty?
Drake knows the game. Kendrick knows the game. Even Ross said so. Kendrick was reaching for drama and Meek/Drake ain't put up with it.
I'm not saying that's how I FEEL. I'm saying Drake has willfully, many many many times, more times than can be counted -- invited competition and said he was The Best.
Being The Best in rap has long meant -- will before him and will after him -- besting your rivals and peers. He's trying to remove himself from that context when he inserted himself into it in the 1st place. He's not saying 'look I'm an R&B dude so I don't engage that way'...and he's even said that he aspires to surpass Kanye and on Paris Morton Music that he's not tryna have Kanye or Jay 'lil bro' him...so what of the other side, where people come at him? He won't engage them? He doesn't "feel" that? I'm asking why. I don't think he has to feel any way about it.
I think it's that...Drake wants to compete on his own terms. That's fair, in one sense, because most people do. But, in competition, rap, sport or otherwise, there aren't always some ideal conditions that an individual gets to set outside of the context of that game. The Rap Game has long held standards of competition. It's the reason Drake has skewed to those rules himself...calling out Kanye by name as a competitor. He knows the game, you're right. He just plays by its rules selectively. I'm wondering why.
Mac Casper
@adonnis - pull up, there's refreshments
You're totally overthinking it dude, he's not saying anything about engaging or not engaging, he's just saying he ain't cool with it. Some of you are confused because he didn't jump outta character to say it the way an overly aggressive person would
1. Standards don't exist in this game. Thats why hip-hop evolved...and Drake has battled people before on wax...and bodied them...so its really nothing if he as to do it.
2. Who cares if he doesn't respond to kendrick on wax. Why should he? Everyone in the music industry knows kendrick did that shyt to rile up the internet and get people talking but everyone sees through that little gimmick of his because its fukking up the money. How can people take K Dot seriously if they're just going to have him come back and start throwing darts then acting like its all good.
Drake seriously said all that needed to be said. Ya'll nikkas got amped for a little confrontation and forgot about all the hype.
That's inaccurate. In the CRWN interview, he says that Kendrick Lamar is an underdog who needs to "show and prove" he's on the Drake Level with another solid album. He also said that he wants to out-think, out-do, out-create Kanye West and that he appreciates that competitive ethic. I am just wondering why he doesn't appreciate it when someone else feels that way about him. In fact, he said he doesn't "feel it" but Kendrick was using that kind of ethic with Drake as the goal/target.
You're conflating my questions with other people's points. You seem to have pinned down Drake's motives pretty well (or speculated well) about them. My only question is why doesn't he want to engage people in the same way he's engaged others? What's good for the goose isn't good for the gander? I never implored him to respond on wax. I asked why he's saying that he doesn't want to engage. He's done it before, as you just stated. Why not now?
Mac Casper
@adonnis - pull up, there's refreshments
So you're asking if Drake interprets Kendrick's actions the say way you do? No, he doesn't. You're a Kendrick stan aren't you? Y'all muthaphukkas are doing mental gymnastics
Nah G. I'm asking what's the reason behind that particular interpretation when he's stated before that he invites competition.
And I've also said, many times here and elsewhere, that I'm a fan of neither more than the other. They both have strong points and they both have flaws. I think Kendrick was whylin to release that verse and it not be his best verse. I think Lupe took some very direct shots at him that he didn't reply to and I questioned that.
That's very narrow, singular thinking to say that, because someone questions something that they are a Stan.
