kendrick lamar drake beef

Drake Versus “The Riddler”: Fans React To Viral Video Of “Meet The Grahams” Items

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Are we watching hip-hop titans face off on wax or supervillains hack and scheme their way to the top of the social media food chain? The Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef took some wild turns on its run up until this point, but this is starting to get to the point of parody. Moreover, you’ve probably seen some viral discussion about a particular Twitter account’s constant postings about Drizzy’s alleged items featured on the “Meet The Grahams” YouTube cover art. The sinister nature of the video of these supposed belongings, plus the messages and demands from the account, have folks comparing them to “The Riddler” from the Batman franchise.

Furthermore, the realm of social media isn’t the only battlefield in which Drake and Kendrick Lamar are in pretty direct and steep competition as far as which fanbase can make the most excuses for their victory. The charts are also contributing to this, too, as the latter recently broke some staggering Spotify records held by the former. “Not Like Us” is an absolute smash hit that even the Billboard charts might not be able to deny, although whether it will actually hit the No. 1 spot is a mystery. There are a lot of bizarre things to discuss about this whole debacle, and that was before people started comparing K.Dot to The Joker.

Read More: Who Is Dave Free & What’s His Relationship To Kendrick Lamar?

Drake’s Alleged “Meet The Grahams” Items Shown In Viral Video

Elsewhere, there are some other people in the rap world who are allegedly coming out of the woodwork to chime in on the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef. We say “allegedly” because we don’t know for sure whether 21 Savage’s recent tweet was actually a commentary on backstabbing in hip-hop. Still, the message and the context surrounding his loyalties to both the 6ix God and Metro Boomin line up too well for folks not to theorize. But the real answer to that is, simply, that 21 probably doesn’t want to deal with all that while he’s on tour and has no obligations to “pick a side.” Nevertheless, check out reactions to “The Riddler” down below, as they’ve definitely picked a side.

Fan Reactions To “The Riddler” Defending Kendrick Lamar

Meanwhile, this pairs up with some curious updates in Drake’s life, such as him re-listing his Beverly Hills mansion. Hopefully these developments lean more towards this and father away from the shooting and trespassing that occurred in his Bridle Path neighborhood recently. This feud got nasty a long time ago, and it seems like the rabbit hole only goes deeper. Fans are just praying that it ends soon.

Read More: Drake Accused Of Stealing Bars From Twitter (Just Like Kendrick Lamar)

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21 Savage Seemingly Chimes In On Drake & Kendrick Lamar Beef

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21 Savage has apparently made a comment about the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef, or at least, that’s what fans think based on a vague new tweet linked here. “If you waiting for somebody else to go against me before you do your a sucker,” he wrote on Saturday morning (May 11), which is definitely a fair assessment of what happened to the 6ix God in this feud. After K.Dot outright dissed him and J. Cole on “Like That,” people noticed other subliminal shots at Drizzy and assumed that all of the album’s collaborators were explicitly against him. Of course, this is just speculation and this tweet really could mean anything, but it just lines up too well for the presumption not to pop up in your head.

Furthermore, 21 Savage did perform his material with Drake during his ongoing tour, even when he stopped in Kendrick Lamar’s home city of Los Angeles recently. Given his strong collaborative history with The Boy, no one really expects him to switch up all of a sudden, although some are taking his silence too seriously. Regardless, the Atlanta MC is probably just focusing on himself and his career right now, as tour likely has him too busy to even think about any of this. Many are also wondering what other Atlanta artists must think about this battle, especially those that the Compton lyricist name-dropped on “Not Like Us.”

Read More: 21 Savage Hilariously Sings His Heart Out On Instagram Live

Did 21 Savage Just Speak On Drake & Kendrick Beef?

21 Savage Drake Kendrick Lamar Beef Response Hip Hop News
Screenshot via Twitter @21savage

But back to 21 Savage, his role in all this is curious because he has really firm and historic collaborative bonds with both Drake and Metro Boomin, who some think is the real instigator behind all of this. In fact, Metro and 21 had expressed via social media that they’re still on great terms back in early April before this feud turned really nasty. There are even rumors that SAVAGE MODE III is coming out sooner rather than later, but we don’t want to get our hopes up. Either way, it seems like this is a really complicated web that might never get the definitive answer fans want.

