It feels something has gone wrong for Drake at every turn this year. From the diss track battle with Kendrick Lamar, to the poorly timed UMG and Spotify pre-action petitions, he’s put himself in a bad light. Overall, most of these shortcomings have come at his own doing. But one thing he can hang his hat on is that he’s going to continue to have a strong legion of fans. Many of them have staunchly supported him throughout all of the hard times in 2024. It makes sense though, as he’s built up an established army for over a decade now.
Like all artists, there’s different levels of support. For example, there’s the casual who will champion your music as long as it’s hot. Then there’s the obvious die-hard, which is an accurate description of most Drake fans. They will swear up and down that you have never missed and that every decision you make is the right one. Top5, Canadian native and rapper, falls into that category, however, he could also go in a separate tier all by himself.
We say that because, yesterday he made some headlines in regard to Kendrick Lamar’s Grand National Tour announcement. One of his shows will be at the Rogers Centre and he said the only way he’d respect Dot is if he brought zero police escorts to the venue. As you could imagine, he was met with ruthless criticism and was roasted heavily for it.
Another man you can throw in Drake’s all-time fan camp is DJ Akademiks. He’s going to post any sort of Drake content possible, even if it’s not in direct relation to him. A perfect example of this, is the IG Live clip above with Top5 and J. Prince Jr., the son of record label founder, J. Prince. The latter is also a big Drake supporter, as his Jr. Ak reshared their link-up shooting the s*** and fans are just left confused as to why this is news. “‘2 clowns link up on ig live to yap about nuffin’,” one user writes back. “All of drakes Toronto homies are straight dorks and squares” another adds.
Regardless of how so many people feel that Kendrick Lamar is the winner of the Drake battle, there are still going to be others that disagree. The amount of time that has passed since its end also has no effect on it whatsoever neither. One supposed fan of The Boy who goes by aubreysattorney on Twitter (X) sounds like someone who will defend him to the death. Well, that is certainly true because this Drake supporter is making assertions that the entire TDE label is full of “thugs”. In the tweet below, they list of numerous events/subplots from the beef and how the imprint has “threaten[ed]” foes of Kendrick in some way.
The Twitter user has since sparked a heated debate with these claims amongst the community with some calling him a “racial agitator”, for example. This semi-viral message popped up on the TDE CEO’s (Punch) feed, and it led him to respond in the perfect way. Punch decided to clarify for the viewers what this Drake fan means by “thug”, and it apparently is an acronym. It stands for “Truly Humble United Gathering Souls”, which is such a hilarious polar opposite. Overall, all Punch could do was laugh it off.
What are your thoughts on this Drake fan on Twitter calling TDE a bunch of thugs? How do you feel about Punch TDE’s response to these claims? Does this say anything about the Canadian rapper’s fan base as a whole? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding, TDE, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
Joe Budden is someone who has consistently been critical of Drake. However, he has also been extremely complimentary of the artist whenever it has been deserved. Overall, the two aren’t exactly on the best of terms. There have been plenty of instances in which Drake has gone after Joe and vice versa. Throughout the Kendrick Lamar beef, that has been especially true. Budden has been immensely critical of Drizzy, especially due to his recent features and social media antics.
In a recent interview, Joe was asked about his thoughts on Drake and the rapper’s fanbase. This subsequently led to an interesting response that some may not appreciate all that much. “If you’re talking to a Drake fan, that don’t mean you’re talking to a Hip Hop fan,” Budden said. Of course, the point here is obvious. Joe is saying that Drake has a lot of crossover fans. These fans aren’t always into hip-hop but love Drake for his pop records.
Budden haters may misinterpret his words and claim that Drake fans as a whole don’t like hip-hop. That would be a ridiculous misread. Instead, Joe is simply pointing out the reality that some Drake fans don’t even care about rap beef. In fact, they may have never heard a Kendrick Lamar song before. Regardless, because it is Joe saying this, some may act defensively. Although when you think about it, this is not a new analysis of the legendary Canadian megastar.
