Drake doesn’t sound like he’s having enjoyable anymore. In a distinct world, Aubrey Drake Graham would possibly come off as Keyser Söze on “The Coronary heart Half 6,” the latest volley (a minimum of for now) within the extraordinarily busy, extraordinarily enjoyable Drake/Kendrick Lamar feud. “The Coronary heart Half 6” is the music the place Drake says that he planted a pretend story about having a secret 11-year-old daughter and says that Kendrick’s “Meet The Grahams” cowl artwork was a setup, a technique to reel Kendrick in. However Drake doesn’t sound just like the grasp manipulator that he claims to be. As an alternative, he’s beat-up, surly, drained. “The Coronary heart Half 6” is a Band-Support, an opportunity for any remaining Drake partisans to say that he’s actually the winner of this previous week’s occasions. We all know higher.
Zack Fox would possibly’ve stated it greatest: “someone say you a intercourse legal what you gon say ‘nuh uh’ ?” A complete lot of “The Coronary heart Half 6” is “nuh uh.” In opposition to 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 approach too well-known for this shit you simply advised.” 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 “obtained 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” may be the ultimate chapter, or there may very well be one other music 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 awoke 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 specific pictures on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” a little bit greater than a month in the past, we’ve gotten a stable album’s price of fabric from two of rap’s greatest 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 simply stay for. It’s been approach an excessive amount of enjoyable.
On the outro to “The Coronary heart Half 6,” Drake is nearly muttering to himself, however he hits on one purpose that this feud has captivated so many: “Not less than your followers are getting some raps out of you. I’m blissful I may inspire you, carry you again to the sport.” Drake doesn’t sound blissful, 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 an extended absence with Mr. Morale & The Huge Steppers With A Dimension 7 Males’s On, a formidable 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 the most effective ever to do it. Kendrick couldn’t carry that out of himself. Drake needed to carry it out. Really, J. Cole needed to carry it out. Individuals rightfully clowned Cole for dropping a halfhearted diss monitor after which instantly apologizing, nevertheless it’s already clear that he made the precise 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 function request/ that we obtained some shit to handle.” I imagine these rumors. A Drake/Cole/Kendrick collab would’ve made sense. All three are large stars and generational abilities. They’ve collaborated. They’ve shared levels. When you had been trying to make a large 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 preferred 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 may infer an entire lot from it. Drake had simply been crowing about catching as much as Michael Jackson on the all-time record of artists with probably the most crossover chart-toppers, and Kendrick was disgusted. Prince and Michael Jackson had 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 may’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 an alternative, that Kendrick verse apparently gave an entire lot of different rappers and singers the sign that it was open season on Drake, a man who’s been on prime for approach too lengthy and who’s pissed an entire lot of individuals off alongside the best way. In response, Drake did what he all the time 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 monitor smacking down Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, the Weeknd, anybody else having issues with him. His Kendrick traces largely revolve round contract splits, verses on pop information, and peak 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 fingers. “Euphoria” is a miracle, a six-minute structure-free rap assault that’s already turn out to be an enormous hit. Principally, it’s a miracle as a result of it provides us a model of Kendrick Lamar that actually, actually likes rapping. Kendrick brings his full arsenal to “Euphoria” — the bizarre voices, the layered references, the best way he lets his move dissipate after which all of the sudden 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 offended — not even on the immediately well-known “I hate the best way that you simply stroll, the best way that you simply speak, I hate the best way that you simply costume” bit. As an alternative, 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 data that isn’t public but, and units the framework for the ugliness to return. 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 approach that allowed Kendrick to take Drake down, and wasn’t going to waste it. He sounds unencumbered, free. The music picks up steam over its six minutes, and by the point the monitor ends, he’s deep within the blackout zone. No one is upset that Kendrick obtained Joel Osteen and Haley Joel Osment confused as a result of that’s humorous and likewise as a result of Kendrick was simply rolling by then. “Euphoria” is the nice unburdening. Kendrick saved a lot of the technique for the subsequent 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 in all 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 an alternative, 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 essential because the textual content — a title that flips Drake’s timestamp sequence, the pattern of an Al Inexperienced music that featured Drake’s uncle on guitar. Proper after Drake stated all that stuff about Taylor Swift, it was a mindfuck to study that Kendrick obtained Jack Antonoff, Swift’s most important collaborator, to provide a diss monitor. The entire thing was set as much as make Drake really feel insecure, and solely Drake can say whether or not it labored.
It’d’ve labored. “Household Issues” is, fairly merely, a wonderful Drake diss monitor, one that may’ve despatched most rappers into the Shadow Realm. Drake moonwalks throughout this factor, dealing with three completely different beats with steely conceitedness. It’s not good. 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 most 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 best way that Drake tries to attain factors via 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 carried out but. He tells Kendrick that one in all his children isn’t actually his, that his fiancée needs nothing to do with him, and that he employed a disaster administration staff to wash up the actual fact — he calls it a reality — 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 very best pure rapping that I’ve heard from Drake in a lengthy time. He sounds unstoppable. He’s not.
There’s quite a lot of stuff in “Household Issues” that by no means even obtained an opportunity to resonate. The video for the monitor — 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, virtually no person has addressed the allegations of home abuse. I feel there’s a lot goodwill towards Kendrick that folks don’t even need to think about the chance that it could be true. That, greater than something that Drake really says on “Household Issues,” will get on the coronary heart of this feud. Individuals love Kendrick Lamar. Drake has had a world-historical profession and carried out all the pieces {that a} rapper may 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 in opposition to Kendrick traces which might be even nastier and extra private. It’s masterful condescension — Kendrick chatting with 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 knowledge isn’t true, it nonetheless looks as if some shit that he would’ve carried out. Goal actuality can not 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 may 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 obtained an extended historical past of utilizing girls as props, appearing aggrieved on a regular basis, and making an attempt 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 music. Kendrick rolls out extra assaults on that one. Drake and Kendrick spent loads of time calling one another’s Blackness into query in the course of the feud, and I’m not in any place to touch upon that, however Kendrick is actually in his factor when he calls Drake a colonizer and ties that to Atlanta historical past. The DJ Mustard beat is definitely the funkiest factor to return 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 say it for his personal. (No one’s attempting to name Kendrick a colonizer, and he is aware of that.) By the top of the music, 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 prime for therefore lengthy, and it’s one of many weapons that Kendrick makes use of in opposition to 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 party. So Drake understands precisely the way it appears to be like when a battler is aware of he’s shedding, when all of his rebuttals are falling flat. Drake solely took a day to reply to “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 say victory and stroll away. That’s in all probability for the very best. This struggle has gotten very private, and if it will get much more intense, then folks might need hassle strolling away. No one needs to see this flip into one thing else.
For now, what a present. What a time to be alive. Your entire episode jogs my memory of Kanye West’s GOOD Fridays — one of many all-too-brief moments when a brand new music stops the world and forces everybody to react earlier than they’ll resume their days. Individuals will attempt to let you know 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 let you know that the entire thing was set as much as get consideration from bounce, that it’s professional wrestling ways 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 well-liked tradition, a minimum of on a frivolous degree. Pity the brand new Dua Lipa album and The Fall Man and the rest attempting to gin up consideration and reduce via the noise. Proper now, the noise is an excessive amount of enjoyable.