Drake doesn’t sound like he’s having enjoyable anymore. In a unique world, Aubrey Drake Graham may come off as Keyser Söze on “The Coronary heart Half 6,” the latest volley (at the least for now) within the extraordinarily busy, extraordinarily enjoyable Drake/Kendrick Lamar feud. “The Coronary heart Half 6” is the track the place Drake says that he planted a faux story about having a secret 11-year-old daughter and says that Kendrick’s “Meet The Grahams” cowl artwork was a setup, a option to reel Kendrick in. However Drake doesn’t sound just like the grasp manipulator that he claims to be. As a substitute, he’s beat-up, surly, drained. “The Coronary heart Half 6” is a Band-Support, an opportunity for any remaining Drake partisans to assert that he’s actually the winner of this previous week’s occasions. We all know higher.
Zack Fox may’ve stated it greatest: “someone say you a intercourse legal what you gon say ‘nuh uh’ ?” An entire lot of “The Coronary heart Half 6” is “nuh uh.” Towards Kendrick Lamar’s gleeful, persistent claims that Drake is a predator, Drake’s response is to half-heartedly declare that there’s nothing to “the Epstein angle” and that he’s too profitable to be a intercourse offender: “I’m too revered/ If I used to be fucking younger women, I promise I’d have been arrested/ I’m manner too well-known for this shit you simply steered.” As if that’s the way it works! As if we haven’t seen case after case of well-known, profitable folks doing foul shit! Drake additionally says that Kendrick “bought molested” and that that’s “why these pedophile raps is shit you so obsessive about.” If that is the ultimate chapter, then it’s a tragic little denouement to a narrative that’s stored the entire rap world enraptured.
“The Coronary heart Half 6” might be the ultimate chapter, or there might be one other track that comes out seconds after I hit publish on this story. We don’t know. That’s why it’s been so nice. I fell asleep early on Friday evening and wakened with completely ferocious new tracks from each Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The mud by no means will get an opportunity to settle. Since Kendrick began throwing express pictures on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” slightly greater than a month in the past, we’ve gotten a stable album’s price of fabric from two of rap’s largest names, each of them throwing fixed poisonous haymakers at each other. When you’re the kind of one that pays consideration to rap’s ongoing cleaning soap operas, then that is the kind of shit that you just stay for. It’s been manner an excessive amount of enjoyable.
On the outro to “The Coronary heart Half 6,” Drake is sort of muttering to himself, however he hits on one purpose that this feud has captivated so many: “No less than your followers are getting some raps out of you. I’m comfortable I might inspire you, deliver you again to the sport.” Drake doesn’t sound comfortable, however what he’s saying is true. A few months in the past, Kendrick Lamar was nowhere close to the middle of any dialog. In 2022, Kendrick ended a protracted absence with Mr. Morale & The Massive Steppers With A Measurement 7 Males’s On, a powerful however thorny and unfun album about self-discovering and morality and remedy. It had some highly effective moments, nevertheless it wasn’t the grand return that the world needed from among the finest ever to do it. Kendrick couldn’t deliver that out of himself. Drake needed to deliver it out. Really, J. Cole needed to deliver it out. Folks rightfully clowned Cole for dropping a halfhearted diss observe after which instantly apologizing, nevertheless it’s already clear that he made the correct determination. He’s significantly better off on the sidelines right here.
Rumor has it that Drake tried to get Kendrick Lamar on “First Individual Shooter.” Kendrick himself alludes to that rumor on “Euphoria“: “Stunned you needed that characteristic request/ You realize that we bought some shit to deal with.” I imagine these rumors. A Drake/Cole/Kendrick collab would’ve made sense. All three are large stars and generational skills. They’ve collaborated. They’ve shared phases. When you have been seeking to make an enormous occasion document, a “Swagga Like Us” for 2023, then they’re arguably the three guys you’d need to spherical up. However Drake and Kendrick don’t like one another, and so they haven’t appreciated one another for a very long time. That may not matter to Drake, nevertheless it issues to Kendrick. Kendrick’s points with Drake aren’t simply private. They’re philosophical, too.
The road that stung hardest on “Like That” was “Prince outlived Mike Jack.” You might infer a complete lot from it. Drake had simply been crowing about catching as much as Michael Jackson on the all-time listing of artists with essentially the most crossover chart-toppers, and Kendrick was disgusted. Prince and Michael Jackson have been each artists and pop stars, however the mythology surrounding them was very completely different. In making that declare, Kendrick positioned himself as an artist to Drake’s pop star. That’s not precisely a destructo-ray of a line, and Drake might’ve simply shook it off and returned to the enterprise of throwing indirect pictures at Kendrick a couple of times on each album, as he’s been doing for years. As a substitute, that Kendrick verse apparently gave a complete lot of different rappers and singers the sign that it was open season on Drake, a man who’s been on high for manner too lengthy and who’s pissed a complete lot of individuals off alongside the way in which. In response, Drake did what he at all times does in conditions like this. He taunted.
