Kendrick v. Drake
Welcome to GT Radio on the Geek Therapy Network. Here at Geek Therapy, we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Jose Cardona. I'm joined by Marc Cuiriz . And Link Keller.
Josué:Hello. Alright, team. We're gonna talk today about something that happened in pop culture. Whenever you're listening to this, this is being recorded in early June twenty twenty four.
Link:It's already kind of old news. It's about to get older.
Josué:Is it? Is it? Don't know if it's over. I don't know if it's over, but we're talking about the the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. There's just a bunch of diss tracks that went back and forth, and I've been obsessed with it for the last couple weeks.
Josué:And there's a lot I I've just been surprised how it has become pop culture to to like, it may just be a moment in in pop culture. I think it would've I think it's historic within hip hop culture, and I think it'll be talked about for a long time. But I'm excited because I don't think we've ever talked about hip hop, and and we don't talk about music much in general. I was trying to remember, did you guys do a Taylor episode, a Taylor Swift episode? We did.
Link:Did. We've done a Taylor Swift episode, and we talked about We The People musical series on Netflix when that came out in, like, 2022, I wanna say, a bajillion years ago. Yeah. We we we have touched on musical topics, but it is not it is not super common for us.
Josué:Yeah. I there there is a very I'm very proud of it. I a music short series that we did podcast that we did called Resonance. We haven't published it, but one day we will. It's very good.
Josué:I'm very proud of it. So so let's let's start with what is this. Right? My it's too bad that Laura's in here because I'm I've been curious, like, if her any of her clients have brought it up because it's been so so public. And so there there let's meet the characters of this story first.
Josué:So, actually, before that, I'm a character in this as well. Actually, we we are all characters in this story. K? So I I grew up in New Jersey, very close to New York City, where there is a radio station called Hot ninety seven, which if you know hip hop, you know Hot ninety seven, and a lot of the people that have come from there. To me, hip hop was just a big part of of me growing up.
Josué:I'm Puerto Rican. I'm not black, but there is there is you know, like, we're adjacent to when it we're we're allowed back in the eighties and nineties when it came to hip hop. And it was it was just a part of my life growing up. I remember my my older sister, she she had me record. There was a DJ called Funkmaster Flex, who I I think eventually ended up on MTV doing stuff.
Josué:But he used to do, like, sets on Saturday nights on Hot ninety seven, and I would record them on cassette for my sister and then collect them, like, collect four or six and then mail them to their her to her in Florida because she couldn't hear it over there. So it's a long time ago. So I hip hop is a big, big part of my life, and I still listen to to rap not as much as I used to. Not as much as I used to, but I I I still I still partake. And I enjoy so I've enjoyed this beef very much.
Josué:And I'll get into why further on. But, Mark, what is your do you like hip hop? Do you do you listen to it at all?
Marc:So Do
Josué:know what hip hop is?
Marc:I do know what hip hop is. And I will say that it it's definitely not something that I listen to every day. I I'd like to say I'm one of those people that, like, has an appreciation for all forms of music, but I also know that's a lie. There's some genres that I just are not for me, and I get that. But hip hop is just one of those things where, like, I I don't personally, like, search for it or I go out of my way or I look it up and I start listening to it.
Marc:That's usually, like, if I have friends that are into it and they start playing it or I'm going somewhere and it starts playing. And I'll I'll vibe with it and I'll enjoy the music. But, like, I'm not it's not something that I personally gravitate towards. So that being said, today is probably the most that I've listened to hip hop of any kind in a very long time. Just trying to kinda get understanding of of the topic and and sort of, like, understanding, okay, but what exactly is going on?
Marc:Okay. So that's that's, like, my take on it.
Josué:Okay. What about you, Link?
Link:I similarly, it is not a genre I tend to search out for finding new music, but I also most most of the music I find is is recommended to me by other people. I don't go searching on my own very often anyways. But it's it's a genre I have a lot of respect for in that I find lyrics very cool and interesting and hip hop and rap often are very reliant on their lyrics. And so I think that's really cool. But yeah, very, very little broader contextual knowledge.
Link:It's not like something I grew up in in within my family listening to. Yeah, or necessarily within my social groups in school or whatever. So it was definitely like either the most popular pop stuff that they played on the radio. Yeah, and I just consumed that way. Or it's something, you know, a really cool track inside of a TV show or a video game where I heard it and I was like that rules and then it goes on to my mega playlist of song I liked on Spotify or whatever.
Link:But yeah.
Josué:Yeah. Okay. So, so I definitely have an affinity for it.
Link:Before I get into have to say I'm sorry to interrupt you. I really love that story about you taping and sending out tapes to your sister. I think that is that is so sweet. And, like, really beautiful way to engage with music and technology and relationships and everything. Think that's really cool.
Josué:It's, it's so funny, because I think people are sometimes asking me, like, oh, how'd you get into video games? Or how'd you get into science fiction? It's like, oh, my my dad bought a video game system and brought it home. My earliest memory is playing my earliest memory is playing video games with my mom. I don't know.
Josué:I sat with my parents and watched Star Trek. Right? It's like, it's stuff like that. And for hip hop, it was my sister. Like, she had like an l Cool J picture on a huge poster on her wall.
Link:Thought it was cool. So you thought it was cool.
Josué:Yeah. And she's much older than I am. She's like thirteen years older than me. So, you know, like, whatever she was into, I was like, oh, yeah. No.
Josué:Let's let's do that. That's cool. She likes it. And so yeah. So so I like that memory too.
Josué:It's like, even though we weren't getting that huge age gap and still, we were able to to connect through that. Actually, when I when I moved to Puerto Rico, finally, when I was in high school, I remember there was they used to do I don't know. They used to do something called CD exchanges. Like, instead of a gift exchange, do you guys do this in school ever? No.
Josué:So, basically, what they did was it was a gift exchange where there was just a list, and then everybody would say what CD they wanted. So everybody just bought CDs. Like it was it was so stupid.
