RAP BEEF BETWEEN DRAKE AND KENDRICK EXPLODES INTO ALLEGATIONS OF PEDOPHILIA, OTHERS
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Agency Report
Rap moguls Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s long-running dispute broke out over the weekend into accusations of paedophilia, abuse, and adultery, shocking the hip-hop community and beyond.
In a music industry that has long been known for glorifying and becoming fixated on feuds between its biggest musicians, Drake, the highest-grossing rapper in the world last year, and Kendrick Lamar, the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, have been embroiled in an increasingly heated verbal duel.
Though the two have previously sparred about things like which man is a larger star, the lyrics of songs both artists have released in the last few days go much beyond these typical jabs.
“Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one,” said Lamar in his track “Not Like Us,” in which he specifically raps about “certified pedophiles.”
Los Angeles-born Lamar’s lyrics accuse Drake, who is from Canada and is of biracial heritage, of being “not a colleague” but a “colonizer” of Black American culture.
And in another song released this weekend, “Meet the Grahams,” Lamar alleges that Drake — whose real name is Aubrey Graham — has a secret daughter.
For his part, Drake dropped a track entitled “Family Matters,” which suggested infidelity and even abuse in Lamar’s relationship with fiancee and high-school sweetheart Whitney Alford.
And Drake denied allegations about underage girls in another track “The Heart Part 6,” released Sunday, in which he rapped “I’d never look twice at no teenager.”
The barbs have drawn attention among audiences well beyond the usual rap and hip hop devotees.
The feud was the subject of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch this weekend, and detailed chronologies of the duo’s insults have been published by mainstream US outlets like the New York Times and CNN.
Drake, 37, and Lamar, 36, shot to mainstream hip hop fame in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
They initially appeared on tracks on each other’s albums, and even toured together.
As each of them established their own incredibly successful career, ugly divisions have formed in the years that have followed.
With 13 chart-topping singles last year, Drake tied Michael Jackson for the most male solo artist with the most number one songs in Billboard Hot 100 history.
Lamar has often been referred to as the voice of a generation for his profound lyricism, which covers a wide range of topics from personal insights to systemic challenges like structural poverty and racial relations.
Writer Andre Gee of Rolling Stone magazine claims that in a time that “was inevitable,” friendly competition has devolved into open insults.
“The people who don’t understand their rift haven’t spent the last 15 to 20 years wanting to be regarded as the best rapper ever,” he wrote.
Rap has been closely identified with bitter feuds between its major stars for decades.
In the early 1990s, stars like Tupac Shakur and The Notorious BIG became embroiled in a vaunted rivalry — egged on by promoters — between East Coast and West Coast hip hop.
While that dispute ended in violence and tragedy, today’s feud — confined to lyrics and social media posts — appears to have only whetted the appetite of some rap afficionados for more so-called “diss tracks.”
“It’s anyone’s guess where this goes from here with both rappers digging their heels in and firing at-will to close out a historic hip-hop weekend,” wrote Billboard.
AFP
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