More often than not, Drake’s taunting is extraordinarily efficient. When Meek Mill tried to take it to Drake years in the past, he responded with “Again To Again” a taunting session so catchy and cruel that it ended the dialog. Drake went into that mode on “Push Ups,” and it labored fairly properly. “Push Ups” isn’t a devastating diss document or something. It’s too playful, too unfocused. Drake spends half of the observe smacking down Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, the Weeknd, anybody else having issues with him. His Kendrick traces principally revolve round contract splits, verses on pop data, and top jokes, and a few of these traces are good. Drake went into weirder territory on “Taylor Made Freestyle,” with the AI voice-filter hijinks and the Taylor Swift reward, however he nonetheless sounded brash and energetic. This was the outdated Drake, assured that Kendrick didn’t actually need any a part of an actual feud and that he was already cruising to victory. That’s not how issues labored out.
The second that the primary “Euphoria” beat swap kicked in, we had a battle on our arms. “Euphoria” is a miracle, a six-minute structure-free rap assault that’s already turn into an enormous hit. Principally, it’s a miracle as a result of it offers us a model of Kendrick Lamar that basically, actually likes rapping. Kendrick brings his full arsenal to “Euphoria” — the bizarre voices, the layered references, the way in which he lets his circulate dissipate after which out of the blue snaps again into focus. He assaults Drake passionately, from each angle, like Nas on “Ether.” In contrast to Nas, although, Kendrick by no means sounds indignant — not even on the immediately well-known “I hate the way in which that you just stroll, the way in which that you just discuss, I hate the way in which that you just gown” bit. As a substitute, Kendrick is having enjoyable. He’s saying the shit that he’s been desirous to say for a decade-plus, and he’s savoring each second.
There’s loads of technique at work on “Euphoria.” Kendrick pokes at delicate spots, hints at info that isn’t public but, and units the framework for the ugliness to come back. He insists that he needs Drake all of the success on the earth, that he likes Drake with the melodies, however he makes it clear that this isn’t how he actually feels. Lastly, the planets aligned in a manner that allowed Kendrick to take Drake down, and wasn’t going to waste it. He sounds unencumbered, free. The track picks up steam over its six minutes, and by the point the observe ends, he’s deep within the blackout zone. No one is upset that Kendrick bought Joel Osteen and Haley Joel Osment confused as a result of that’s humorous and in addition as a result of Kendrick was simply rolling by then. “Euphoria” is the nice unburdening. Kendrick saved many of the technique for the following document.
“6:16 In LA” confirmed up on Kendrick Lamar’s Instagram three days later, when the world was nonetheless ready on Drake’s response. Kendrick pulled straight from Drake’s personal playbook, going back-to-back earlier than Drake’s response was prepared. Tellingly, “6:16 In LA” is the one one among Kendrick’s 4 diss tracks that hasn’t but appeared on streaming providers. It’s not as purposeful as his different songs, nor as enjoyable. As a substitute, it’s Kendrick in taunt mode, letting Drake know that even the folks in his personal circle can’t stand him. The subtext is simply as necessary because the textual content — a title that flips Drake’s timestamp sequence, the pattern of an Al Inexperienced track that featured Drake’s uncle on guitar. Proper after Drake stated all that stuff about Taylor Swift, it was a mindfuck to be taught that Kendrick bought Jack Antonoff, Swift’s important collaborator, to supply a diss observe. The entire thing was set as much as make Drake really feel insecure, and solely Drake can say whether or not it labored.
It would’ve labored. “Household Issues” is, fairly merely, a wonderful Drake diss observe, one that will’ve despatched most rappers into the Shadow Realm. Drake moonwalks throughout this factor, dealing with three completely different beats with steely vanity. It’s not excellent. Drake devotes the center of the three-part construction to attacking numerous peripheral figures. He scores some actual factors on them; the A$AP Rocky stuff is cold-blooded. Nonetheless, these asides make the entire thing sound much less targeted, as if Drake is being distracted from the actual important occasion — so consumed preventing off the Usos and Solo Sikoa that he doesn’t see Roman Reigns able to hit the spear. The homophobia is dumb, however that sadly goes for either side right here. The way in which that Drake tries to attain factors by way of mock concern for the lady in Kendrick’s life is gross, however Kendrick, if something, goes even additional on that tactic. Drake actually shouldn’t have stated that Kendrick raps like he’s attempting to free the slaves. However as a pure work of disrespectful artwork, “Household Issues” is heavy.
On “Household Issues,” Drake hits tons of catchy flows and melodies, and he will get ugly and private in ways in which Kendrick hadn’t fairly completed but. He tells Kendrick that one among his children isn’t actually his, that his fiancée needs nothing to do with him, and that he employed a disaster administration group to wash up the very fact — he calls it a truth — that Kendrick beats on his queen. This goes past something within the Jay/Nas feud, into the land of “I fucked your bitch, you fats motherfucker.” It’s the perfect pure rapping that I’ve heard from Drake in a lengthy time. He sounds unstoppable. He’s not.