Link:We we didn't do that where we were like planning on buying CDs. It was straight up like, oh, I I my dad just finished putting together a laptop for me and it has iTunes on it and so I'm going to burn every CD that I have access to into my iTunes library. Can I borrow your your jewel case for the weekend? And it's like, you know, spend all weekend downloading thirty forty CDs, Sometimes meticulously labeling everything and sometimes being like this is a fucking mixtape unlabeled. It's just track one now.
Josué:Well, no. So it's very, very different.
Link:Yes.
Josué:Very different. It was basically a CD gift exchange, and they would and then you would next to your name, you would write down the CD that you wanted. And then everybody literally just went to the CD store and bought a CD for somebody else. It was it was stupid.
Link:That's cool. I like You
Josué:need to bring Yeah. That So I moved to Puerto Rico. I'm I'm very much an outsider because I've I've been in The States for many years. I'm, again, I'm a misfit in that sense. I don't I don't really fit in.
Josué:And so I put on the list for this first thing. Fuckmaster Flex mixtape volume three. The guy that I remember the guy who had to buy me a CD. He comes over, and he was he had, like, the I don't even know what it's he was, like, kind of goth, and he had, like, the, like, the like, not spikes, but, like, a metal not a collar, but had,
Link:like Choker.
Josué:A choker. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Josué:So he was, like, he was into rock. Right? Like, he was and that was, like, his aesthetic. That was his whole thing. And he's like, man, I don't know what I don't even know I don't know what that is.
Josué:I was like, just, like, write it exactly how it's written down. It's fine. But there was one there were two people at the school. One who also liked rap, and he saw it, and he was like, oh, like and then and we became friends.
Link:We're friends now.
Josué:Yep. Then there were only two black guys in my entire school, my entire class. And one of them really loved hip hop. And he saw that, and he was like and we basically became best friends. So much so that when in our senior year, he would always say, like, I wanna do something hip hop related for the talent show, and you guys have to do it with me.
Josué:And I was like, there's just no way I'm going to participate in a talent show. And he was like, you gotta do it with me. Like, we're the only ones.
Link:Can I be your hype man? Please don't make it on stage.
Josué:Fast forward to senior year in high school. And he says he's like, I have an idea. So thing is we ended up performing for three nights. He was Cisco, and I was a backup dancer for the thong song. Yep.
Josué:Yep. Yep. It's the only time I've ever done
Link:Beautiful.
Josué:A talent show or anything like that. I think it went well. I've I met now so many years later, I wish there was a video. For many years, I'm most glad that there wasn't. But now I'm like, I can't even remember.
Josué:I don't even believe it. So again, hip hop, big part of of my life, and I have a quite an affinity for it. You know? But yeah. Go ahead.
Marc:I I was gonna say, you telling me that you telling us that story, like, it's reminding me of the fact that I I have a friend of mine who, like, we're one of those friends that, like, we can go a while without really talking, but when we talk, it's like we're picking back up. And for a while, like, Minecraft was our thing. But when we were when I had first moved from the town that I like originally grew up in, like I moved at the end of my fifth grade year.
Josué:So I was supposed to
Marc:go into a middle school, but where I was moving to sixth grade was still in the elementary schools. So now I'm finishing the last year of elementary school with a new group of kids. And there's this one kid that he and I, like, we we started talking, started hanging out. And basically up until the end like, up until we graduated high school, like, was really into, like, rap and hip hop and all that stuff. He would always, like, freestyle rap.
Marc:And every single time without fail during middle school when I would, like, when we would go hang out at his house or I'd stay over at his house for a night or a weekend, he without fail would always always get me to try to to rap. And I have no sense of timing or I I couldn't, like, get the beat down. I couldn't I couldn't get my words to flow. And, like, every time, like, I would always be put on the spot, I couldn't do it. So I remember one time we spent the whole afternoon, he had me just sitting there just listening to the beat over and over again while I wrote and thought of lyrics.
Marc:So then it wasn't a freestyle. He was just making me write a rap. And so then I wrote this rap, and then he called his girlfriend at the time so that I could then perform the rap front of on the phone to her. And I'm like, oh my god. Like, this is this is so embarrassing because, like, I was also writing it about somebody that I was into at the time.
Marc:And he's like, yeah. Like, you gotta hear this. You gotta hype him up. You get, like, he did it. And that to me, I I that's one of those moments where I I look back on it.
Marc:I'm like, I can't believe I did that. I honestly can't believe that that actually happened, that that was a thing that I did.
Josué:That's amazing. Did you have a rapper name?
Marc:No. I did not. Was just and his dad had a studio in the basement too because his dad would produce music. So, like, we've always talked about wanting to go in there and, like, actually make something, but his dad would never never let us go in there, or rightfully so. But Yeah.
Josué:Yeah. I yeah. I me and my friend, the the one who played Cisco, we he was the freestyle rapper, but I was the producer. Like, I would create beats, and I would create all sorts of stuff. And then for even for that talent show, I ended up, like, editing the music for a whole bunch of people because I had the gear to do it.
Josué:Like, that was I really thought I would work in music. I mean, at that stage, I really thought that that's what I would do. So fast forward. I'm I'm older now. And for the last, I don't know, last ten years, again, I'm still I still like hip hop, but I'm not as as in tune as I used to be.
Josué:And, like, one thing I just thought of was, like, you know, Hamilton was pretty big. I've I can't bring myself to watch it. I think I I I there's something about it that just seems very from the hip hop perspective, it seems very corny to me.
Link:Oh, it is.
Marc:It's a 100%.
Josué:Okay. I'm
Link:could say it's it's 100% American and how corny it is.
Josué:The fact that it's a
Link:cool. Agricultural humor there for you.
Josué:Yeah. The fact that it's a Puerto Rican guy who wrote everything and is like doing this stuff like I've always had it's hard. It's hard. You know, it's hard to talk about.
