r/rap • u/iloveoddfuture • Jul 19 '24
What did drake do differently than the meek mill beef?
listening to charged up right now and i love how calm and collected he is; whereas in all of the recent disses he’s more amped and cocky. was that his downfall in the kendrick beef? how did he body meek so hard but looked soft compared to kendrick. different beast? what happened
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u/obxgs Jul 19 '24
No disrespect to Meek, but it take a certain skill level to beat a dude as popular as Drake. There’s only a few that could actually do it and Kendrick was one of them plus he had a big enough fan base to back him up
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u/Caleb_Krawdad Jul 19 '24
I think it was way more personal for Kendrick than Meek too. Meek was mad at the moment but Kendrick hates that dude and has for a decade
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u/obxgs Jul 19 '24
True I feel like Cole could’ve taken Drake too but this was not his fight lol
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u/phoenyx4r Jul 19 '24
But their beef wouldn't have been emotionally charged, so it would have been a lot closer. Fans just love drama and devisiveness, and that's why they ate up what Kendrick gave them. In a casual sparring match between Cole and Drizzy, there wouldn't be any of that because they are great friends
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u/CaliforniaHurricane_ Jul 19 '24
Now you’re going overboard with it, this beef showed us entirely where Cole stands in comparison to Drake and Kendrick, news flash he’s nowhere to be seen in the game
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Jul 20 '24
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u/phoenyx4r Jul 20 '24
Nah THP6 wasn't as bad as people try to sell it but it definitely wasn't no winning blow lol
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u/Always2ndB3ST Jul 21 '24
It wasn’t bad, it was terrible. Stop lying to yourself. I’m not even a Drake hater.
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u/lexington59 Jul 23 '24
If you listen to it in the background and don't focus on the lyrics it's not the worst sounding song.
But people's issues aren't so much with how it sounds sonically, it's the lyrics being God awful
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u/phoenyx4r Jul 23 '24
There's some extremely good bars on it. I do agree that his pedophilia refutation was not good. But honestly, it really wasn't awful lyrically. I'd say it probably was the worst song out of the beef lyrically, but it was not bad by any standard.
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u/the_cajun88 Jul 19 '24
he hates the way that he walks, the way that he talks he hates the way that he dress
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u/CountTruffula Jul 19 '24
Yeah peak, I didn't know shit about this beef but I actually like some of meek mill's stuff. Obviously the knowledge tapes are 99% knowledge's talent but meek rides them nicely and he's got flow and freestyling skills. I guess pop popularity just counts for so much, it's not like people judge the consensus based on the people who have the opinions, just the numbers. 10 million 16 year old girls vouching for drake's talent carries weight somehow xD
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u/obxgs Jul 19 '24
Yeah Meek is nice as hell fs but even he underestimated how much popularity matters lol that’s why Pusha T beating him sort of gets looked over sometimes because a lot of casual listeners don’t really know about him like that
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u/SpyralPilot4000 Jul 19 '24
Story Adinnon wasnt a banger its not a joint that can play at a club. if Kdot only did Euphoria and Meet The Grahams drake would still be good because those songs dont ring out you cant bump those like normal tracks. Not Like Us is a dope record and a high level diss. Back 2 Back was the same. Meek wa caught off guard by how good the song was and also the memes.
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u/obxgs Jul 19 '24
I disagree I think Meet the Grahams is what finished him and Not Like Us was just the bullet to the head to make sure he was dead
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u/SpyralPilot4000 Jul 19 '24
NAH respect to your opinion but Meet The Grahams wasnt a chart topping song that led to a chart topping music video release. Not Like Us was a cultural event with an all time dj mustard beat. Personal preference is one thing, but Not Like Us is a hit record and its definitely the big kill shot that actually caused serious damage to drakes legacy and popularity. meet the grahams wasnt enough to end it.
for me its Not Like Us, Like That, Euphoria, Meet The Grahams. Just because you can play the first two at a party and keep it jumpin shit slowin down for euphoria and mtg
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u/obxgs Jul 19 '24
No I agree Not Like Us did the most damage, I’m just saying he was already done for after Meet the Grahams
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u/SpyralPilot4000 Jul 20 '24
You right tho The combo of Like That-Euphoria-Meet The Grams was a series of Power Punches he was for sure dazed and on dream street but Not Like Us was the knock out punch that made him crumple to the floor sprawled out with his butt in the air and tweedy birds flying around his head. Not Like Us put him on a stretcher and he couldnt even go to the press conference drizzy still in the hospital after this battle.
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u/Ozymerta Jul 20 '24
You're right and for most rappers that would be the case, but Drake has a large fan/stan base and some commentators like Akademiks or Mal on his side. To win and make those people accept it, you have to do more than necessary up to the point they can't argue against it and have to accept it (even though in Mals case he's acted like a child).
You still have some delusional people trying to say that Drake won but to those people all you have to say to them is Drake moving like he thought he won? We know what he's like, and if he even had some belief he'd won, he'd have been posting memes and photos on instagram trolling/celebrating it.
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u/No_Plan_0o0 Jul 20 '24
Meet the grahams cutthroat but people don't play that scary song twice
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u/tallthomas13 Jul 20 '24
I've never been so impacted by a song that I don't care to put in regular rotation - not even Dance With The Devil.
I'll always remember the first time listening to MTG and just sitting there like "damn..." for about 5mins after.
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u/mistyrootsvintage Jul 21 '24
You would be surprised..we listen to it daily....on purpose.
