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7 reasons why Kendrick vs. Drake is the biggest battle in hip-hop history
The Kendrick-Drake battle become the biggest battle in hip-hop history. Why do I say he’s the best ever? I even have no less than seven reasons. (That’s yet another than 6!)
1. This battle gave us perhaps the best weekend in hip-hop history. From Friday morning to Sunday evening, five recent diss albums appeared in culture. Friday morning was for Kendrick “6:16 in Los Angeles” Friday night belonged to DrakeFamily matters” (with video) and a number of minutes later “Kendrick”Meet the Grahams” And then, on Saturday night, there was one other one from Kendrick: “Not like us” On Sunday, Drake returned with “Heart, part 6” It was an exciting, exhausting and truthfully terrifying few days. (Scary because this beef turned really dark.)
I’ll always remember the screaming text messages I received. Friday morning, a flood of text messages got here in, like 15 people without delay, all saying: KENDRICK FELL!!! That night, as I used to be about to start out watching the Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, one other wave of text messages got here in: DRAKE HAD ANSWERED! Moments later: NEW, NEW KENDRICK! I used to be flooded. It was a lot to soak up. But I also felt very connected to my community – everyone was talking and talking about it. Each song got here with Easter eggs. Kendrick in particular needed a special decoding ring and literary deconstruction to completely understand what he was saying. So each song required reading to assist you to unpack it, scrolling, texting, Googling, and speaking. I spent two whole days furiously texting, DMing, and talking to my most caring hip-hop friends to seek out out what they saw on these records. It was a rare weekend in hip-hop.
2. During this battle, Kendrick gave us his best performance ever in many battle songs. You could argue that Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” or Tupac’s “Hit Em Up” were the best battle songs of all time, OK. But nobody has ever made 4 diss records pretty much as good as the 4 Kendrick lost in that battle. Drake puts out some solid music – “Family Matters” was really good, it pains me to confess, but it surely’s not enough to maintain up with K’s monstrous body of labor. It’s like Drake on the court putting together an honest 20-point game while Kendrick was running wildly and missing 81 points.
3. This fight is really mean. The two men sit and take a look at to think about the cruelest and most hurtful things they might say to one another. They speak about pedophilia and domestic violence. They each attempt total character assassination. They really hate one another. As in the event that they each find yourself in the same city at the same time, someone may have to go away. That’s what you wish in battle: true hostility. The meanness in this case runs so deep that the entire fight has gone to the gutter. The topic went from who is the best MC to “You’re a terrible father,” “You beat your wife,” and “I’m telling your parents you’re a terrible person and your next show in Oakland might be your last.” ” It’s vile, even by the wild standards of hip-hop battle, and that is why I’m here.
4. Kendrick unlocked a brand new level in this battle. His brilliance was fully revealed. It’s devilish. He’s an evil genius. I’ve heard people joke that Kendrick inspired them to be higher haters, but seriously, Kendrick inspired me to attempt to be a greater author. The complexity of his writing is something to aspire to. Kendrick had a historic performance in this battle that elevated his legacy. For the past few years, I’ve believed that Kendrick needs to be in my top five conversations of all time, but I’ve found that the majority hip-hop fans find the idea controversial. This is now not controversial. It was already clear that he was the best MC of his generation, but now it’s reasonable to argue that he’s the third, fourth or fifth best MC of all time, behind the likes of Jay-Z, Nas and Andre 3000.
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5. This battle has an especially mysterious background feel, like a spy novel or a Mission Impossible sequel. Kendrick said in “Euphoria” that there is a leak in Drake’s camp. He said someone at OVO was secretly working for him. He seemed to prove it by releasing it in the Jewish district and faculty, divorced from the African-American experience. Some consider that his lack of connection to African-American culture during his adolescence explains why he now appears to be greater than that, acting like a black man fairly than authentically embodying a connection to African-Americanism. Does that mean he isn’t black? NO. Does this explain why Kendrick says the N-word just doesn’t sound correct? Maybe. It’s like there is a college-level course on black identity in Instagram comment sections.
7. This battle has led to a deep and offended condemnation and demonization of homeless fathers. I do not know obviously if the term “killer dad” actually applies to Drake, but it surely doesn’t matter in this case. We have Kendrick, an especially respectable MC, screaming on the mic that certainly one of the worst things in the world is being a crap dad. Normalize embarrassing deadbeat dads.
This battle was a wild circus and I adore it. But perhaps it would end soon, because it’s extremely stressful to have a lot vitriol in your ears.