Link:Extra layers for you.
Marc:I I I want it
Josué:to be great. And and and people love it, but I cannot bring myself to to to do it. So, again, like, I don't I'm I'm not a purist or anything. Right? Like, I grew up with hip hop at a certain point.
Josué:This is a preface to say that when this Kendrick and Drake beef started, my first thought was Drake is a rapper? I I I never thought of Drake as a rapper. I didn't know people considered him a rapper. So I always thought of him like as a as a as a pop star. I never like I've listened to Drake songs, they were never rap songs.
Josué:I decided and consider them
Link:that. Have a historically very loose grasp on genre in general. But if you ask me what, Drake's music genre was, I also would have just said pop.
Josué:Yeah. Yeah. I I so this was the first surprise to me. But this is to say that I'm very, very biased this whole in this whole beef, and I'm not going to hide that. I do not like Drake.
Josué:I I I don't I don't for a number of reasons. So I enjoyed this very, very much. And so now now, you know, for those of who are interested, let let let's go through it a little bit. Right? There is there is a lot of history going back to when Kendrick started, and there's I think the the most important things to know are that Kendrick Lamar is a rapper who has been around for for, you know, like, don't know, fifteen years or so.
Josué:He was born and raised in Compton, which is where Tupac was from and many other rappers. So there's like a rap scene over there. And Drake is Kendrick is black. Kendrick is half black, half white from Toronto, and they grew up very differently. Like, I saw a comedian the other day say that it's hard to take Drake seriously about being hard when you know that he grew up with universal health care.
Link:Mhmm.
Josué:Right? It's like, even if something had happened even if you've gotten in a fight or something or, like, or, like, something bad happened to you, you'd you'd you'd have health care to cover it. Right? You'd be okay. So they're just, like, very different in that sense.
Josué:And, like, at the beginning of their careers, like, they helped each other out, blah blah. And and so fast forward, there's just there's a playful part of hip hop. Right? It's like some people call it a sport. Some people's you know, it's like you you diss people back and forth.
Josué:It's just something that's always been a part of it. You can do, like, MC battles, right, where, like, you'll see people just show up and and they're just dissing each other, right, like, for for a crowd live. It's a it's a game. So there's a song called first person shooter that Drake and and someone called Jay Cole. They're on the they're on the song together.
Josué:And Jay Cole has a line where he says, there's, like, the big three, like Drake, Kendrick, and me. So, like, they're the top in the game, but I'm feeling like Muhammad Ali, he says. Right? So he's like, hey. Us three, we're the best.
Josué:We're the best, obviously. But I think I'm the best. Right? Again, normal banter playing back and forth. Kendrick is in on the song.
Josué:Drake and and Jay calling on the song. So then there's a song called Like That, and it's it's it's not even a Kendrick song, but he's featured on it. And there's one line in it where he says, fuck the big three. It's just big me. That's it.
Josué:That's all he said. One line throughout the whole song. That's it. Couple days later, Jay Cole comes back. Seven Minute Drill is the name of the song.
Josué:But he actually put on the cover he actually put on the cover, it said something like might delete later. Right? And after he posted it and basically, like, his shots at Kendrick were like, your album like, one of your album wasn't that good, and one was kind of boring, and one put me to sleep. And then, like, a day or two later, he actually took it down and in a concert did a public apology saying it was the corniest thing he'd ever done, and he didn't feel good about it, and he took it down. This alone was, like, amazing.
Josué:Right? This is, like, a fascinating event in this in this thing. It's like, okay. So seven Bit of Drill literally pulled off of streaming services and everything. And then he kinda went into hiding.
Josué:There's, like, memes of people are like, where is he? Where is he? And then a fan found him, like, chilling on a beach. It's one day. I was like, he's he doesn't want he wants no part of this.
Josué:At first, people were like, man, what a chicken. Like, I can't believe he bowed out. And afterwards, you were like, that's the he's the wisest person. So then Kendrick I mean, not Kendrick. Drake takes his shot at Kendrick, and it's called push ups.
Josué:And whatever. It's corny. It's it's it's Drake. He says a whole bunch of stuff. And then he can't wait any longer.
Josué:Right? He's like, Drake hasn't so like a week or two later, maybe two weeks later, he puts out a song, and this is the one that really bothers me. It's called Taylor Made Freestyle. Okay? Now, part of the Taylor is Taylor Swift.
Josué:It's a reference to Taylor Swift because that's in the two weeks between Taylor released her her last album. And so Drake's idea to diss is to say that Kendrick is too afraid to release a diss track on the weekend that Taylor Swift is releasing a song because then nobody will hear it or something like that. And he calls Taylor Swift, like like, the biggest gangster in the game because, like, she can control every right? And I'm like, okay. That's kinda that's kinda funny.
Josué:But the song opens do you guys know anything about the song? Have you heard about the song?
Marc:I have listened to it twice. He
Josué:uses a voice modulator to sound like Tupac Shakur singing to Kendrick. And then Tupac Shakur has been dead since 1996, by the way. And then he does the same thing in the second verse to sound like Snoop Dogg. So it's Drake singing, but using, like, an AI modulator to sound like these two artists. It was, like, the corniest Truly stupidest thing.
Josué:Truly
Link:the bravest move you could do after having that line about we're the top three. Now going to reference a bunch of people way better than me.
Josué:It was so it's just it's just so I don't know how anybody thought that that was a good idea. So Like, also, you're you're imitating the like, depends on who you ask, the best rapper of all time. Right? Like, you're just questions, please, Marshall.
Marc:So the thing that I was reading when I was trying to, like, read through and try to figure out this whole beef situation, they the way that the the article that I was reading was wording it was some people are thinking it's like a way of like Dre kind of like making a light out of the the situation. Because I think with push ups, people initially thought that it was AI done. Like it was an AI thing because initially because like when it leaked online, it Mhmm. The quality wasn't as great. People
Link:thought bad. It must be AI.