Let us know what you think about this take from Joe Budden, in the comments section down below. Do you agree that a lot of Drake fans don’t care about hip-hop as a whole? How do you feel about Joe’s consistent takes on Drizzy? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
DJ Akademiks has been a key figure in the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Overall, Akademiks has been live on stream every day since things escalated with “Euphoria” last Tuesday. It has been impressive to watch him move, especially since he got name-dropped by Kendrick on “6:16 In LA.” If any media figure has come away with the win in this beef, it has been Ak, even if he is a Drake stan. Ak has been adamant that Kendrick is winning, although he has been teasing something new from the Toronto megastar.
Last night, Kendrick Lamar found himself in the crosshairs of Drake fans. One page called King Jared found some old tweets that contain punchlines similar to those found in “Not Like Us.” This subsequently led to allegations that Lamar has been straight up stealing his bars from Twitter. While many believe these are purely coincidental, others are firm believers that this completely disqualifies Kendrick from the rap battle.
Multiple tweets consisting of bars Kendrick used in his disses resurface from years ago, almost word for word Drake even said “it feel like Twitter ghostwriting your reply” pic.twitter.com/vu5kR44jni
In the Via link below, you can see a clip from Ak’s stream last night where he speaks on the stolen bar accusations. Ultimately, Akademiks thinks that fans need to chill out and stop looking for things that don’t exist. He admitted that Drake fans such as himself just need to admit that K-Dot is a genius and that he got one over on Drake. To claim otherwise, would simply be a bit delusional. It was an admirable stance for Akademiks to take, especially when you consider how he has a direct line to the “God’s Plan” artist.
Let us know what you think of the allegations leveled against Kendrick Lamar, in the comments section down below. Do you really believe that he was lurking through Twitter to find some bars for “Not Like Us?” Or do you think that Drake fans are just trying to find a new angle? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
Have you ever thought we, as fans, were working for Kendrick Lamar and Drake? For many in the rap world, Drake and Kendrick’s place as leaders in hip-hop’s commercial space couldn’t be less different. The former is a reclusive and reluctant “savior” of the genre’s traditions with massive acclaim for his album output. In contrast, the latter is an inescapable juggernaut that pushed rap forward and offered some of the genre’s (and frankly, contemporary music’s) most accessible and successful hits. However, their differences don’t mean much when considering that they are playing the same game. It’s two different types of shots at the goal of rap’s throne in the commercial mainstream, two different headliners on the culture’s biggest stages, and two transcendent artistries that make record labels detached from the culture a whole lot of money.
However, perhaps the saddest similarity between Kendrick Lamar and Drake is that they’ve cultivated equally obsessive corners of their larger fanbases that made their current feud of mutually assured lyrical destruction a whole lot messier. We’re not talking about casual fans or fans of both or those who don’t care at all, and this isn’t (fully) an Animal Farm-core “it was impossible to say which was which” take. Stans of either MC are easily distinguishable if only going off of their taste; if they like one and dislike the other, that doesn’t define one’s character. We’re talking about these die-hards that are just as susceptible to spreading bot rumors, fake tweets, personal attacks, and dismissals void of earnestness against their fave’s opponent as they are to ignore these same claims against their champion blindly. They’re not the real problem in this beef, but they are exposing it.
For one, the only rappers truly capable of avoiding any opponent’s smoke are the top dogs, and Drake and Kendrick Lamar are unique in that regard. Sadly, many lyricists can continue a career with horrific allegations against them. But only a few across history have ever truly “survived” a rap beef loss against one of the greats, something that both K.Dot and Drizzy risked with their back-and-forth. As much as To Pimp A Butterfly and If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late operate on different realms, their alchemy produces the same potions. Hit records, cultural ubiquity, respect for their penmanship, brand partnerships, business ventures, and so much more through the capitalist structure of hip-hop’s kiosk in the cultural marketplace. Their acceptance in the culture is very different, but that hasn’t impacted their fanbases or success.
Drake faced a lot of unfair criticism in old-school hip-hop thought but persevered regardless to lead new generations. Kendrick Lamar is astonished on both sides but with lots of “overrated” shots at his rap style, deliveries, concepts, or less accessible material that doesn’t pass the car test. But every single metric can be levied at the opposing side’s fans. No Mr. Morale fan cared much about numbers in comparison to The Boy until these disses, and no OVO supporter believed still-present botting claims from unknown parties until they came against their captain’s rival. Everyone’s reaching for a sextuple entendre or clowning any attempts to do so for the other side. Kendrick fans are trying to beat him in a “Drake hating” competition, and Drake fans act like the support behind the biggest artist in the world is something that the world is always turning against.