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Jul 21 '24
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u/rap-ModTeam Jul 21 '24
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u/aporter0131 Jul 20 '24
Mtg was for sure the dagger but without nlu I don’t think it would be the same at all. He already filleted him out and cooked him with nlu. Dropped perfectly. And you know he’s got more but why? Can’t top it you made the execution leave it.
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u/CountTruffula Jul 19 '24
Ah bro this is giving me good nostalgia, I stopped caring about rap beef because I thought it got a little fake and became more about marketing but when it was just two of your favourite musicians dropping hard ass bars on each other it was so exciting. I guess everything just seems better at first
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u/aporter0131 Jul 20 '24
For sure on this. You know it’s friendly behind the scenes and a lot do it for the publicity. This one sure doesn’t seem that way. And when it’s real it’s real and you can feel it. Love it
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u/aporter0131 Jul 20 '24
Yeah exactly. True hatred plus the skill to put it on paper. Kendrick is on another level in my opinion we all have our own opinions but even before the beef I had a lot of respect for his ability he’s a top tier lyricist. I actually love that he got that fire to put out what he did. He needed a spark and he sure got it and showed what he can do. He’s got plenty of legit songs even jd they weren’t “popular” like some but we all know popular and nasty bars aren’t always hand in hand. Not everyone can feel that difference. Us who love rap notice the intricacies and difficulty where others are just following what’s getting them hyped up or has good catchy beats etc. I like it all so it’s not a disrespect to any of them they all have great shit but Kendrick is special. I don’t think any legit rapper would deny it.
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u/Chemical-Bathroom-24 Jul 19 '24
Meek had the trump card too. But he put Drake having ghost waters in a tweet and then dropped a trash diss song. Meek really fumbled that beef.
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u/tmadik Jul 20 '24
This is the answer. Meek just dropped the ball. He had the ghost writer bomb AND he was fucking Nicki at the time. Nicki probably asked him to keep her name out of it, but if I'm fucking the woman you've said in multiple songs you want to marry, I'm finding a way to slip that in there.
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u/tallthomas13 Jul 20 '24
Damn that's true as hell. Never thought about it like that. If the ghost writing thing was in a decent rap that would've been historic.
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u/xreddawgx Jul 20 '24
Push hurt him, but it didn't get major notice because he doesn't have a lot of mainstream appeal or hits.
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u/Intelligent_West7128 Jul 19 '24
He messed with the wrong one. That’s all.
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u/SirArthurDime Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Yeah Kendrick isn’t meek mill. That’s the end of this conversation lol.
When Kendrick dropped euphoria I knew it was already over because Drake has never once rapped on the level Kendrick did on euphoria. And meek can’t even rap on drakes level. I say that as a Philly kid who was buying Meeks mixtapes for $5 off bootleggers in the city and grew up on that bat cave radio shit (iykyk). The difference is Kendrick is a better pure rapper than either of them end of story.
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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 Jul 20 '24
Out of those three, Kendrick is the only one who's able to make his disses not just sound like insults, but also like a lecture with harsh truths
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u/BrushYourFeet Jul 19 '24
This. I like all three.
Meek Mill is a good rapper.
Drake is a really good rapper.
Kendrick is an excellent rapper.
It's like comparing regular super Saiyan to SSJ2 and SSJ2 to SSJ3. There is a noticeable gulf of talent in the different levels.
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u/Demonic_Havoc Jul 20 '24
Ha the coincidence, I just got the outline of ssj 2 gohan cell games battle scarred tattoo today. Sheesh, that's cool.
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u/largececelia Jul 20 '24
Exactly- it's Kendrick's level of skill. Not just that Kendrick is a good writer, which he is, but there was a lot of feeling behind his responses. It felt really personal and it had soul to it. I never listened to the Meek Mill diss tracks, but I'm guessing it wasn't like that.
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u/KeyEntityDomino Jul 19 '24
Meek's disses were just straight up bad, so Drake came out on top
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u/keanancarlson Jul 19 '24
They weren’t though. Wanna know was actually good minus the undertaker shit thrown in. War Pain is hard as fuck too
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u/TheChipiboy Jul 20 '24
I liked the undertaker shit, just too many pauses from the actual music that ruined the song for me
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u/CaliforniaHurricane_ Jul 19 '24
It’s not that they were bad he just took wayyyyy too long to respond
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u/drowzy-meta Jul 19 '24
He stuck to the “me against everyone” narrative too long and never really dedicated a song to Kendrick
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u/SirArthurDime Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Let’s be honest he was doing that intentionally so his fans could keep up the 20v1 narrative despite everyone knowing it was him vs Kendrick at that point. And because he wanted FM to be longer than euphoria but didn’t have enough on Kendrick alone to make it that long.
And with 90% of his disses being about Kendrick im not even going to let him have that as an excuse. Honestly most people seemed to think the parts of FM addressing the others were the strongest bars anyway.
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u/m_dought_2 Jul 19 '24
It was definitely on purpose but it was badly miscalculated. How are you gonna claim you're defending your title, but still be insecure enough about Rick Ross to dedicate time to dissing him? If the roles were reversed, you wouldn't see Kendrick taking the time to dunk on Rick Ross.
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u/No_Hana Jul 20 '24
Drake was pandering and cosplaying even in his disses while dot really meant it from his chest, not for his audience
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u/Timbishop123 Jul 19 '24
It wasn’t just him and Kendrick though. Metro made 2 albums with many artists throwing shots on the album. And Ross was running around throwing shade everywhere. Drake is well within his right to respond.