After all, 21 Savage just had a Nardwuar interview: do you really think he’s worried about whether or not Drake will be mad at him for his silence? His two most prolific and notable collaborations are now at odds. It’s a tough position to be in, but one that we’re sure will keep sailing smoothly until the american dream rollout era wraps up. Maybe that calm, peace, and relaxation will bring us answers…

Read More: Drake & 21 Savage’s “Jimmy Cooks” Cited In Chicago’s Lawsuit Against Glock

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Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Breaks Drake’s Record For Most Single-Day Rap Song Streams On Spotify

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Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss “Not Like Us” continues to rack up stream after stream, and it seems more likely than ever that folks will be ringing this song off for the whole summer. Moreover, it now officially holds the records for the most single-day streams for any rap song in global Spotify history, with around 12.809 million streams presumably on Friday (May 10). This officially dethrones Drake and Lil Baby’s Certified Lover Boy collab “Girls Want Girls,” which held this record ever since 2021 with 12.385 million streams. This newest diss track had gotten very close to breaking this record the previous day, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

However, if we’re talking numbers, neither artist should really see this as anything less than an overall net positive for them. Drake is still breaking records and seeing similar commercial success to Kendrick Lamar with his own diss tracks, even if there is a winner in this tight race. But perhaps this is the only metric we’ll be able to use to compare the two now that the battle seemingly died down. At least, that’s what Top Dawg himself suggested in a recent tweet, claiming K.Dot’s victory over the 6ix God.

Read More: Who Is Dave Free & What’s His Relationship To Kendrick Lamar?

Kendrick Lamar Surpasses Drake’s Spotify Record By Dissing Him

But is this really the end? Drake may have recently re-listed his Beverly Hills property, but there are still plenty of theories and rumors going around that he could want revenge with another drop. Also, Kendrick Lamar himself did not claim victory in this battle, which rings especially true when you consider his promise that he could still go further down the rabbit hole. As such, perhaps we’re in for a different kind of beef to anything we’ve ever seen in the genre: a war with multiple battles, differently timed engagements, and no guarantee of decisive, eternal glory.

Alas, more likely than not, that’s just a speculative fantasy. But Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s battle was about as ugly as people wanted, even uglier than they expected, and highly entertaining for at least a brief moment for even the most hardened skeptic. Now Twitter die-hards are coming up with excuses to fight each other’s claims and others are calling to attention the more troublesome and exploitative aspects of this feud as it relates to female trauma, the culture, the music industry, and entertainment/celebrity culture at large. As for the actual back-and-forth, we’ll have to see if the battlefield remains quiet until we get an official stand-down.

Read More: Why Is DJ Vlad Under Fire For His Drake-Kendrick Comments?

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Drake Unfollows Elliott Wilson, The Latter Claims After “Meet The Grahams” Edit

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Elliott Wilson may have caught flack for posting an edited version of “Meet The Grahams,” but he’s definitely no OVO die-hard, either. Moreover, he remarked that all of the tracks in the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef have been good except “The Heart Part 6,” and has been quite critical of Drizzy in particular along with his jabs towards K.Dot. But it seems like the Toronto superstar has finally had enough of being at odds with the Rap Radar host, because Wilson made a very interesting claim on Twitter this morning (Friday, May 10). “The BOY unfollowed me on IG,” he wrote, which led many in the replies to mock The Boy, question why this would be so surprising, criticize the journalist, or just comment on the situation in general.

Furthermore, Drake and Elliott Wilson have butted heads quite a lot over the past year or so, starting as recently as July of last year. The latter criticized the former for not doing any more interviews that were “within the culture,” such as radio interviews, podcasts with hip-hop media, magazines, other rap-centric outlets, etc. Following a pretty dismissive and trolling response from Aubrey, Wilson apologized to him given their strong rapport over the years. At least, a rapport that stuck around much more before he strayed away from a lot of hip-hop media in his superstardom.

Read More: Coco Gauff Picks Kendrick Lamar Over Drake Because Of Serena Williams Diss

Elliott Wilson Claims Drake No Longer Follows Him

“I’m actually very disappointed in this song,” Elliott Wilson said of Drake’s “The Heart Part 6” in a conversation with DJ Akademiks. “The problem I’m having with Drake in this whole thing is that he refuses to view Kendrick as a worthy opponent. He still keeps little bro-ing him like we’re in the Club Paradise days. I just don’t think that’s the right strategy, He needs to deliver bars and go at him. He hadn’t even made a whole record direct to Kendrick yet. He’s all about airing everyone out that’s going against him. Obviously, there’s a whole movement and Metro orchestrated a lot of it.

