Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar: understand rappers’ bullshit that trivializes misogyny in egocentric songs | Pop & Art

Rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar Are Making Music to Wash Dirty Laundry. With acidic lyrics, the artists transformed their hatred for each other into a fight that, at this point, had already become one of the most famous fights in the history of rap.

Old, the feud intensified at the end of March and, since then, has escalated more and more, with tracks being produced (and released) in a few hours. As in an exchange of punches, one hits and the other fights back.

The verses contain accusations of violence against women, pedophilia and paternal abandonment, as well as mockery of racial identity and musical aesthetics. All wrapped up in sarcastic jokes, in which the composers simultaneously assume the roles of victim, hero and villain.

O g1 explains below the trajectory of the fight and its reflection in the songs.

Years ago, the relationship between Drake and Kendrick was completely different than it is today. The two even sang together. They shared the microphone on “Buried Alive Interlude” (2011), “Poetic Justice” (2012) and “F**kin’ Problems” (2013).

The conflict began timidly, with a dispute over territory. Who is the best rapper today? Basically, it was with this question that the musicians’ natural competitiveness took root and, little by little, became more personal than professional.

In 2013, rapper Big Sean released “Control”, in partnership with Kendrick. In the track, the American makes fun of Drake and other rappers, mentioning their names and saying: “I got love for all of you, but I’m trying to kill you, ‘niggas’”.

The song is a diss track. In other words, a song whose purpose is to insult one or more people — in a foul-mouthed and almost always explicit way. Present in several musical genres, the practice gained prominence in the 1990s, especially in rap.

It is quite common for one diss track to emerge from another, with musicians responding in kind to the criticism they receive. Precisely for this reason, some of the rappers mentioned in “Control” released songs attacking Kendrick.

Drake, however, did it differently. When asked about the matter at the time by “Billboard” magazine, the Canadian limited himself to defining “Control” as ambitious and suggesting that his level of success would never be surpassed by Kendrick’s.

Still in 2013, Drake released “The Language”. For some listeners, the lyrics would be a hint at the rapper, but the theory was denied by producer Birdman. His verses go: “I’m the only one you should worry about / I don’t know what you’re referring to / Who’s this guy you heard about?”

“The Language” is a track from the album “Nothing Was the Same”, a term Kendrick used months later during the BET Hip-Hop Awards. “Nothing has been the same [‘nothing was the same’ em inglês] since they dropped ‘Control’ and put a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes,” the musician sang.

Since then, both Drake and Kendrick have gotten into bigger feuds involving other musicians, which quieted their intrigue. Until, on March 26 of this year, the American once again provoked the Canadian, in “Like That”.

The song was a response to “First Person Shooter”, a partnership between Drake and J. Cole released in October 2023.

In “First Person Shooter”, J. Cole states that he, Drake and Kendrick are “the great trio” in rap.

“Son of a bitch, the big three is just me,” Kendrick sang on “Like That,” angrily.

J. Cole didn’t like what he heard and, on April 5, he released “7 Minute Drill”.

“He averages a hard line every thirty months or so/ If he wasn’t mocking then we wouldn’t be arguing about them/ Sir, don’t make me smoke this ‘nigga’ ’cause I fuck with him,” the lyrics go .

The track’s success came quickly. But Cole didn’t want to stay in the fight. Two days after its release, the artist announced that he would remove the song from streaming platforms because it “didn’t fit his spirit.”

The promise was fulfilled, but the mess had already been made.

Until then, Drake was sparing words. But on April 13, he released “Push Ups,” mocking Kendrick’s musical flirtation with pop.

“You ain’t in no ‘big trio’/ SZA wiped you out, Travis wiped you out, Savage wiped you out,” the lyrics go. “You’re going to feel the consequences of what I write / I’m at the top of the mountain, so you’re tight now.”

“Maroon 5 needs a verse/ you better make it witty/ we need a verse for the swifties.”

Six days after “Push Ups,” Drake released another attack on Kendrick, “Taylor Made Freestyle.”

The singer suggested that the American had not responded to his previous diss because he was waiting for the release of Taylor Swift’s album “The Tortured Poets Department”.

On April 30, Kendrick released “Euphoria”, pouring out in six minutes all the hatred he had been harboring against the Canadian.

In the verses, the American calls Drake a “master manipulator” and a “habitual liar.” It also suggests that he is a terrible father and only pretends to be black.

Kendrick didn’t wait for a response and, on May 3, he released another diss: “6:16 in LA”.

This time, he claimed that someone close to Drake was leaking his personal information to harm him.

Already intense, the fight got worse between the 3rd and 4th of May, when the artists exchanged attacks with songs released just hours apart.

In “Family Matters”, “Meet the Grahams” and “The Heart Part 6”, the two dedicate themselves to making long and harsh accusations against each other. The allegations are related to pedophilia, violence against women and paternal abandonment.

In short, Drake accuses Kendrick of beating his wife, Whitney Alford, while Kendrick accuses Drake of having a secret daughter and sleeping with underage girls.

Both deny the accusations against them.

Diss tracks don’t survive on gossip alone. In terms of lyrics, songs in this style have the potential to provoke deep reflections that go beyond the bubble of those involved. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The musical battle between Drake and Kendrick is legitimate (and adored by the public, apparently), but limited to mere egocentrism.

There are several questions that remain. Under what conditions does self-centered bullshit happen? What is the ring about? What’s the point in turning accusations as serious as these into sarcastic jokes?

Trivialized, the misogyny exposed in the lyrics is not about female pain, but rather Kendrick and Drake. It’s about how far the accusations against each of them go and how they react to them.

The impression that remains is that Drake and Kendrick are fighting to see which misogyny is more morally accepted in the mainstrain circuit of the American hip hop scene, dominated for decades by men.

As Alphonse Pierre, music critic for the website “Pitchfork”, said, the war between the two is no longer mere intrigue. “You have to consider those women, the ones who really may have suffered [tudo isso], they do not have the power to speak for themselves. Drake and Kendrick aren’t thinking about that. For them, this is all just fodder for jokes and trolling.”

For now, it is not possible to know if there will be a winner in the fight. But it is no exaggeration to say that, once again, the male ego has become a hit in rap. May the best win.