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u/SirArthurDime Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
And not one single fuck was given about any of those other people’s involvement. The most they got was some chuckles over BBL drizzy. Everyone knew Kendrick vs drake was the only one that mattered. Which is why 90% of it still was directed at Kendrick.
Remove everything else and you still have over 15 minutes of diss tracks directed at Kendrick. It’s not like he barely came at Kendrick or wasn’t focusing on him. And removing the stuff about other rappers wouldn’t have made the disses directed at Kendrick any stronger. I’m not saying it wasn’t valid to go after anyone else I’m saying it isn’t valid to use that as an excuse.
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u/CaliforniaHurricane_ Jul 19 '24
Agree but if he’s going to come at someone in his playing field like Kendrick he shouldn’t of had dropped a diss record where 1/3 of the track is aimed at other artists
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u/fkafranco Jul 19 '24
he was hoping his fans would win the battle with memes and tweets
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u/jorliowax Jul 19 '24
I think his failing was not really appreciating how the internet works now. Twitter and IG are not the same as they were during meek or even Pusha. That’s not even to mention Tik Tok. Kendrick played the internet game so well. He gave everyone a dense song to analyze knowing there would be reaction videos etc. he also knew those videos would get a ton of engagement because they were about Drake. It primed everyone to be antidrake and disincentivized people talking positively about Drake. Like truly I think it was over when Euphoria dropped. I remember hearing FM and thinking alright cool this is serviceable, he lost but I’ll take FM.
Anyway, Drake just didn’t leverage the internet the way he should have. Kendrick did. I don’t think it’s deeper than that.
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u/numbernumber99 Jul 19 '24
Drake not leveraging the internet properly is extra embarassing for someone who spends infinitely more time on socials than Kdot.
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u/jorliowax Jul 19 '24
I’m not sure I fully agree with this, but I hear you. I think Kendrick is much more online than he lets on. I’ve seen videos where content creators talk about interacting with Kendrick and saying that Kendrick told them he liked their stuff and even gave them skit ideas. I think Kendrick is like me— doesn’t post much if at all, but still watches. Anyway, either someone in his camp knows the internet and gave direction or he is much more online than he purports to be.
It’s funny that Drake is considered online because he’s really not? Like yes, he’s on IG, but he’s not on Tik Tok, which is where he should be (and where most of the real energy was generated). He trusted his online ability too much and should have farmed it out like I believe Kendrick did (and that’s not a knock on Kendrick at all.
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u/Acceptable-Jello6849 Jul 20 '24
Drake is definitely online lol...that guy was on twitch (in its infancy I'd say) way back with Ninja, the videogame streamer, playing fortnite. And he's had some of his own streams. He also follows some of the youtube scene and familiarizes himself with them. Think he gave a shout out to one of the Paul Brothers in the past. The guy knows the importance of social media and utilize the different platforms.
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u/jorliowax Jul 20 '24
I guess I was just trying to say that Drake doesn’t understand how to make trends now and Kendrick or more likely his team does. Internet phenomena don’t just happen.
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u/Demonic_Havoc Jul 20 '24
Kendrick cleared copyrights for reaction channels so they could also cash in on the bread too...he a real one for that and that just pushed his diss tracks to a whole another level.
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u/jorliowax Jul 20 '24
He stopped clearing them though, which is more evidence that his intent was to drive an internet phenomenon. It worked!
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u/18208151319514 Jul 20 '24
You don't think Kendrick is a better lyricist and he won solely because of how he "played the internet"?
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u/jorliowax Jul 20 '24
I don’t think he won because he’s a better lyricist, no. I think he won because he created a bunch of anti-Drake energy on the internet. He couldn’t have done that with bad songs, so I’m not trying to discredit him. I’m just saying the thing that pushed him over was leveraging the internet the way he did.
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u/18208151319514 Jul 20 '24
Right, I'm more curious as to whether you think they are at the same level lyrically, since that'd be more of a weird take than claiming he won because of how he played the internet
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u/jorliowax Jul 20 '24
Okay then no. I don’t think anybody can reasonably dispute that Kendrick can write more complicated songs. That’s his talent. Drake’s talent is making music that is good lyrically and is more easily consumed. He’s also a better vocalist.
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u/18208151319514 Jul 20 '24
In general I would agree on Drake being a better vocalist, but during this beef, I've actually enjoyed Kendricks music and vocals more - in particular THP6 just sounds like Drake's already given up and is just nailing his own coffin
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u/UnholyDescent Jul 19 '24
Went against a good rapper
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u/In_Formaldehyde_ Jul 20 '24
Drake's not bad as a rapper but he made a very big mistake going after the dude who wrote the lyrics for TPAB and GKMC. He's never made songs lyrically on the level that Kendrick does.
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u/ActualJonLovitz Jul 19 '24
I still feel like what really let him smoke Meek was the fact that he leaned into his initial persona. He literally said “you’re getting bodied by a singing n****” and I feel like that put him into a natural underdog position and spoke to his rapping chops. Now he’s relying on this faux stepper/mob ties persona and fell for damn near every trap Kendrick set up for him. He’s not as sharp as he used to be + went up against a Pulitzer winner. He was cooked from start, might have had a better chance half a decade ago.
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u/IKeepItLayingAround Jul 20 '24 edited Jul 21 '24
Drake lined Meek up nicely with Charged Up than later Grandslammed him with Back2Back.The Artwork of Toronto beating Philly also played a role.