“He doesn’t get why Kendrick is so big and why people love him so much and the type of music he makes and the success he has,” Elliott Wilson continued. “He doesn’t connect to it… I think a lot of people don’t like Drake, but they all respect him. You can’t not respect The Boy because of what he’s done.”

Read More: Rich The Kid Fires Back At Elliott Wilson Over “Lucky” Criticism

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DJ Akademiks Reveals Why Rappers Haven’t Supported Drake During Kendrick Lamar Beef

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DJ Akademiks, just like many other content creators and media figures, is starting to look at the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef from more of a retrospective. Moreover, he theorized as to why many people in the rap game haven’t supported the former in this feud, or at least pointed out various instances of people subliminally picking their side or standing in silence. In particular, the streamer named Kid Cudi and Chris Brown as two examples, one for tweeting about ghostwriting and the other for seemingly dancing to “Not Like Us” in the club. Also, he speculated on why 4batz’s new album wasn’t under OVO, didn’t feature his Drizzy remix, and instead included a Kanye West remix.

Perhaps the most salient point DJ Akademiks made throughout all of this emerged towards the beginning of the video below. “Today, I looked around, and it felt like people were trying to read the eulogy of Drake,” he said while on stream. “You know how they always say, ‘Every billionaire done f***ed over a couple of people to get to that point’? Man, Drake did a number on half of these n***as, ’cause as soon as they see Drake kind of down, everybody has a slick comment or something almost saying, ‘Yes, about f***ing time!’ They’re either jumping him or they’re happy he got jumped.”

Read More: Drake Doubles Down On “The Heart Pt 6”: Breaking Down The Allegations

DJ Akademiks Speaks On Other Rappers Subbing Drake & Other Kendrick Lamar Beef Narratives

Elsewhere during this clip, DJ Akademiks also revisits “The Heart Part 6,” speaks on the “Meet The Grahams” cover art, and much more. But this particular sentiment about people turning on Drake due to him screwing many people over is a theory that former Everyday Struggle co-host Joe Budden also shares. He posited it in a different way on his podcast, instead suggesting that the people directly involved in the beef like other rappers and producers showed the breadth of the distaste for the 6ix God. While Ak referred more to reactions from uninvolved parties, they both landed on a similar conclusion that something must’ve happened for Kendrick Lamar to either jump in or be asked to jump in.

Meanwhile, Drake dropped his first Instagram Story since “The Heart Part 6” and the troubling and hopefully soon-resolved incidents that happened around his home in Toronto. Whether or not the battle with Kendrick Lamar is over, folks are treating it as such right now. Maybe either artist has some more ammunition, but it seems unlikely. Now, everyone’s just examining the fallout and wondering how this will all age as the industry continues to shift.

Read More: Ice Cube Doesn’t Like Watching Drake And Kendrick Lamar Battle

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Joe Budden Suggests Drake’s Many Beefs With Others Are What Caused His Problems

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Everyone who’s made it to the top has probably ruffled some feathers along the way, and also likely created a lot of undue jealousy within folks who were more resentful than secure. But according to Joe Budden and some other members of his podcast, Drake’s position in the Kendrick Lamar beef is one of his own doing. “The most important line in this battle starts to come true, which is ‘It’s not just me,’” he remarked on the newest episode of his show. “‘I’m what the culture [is] feeling.’ When you pair that to the weirdo chart activity, when you pair that to… Yo, dawg, when ‘Not Like [Us]’ dropped, I learned that Mustard had a problem with Drake. I start scratching my f***ing head. N***a, you got a beef with Mustard?

“It’s not a two-sided coin,” Joe Budden continued. “I’m saying that one person has offended about 100 people in the music industry, and you can hear it. Every step of the way in this battle, it comes up. Every step in the battle, he says something else that reminds me, ‘Oh, s**t, he got a beef with -– Oh, s**t, Ja Morant.’ N***a, Jack started tweeting! Jack! From Twitter! Start tweeting, it’s weird.