Marc:So people were thinking like maybe someone did an AI thing because that that's something that's been happening a lot more is people making songs using AI voices. And then Drake then presented the the actual finished product and had it played on a livestream, and then it's, you know, released. And so then for this, like this, obviously speculation and things like that, but it's almost like they let this leak with all this AI stuff. Like, they're kind of leaning into it a little bit because I know, like, when I was listening to it, like, it's not obviously labeled under anything. It's like someone, like, reuploaded the audio to Spotify Yeah.
Marc:To listen so I could listen to it, and it's only, like, a couple minutes Yeah.
Josué:It it sounds the song I mean, the whole idea of the song to me sounds like he thinks he's super clever. But also the audacity that he has.
Link:That's that's what I saying is like, there's there is a framing in which it's like we are doing a rap battle and therefore I am going to reference the figureheads of that concept and and in in that way I am carrying on this tradition and participating in the art form on that level. But it doesn't come across that way if you're just like voice changing yourself. It feels like you don't have the the like, oh, oh, it it feels stinky. It feels real stinky.
Josué:So so one thing that one of the many reasons why I dislike Drake, because some of his his disses have been like, oh, you got a whole bunch of Grammys. Oh, you sing that conscious rap. If I wanted to, I could do conscious rap, but I'm doing something different. I'm I'm I'm trying to be, like, the biggest rapper in the world. So I can't do that, like, conscious rap, he calls it.
Josué:Okay? So it's just it's just a way. So so when he uses Tupac's voice, it's like, hey, Kendrick, I know you're great, but like, so so what are you doing? Why haven't you responded yet if you're so good? And then he Drake likes to make fun of Kendrick's height and his shoe size a lot, which is like, oh, yeah, like, real.
Josué:That's some hardcore diss thing right there. Anyway, this song, stupid, infuriates me. Right? It's just so so corny. And, yes, the audacity of using these people's voices.
Josué:As something that happens afterwards, Tupac Shakuras estate sends a cease and desist and they take down the song. The song is no longer available to listen to.
Link:Hell, yeah.
Josué:Just in case you were curious about that.
Link:Tupacs stay winning.
Josué:So then Kendrick finally releases a response. And it's called actually, I think it's Hillary Freestyle. One of the things that Drake says, it's like, oh, I'm sure you're going I'm sure you're just cooking up you're just writing and writing in your notes, just cooking up something that's like so complicated that I won't even understand it. You're gonna do like a triple entendre, quadruple entendre, quintuple entendre, he says. When you
Link:try and diss someone else, it's like, yeah, you're probably so smart. I won't even get your diss. You
Josué:see why this is so much fun. This has been so much
Link:fun. Okay.
Josué:Alright. So then so then Kendrick responds with a song called Euphoria. Okay? Euphoria. I earlier today, I watched an hour and ten minute video explaining the lyrics of Euphoria.
Josué:Like, the layers like, there are things there that have multiple meanings over like, layers and layer. It's it's fascinating. And this kind of, like, dissecting of the lyrics and what they mean and what they're alluding to has been part of what's been so much fun. But Euphoria Euphoria Euphoria is like, even even just the way the song starts, it actually has, like, a voice that's, like, going that's, like, played backwards. Right?
Josué:You're like it's just like, and you're like, what is that? So he actually took a scene from The Wiz, the movie The Wiz, where Richard Pryor is yelling, it's true. Everything they say about me is true. But then he reversed that, and that's the way he opens the song. That's, like, before he said a word.
Josué:Anyway, so there's a bunch of stuff in that song. It's just that that song is so good. And it it also has again, a lot of this is playful. There's there are lines in the song that are literally, I hate the way that you walk. I hate the way that you talk.
Josué:I hate the way that you dress. But this is one of the first songs that really addresses, like, a a culture aspect of the of this where Kendrick is making the case. And then what I think a lot of people don't like about Drake is that they call him a culture vulture. They call him Drake calls him a colonizer in some of these songs where he says, like, you grew up in Toronto. You come to these different places and use different artists, put them on your songs to then appear like you're part of the culture.
Josué:You don't do anything for these cities. You don't do anything for these artists. You're just trying to, like, elevate yourself. And, also, like, there are many examples of Drake just using different accents depending on where he is. He's like he seems like he's got an identity crisis.
Josué:And one of the things and I'm I'm not sure in which of the songs this comes up, but Drake again, always attacking Kendrick on, like, for being for because Kendrick gets a lot of credit for being a very good writer. Like, he's considered one of the best. And in fact, Kendrick Lamar is the only person to win a Pulitzer Prize for his music outside of anybody in the classical or jazz or jazz genres. That is huge. That is that is, like, a big recognition where, like, basically, everybody in music's like, this this guy's a big deal.
Josué:So Drake makes fun of him for having a Pulitzer Prize, for having lots of awards, and for being respected. Right? And one of the things he says in one his songs, Drake says and I'm going off my memory, so I may be the words may be wrong. But he says, you're always rapping like you're gonna free like, you're freeing the slaves. Okay?
Josué:And what he's saying is, like, you're always talking about how you're doing this for the culture and how your music is important to black people and how, like, there's a purpose behind your music. That's a matcha well.
Link:What's so so cutting?
Josué:Again, a guy who's like, I'm I'm a rapper. I'm the best rapper. I'm best rapper. Right? Like, I'm black.
Josué:I'm as black as anybody else. Right? Like, like I'm not trying to prove anything, but that's something that keeps coming up. Right? So so so Kendrick will, like, hit him, you know, on things like that.
Josué:Like, how many how many features do you need until you feel like you're black enough? And he means, like, both, like, facial and physical features, but also features on songs. Like, how many times do you need to right? So this is the kind of level where it's getting at here. Right?