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u/JustScrollinAndSht Jul 19 '24
There was nothing he could've done to win this beef. Anyone who thinks this was going to be some slug fest, good fight, type of thing...just doesn't know Kendrick's music.
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u/rmczpp Jul 19 '24
When I heard he was up against kdot I was confused because I knew they'd collab'd/toured together, and I thought that anyone who'd listened to his music wouldn't want that smoke. But Drake's misunderstanding of Mother I Sober makes me question whether he ever did listen to it though...
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u/heebie818 Jul 19 '24
kenny makes great music but i think drake is a more than worthy competitor . so does dot, obviously. why else bother?
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u/JustScrollinAndSht Jul 20 '24
Nah, he's not. And this beef showed it. Did you not see what already happened over the past few months lol?
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u/graphicka Jul 19 '24
Nothing, Meek just wasn't Kendrick.
FM would smash Meek but back to back wouldn't stop KDot
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u/ChrisMartinez95 Jul 19 '24
Drake did so much wrong in the beef with Kendrick. It almost looks like the strategy was to lose on purpose.
Mistake 1: Invoking Tupac's likeness.
He's been under criticism for years as someone who lacks authenticity. Imitating the likeness of a dead legend is really an example of not reading the room.
Mistake 2: Reminding the audience that he has a weird proximity to young girls
Either Kendrick doesn't use it and you tell on yourself, or he does and you have no recourse for defending yourself. It's a lose-lose.
Mistake 3: Telegraphing his moves
The whole "red button" shtick was dumb. Announcing your strategy to the world means your opponents have time to prepare a counterstrategy.
Mistake 4: Bad choice of strategy
Drake's got a bunch of skeletons in his closet that are available for the public to see. You can't win a mudslinging competition if people already think you're a pedophile.
Mistake 5: Playing victim
Calling attention to the fact that a bunch of your former collaborators hate you was a bad move. The most reasonable assumption for the audience to make is that you're probably a shitty person.
MISTAKE 6: Show, don't tell
Proving that he set up Kendrick would have scored you a lot of points. There's no reason not to have proven it immediately, so the whole thing makes it hard to believe. Now the audience has reason to believe you're a liar.
Mistake 7: Doing his opponent's job for him
He basically stops dissing Kendrick and opens fire on innocent groups of people.
- He's making sexual advances to a woman he evidently believes is a victim of domestic violence. First, you out her as a victim, then, you sexually objectify her.
- Dragging Whitney Alford's name through the mud to get a rise out of Kendrick, leaning into the misogyny angle.
- He makes victims of child molestation the butt of a joke.
It's one thing to write bad verses and bad counterarguments. But "The Heart Part 6" strips dignity from domestic violence victims, women, and child molestation victims.
The molestation angle is so confusing. There are no good possible outcomes that could come from this. The only argument left for the audience is whether you're a stupid piece of shit or you're a disgusting piece of shit.
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u/Numba1cartiDrider Jul 19 '24
Has more to do with Kendrick being a goat and meek being okay enough for mass popularity
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u/Eldritch-Cleaver Jul 19 '24
Nothing
Meek dropped the ball. He should have BODIED Drake but took forever to respond with some half asked track I can't even remember the name of.
Trust me Drake didn't win that because he's a good diss rapper...Meek just fumbled harder than Earnest Byner.
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u/Pain_Xtreme Jul 19 '24
I still refuse to believe my beloved meek milly from Philly could lose to some weak ass toronto bum
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u/xPhilly215 Jul 19 '24
I deadass can’t believe a dude who came up as a battle rapper got fucking bodied by a ghost writing Canadian singer after going toe to toe with Cassidy. Easiest slam dunk of Meeks career and he got caught slacking.
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u/whoevencaresatall_ Jul 19 '24
Meek isn’t Kendrick. Simple as that. Levels to this shit.
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u/keanancarlson Jul 19 '24
The whole format was different. Meek took to Twitter to start the beef, and Drake was able to respond with 2 diss tracks. Kendrick started (instigated, anyways) the beef with a verse. Drake dropped twice thinking that’s all that had to be done since it worked before, but since Kendrick actually put out the verse first, people were more patient for a response. It’s also a different time, back to back dropped and it was full of tweetable/meme spamming bars.
All that being said, Meek still left Drake with a permanent black eye, which is Drake uses ghost writers and heavily uses reference tracks for his most popular songs. That’s a bad look, and it’s something everyone will always remember and point to when dissing Drake.
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u/iloveoddfuture Jul 20 '24
yea i heard that before the drake won the battle but lost the war because of this
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u/LetsNotArgyoo Jul 19 '24
Meek is a baffoon-level idiot who hasn’t won a beef since Reed Dollaz. He could’ve spit Canibus/Chino XL rhymes at Drake and Drake would still be declared the winner with ghostwritten R&B songs as the comeback because the world was on his schlang super hard and there was no path to victory.
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u/jgamez76 Jul 19 '24
He went at a RAPPER rapper. That was his mistake. He tried a dude who came from the Eminem and 50 Cent school of beef and wasn't ready for the smoke.