Read More: Rick Ross Performs In Front Of Tiny Crowd In Now-Viral Video Amid Drake Beef

Joe Budden Theorizes On Why So Many People Are Not Supporting Drake Right Now

“Ice, I don’t care what you n***as say on some fanfare s**t,” Joe Budden went on. “If we were in real life, and this existed with somebody, how would we treat that person? That’s why I don’t care about the fans’ opinion about a beef. The industry is sending a clear-cut message that you have worn out your welcome. This is not a Kendrick, just West Coast thing. Yeah, Kendrick, they just went and tapped somebody on the shoulder, like, ‘Big dog, help. Help.’ Metro is on Twitter saying, ‘Aye, Drake, you know that I can’t say whatever our real problem is because both of us are going to look crazy.’ That mean that he’s told somebody whatever that real problem is, and it looks crazy.

“This is not just coincidentally, ‘We are all mad at Drake’s success, and we are acting out,’” he concluded. “This is bigger than that is all I’m saying. So for him to not recognize it, I agree with Emanny, it just boils down to the arrogance, I think. It says something that nobody outside of Birdman is saying something in support of Drake. It’s not up for question, I’m telling y’all something. I’m telling y’all factual music business s**t. It’s no longer just odd, it’s by design, it’s calculated.”

Read More: Meek Mill References Drake And Kendrick Lamar In Bizarre X Rant

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Kendrick Lamar “6:16 In LA”: The Best Bars

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By now, so many shots have been fired in the brutal rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake that some of the disses have been completely buried. Kendrick’s “6:16 In LA” has been largely overlooked due to the track not being available on streaming platforms, though the song does have some incredibly scathing lyrics. The track premiered exclusively through Kendrick Lamar’s official Instagram account in the early morning hours of Friday, May 3, and ultimately served as the calm before the storm, with the harshest diss tracks of the entire feud releasing back to back later that very evening.

Now that the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef seems to have at least slowed down, it’s worth revisiting “6:16 In LA” and discussing some of the best bars on the song. Without any further preamble, here are a few of the strongest lyrical showings on the diss.

Kendrick Prays & Comes From Love

Unlike some of the other tracks to come out of this feud, Kendrick Lamar opens up “6:16 In LA” with a few bars that aren’t direct insults or ad hominem attacks. Instead, “6:16 In LA” begins with the Compton rapper offering something of an explanation to both Drake and his fans as to why he’s engaging in this beef to begin with. He states, “Three angels watchin’ me all the time/ Put my children to sleep with a prayer, then close my eyes/ Definition of peace Tell me who gon’ stop me? I come from love/ Estelle cover my heart, then open me up.” Through these bars, Kendrick asserts that he has found peace within his life and enjoys quiet luxury and family values.

Familial and spiritual relationships rapidly became a focal point of the feud between Kendrick and Drake, as the PGLang founder has accused Drake of being a deadbeat father with no spiritual connection to god. Kendrick centers this lack of godliness with Drake’s many flaws and alleged lifestyle missteps and later commands the Toronto artist to seek therapy and look within.

Drake Is Using Media Drones To Do His Dirty Work

@akademiks

Akademiks reacts to being dissed in new Kendrick Lamar “6:16 in LA” (Drake diss)💀😭

♬ original sound – Akademiks

Kendrick responds to some foul play within the music media industry in this track, arguing that Drake has streamers and podcasters on his payroll, including DJ Akademiks. He raps, “Yeah, somebody’s lyin’, I can see the vibes on Ak/ Even he lookin’ compromised, let’s peel the layers back/ Ain’t no brownie points for beating your chest, harassin’ Ant/ F*ckin’ with good people make good people go to bat.” Kendrick also takes this opportunity to defend his manager Anthony Saleh, whom Drake shaded multiple times on social media following his release of the track “Push Ups.” This lyric seems to be the last warning shot to Drake that things are about to escalate far beyond a simple showing of rap skill, as Kendrick takes issue with his opponent making the beef personal by calling out the people in his corner.

Kendrick first alluded to his willingness to take things further with lyrics such as “you a master manipulator and habitual liar too. But don’t tell no lie about me and I won’t tell truths ’bout you” on “Euphoria.” Kendrick later reiterated this position in the explosive song “Meet The Grahams,” where he raps, “This supposed to be a good exhibition within the game. But you f***ed up the moment you called out my family’s name. Why you had to stoop so low to discredit some decent people? Guess integrity is lost when the metaphors doesn’t reach you.”