Josué:And this song I mean, this this is the song that even at the end, he I mean, during the song, he's like, I don't even like the way you say the n word. And at the end, it's just like him singing. Like, I don't wanna hear you say n word no more. I don't wanna hear you say n word no more. Like, over and over again, that's how the song wraps up.
Josué:And there's another song called six sixteen in LA. It's fine. I don't think there's anything that I remember super well about that one. But there's just, like, warnings. Like like, just take it easy.
Josué:Like like, you got kinda personal in that last one. Like, don't don't be don't be just don't do that. Right? Like Be careful. Yeah.
Josué:Just be just like, I know things about you. Like, don't, you know You're
Link:approaching a precipice. It's coming.
Josué:Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's like, come on. So so then Dig
Link:up, stupid.
Josué:So Drake responds with a song called Family Matters. K? The song doesn't matter. What matters is that within thirty minutes of him releasing that song, Kendrick releases a song called Meet the Grams. Okay?
Josué:And Meet the Grams Grams is Gram is his is Drake's last name. His last name his his last name was Graham. I think his full name is Aubrey Drake Graham. I think that's his full name. So Graham so so, again, within, like, thirty minutes, it was under an hour, Kendrick releases a song called Meet Grams.
Josué:And basically so, Mark, you heard this one. Right? I don't even this isn't really a song. Like, at this point, it's like, what is what is this beef? What is happening?
Josué:Meet the Grams is literally he just starts the song off. Kendrick starts the song off by talking to Drake's son directly. He's like, hey, Adonis. I'm sorry that your father is basically trash. I'm sorry that he's a terrible person.
Josué:If you ever need somebody to talk to, show you how to, you know, like, how to be a black man, just let me know. I'm here for you. And then the second verse is for his fans. I think the third verse is for his is directly to his mom. The fourth one is to his father, and they're like, it's your fault that he's like this, blah blah blah blah blah.
Josué:And then the last one, I believe, is to a daughter that he's never claimed, that Drake has never claimed. That's important because many years ago, Drake dissed somebody, and then the guy responded to Drake with a song I forgot what the song was called. But in the song, he just called out that Drake has a son that he's never acknowledged, and that was true. And also on the cover of that, he had they had Drake in blackface. Like, that was the cover of the album.
Josué:It's it's crazy. And that was, like, that was a long, long time ago. But so so he's calling out his daughter, blah blah blah. Right? So that's that's Meet the Grams.
Josué:K? I believe it was by the next morning. Because I remember this was, like, at night. And I went to bed, I was like, this is crazy. I can't believe and by the time I woke when I woke up, there was another song.
Josué:Kendrick had put out another song. And this this is the big one. This one is Not Like Us. This and the cover for this one is a picture of Drake's house with eight sex offender symbols on it as if you were seeing it on a sex offender map. Okay?
Josué:And this song just brings up all of the accusations of Drake grooming young young girls for years of being a pedophile, of being just and then just all the other stuff. Just like not being just manipulating, you know, like taking advantage of people, not giving back, not understanding the culture. And then but then also, like, making fun of plastic surgery and a whole bunch just just a whole bunch of stuff. The thing is it is catchy. And this song were literally in multiple parts of the song.
Josué:And in very clever ways, he calls he calls Drake a pedophile, became number one in the country, the most streamed song, number one on Billboard. It is still in the top 10 of Billboard after a few weeks. I think I've sent you all videos of people playing this at parties, at clubs, at weddings. They are and just reciting I think I sent you one where at a Drake concert, someone was playing this particular song, and you can see his reaction. He's just like, who?
Josué:Who? How dare like, how dare they? How? And, again, that's that's not the worst part. The part of the worst part is the crowd is singing to him at his own event.
Josué:I love to see it. It's great. It's very satisfying, but it is it is it was so weird because of so many things that came up. Right? And and accusations that Drake I think Drake accused Kendrick of there was something about, like, your daughter's not your daughter.
Josué:She's she might be, like, your manager's kid or something like which is just, like, soap opera stuff, but then he actually accused him of domestic violence against his wife. So, like, none of these things are okay. Right? Like, if anybody if any of these things are true, these things should be dealt with not in a rap beef in public. Right?
Josué:These things should be it should be addressed. But this went, like, everywhere from, like, fun at the beginning to just nasty at the end. And and so even though I think everything is done there, right, like, that's the end of it, There was a bonus track that made this the most fun to I mean, a few other things happened, but then there was a producer called Metro Woman who sent who who released a a beat called BBL Drizzy. Drizzy is a a nickname for Drake, and BBL refers to a Brazilian butt lift. And so it it just has to do with accuse you know, with the fact that or the accusation that Drake has done has had plastic surgery done.
Josué:But this guy, again, joining also, a whole bunch of people wrote songs in between this. I think The Weeknd took shots at Drake during this. Kanye jumped in at one point and released a song during this. Like, everybody like, nobody it was it was just Not
Link:by you.
Marc:You stay out of this.
Josué:Nobody yeah. Yeah. It's a it's a pretty long list. But this guy, I bet you everyone at the end, he's like, okay, I'm putting out this track. I anybody whoever write writes the best rap to this song, I will I will produce a song for them for free.
Josué:Like, will give
Link:them That was the person who was, like, participating and people were like, you're not really, like, you're a producer, not a rapper. It's like, fine. I'll I'll produce the greatest song and y'all can rap over it and ends up being like, wow, you should have maybe not done that. That actually got it way bigger spread.
Josué:I forgot that. Yeah. Drake Drake took a shot at him and said something like, shut up. You're not a rapper. You're just, like, just stick to doing your beats or something like that.
Josué:Like, something just very Yeah.
Marc:Yeah. It's like I think it like sticking to very, like
Josué:yeah. Yeah. But again, like, don't know. When I hear Drake say stuff like that, it's just like, you know It sounds like projection. You and
Link:pointing sounds like projection. Blah blah.
