Drake’s approach wasn’t “garbage” until The Heart Part 6, which is genuinely terrible. His approach was…interesting i’ll say. He made too many questionable decisions while Kendrick set everything out flawlessly.
Drake was too cocky in taking the offensive in the beginning and too emotional taking the defensive at the end.
The A.I. track could’ve gone either way but it ultimately backfired when Kendrick played the colonizer card. I thought it was “cute” when he first dropped it but Drake underestimated how much people REALLY love and revere Tupac, especially out West, which again, played directly into Kendrick’s portrayal of Drake as an outsider cosplaying.
Family Matters should’ve been 99% directed at Kendrick, matter of fact that whole middle section should’ve been taken out. Nobody cared about Drake bodying Rick Ross, Weeknd, Metro and Asap. Its the same mistake Jay-Z made with Takeover. If your going to battle a legendary MC on the same mainstream level as you then you battle him and HIM ONLY. And leading into that…
Drake’s ghostwriters should’ve either came up with a better lie than “You beat your wife” or not made it the focal point of exposing Kendrick’s supposed flaws as a human being. Nobody believed it. Even when Whitney was saying nothing NOBODY believed it. There were other avenues in which to attack Kendrick that would’ve stuck but “You rap like you freeing the slaves” ain’t it and once again, falls right into the tone deaf, colonizing trope.
All in all Drake made too many mistakes both lyrically and strategically. He was too arrogant, tone-deaf, and picked the wrong angles to attack.