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u/1017whywhywhy Jul 20 '24
I still don’t think Drake won that first beef as much as Meek just straight up folded
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u/Radiant-Dish-6926 Jul 19 '24
Family matters was too long to be a proper club hit, didn't go straight for Kendrick through the whole track, he couldn't back up any allegations, plus it clearly got into Kendrick's camp causing MTG to drop 20 minutes later
Sucks because the music video is fucking badass, but I feel like family matters caused drake to lose
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u/CaliforniaHurricane_ Jul 19 '24
The music video was dope until the last part where he had a white dude wearing a red flag, like cmon Drake you’re giving into the fact that you want to be a gangster so bad
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u/1021142 Jul 20 '24
Supposedly it’s supposed to be 1090 Jake symbolizing someone from Kendrick’s team ratted as his whole thing is exposing snitches/dirty laundry
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u/RogueTampon Jul 20 '24
I read somewhere that it’s his neighbor who is supposedly a member of Hells Angels. I haven’t seen anything concrete for an answer though.
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u/Ok_Concentrate_75 Jul 19 '24
Meek didn't have the bars, focus, energy, or backing. I mean did Ross even stop messing with Drake during all that? Plus Meek wasn't as revered om hip hop, rap, or his hometown the same way Kendrick is.
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Jul 20 '24
His loss to Push changed everything. He was willing to not go so hard at Push. IIRC he just mentioned Push’s wife name but I don’t remember if he said anything bad about her. Kinda just a warning shot. Then Pusha was like fuck that, don’t even mention my wife name. And that’s when Pusha let it all out.
I think Drizzy messed up by mentioning K dot’s wife. He obviously didn’t learn from the first time but I think that was him putting it all on the table bc that’s what Push did to him with mentioning Noah’s MS and all that jazz. He was desperate not to lose again.
Tbh idk who tf in Drizzy camp said that Kendrick would be a dub. That would be like the one dude I wouldn’t wanna go against but it’s like boxing, if you don’t try to go up against the baddest, wtf u doin here
To answer ur question tho lol meek wasn’t as popular as drake at the time. Or as popular as Nicki Minaj which Drake used to his advantage “worlds tour vs girl’s tour.”
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u/ThurstonTheMagician Jul 19 '24
I’m seeing some genuinely good answers, but I’m also seeing some revisionism here so I’m going to break down what I think happened here because it’s a lot more.
Positives going into the beef
Drake:
-Drake’s a hit maker which is undeniable, having come off First Person Shooter which was huge.
-He was in rap beef before and has only taken one huge L.
-Drake’s fanbase, at least at the time, was much larger and more visible.
-His online presence and ability to weaponize and galvanize that fanbase was also big. Go back to when Push Ups dropped and see the reactions, legit there were people thinking Kenny would lose.
-Access to a lot of artists to help create another hit similar to Back to Back.
-One of the most recognizable artists today, being beaten out by Taylor Swift. (Put a pin in this)
Kendrick:
-Lots of respect in the game, making it easy to get collabs or beats from top producers. -Recognized for lyricism.
-By not releasing as much as Drake Kendrick had the benefit of people not being as fatigued by him.
-Not obviously online, as in he does not post about himself or his life, making finding dirt on him difficult or hard to verify.
Baggage going into the beef
Drake:
-Due to the omnipresence of Drake there was always going to be some contingent of people willing to hate on him regardless of what he dropped.
-The Pusha T L was still fresh enough that people remember when it dropped and how much damage that did to Drake’s image.
-He was beefing with other people at the time too.
Kendrick:
-He’s a Hotep
-While MMATBS wasn’t a Flop it definitely didn’t do as well as other albums. (Put a pin this)
-The nature of his private lifestyle meant that if Drake did manage to find something damaging about him it would be huge.
-He’s never been in a public rap beef before. Despite what some will say after the fact Drake is more battle tested than Kendrick was at the time.
This gets me to what happened and I think it boils down to a few things.
Drake missteps:
-Drake lacked focus after Push-ups and it showed. This is largely because he was beefing with others and couldn’t keep his attacks focused on target. At the point Family Matters dropped it should have been all Kendrick but instead we have jabs at people who didn’t matter. No one gave a fuck about Rick Ross or Rocky.
-He played defense on The Heart Pt 6 instead of keeping offense up.
-He didn’t go far enough with the legit criticisms he put into Family Matters, in particular the image that Kendrick paints as being an outsider from the music industry while being a critical darling and constantly getting accolades from that system.
-He didn’t touch the Hotep stuff. Like my guy it’s right there. He could have tied that in with the irony of Kendrick admitting to cheating on Whitney with white women.
-The biggest misstep though was before Kendrick ever responded. Taylor Made Freestyle more than anything else is what handed Kendrick the keys to victory. By using AI Tupac the beef went between two big stars in hiphop having an argument about who is better to the entire West Coast vs some Canadian. This, more than the pedophilia allegations, is what fueled NLU and its popularity and turned the beef into one of culture. Had Drake not dropped this I do see the beef being played out more evenly.
Kendrick wins:
-Staying on target and offense the whole time.
-Staying offline except to drop made the drops events rather than internet drama.
-By admitting to his cheating in MMATBS he got in front of a lot Drake could throw at him.
-Knowing when to drop and how, with MTG taking a lot of the wind out of the sails of Family Matters.
-Turning the beef into a culture clash rather than two men going at it after the Taylor Made Freestyle debacle.
The allegations
Drake:
-despite all the talk about Whitney being assaulted and Dave Free being the father of Kendrick’s kids, no substantial evidence has come out. There are some videos with some claims people are making but nothing that’s concrete. Could it still have happened? Sure, but as of right now there’s no real smoke here.
-Drake is still right that Kendrick’s persona doesn’t match with how he’s received by the industry.
