beef or “plant” based?

so the last i’ve heard, drake had responded to a back to back barrage of diss tracks by kendrick lamar. what apparently started off as just another lyrical sparring session has evolved into a critical series of cutthroat rhyme schemes & career threatening revelations meant to destroy eachother’s character. while some people have completely bought into the alleged rap war between the two hip hop stars, others remain skeptical about the level of authenticity existing within this “beef” and for good reason. with the state of the world rapidly changing and the AMOUNT OF social TENSIONs which seems to be growing on a daily. IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYWHERE WE TURN there’s a certain level of “EXCITEMENT" that is intentionally being suggested to us, likely with hopes of public escalation. in other words, we’re being divided.

if what has been going on in the industry is real, (meaning occuring organically) then it’s also safe to say that a lot of heavy hitters are about to experience some major turbulance if not a complete left turn on their current careers as more & more corruption is brought to the surface & held accountable. which would make room for a whole new generation of leaders & icons. but, say this is all scripted… what could that mean for the rest of the culture & why now?

here is the timeline:

“First person shooter” by drake and jcole (October 6, 2023) - sparks the back & forth with talk about “a big 3” specifically in j.cole’s verse. however, other sources have allegedly pointed out that earlier jabs were thrown over the last decade (k.dots verse on control by big sean, 2013)

“Like That” by Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar (March 22, 2024) - kendrick says ”f*** a big 3” + other shots were thrown

“Push Ups” by Drake (April 13, 2024) - drake claps back clowning kendrick over record contracts, album sales, & his own creative freedom

“Taylor Made Freestyle” by Drake (April 19, 2024) - drake used ai to replicate rapper, tupac’s voice on the intro of a diss to kendrick, this was later forced to be deleted by tupac’s estate

“Euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar (April 30, 2024) - kendrick exposes drake’s lifestyle of sexual abuse & child abuse. calls drake a colonizer & points out the ways in which drake is a ‘culture-vulture’ that fakes his appearance & accent.

“6:16 in LA” by Kendrick Lamar (May 3, 2024) kendrick drops again before drake could respond, warning drake to cut the facade & be more geniune with his fans & his self. (“before you figure you are not alone, ask what mike would do”)

“Buried Alive Interlude, Pt. 2” by drake may 3, 2024) - Drake points to his album “take care” which was one of kendrick’s first major verses upon blowing up in the industry making a point to say ‘he put kendrick on’.

“Family Matters” by Drake (May 3, 2024) drake responds with shots at kendrick accusing him of being an abuser to his girlfriend, as well as a bad father who fakes being a social activist for clout.

“Meet the Grahams” by Kendrick Lamar (May 4, 2024) Kendrick responds within a few hours to speak more on drake’s exploitive lifestyle & fake image. he also reveals an alleged 11 year old daughter said to be ignored by drake along with other unknown & abandoned kids.

“Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar (May 4, 2024) kendrick, in classic west coast fashion leans deeper into allegations that Drake and his crew are sexually violent, calling them “certified pedophiles”

“The Heart Part 6” by drake (may 6, 2024) Drake claims his team intentionally fed Lamar false information about alleged daughter to make kendrick look stupid. “You gotta learn to fact check things and be less impatient/Your fans are rejoicin’ thinkin’ this is my expiration”.

Over the span of this so called beef, allegations of child abuse, domestic violence, & exploitation have risen to the surface, transcending the landscape of the verbal confrontation into the realm of law & politics. surely these accusations didn’t come out of nowhere. we’ve heard time & time again of celebrities & public figures taking advantage of vulnerable people for their own personal gain. just over the past year there has been multiple cases of human trafficking, drug assault, & other manipulative tools of exploitation. jeffery epstein’s island is probably one of the biggest cases of sexual exploitation that most people know of. plus ofcourse, the recent diddy accusations that are coming up. public outcry against the biden family, donald trump, R kelly, & other political leaders is just the tip of the iceberg. Human trafficking of all kinds is slowly being revealed to us as one of, if not the biggest issue in our society. so with that being said, why are 2 of the most influential hip-hop artists of our generation just casually rapping about these topics out of nowhere?

just a year ago nobody would even bother trying to compare the two because of their polarizing styles & subject matter. now all of a sudden they’re going toe-to-toe in a race to ruin each other’s reputation. could it be that this whole back & forth between the 2 artists is based on an even more urgent race that could negatively effect the both of them if attention isn’t placed elsewhere? are we being tested to normalize & accept such topics like Child trafficking as long as they’re being candy coated with beats & melodies? if this sounds like conspiracy theory to you then maybe you aren’t aware of the deep connections between public opinion & media.