There’s numerous stuff in “Household Issues” that by no means even bought an opportunity to resonate. The video for the observe — the subtitles, the Good Child m.A.A.d. Metropolis van getting crushed up, the scenes within the Chinese language restaurant that Kendrick simply namechecked — are all glorious rap gamesmanship. Apart from Drake, nearly no one has addressed the allegations of home abuse. I feel there’s a lot goodwill towards Kendrick that individuals don’t even need to contemplate the chance that it may be true. That, greater than something that Drake truly says on “Household Issues,” will get on the coronary heart of this feud. Folks love Kendrick Lamar. Drake has had a world-historical profession and completed all the things {that a} rapper might do. He’s made a ton of nice music, and he’s been round ceaselessly. However most individuals simply don’t love him like that. It makes a distinction.
The turnaround between “Household Issues” and “Meet The Grahams” was simply ridiculous. Most individuals didn’t even get an opportunity to listen to “Household Issues” earlier than Kendrick’s rebuttal arrived. Drake’s nastiest, most private insults run up towards Kendrick traces which can be even nastier and extra private. It’s masterful condescension — Kendrick talking to all of the completely different folks in Drake’s household earlier than turning his consideration to the person himself. The revelation about Drake’s possibly-fake daughter arrives like a Shyamalan plot-twist. If Drake actually did plant that story with Kendrick’s camp, then his four-dimensional chess recreation backfired on him. Even when that little bit of data isn’t true, it nonetheless looks as if some shit that he would’ve completed. Goal actuality can’t take away from the way it felt to listen to Kendrick accuse Drake of hiding one other baby.
Right here’s what Drake doesn’t appear to know: It’s not simply the allegations. It’s the efficiency, too — Kendrick hitting a theatrically sinister register that’s far past something that he might do. It’s additionally the disdain that accompanies the revelations. Even when Drake doesn’t produce other children working round on the market, he’s nonetheless bought a protracted historical past of utilizing ladies as props, appearing aggrieved on a regular basis, and trying to show his insecurities into flexes. And Kendrick didn’t let that stuff linger lengthy earlier than going back-to-back once more.
If Drake ever had any hope at recovering and resetting the narrative, it disappeared when Kendrick dropped “Not Like Us” on Saturday evening. What a joyous track. Kendrick rolls out extra assaults on that one. Drake and Kendrick spent loads of time calling one another’s Blackness into query throughout the feud, and I’m not in any place to touch upon that, however Kendrick is really in his factor when he calls Drake a colonizer and ties that to Atlanta historical past. The DJ Mustard beat is well the funkiest factor to come back out of the back-and-forth, and Kendrick’s use of Drakeo-type flows is a transparent signal that he’s tapped into the music popping out of his personal metropolis, prepared to assert it for his personal. (No one’s attempting to name Kendrick a colonizer, and he is aware of that.) By the top of the track, Kendrick is simply dancing on Drake’s grave.
Drake is a pupil of the sport. It’s one of many issues that’s stored him on high for therefore lengthy, and it’s one of many weapons that Kendrick makes use of towards him. Drake is a fan. He’s a fan of battle rap, the nerdiest model of rap that exists. (I say this with love as a result of I’m a fan, too.) You may return to outdated King Of The Dot movies and watch Drake reacting to the Pat Keep/Math Hoffa battle. The person booked Loaded Lux vs. Geechi Gotti for his personal birthday celebration. So Drake understands precisely the way it seems to be when a battler is aware of he’s shedding, when all of his rebuttals are falling flat. Drake solely took a day to answer “Not Like Us,” however he did it within the weakest methods, attempting to flip Kendrick’s “A minor” punchline into weak-ass puns. Proper now, I anticipate Drake to assert victory and stroll away. That’s in all probability for the perfect. This struggle has gotten very private, and if it will get much more intense, then folks might need bother strolling away. No one needs to see this flip into one thing else.
For now, what a present. What a time to be alive. The whole episode jogs my memory of Kanye West’s GOOD Fridays — one of many all-too-brief moments when a brand new track stops the world and forces everybody to react earlier than they’ll resume their days. Folks will attempt to inform you that the Kendrick/Drake feud is overhyped or that it’s too regressive or that the negativity of rap beef is performed out. They’ll inform you that the entire thing was set as much as get consideration from leap, that it’s professional wrestling techniques in motion. Fuck all that. That is what it’s about. It’s why we tune in. It’s an occasion that’s been constructing for years, and it hasn’t been a disappointment.
Over the weekend, the feud was the one factor that mattered in all of fashionable tradition, at the least on a frivolous stage. Pity the brand new Dua Lipa album and The Fall Man and the rest attempting to gin up consideration and lower by way of the noise. Proper now, the noise is an excessive amount of enjoyable.