Josué:I was like a kid on the playground just like pointing finger. Don't know. Like, anyway, so yeah. So Metropo had sent this on, and then that takes over. Right?
Josué:Like, that became a meme. And there's I saw BBL Drizzy tracks in multiple languages. I saw I saw, like, a like a Bollywood dance. I there's there's a bachata version out there. There's rappers in multiple countries.
Josué:Like, it was all over the place. Everybody's trying to get there. Just just get in on the fun, really, is part of it. And then, I mean, really, the last thing that happened was that Drake released a song called the hard part six, which is so corny because Kendrick has the hard part one, two, three, four, and five that he's released in the past. And then Drake's like, I'm releasing the hard part six.
Josué:And the whole song the whole song
Link:It's so good. It's
Josué:and then the whole song is him saying, I don't have a daughter. I told you I have a daughter. And he's like, I fed you information and you took it, stupid. And like, I've never messed with young girls. Millie Bobby Brown never happened.
Josué:Like, he mentions her by name in the song.
Link:Nobody nobody else
Josué:Nobody brought her up. Nobody My brought dude. That's that's a red flag.
Link:It was
Josué:the most
Link:Embarrassing. It's like secondhand embarrassment. Like, you know, you put your name on that? And
Josué:then he's and then he's like he's like, I'm so hard, and I'm singing at you. Like, this is you're an idiot. And oh, it's like, obviously, Kendrick never responded to that because that was basically, like, somebody he's like, we kicked Drake out, and he's just, like, banging on the wall out on the door. Like, let me back in. No.
Josué:No. No. No. It's yeah. Now just just as as as as an added pettiness.
Josué:Right? This isn't really part of the beef, but part of the jokes that have been told is that Kendrick destroyed Jay Cole and Drake, like, as people. Like, they they don't longer function properly. And Jay Cole released a song called Grippy, which is just like I don't know. Don't listen to it.
Josué:It's just very weird. And then but then Drake just released he's, like, on a track. He's done a few things in in the past week, But one of them is he's on a song called Wagwa Delilah, which is a cover of Hey There, Delilah. Right? And it is
Link:That's my favorite rap song, by the way.
Josué:It is
Link:The Plain Tees. That's that's a prolific rapper group everybody So
Josué:I just saw a video of the Plain Tees watching like, someone's streaming this song for them, and they're listening to and, like, their faces are like, what? And then they're saying, like, that can't be real. They're like, that has to be AI. That can't be real. Like, I can't believe that he would do that.
Josué:Right? And they're like, oh, what? It's it's been it's just this just this thing just keeps on giving. Right? And then all the comments are like, look at what Kendrick has done to these people.
Josué:It's just another thing that Drake did just I don't like Drake. I think he rapped on a song that was using the BBL Jersey thing in the background. Again, like, he's he's trying to be like, oh, no. This is just fun. I'm not I'm you didn't get me?
Link:You this was all this was all a planned thing. We're all having a great fun. Please don't take it seriously.
Josué:You didn't hurt me. Can I play?
Link:My guys aren't hurt at all.
Josué:Even a little bit. Yeah. It's been it's been really fun. It's been really fun. So my question to you guys, my first question is, why do I care so much?
Josué:Why does anybody care so much? Why was I so invested? And why were we so invested in this?
Link:You
Josué:guys weren't of course, but like,
Link:I think there's a bunch of different layers to why it's so engaging.
Marc:I mean, there's already a bunch of different layers as to why, like, rap and hip hop is symbolic and meaningful to you. And now here we have at least based, you know, aside from, like, the personal accusations and allegations that were being made, like, there are still, like, some core themes that Kendrick is pointing out about Drake in in terms of, like, what what the music means at least to Kendrick. I know you were talking about the bar of, like, you know, oh, you're just you're rapping like you're trying to set the slaves free. And I when I was because I was I was I'm also trying to, like, read through these lines and, like, looking things up on Reddit and things like that. And a lot of people are saying, like, that kinda solidifies, like, the whole rap, like, the whole beef in in a sense because to Drake, this is this is just a money grab.
Marc:Like, he's willing to do whatever and anything just to get the get the views, get the get the money, get the the sales, whatever. But for Kendrick, like, no. Like, this is this is about the culture. And he's even said, like, I I can't remember what song it is. I think it is in Euphoria where he's like, you know, I'm not saying this.
Marc:This is the culture saying this about your music.
Josué:Like Yeah.
Marc:Yep. I'm just I'm just providing the voice. And so at least at least for reason why you care about it, at least just based on what we've been talking about so far and what you've been explaining to us is, like, there's already such a deep connection when it comes to the music. And so to hear about this and hearing, like, a lot of, like, the central themes in regards to the back and forth between them, I think that just kind of is resonating a little bit. And you just really don't like Drake.
Link:Have
Josué:you seen the MoZaff interview? There's a there's an interview with MoZaff, also a rapper, old school. And they're like, what do you think of Drake's music? And he just goes, puts his head down and just, like, breeze. And she's like, you don't you don't have to answer.
Josué:You don't have to answer. And he's like, it it's fine for, like, when you're in Target shopping. You know? It's fine. The problem is, like, Drake is is, like, is prolific.
Josué:He's, like, one of the biggest pop stars, apparently also rapper in the last fifteen years. Like, he is he is huge, and this is something I didn't know. Like, he and he he he brags about how consistent he is. So, like, he's constantly putting things out, and he, like, makes fun of Kendrick for not releasing an album for a few different for a few years, which, again, this could be a whole other thing. But, like, Kendrick released a whole album about everything he learned in therapy.
Josué:Like right? Like, he's not trying to again, he's not he's not trying to release like, again, their their their missions are very, very different. But I think part of it is that Drake is at the top. Like, Kendrick is punching up in that sense. Not in sense of that's not the way the culture sees it.
Josué:That's not way the way hip hop sees it. But it is in like a commercial sense.
Link:Yeah, the way that the industry sees them versus the way that people who listen to music. Them.
