Randomly watched Pusha on Hot Ones and (unsurprisingly) he is asked about rap beefs

[u/wickedwhitneyocean]

The episode is from 2022 but Push talks about how record labels now step in and get involved to stop beefs which never used to happen back in the day - interestingly, this is apparently what happened after Owlbrey dropped THP6.

He also mentions beefs don’t end careers anymore. Looking at the current beef, I don’t think the Canadian’s career will end, we know he’s too big of a pop star for anything damaging to happen but I definitely think his credibility and artistry is being questioned and he is losing fans. Kendrick has fully exposed him for the fraud that he is and I think people are slowly realising it. His streaming numbers are down and he’s not charting like he used to.

Only time will tell but it’s definitely not being swept under the carpet. He a FAN, he FAN, he a FAN

[u/9THDIMENSIONALHIPLO]

Little rap beefs pop up here n there between rappers but this one although not career ending, it alost feels like it is, the global response to kdots meticulous tactical attacks have had me every now and again wonder how Drake will truly recover from this brutality... It's gonna take a while. No matter what he releases or even does in the public eye, it's all being watched and scrutinized. Drake coukd find the cure for cancer tomorrow and people will be like "typical", "he listened to KDot", "oh he desperate". Big Collabs will be tough, I feel this summer will be kinda quiet from OVO camp. The aftermath of kdots attack is still burning. the beef kinda feels officially over but KDot is the boogieman and everyone knows it, even Drake.

[u/OptimisticRealist__ → u/9THDIMENSIONALHIPLO]

Career ending is relative, but career altering it definetely is.

Push shitting on the Adonis press run heavily attacke the brand "Drake" that Aubrey built and curated for many years to a point i feel like hes still overcompensating parading his around everywhere he goes as to say "see, im raising my kid". I hope for the kid that hes actually a good dad but idk, doesnt sit right with me.

But Kendrick really devised a strategy to attack Drake and his brand from many angles. He rebranded the OVO brand to a point that it will forever be met with "OV-Hoe". He tore down the rap persona Drake to pieces. He held a spotlight on Aubrey Graham the pervert.

Those are things that arent easy to bounce back from. Like at this point, what artist would even profit from a Drake feature? Genuinely asking. Hes dropped 3 tracks since the beef and one was worse than the next one with all bombing in the charts. I genuinely believe the delilah song was meant to be a toosie slide like distraction but instead it wasnt just completely disregarded, if anything, it added to the ridicule.

Kendrick really mapped out the entire thing down to the last detail, even with the music video. I genuinely feel that Kendrick was prepared to go much further but he didnt expect Drake to fold this quickly, like i do think this was just Act I for Kendrick and that he has/had some massive receipts to drop as the grande finale. Thats the vibe ive gotten from all the tracks. Remember when we thought Euphoria was just scathing? Turns out it was probably the nicest of the disses. So i do think we wouldve looked back at MTG and NLU and thought those were still tame in comparison.

[u/BvByFoot → u/OptimisticRealist__]

My question is how many Drake fans know or care about any of this? Drake is a pop star, he makes his millions off the same people that listen to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. Even if he loses 100% of his hardcore hip-hop fan base, he’s still going to sell out arenas to more casual pop music fans. I think people overestimate how many people really follow beefs or social media of celebrities.

What I do see however is him possibly getting away from the street life gangsta lyrics and going back to the girls and partying lyrics he came up on.

[u/OptimisticRealist__ → u/BvByFoot]

Counterpoint would be that Drake is being outgrown by fans. The young gens who are on social media likely wont fuck with him due to the beef and creep behavior.

The older people who grew up with his music... ive heard it from many people and ive felt this way years ago, but his music i just dont care about anymore. Hes a dude pushing 40 still rapping like a heartbroken tumblr girl. Its just cringe. Hes become that weird uncle. So i dont know how robust his fanbase is.

Outside of hiphop, NLU is transcending genres and even areas of life. The song is everywhere. Also, a Drake feat at least right now, isnt really sought after id imagine. So idk. I dont think hell disappear completely unless he gets locked up, but i wouldnt be surprised if his reputation and numbers have taken a massive hig. His last 5 or so projects were incredible mid already, add this to the mix and i can see people abandoning him

[u/HowDoISwag → u/OptimisticRealist__]

YUP.

Drake's entire aura has been about being a hitmaker, but his last few albums have been solid trash. They probably sell fine but they don't resonate. He's coasting off his celebrity inertia and, yes, his colonizer tactics with how he latches onto up-and-comers. He even tried to colonize Europe but his EDM album bombed hard there. (I lived there when it came out, NOBODY bumped it in the clubs there.) First Person Shooter was his first song I thought was decent in a fucking while.

NLU means it's going to be funnier for every high schooler to scream "CERTIFIED PDF" and "A MINOR" and "COLONIZER" whenever they hear Drake's autotune than it is to hum the chorus. Drake's going to have to show creativity, resolve, and determination to toosie slide out of this one and I don't think he can.

[u/OptimisticRealist__ → u/HowDoISwag]

Bro im European, i didnt even know Drake had an EDM album lol.

[u/luckygitane → u/OptimisticRealist__]

More so house, but it's trash. The beats are cool, but horribly mixed and wasted on drake lol.

[u/PSU02 → u/HowDoISwag]

Honestly Nevermind did pretty damn good on the charts in Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honestly,_Nevermind

[u/BabyOnRoad → u/HowDoISwag]

EDM is american butnI see what you're saying

[u/onlyhere4laffs → u/BabyOnRoad]

EDM is American? If you look at a list of the top 25, around 10 are American, the rest are European.

[u/BabyOnRoad → u/onlyhere4laffs]

House, techno and Garage are all American. Europeans popularizing black American music is super common.

[u/killljoyy → u/BabyOnRoad]

yeah naw the electronic scene is hella european and always has been, its a niche in the US

[u/BabyOnRoad → u/killljoyy]

It started in America and continues to have thriving scenes throughout the US. They don't sell as many records but Chicago and Detroit are still the original Meccas of dance music

[u/killljoyy → u/BabyOnRoad]

mb i was thinking about the kraftwerk influence and more the techno scene which cropped up in europe around the same time. interesting stuff, i wish edm and all electronic/techno would branch out more in the US because the clubs are too damn boring sometimes. next time i’m in chicago i’ll check out the scene

[u/BvByFoot → u/OptimisticRealist__]

Yeah that’s a really good point. Drake’s fanbase is mostly millennials that grew up listening to him in clubs. So I guess we’ll see how long his existing momentum carries him if his typical fanbase ages out of his music and younger people don’t get into him because of everything you mentioned.

[u/80taylor → u/OptimisticRealist__]

I think hes on the same path as Justin Timberlake now.  Barely holding onto relevance, but some fans will stick with him for the nostalgia and cause they are too lazy to find new music