That perspective quickly manifested in ugly ways. Now fans stood by fake Drake tweets, misreadings of “Mother I Sober” and “DUCKWORTH.,” presumptions about relationships with young women, and Instagram follows and real estate as hard evidence for cheating and fatherhood, all of which perpetuates female trauma as talking points to accuse. It’s a narrative war now, but we don’t have the luxury of foreseeing a future in which these claims don’t become a much darker foreshadowing or reckoning, and nobody wants to see another Black man fall to the prison system. After all, the 6ix God’s neighborhood was recently the victim of a reported shooting, in which an alleged security guard was struck. No rap beef should go this far, but fans unwittingly contribute to this warped misinterpretation that could lead to disaster.
That’s not to say that Kendrick Lamar or Drake shouldn’t be held accountable for these alleged crimes if true. But who wants rap beef to bring about violence or lawsuits as a “Gotcha”? Fans’ completely unabashed engagement with the ugly parts of these suppositions becomes moot when you consider that many of these skeletons were already out of the closet.
No tweet from Kendrick’s partner’s brother or testimony from an alleged Drake victim can change that we knew about Kendrick’s team threatening to pull music from Spotify in support of XXXTENTACION and other possibly removed artists (which the team called a double standard callout) or that we already saw that Denver concert video or heard the nature of Drake’s texts to Millie Bobby Brown, talking to her about boys and missing her. Either way, fans blindly stand behind an allegedly terrible person, which isn’t damnation until they engage in selective outrage.
Why Kendrick Lamar & Drake Are The Problem Fans Are Self-Exposing
But this celebrity culture trap refuses to distinguish art and character. Kendrick Lamar fans and Drake fans are one and the same because, when the other side argues against their fave’s opponent, it feels like they are talking to themselves instead of the music. They want validation in their righteousness because they connect with “Money Trees,” and they want to flaunt success against all opposition because they remember the “Marvin’s Room” days. Because victory would be saying something about themselves. There’s nothing wrong with art connecting to you despite its circumstances, but those circumstances are a much more important part of your life than the music itself is. As such, making that distinction and accepting that support of art doesn’t replace actual values would save many of these reaching fans from letting the art blind their hearts.
There can still be a “winner” if we fully embrace the kayfabe of it all, and in that art-driven regard, Kendrick seems to have taken the crown by rap’s metrics as a culture and art form. Like he said, he is not our savior. It’s also important to note that these two predominantly white fanbases on rap’s biggest stage represent the industry-wide problem of exploiting Black art, relationship issues, financial success, political strife, or cultural imposter syndrome for a sense of superiority. The artists are either “the villain” or “one of the good ones,” but neither take from this sub-sect of fans engages with more important issues at hand. Drake and Kendrick Lamar know this too well and effectively leveraged these statuses in this beef one way or another. They fed these specific, terminally online fans the information as master manipulators. They are not like us.
Drake’s recently become known for his charitable spirit on tour, whether it was last year’s It’s All A Blur trek with 21 Savage or his current Big As The What? expansion with J. Cole. Moreover, a fan in Kansas City got a huge blessing and a cathartic moment of tribute on his show on Saturday (March 2). Moreover, the 6ix God received a note onstage from a nearby concert-goer who asked him if he could pay off his deceased mother’s house.
“This is it?” Drake asked the fan who passed him a note explaining their situation. “You said, ‘Pay off my mom’s house, rest in peace.’ Your mom passed away? Alright, and you owe… Oh, this is the outstanding balance right here. This is a lot of money right here. But you know what? I’ma pay off your momma’s house for you. That’s a lot of money right here. That’s 106 bands right here, but I’m gonna pay out of my pocket, that’s going to come from me. Rest in peace to your momma, rest in peace to your momma.”