Josué:Yeah. Yeah. And and so, I mean, that that's a part where I'm, like, comfortable with it. Right? It's not just two people slapping each other.
Josué:It's like this guy. And then and then the guy who's on top is still, like, so childish and and and petty and trying to again, I have I have all the awards. I have all the money. Oh, here's the guy with the Pulitzer Prize. Boo boo boo.
Josué:Like like, it's an insult. But, yeah, all those things make sense, Mark, for sure. For sure. No. What other reasons do you think?
Link:I think I I mean, it's part of the art form itself is this kind of engagement, this sort of adversarial competition that is also functionally cooperation in that it it gives eyes and ears on to the participants in it. So it's like in a way that you know, the the rap beef is engaging with the medium within its historical context, which, again, I do not have that historical context. So as this is just things I've picked up from other media. But it does sort of ultimately come down to this idea of like, engaging with it as part of the art form versus engaging with it as a marketing move as a way to sell brand recognition. And having that becomes such a big conversation on the forefront of an entire medium music is really interesting.
Link:And I do think that it really shows the way that the average person is tired of that kind of capitalist engagement with art forms in that we are craving more authenticity, more care, and more engagement with like, the reality of society versus just like a hot pop bop that you can play in Target.
Josué:Yeah,
Link:it's like I want music I can burn Target down to. Oh, so I do I think I think it's it's that that really fun balancing act of it is both a full engagement in the history of the art form itself. It is continuing in that practice. But it is also really focusing that spotlight on like, it's 2024. Like, what does that mean now?
Link:And in within our industry and who who is giving money to who and who is benefiting from that money being exchanged or that notoriety, fame, popularity exchange? And is it the people that are giving us this money and notoriety, or is it just insular within the the top moneymakers? I think I think that's a very interesting conversation. I can see why a lot of people really got into it. Yeah.
Link:Plus anything that has, like, that level of craft in putting it, you know, the double triple entendres in having, like, wordplay like that is just it's it is fun in that it's the popular topic and so everybody's talking about it right now but it is also fun for the people who are like this is my special interest and what I care about all the time and you are giving me this really fun puzzle box to like decipher and engage with in a really fun like, multimedia kind of way.
Josué:I remember I saw a tick tock where a guy said, in the middle, you know, talking about this beef, he was like, Oh, I understand the Swifties now. Like, I understand exactly what they go through every
Link:time. Yeah, getting getting to have the the group participation in like, let's just let's decipher this. Let's like, what angles are we missing? Like, context get apply here that can provide more insight? Like, it's, it's fun.
Link:It is it is one of the, know, more magical ways that we engage with, you know, music and media in general, that has words in it.
Josué:The commercial piece is interesting, because I don't I sure. I mean, this is this made money for both of them. Right? This made money for a lot of people. I think there's something within that disco that landscape right, and everything we talked before about Drake's like, again, Drake is, like, a successful artist.
Josué:And so to have their songs battling it out on the charts as well was very was very amusing. And then to have I don't think any of Drake's ever hit number one. I'm I'm not sure if Euphoria did also. I think it did. And then Not Like Us has been there for a while.
Josué:And then I read yesterday. I'm not sure how true this is, but that this is the first time in ten years that Drake hasn't had a song in the top 20 Billboard charts. And he literally just came out with he's come out with, like, six songs in the last two months. And it's like everybody got into it. Right?
Josué:So that that's that's definitely a part of it, an interesting part of it. And in terms of the commercial stuff to like, remember, the Black Panther, the movie was a big deal, right? Like, we've talked about this, there's been a lot of discussion about this and what it meant to black people around the world. Do you know who did the music for that for that movie? It wasn't Drake.
Josué:It was Kendrick Lamar. Why would you go to Kendrick Lamar for something like that? Right? Like, this is this is not a new thing. Right?
Josué:Like, Kendrick his music means something, and he and he means something to to the music. So, again, this is this is I know I know for me, a big part of this was, like, just seeing somebody I didn't like getting destroyed. And I'm sure other people don't see it this way. And and yes, it's competitive. And it's like, who gets to be on top?
Josué:So I guess, like, I've never been so into
Link:I think I think it's also the timing of of this kind of conflict. Right? Is there somebody who we can all sort of agree is like, wow, that's some shitty stuff. I'm glad that you're getting called out on it. That is rare and unusual in our society right now to have somebody clearly doing something shitty in front of you and everybody collectively going, that's shitty, stop doing it.
Link:It's like, wow, that's such that's such a
Josué:nice catharsis for the real world. It's like finally, somebody. So I think this is this may have been I was gonna say something about like, how sports and stuff like that. Like, I just can't relate too much to because like, sure, I was a bulls fan when I was younger, and I went to a Nets game, New Jersey Nets game. Now the Brooklyn Nets, right, game dressed completely from head to toe in Chicago Bulls stuff.
Josué:But I didn't hate the Nets. I was just a really big fan of like here, I'm like, I hate Drake. And I like Kendrick. Right? Like, there's something I feel sometimes that way about, like, the console wars.
Josué:I get a little bit too much into it. But but in in terms of the world, there's this I know that I feel this way, and I think a lot of people do feel so frustrated and, like, you have no control. You have on TikTok right now, we have all these things. It's like, listen to this song and any any any the more sound the more times you play it, the more money it makes, and that money will go to be donated to one thing or another. Right?
Josué:It's like it's like it's it's like a way for you to participate and be active in it. But I don't know. This this this beef just felt tangible. It felt like, like, oh, like, we're in it. Like, we're seeing, like, you get to root for somebody destroying somebody else.
Josué:But in real in real life, it'd be being the point. Right? Right? See, we talk about this in stories. But this was like
Link:it doesn't feel like it doesn't feel like kayfabe it feels like real
Josué:yeah yeah
Link:for our listeners kayfabe is in in wrestling is the like the theater of its of the characters and stuff
Josué:Yeah, like, yeah, it's gonna hurt somebody's bottom line, at least it's gonna hurt their reputation. Like, they did things that they can't take back. Yeah, like using Tupac's voice.