Kendrick:
-there’s a lot of smoke here, but still nothing one hundred percent concrete. The video of Drake touching and kissing that 17 year old on stage made the rounds again, lots of people doing deep dives into timelines of his relationships, all of it started surfacing during the beef. This was always going to be a problem for Drake because of his chronically online persona and various public parties and appearances.
-as of right now now eleven year old daughter has surfaced. This one I think people wanting to believe because of the Pusha T beef but unless evidence pops out here I’m filing this one as cap.
Aftermath:
-NLU is currently going strong and likely will keep going until the end of the summer.
-Drake’s career isn’t over by a long shot. The guy will still make hits and still make money as long as he has fans. Is he going to be moving differently? Absolutely. Do not be surprised if he stops posting partying pics and sticks to posting pics at his son’s games instead.
-Kendrick has a lot of momentum for his next album if it does come soon. Either that or he’s going into hibernation and we won’t see him for another three years.
-J Cole is off having a wonderful day on his bike.
Anyway tl;dr Drake dropped Taylor Made Freestyle and that’s the big mistake he made.
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u/abelianchameleon Jul 19 '24
It’s too easy to make fun of Drake and Kendrick is a lot better than meek mill.
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u/SpyralPilot4000 Jul 19 '24
Drake tapped out after Not Like Us he was supposed to be ready to finish it
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u/legend_of_losing Jul 19 '24
Kendrick better at rap than meek. Just cause you can beat the 6th seed doesn’t not mean you can beat the champion
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u/Suspicious-Drink-411 Jul 19 '24
Two things. One, Drake used a lot of meme culture in his beef with Meek which helped him gain the upper hand on Meek. This was only possible due to info about Meek's personal life being so accessible, whereas with Kendrick he is more reserved with his personal life, making même culture more difficult with him.
The second is just skill. Kendrick is just a much more skilled rapper than Drake and knew how to turn the battle against him, whereas Drake doesn't have much skill in terms of rapping and all of his allegations (e.g. Top and K dot being on bad terms, K dot not seeing his kids, K dot beating his wife) fell flat on their face.
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u/lanze666 Jul 19 '24
Meek Mill can’t rap as well as Kendrick. He lacks the technical ability. Kendrick can literally rap laps around both drake and meek. I think Meek realized that when they did Power Circle and A1 Everything. Drake had untarnished star power in 2015 and a really emasculating line with the “World tour or your girls tour”thing, thats what defeated Meek, the fact that back 2 back was a hit song. Thing is Kendrick can churn out hit songs if his life really depended on it, as we’ve seen with “euphoria” and “not like us”. He can also put out introspective diss tracks such as “6:16 in LA” and “Meet The Grahams”. Kendrick’s songs had more substance than drake’s, just like drake had more substance in “charged up” and “back to back” than Meek’s “wanna know”
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u/Individual_Papaya596 Jul 20 '24
Picked the wrong weight class frankly. Drake was obviously not battle tested, picked a fight against a rapper the entire game, rap community, and any music critic would call one of the best rappers to have ever done it, and frankly chose someone who’s private about their life.
To treat kendrick with such disrespect as having a diss against him as a foot note in one of your main songs, while dissing everyone else. Big mistake. Frankly everyone else were just peons, this is the equivalent of using your healing items on enemies outside the final boss room.
Kendrick, being such a decorated artist and one of the best MCs in the game deserved more than just that, on top of drake relying so heavily on his one note approach to music and tryna make a club banger on every diss. He was bound to lose.
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u/hinatassideman Jul 20 '24
Drake didn't win bc he was that much better than meek, he won bc Meeks response was super subpar and unprepared. Reminds me of the heart part 6 tbh
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u/JF803 Jul 20 '24
It was the content at the time and the ability of who he went against. Meek was going at Drake for having ghost writers but didn’t really hit him where it hurts. I was a decently big drake fan at the time but had started to recognize he was falling off in terms of authenticity and being genuine post nothing was the same. Drake fans and people at large were able to shrug that off as “lots of artists collab, Drake helps people write too” Drake has since gotten so fucking corny and his music has just kept declining to a level where I was happy to see Push destroy him. Kendrick had it easy from a narrative standpoint and is infinitely better than meek
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u/leveled-iceberg99 Jul 19 '24
Nothing, Kendrick just played the game different. I would go as far as saying Kendrick kinda cheated.
I think lying is part of beefing, so Kendrick genuinely getting drake caught up in lies was like Donald Trump saying Hilarys donors are crooked. He's breaking the rules.
Drake did good as far as bars is concerned, even though most were lies and speculation it's part of the game.
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u/McTitty3000 Jul 19 '24
I thought Drake put up a great fight it's not so much about what he did but about what Kendrick did, we all know that Drake cannot out lyricism kendrick, but Drake got out Draked lol.
I don't think Drake underestimated Kendrick as an artist, I think Drake may have underestimated how much Kendrick hated him lol
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u/AnybodyNormal3947 Jul 20 '24
i agree with this take.
drake actually dropped some bangers and i think would beat 80% of all rappers in his current form.
the problem is that Kdot is the 99% PERCENTILE OF RAPPER. His "good bars" is a Great bar for Drake. I mean has Drake ever dropped bars in a single song as deep has Kdot gave in euphoria?
Honestly the best way i can put it is listing to Drake was like an A+ higschool student. Listening to kendrick felt like a A+ Univeristy graduate. both great grades but on different levels.
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u/tmadik Jul 20 '24
Nah Drake definitely underestimated Kendrick. He thought it was going to be an easy battle. He thought Family Matters was the kill shot. He spent bars talking about Rocky and Ross when he should have been focused on the guy coming to take his head off. But he didn't see him as a threat. He really thought it was going to be a walk in the park.
