Will Drake Kill the Diss Track?

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A full year has passed since the Pop Out event, and the ripples from the Kendrick vs. Drake dispute continue to be felt like aftershocks. Just as an earthquake causes a significant shift in tectonic plates, so too have the foundations of culture and industry within hip-hop been altered – potentially forever. The legal action taken by Drake over “Not Like Us” has escalated this feud into something that could have long-term harmful effects on hip-hop. While I might sound partial, my concern isn’t born out of bias but rather a deep love for the genre and fear of its potential destruction at the hands of Drake.

The storyline subtly hints at pettiness, making it fitting to compare it to the plotlines found in typical high school movies from old Hollywood.

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The underlying tone seems petty, thus making a comparison to the stories told in classic Hollywood high school movies appropriate for explaining this saga.

In this fictional setting, the school represents hip-hop culture. The narrative unfolds prior to a significant event. Kendrick, an upperclassman and the most popular student, is portrayed as the epitome of this institution. He excels academically due to his intelligence, but it’s his authenticity that truly endears him to others, embodying the spirit of the school. Having grown up within these walls, Kendrick has become so intertwined with the place that he is essentially one and the same as the school. If this imaginary school had colors, Kendrick would undoubtedly bleed them.

In this narrative, Drake is depicted as a well-liked and charming character who plays the role of an exchange student. Unlike Kendrick, Drake seems more focused on romance rather than raw authenticity. He embodies the stereotypical Hollywood foreign exchange student persona, struggling to grasp the cultural nuances around him.

Drake’s weakness lies in his relationship with hip-hop culture. Despite being associated with it, he lacks a profound understanding of its essence. He may know the formal aspects but is oblivious to the hidden, informal elements that truly define hip-hop.

The origin of the dispute can be traced back to when Kendrick made a significant, generational statement in Big Sean’s “Control” track in 2013. In this verse, he criticized numerous contemporary rappers by name. However, it wasn’t a personal attack; instead, his intention was to express, “I am the best of my generation,” in a manner characteristic of hip-hop culture.

Most MCs mentioned by Kendrick Lamar grasped his intentions. They accepted it as part of the hip-hop culture. However, Drake didn’t quite follow suit. In numerous interviews, he expressed confusion about Kendrick’s actions. He failed to comprehend that in hip-hop, a diss track bearing your name isn’t always meant as an insult. Unfortunately, Drake doesn’t have a deep enough understanding of the culture to realize this. As I mentioned earlier, he isn’t fully versed in its unspoken rules.

Lamar’s thesis in “Not Like Us” is that Drake fails to grasp hip-hop culture due to his outsider status, which he expresses by calling him a “colonizer.” Essentially, this means that while Drake takes elements from the culture for his own use, he doesn’t truly embody or belong to it.

Drake’s actions following the release of “Not Like Us” supported Kendrick’s assertion. A few months later, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group, the label shared by both artists. In his lawsuit, Drake alleged that the song contained a deliberate, clear, and false claim about him being a criminal pedophile, suggesting to the public that they should take vigilante action in response.

He suggested that the reason for the song’s success was due to support from UMG, which may have been intended to harm his reputation. Since Drake is also one of UMG’s major artists, some might interpret the lawsuit as saying: “They aided in the success of Kendrick’s diss track using methods they’ve used to boost my own songs, and now I’m upset.

Suing was, without question, the most un-hip-hop move possible.

It seems to me that this legal dispute has inflicted greater harm on Drake’s reputation and his career than any defeat could have. A defeat can be taken with grace, earning respect in its wake. He weathered the loss against Pusha T in 2018. However, being a poor sport is much harder to recover from. The feud, the exchange of diss tracks, was a fair contest in the high school setting. Kendrick emerged victorious, Drake lost, and then he went to the authorities. Once the authorities are involved, things don’t always turn out for the best.

Drake’s ongoing legal dispute is raising concerns due to the possible precedent it might establish. Corporate lawyers often prefer to stay one step ahead when dealing with potential issues. This could lead record labels to become more cautious about supporting songs that are diss tracks aimed at specific individuals. If an artist can successfully sue over a diss track, would this mark the end of widely distributed and label-supported diss records?

That would be a loss for the culture.

At the heart of hip-hop lies the fierce competition. Some of the genre’s most memorable instances stem from one rapper attempting to outdo another lyrically, such as Tupac’s “Hit Em Up,” Nas’s “Ether,” Jay-Z’s “Takeover,” Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline.” These weren’t subtle or indirect. They were open and brutal. And in their raw intensity, they were captivating. The essence of hip-hop lies in this kind of passionate conflict. We relish the moments when rappers engage in a battle.

It appears that Drake might become the last significant rapper to face a significant diss on a major track. Perhaps his legacy will be defined as the artist who suffered the greatest defeat in rap history, and subsequently chose to abandon the battling aspect of rap altogether. The disheartened competitor who walked away from the game, preventing others from continuing the contest.

Thanks a lot, Drake.

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2025-06-19 20:26