kendrick and drake
“...and the industry is cooked as I tear the carcass apart...” - Kendrick Lamar
I remember the day Kendrick dropped Euphoria. I had lost my job a week or two prior and was feeling extremely bored and restless. I needed a distraction, and a distraction I was given.
And since I’ve had so much free time, I was able to really deeply investigate this in true gemini fashion. I love this kinda shit. Where did it start? Who said what? What happens next? I was made for this.
The short backstory is that Drake and Kendrick have known/worked alongside one another since around 2011-12. This was when I was in high school, so Kendrick’s music was everywhere especially his album “good kid, m.a.A.d. city.”
But essentially, these two have worked together before and have been …. amicable before. Do you ever have that friend your mom really wants you to be nice to but you don’t really vibe with? That’s Kendrick and Drake to me. I’ve been listening to Kendrick’s music for over a decade and the shade he threw at Drake in 2024 was mentioned in his discography from 2016. Kendrick was “sneak dissing” Drake too way back on King Kunta.
I remember in high school when his stuff came out. Kendrick was known as real hip hop, stuff the really dedicated hip-hop fans liked. Drake’s music was there too, but I remember his music got played by the hockey team, not the basketball team…if you know what I mean.
I grew up figure skating, so every stinky ass hockey locker room I walked past at the ice rink was playing some sort of Young Money or Drake music. “Take Care” had them all in a chokehold. And don’t even get me started on “Right Above It.”
My stance is they both have very valid positions in music right now. But I do not see Drake as hip-hop. I’ve always maintained, even back in high school, that Drake makes music for Instagram captions. It’s definitely nice and can be energizing but it reads to me about the same as processed sugar. A nice treat, but not the true nutrition your body needs.
Trying to figure out who “won” to me is showing to be difficult because was Drake ever really on the same level as Kendrick?
Kendrick Lamar writes novels in his raps. And he’s been calling out “rappers with ghost writers….” “I swore I wouldn’t tell…” since 2016. He’s been in a different league all along.
The reason I think this is a really important moment in pop culture is Kendrick, through his lyrical genius ways, has managed to make us all literally look at Drake different. Pedo allegations aside, black people are talking about Drake mimicking, imitating and profiting off the black experience despite not ever truly living it. That’s a really powerful shift to happen in 4 songs, and it could have some deep ramifications for Drake and UMG.
Isn’t that so special? That the power of words and a little bit of divine intervention (I believe), Kendrick was able to strike at the foundation of the culture with his art. He was able to bring everyone back to the table to discuss what’s been happening in that industry. He moved a mountain with his words and his art.
That’s my greatest life goal. I could not be more in awe of this work.