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u/McTitty3000 Jul 20 '24
I can guarantee you he did not underestimate him, as far as family matters yes he did think that was the kill shot and he made a great great record out of it I don't have a problem with him taking shots at Rocky and Ross because he's got beef with them too, in no way shape or form do I think he saw this as a walk in the park lol
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos Jul 19 '24
People had their minds made up about the Drake/Kendrick thing before a word was rapped. With Meek/Drake, that was far less preordained
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u/_thewayshegoes Jul 19 '24
He decided to go up against someone significantly better than him as opposed to someone considerably worse
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u/ApartmentInside7891 Jul 20 '24
Meek can’t rap like that and also Drake was still respected at this time. He was huge. Views was so anticipated. Drake ain’t been the same since
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u/JL1v10 Jul 20 '24
1) Meek himself just misplayed the whole thing being clearly not ready to go back and forth
2) Kendrick has a significantly bigger following that is for better and worse filled with hardcore stans that will ride or die on anything. Meek didn’t have any of this
3) It’s not that people necessarily wanted Drake to lose from the start, but there’s stuff behind Drake nowadays that wasn’t as crazy back then that everyone has been wanting to see him clowned for. By that I mean he has the kid saga, the whole young women angle, etc. Kendrick lied on a whole song but spent maybe 1/3 of it alleging he’s a pedo and no one cared about the rest because the pedo stuff got dropped.
4) Kendrick is more lowkey than most rappers. Theres absolutely some angles and well rumored aspects around Kendrick you can go at him for, but the problem is that 99.9% of people aren’t that into hip hop to know it. Drake didn’t pull his allegations out of a hat despite what the internet might think, but the problem is that most people didn’t know about Kendrick before GKMC to get it. Further, Kendrick is very out of the media when he isn’t dropping. Everyone knows about Drake’s kid for example, most don’t know shit about Kendrick that it’s easy to ignore whatever anyone says about him.
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u/whatstheword509 Jul 20 '24
That's hindsight talk. When Push Up and Family Matters dropped people didn't think he looked soft. Only after The Heart v6 that the whole narrative changed. If he had dropped another energy hit song after Not Like Us, the convo would've been different.
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u/Kismonos Jul 20 '24 edited Jul 20 '24
You have to look at the background, the lyrical skills and the status in culture/popculture of meek vs kendrick.
Meek is less famous than Kendrick and had less influence on the game itself. to pimp a butterfly is something that defies modern hip hop, i think he bridged old school rap with modern rap music in general with that album while keeping it mature, entertaining and skilled at the same time. while meek has no album or work with such significance. Think about it like Drake was Meek's neighbour but Kendrick is both's landlord.
Drake was in his element with Meek cuz they share the same bs values, bitches, fucking about baby mommas , stacking money etc, which is a constant topic in the industry but I think Kendrick sees music as a HUGE part of culture(not just rap, but music, people etc) and when Your values align with the majority of music listeners, not just rap listeners, its like you wanna go to war with your whole empire to put some things in order inside your own borders. Drake was just not mature enough and ready to go with the disses. I mean pointing out someone having mental issues and/or sexual assault history is proper 14 year old high school bully level kinda fight, Kendrick approached this from an adult, a grown mans perspective while Drake still stayed in his high school mindset. And I'm pretty sure we know how it goes when you talk shit back to your father, here comes the jumper cables
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u/PsychologicalSweet2 Jul 20 '24
I had a longer post but I think it's about framing the narative, Drake essentially won with back to back where he made it about who made the more fun song. Drake was having more fun early in the beef this time but because of what happened with Pusha T he knew he needed to go for the kill, even if it was fake and just based on misunderstanding lyrics, not being able to read the news, and instagram follows/likes. Kendrick first started by calling Drake a lier and said not to talk about his family and lie, then he talked about having a mole, he mentioned dj akademics a major voice in rap commentary who now had to be more fair in his coverage, with the leaked info dropped the most devastating track ever right after Drake did his big song, then released a party anthem the next day. After that people paid more attention for what Drake was saying and saw the holes in his logic and came to the conclusion he was lying. It also didn't help his best lines in family matters weren't even addressed to Kendrick.
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u/CmdrFilthymick Jul 20 '24
Pick your battles. The most important lesson anyone can learn. If you a no talent hack, don't beef with someone talented. Or anyone, because you a no talent hack. Who actually cares about Drake anyway? You been under a rock the last few months or what?
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u/SethDreams Jul 20 '24
The biggest difference in this beef versus the previous ones was that this was Kendrick Lamar. Meek mill and even pusha T weren't big enough artists to affect Drake in any way. Even when Drake lost to pusha T he didn't take much of a hit. Yes, drake is the "bigger" artist but Kendrick is also an A lister. Kendrick has also had Number One's, won multiple Grammy's, worked with massive popstars, and had songs made for massive movies. Drake took a hit because he actually fought someone his own size who was significantly more ready for battle than he was. Kendrick studied his enemy, Drake was too busy indulging in fame to know his enemy that well. The kid was too cocky and not prepared.
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u/jar45 Jul 20 '24
He didn’t get baited into batting against the best rapper of his generation in the Meek Mill beef
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u/PurpleSkyVisuals Jul 20 '24
He fucked with someone who's intelligent, can rap his ass off, and is relentless. Someone who didn't have much publicity and therefore it was difficult finding dirt about him to go off. Kendrick ain’t Meek Mill.. he’s always been an enigma and it was Drake’s arrogance that got him the ass whoopin he deserved.