We wonder what hoops Drake and his team have to go through in order to get this money to the right person, and that presumably difficult process is just another reason to admire the effort. However, news around the Big As The What? tour became quite tragic and saddening as of late. A mother and daughter tragically lost their lives as they made their way home from the Missouri concert when a car struck them on the street. The Toronto entertainer paid tribute to their memory during a Buffalo stop.
Meanwhile, this run of shows also brought along its fair share of special guests, such as Machine Gun Kelly and Doe Boy at Drizzy and Cole’s Cleveland concert. As such, it’s been a pretty balanced trek so far that brings fun, hope, spectacle, tender moments, and above all, great connection through art. While we can say the same about many artists on tour, these gestures are going above and beyond. For more news and the latest updates on Drake, check back in with HNHH.
Drake is quite the generous soul, a quality that’s very easy but remarkable to have when you have so much money to send around. Moreover, a new clip emerged on social media of him FaceTiming some dancers to make sure they knew that he was the one who sent them oodles of cash. Given the vague and quick nature of this video, though, exactly what the Toronto superstar did here is a bit unclear. Was he really just calling to make sure his money went to the right people or did he do this big reveal where he called so he could see their reactions? Whether from a distance or right in your face, The Boy definitely lives up to that cringe feminist bar on Her Loss.
Furthermore, Drake has plenty of reasons to celebrate these days, so it’s natural for him to spread that joy. At press time, the Grammy Awards are in just a couple of hours, and he’s among the most nominated artists in the rap field. Of course, this is curious because of the 37-year-old’s reluctance to submit his material for Recording Academy consideration in the past, and also because of a particularly fitting matchup. The aforementioned 21 S*vage collab album will face off against Travis Scott’s UTOPIA in the Best Rap Album category, and fans shared a throwback pic of the two at the 2019 ceremony to reflect on this camaraderie and competition.
If you want to see our predictions for the hip-hop and R&B categories for this year’s Grammys, you can find those here. Overall, we’re not sure whether Drake’s past Grammys history will work in his favor or if it will dissuade voters from seeing the quality of tracks like “Rich Flex” and “Spin Bout U,” which are specifically nominated from Her Loss along with the whole album. There’s also steep competition in the form of Killer Mike’s star-studded “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS,” Nas’ excellent LP King’s Disease III, and more. We’ll see very soon whether there are any surprises in store or if the Recording Academy plays it safe.
Meanwhile, the “Wick Man” MC’s affinity for FaceTime calls extends to his collaborators, too. For example, he recently hit up Yeat via the video call feature, which got fans riled up for another team-up. “IDGAF” stunned many, so hopefully they can recapture and expand on that magic. On that note, stick around on HNHH for the latest news and updates on Drake.
Lil Yachty and Drake are the best of friends these days. Consequently, the artist has the inside scoop on whatever Drizzy is up to. Whether that means going on tour or dropping a new album, you can be sure that Yachty is aware. Of course, many fans expected Drake to drop his new album For All The Dogs on Friday morning. However, the album did not actually come out. Instead, fans were left wondering: “what happened.”
If you remember, just a couple of days ago, Yachty tweeted and deleted that he hadn’t heard any factual information surrounding the album. Although this was concerning, he deleted his tweets, which made people think he was wrong. However, he was vindicated at midnight when fans looked up Drake on streaming services and were met with older albums. Sure, it was a disappointment for the supporters. But for Boat, this was an opportunity to gloat and call Drake fans “dumb.”
“Y’all stupid, no body even said for all the dogs was comin out tonight,” Yachty wrote on Twitter. Moreover, in a separate video, he noted that everyone looks silly right now. Furthermore, he urged people to go listen to his new song called “Tesla” which dropped last night. Yachty admits it was shameless of him to do this, although he is taking it in full stride. Overall, there was a clear miscommunication here. Now, it remains to be seen when For All The Dogs will drop. Perhaps it could be weeks, or maybe even months.
If you are a Drake fan, then this morning has been incredibly disappointing. That said, he has released a whole lot of music over the last couple of years, so at least you can fall back on that. Let us know what your expectations are in relation to For All The Dogs, in the comments section below. Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for more news and updates from around the music world. We will always keep you informed.
” another adds.
Drake even said “it feel like Twitter ghostwriting your reply”