as well-rounded individuals, we must understand the relationships between things that are not directly connected & understand how to find links/patterns in order to tie together complex topics. we must realize that everything is connected. and what is one thing that connects us to everything we know & love? time. so it’s not a reach to look at the timing between all the madness going on in the world with wars, financial turmoil across the country, different influential figures being exposed for heinous crimes on a daily basis, violence running rampant in our cities, the internet dumbing down our youth, the list goes on … it’s not a reach to look at the timing in which all of this is happening & understand that it is no coincidence we are being shown someone who has built their career on ideas of morality, social justice, & connectivity with god (kendrick) being at war someone who has built a large part of their career aligning themselves with gang culture & toxicity. ofcourse neither person is 100% on one side but nonetheless their public image was built with these extremes in mind. If we look in our current media we see other examples of this battle between “good & evil”, with movies like kong vs. godzilla or the avenger’s series, a “forever war” is being depicted where the fate of humanity lies in some sort of battle of historic proportions. more examples can be seen when we look at the country’s most controversial topics within the past few years. abortion rights, Gay marriage, shit, they have us arguing about the difference between a man & a woman… not that these topics dont matter, but simply put, most people already have a firm opinion or outlook on these topics & forcing them to be our “biggest issues” only pushes people away & further draws the line of division. a majority of people would much rather spend that time arguing something that could actually benefit our own communities like taxes, education, healthcare, income, housing, etc.

or how about the recent instances of contraversy we’ve experienced as we watch “random” altercations between celebrities like kim & kanye, blueface & chrisean rock, tory lanez & meg the stallion, and countless others that all seem to place us in a position where we must choose. regardless of what you have decided about the mentioned topics, it would be wise to look around & see the recurring themes of devisiveness we continue to be faced with as we are left to decide which are the lesser of two evils.

speaking of which, one of the most relevant examples of choosing between “the lesser of two evils”, our most upcoming presidential election between joe biden & donald trump. on one hand you have a guy who is blatantly a divisive, dirty, & destructive person vs. a guy who has caused so much economic destruction in the past 4 years that most people are willing to just settle with pretty much anybody else who’s running for office.

now just follow me down this rabbit hole real quick.. imagine this rap battle just being a temperature check on the community in preparation for the upcoming election. in this case, drake would be biden, one of the most powerful people in music business who overtime has lost alot of respect from hip hop fans who have pointed out the various ways he can be looked at as a culture vulture or a fraud who just panders to a certain group of people for money & clout. a democrat. and kendrick would be trump, a highly volatile influencer who seemingly represents a group of people who seek reparation & feel as though they have been thrown to the backburner & ignored for far too long.

now here’s the kick,

the same way alot of people see trump as only using a large portion of country, white, middle american emotions for leverage & voter loyalty. is kendrick pandering towards his own community as well? what if both sides are simply two different arms of the same monster. think about it. in a perfect world, both kendrick & drake are celebrated as musical geniuses & represent a high level of pride for hip-hop as a whole. as we know, our world isn’t perfect (until we make it). which means the likelyhood of two people who should be acknowledged as just two different artists, both being in compromising positions & told by their labels to battle over who’s “better” using any tactic possible is not far-fetched. here we are having to make a decision about which one of them “loses”. obviously rap battles have been around since the start of hip hop & was considered sport as well as a test of mental fortitude. but this particular battle to me just seems very random in how it started as if there is something we’re all missing. for whoever wants to control the masses, the “win-win” is simple. on one side you have two extremely likeable people arguing & exposing each other in front of the world about topics that are extremely not likeable for the majority of the general population. on the other side, we the people are allowing ourselves to be entertained by such information, therefore, normalizing the idea of influential figures we value being domestic abusers, child predators, & frauds.

honestly, i hope i’m wrong about kenrick being a sellout, especially since songs like “not like us” exposing the reality of whats been getting swept under the rug for so long is exactly what the people need right now. and as much as i love drake’s music (trust me, i’m a fan) , i’m just not surprised by these accusations. but as it seems right now, either one of them is telling the truth or they both are. which means accountability is coming. i personally don’t care about the beef & found it underwhelming and comedic at best. but when you start talking about pedophilia & sexual assault?? this ain’t just about the music nomore. now i need answers.

suppose we are being exposed to all of this at a time when our biggest priority as a people is unity? what if the recurring themes of division, good & evil, or right & wrong are simply tools to numb us into accepting certain ‘norms’ into our lives? at the end of the day we must come together & shine light on what connects us instead of focusing so much energy on seeing the downfall of others & trying to tear each other a part. think about all the fighting, shooting, & chaos we’re exposed to all over social media. there are small, isolated groups of people that want to see us self implode as a society. they want us stuck in a cycle of negativity. we must learn to favor neither our emotions or our logic but instead learn ourselves & each other so that we can be able to express our “emotions-logically”.

~ leave a comment & join the conversation below ~