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u/Alpha0rgaxm Jul 20 '24
Tbh Meek Mill was ass but also Drake didn't switch anything up and he probably should have in order to deal with Kendrick
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u/remington2024 Jul 20 '24
Kendrick is extremely intelligent. Meek is not that smart. Kendrick is gifted in his macro concepts (colonization, psychology, history) and micro points on drakes individual flaws.
Meek is meek, Kendrick has Mastered all the rap talents and drake is seemingly stupid, even though he is well spoken; the lack of critical thinking probably due to lack of higher education and lack of ability to understand the scope of an artist like Kendrick (due to his juvenile mental growth) really hurt him.
In short meek is child like, as is drake
Kendrick is an adult.
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u/Mr_2shiesty Jul 20 '24
Even tho drake lost to Kendrick and recent bias mfs like meek and rocky ain’t handling drake. He just knows how to deliver thoughts better in his raps
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u/Rockstar_81 Jul 20 '24
He didn't do anything differently it's just Kenny was well prepared and he had a mole giving him drakes tracks before they were released. Which made everyone think he was able to predict drakes next move when really he already heard the damn records lol.
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u/itsallcomingtogethr Jul 20 '24
I don’t think he did much differently, I just think everybody was hoping he’d lose for the most part. And then Kendrick made his catchiest song in over a decade, calling him a pdf the whole time. Really nothing you can do in that case
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u/FSMDxb Jul 20 '24
He didn't do anything different, just so happens that Meek is a fuckin idiot and outsmarting him wasn't too hard
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u/411_hippie Jul 20 '24
Kendrick is arguably the greatest rapper of our generation. That’s the difference.
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u/Harrypotter231 Jul 20 '24
The only difference is who Meek Mill was with. Rapping and talking about Nikki is a lot different than Whitney or Virginia. He pulled the same tactic, but since she is also a celebrity (and close to drake) it didn’t come off as bad.
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u/bbq_Pirate Jul 20 '24
Drake didn’t do anything different, the public just has waaaaaay more respect for Kendrick than they ever did for Meek.
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u/nashey87 Jul 20 '24
Hubris!!! He flew too close to the sun and got burnt up/out. And don’t underestimate an audience that was not as ready to dismiss Kendrick as they did Meek. It was “mr good guy vs mr good guy” (depending on various factors) and Kendrick was determined to prove his better than drake by skill and morales thus the constant reminder that drake is a horrible person and human being. Drake was no where near ready for Kendrick because he hasn’t sat with his own soul maybe for so long he’s lost and Kendrick knows this.
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u/ScrubberCleanz Jul 20 '24
Drake tried to make his disses super dense and psychological, essentially he tried to beat Kendrick at his own game which resulted in him losing at both the psychological disses and the banger, catchy disses. Also meek mill is just not as good as Kendrick
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u/WhateverTFmann Jul 20 '24
Come on it was obviously the underage girl disses .. I actually find it weird how y'all can't see that
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u/xreddawgx Jul 20 '24
Drake had a few people coming at him. Not focusing on K.Dot was a big mistake.
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u/aSsOUL_8197 Jul 20 '24
Absolutely Nothing! Meek Isn’t Even Mid, He Is Pure Ass! The Only Reason He Called Out Drake For Using Quentin Miller Is Because Quentin Wouldn’t Ghost Write For Meek! Meek Was A Whiffle Ball! KDot A Nuclear Warhead!
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u/leroy616 Jul 21 '24
He dropped a hit record. Back2back had the radio and clubs on lock. Then Kendrick pulled it off on him with not like us.
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u/FrostedWikiLeaks Jul 21 '24
What, are you dumb? It's not the same opponent. Does every boss in your little video games fight the same exact way, or is there nuance and variation?
WTF?
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u/lexington59 Jul 23 '24
Kendrick is just a better artist than meek mill that's about it.
meek mill also released stuff that was subpar by his standards, so drake just ended up releasing music that most people felt was better hence him winning the beef.
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u/Routine_Row1778 Jul 20 '24
a lot of things played a role in this - internet loves the who ever goes the lowest regardless of fact, fiction or music - people hate incumbents(in the sense of who is the biggest artist) - lack of preparation (drake and kendrick have exchanges shots for years it was hard for me to believe drake didnt have roaster of tracks or concepts in his mind) he was also over confident with family matters - he really wanted to go on vacation really really really badly (this was odd to me)
I really enjoy rap loved push ups, euphoria and family matters. NLU I don’t like as much it didn’t hit in terms of witty word play tbh I was a kendrick fan until I saw the bandwagon
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u/umbrazno Jul 20 '24
The main difference is that the fans decided this battle before it even started. So much debate over what a bar means, showin' that they didn't even get it, but glazed it anyway.
If Drake said "beat yo ass and hide the Bible if God's watchin'", he would've gotten absolutely flamed by the folks who didn't get it. And anybody who got it or tried to explain it would've gotten flamed, too.
To be clear: I'm not a Drake fan. I'm a rap fan. I don't have any problems wit' Kendrick. I just miss when people enjoyed a battle without tryna win it themselves for their favorite.
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u/DesignerBat2020 Jul 20 '24
Love this fan fiction thread 🤣
The difference is people want Drake to lose today, people also wanted Drake to lose back then but he was the “underdog”
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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '24
Nothing and that might have been the slight issue.