Marc:Yeah, it's interesting because you could totally see like, it's almost like you're seeing, like, their live reactions. Like, it's almost like as soon as they're done listening to the song and they're coming up with their rebuttal, like, we're all sitting here doing the same thing. So, like, we're just it's almost like you're sitting there watching, like, a debate happen or, like, an actual, like, argument happen between two people. You're just sitting there going back and forth like a tennis match. Like, alright.
Marc:And then, you know, twenty minutes later, they're dropping a song. And then the next day they overnight, they're releasing another song with it. They're like, oh, by the way, like,
Josué:thought it
Link:was both done. Of them.
Marc:And and it's funny because it's like, they do that and then it's like, alright. Alright. And I give them time and and then they they're walking away and it's almost like they're turning around and like, but actually, hold on. I'm not done yet. Let me keep saying how you're awful and you're not really a rapper.
Marc:Get out of here. Yeah.
Josué:I don't know. I got really wrapped up into this one. I really enjoyed it. And I don't think I think one of the weirdest things about living in this current decade, because I don't think it's gonna change anytime soon, is how different two people can experience the same event. Because I'm sure that there are people who think, like, Drake destroyed Kendrick.
Josué:And Kendrick hasn't responded because of this and this. Right? It's like, fuck it up.
Link:I'm I'm sure that that's true. But just given the fact that at his own concert, all the people knew all the lyrics to the song about him. Feels pointed.
Josué:Yes. Yes. I mean, that's that's in favor of my of my original argument. He's a terrible person, and he I'm glad that he's getting
Link:Even his own fans are enjoying his downfall. Fun.
Josué:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But again, yeah, there was something about, like, there's so many things in my life that I I can't seem to make a difference in. Or or maybe even like what you were saying, Mike, like, this moved fast enough where it felt I
Link:think that was a big part of it is just the speed the speed at which it was updating and and then
Josué:yeah, it's like something's happening.
Link:There's there's the layer of people getting to explain what's going on as participation in the thing that is going on.
Josué:Yeah. It was a good distraction from world events, but also
Link:Yeah.
Josué:I think definitely a cattle like, it was definitely a cathartic in the sense of, like, I I need to see something get punched. I'll take yeah. Drake's on my list of things that I don't like. I'll take I'll take that. And it was good.
Josué:It was fun. It was very entertaining.
Link:I think And Thought provoking.
Josué:I guess yeah. This could have been hours just dissecting the lyrics, but, you know, there's no there's a lot of content about that online. It's very fun. Don't I I don't think that this is again, this isn't what all all of hip hop. Right?
Josué:Like, all rap isn't like this. But it does it does look at, like, a core part of it, which is like, it's it's about the lyrics, and it's, know, it's like, you're you're you're talking about rap is one of the only rap historically talks about the black experience in America. Right? It's like, it's not sure. Drake's music is more like, I'm in a Ferrari at a party with your girls or whatever.
Josué:You know, he's like, it's much more party type of stuff. And then, I mean, you know, there's there's always some of that. But, like, there's there's also just like living your life. What in that sense, it's more country, right? Then like, then like pop, where a lot of countries just like about
Link:something living that is something I've always said is that country and rap actually have a ton of overlap because lyrics are very important to both.
Josué:Yep. Because you're talking about just, what you're doing. Right? It's not like a you you don't write or or mean, there are, but, like, you don't get a lot of pop songs or rock songs about just, like, you know, going to work or, like, what it's like to walk down the street and get harassed or dealing with the police. Right?
Josué:But this but so it's just like this is this these are the tools that we have. This is the we've got our beats, and we've got we've got our lyrics, and let's let's just go at it. See what happens. And hopefully, it just it just stays this way. Because a lot of people, older people, like my age, shit, and older have been talking about like, oh, there were, like, when Tupac like, Tupac and Bigger dead.
Josué:Like, they were they like, lots of rappers have been murdered because some of these things just got out of hand. And so I hope as much as I hate Drake, I don't hope you know, I hope I hope maybe he'll go to jail if he actually did some of the stuff he said, but, like, I don't want, you know, I don't want anybody I don't want anybody to get hurt. It's not it's not exactly what I'm what I'm here for.
Marc:Not physically hurt.
Josué:Just,
Marc:you know, a little Feeling hurt. Damage. A little emotional damage, you know.
Josué:I you can tell Drake's Drake is this has been hard for him. You can see it in his face. At his concert?
Link:I just I
Marc:think with that, I just like, when you said that, my head just went to the meme where it's like the one guy gets punched in the face. He's like, oh, fuck. I can't believe you've done this. Like, that's just like, that's where my brain goes because it's like, his fans are like, really? Like, I can't why are you guys doing this?
Marc:Like, come on, guys.
Josué:Yeah. He's like, I thought you loved me. It's like, actually
Marc:We all love to hate you.
Josué:That's good. That sounds just better. Sorry. Yeah. Well, thank you for for sharing this piece of musical history with me.
Josué:I hope anybody who, you know, didn't understand what was going on, this kind of gave you a little bit of insight into it. There's, again, so much more. I skipped over a lot of the stupid things that Drake said, but I'm biased. I think I hit
Link:the most important piece. It's the annotated version.
Josué:Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. So let us know. What are your thoughts about hip hop?
Josué:Are you in favor of Drake or Kendrick? Who do you think won this this battle Now that you're so invested in it, let us know in any of our community spaces, which you can find links to in the show notes. And, yeah, for more geek therapy, visit geektherapy.org. Remember to geek out into good, and we'll be back next week.
Link:Bye.
Josué:Geek Therapy is a five zero one C three nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a better place through geek culture. To learn more about our mission and become a supporter, visit geektherapy.org.