Kendrick Claims To Have A Mole In The OVO Camp

Kendrick continues on the scathing record, “Are you finally ready to play have-you-ever? Let’s see/ Have you ever thought that OVO is workin’ for me?/ Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person/ Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it.” This is one of the most fascinating bars in the entire beef, as Kendrick claims to have multiple moles within Drake’s camp who are only pretending to like Drake for his money and popularity.

At first, fans assumed this lyric was in place just to stoke Drake’s paranoia. Of course, the release of “Meet The Grahams” later that very evening seemed to confirm what Kendrick had to say in “6:16 In LA.” Kendrick seems to have had insider information regarding Drake’s next moves, as he was able to drop a diss record responding to Drake’s “Family Matters” in less than an hour’s time, with direct rebuttals to lyrics from the brand new song.

Kendrick caps this bar off with a flat and absolutely scathing “you must be a terrible person” which cuts directly to the core. Here, the former TDE signee confirms once again that this beef goes much deeper than rap and stems from his unabashed purported hatred for Drake as a man, an artist, and everything Drake represents.

Kendrick Is Too Boring In His Personal Life To Get Cancelled

By now, both sides have accused the other of scrounging around in the streets to dig up dirt. Kendrick and Drake have both levied some incredibly serious accusations at one another, though neither of them have provided receipts to fully back up the claims that they have made. Regarding this, Kendrick preemptively raps, “It was fun until you started to put money in the streets/ Then lost money ’cause they came back with no receipts/ I’m sorry that I live a boring life, I love peace/ But war-ready if the world is ready to see you bleed.” On these bars in “6:16 In LA,” Kendrick seems to confirm that Drake offered money to people who know him in his personal life in return for salacious gossip. Kendrick claims that Drake came up short on this front, as no such dirt exists.

Fans can assume that this is at least partially true, as Drake famously executed this strategy back in 2018 while trying to get back at Pusha T for the groundbreaking release of the diss record “The Story of Adidon.” Ultimately, Drake never managed to find any scathing dirt on Pusha T and never crafted a response to the record, essentially conceding the win to Push. Kendrick lives an incredibly private life and often refuses to make any of his personal business public, meaning it would likely be even more difficult to get any inside info on him.

Drake’s Opps Might Be Closer Than He Thinks

In perhaps the most scathing bars of the entire track, Kendrick nears the conclusion of “6:16 In LA” with the lyrics, “Your entourage is only to hustle you/ A hundred n****s that you got on salary, and twenty of ’em want you as a casualty/ And one of them is actually next to you/ And two of them is practically tired of your lifestyle, just don’t got the audacity to tell you.” Here, he suggests that Drake’s camp is full of disloyal opportunists, secretly rooting for his downfall. Kendrick takes things a step further, arguing that a large percentage of Drake’s so-called friends actually want him to outright die. The cover art of “Meet The Grahams” also confirms the suggestion that some of Kendrick’s moles are in extremely close proximity to Drake, featuring some of Drake’s personal belongings and even a few of his prescription medications.

While no hip hop fan wants to see this battle escalate into physical violence, Kendrick seems to be offering a stern warning to Drake throughout all of his diss records. The warning asks that Drake change his lifestyle and find god before something unfortunate happens to him, whether that means a possible assault from a rival rapper or even a loss of life.

[Via]

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Who Is Whitney Alford? Kendrick Lamar’s High School Sweetheart

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Kendrick Lamar’s brutal rap feud with Drake has led to a number of unnerving accusations from both sides. The beef has thrust Kendrick Lamar’s long-time fiancée Whitney Alford into the spotlight, despite her generally leading a quiet and unpublicized life. As shots fly and Drake continues to drop Whitney’s name multiple times, many fans of the PGLang founder have become curious to learn more about her.

There’s not much public information regarding Whitney Alford’s personal life available on the net. However, she has popped up at a few red carpet events, and even made vocal appearances on several of Kendrick Lamar’s hit songs. Let’s take a moment to examine who Whitney Alford is, and how she factors into Kendrick’s beef with Drake.

Read More: Drake Fans Resurface Kendrick Lamar‘s Fiance’s Candid Instagram Post

Whitney Has Known Kendrick Since Grade School

While the general public doesn’t know Whitney very well, she has been a fixture in Kendrick’s life for over two decades. Though the exact date of their coupling is unknown, Kendrick Lamar and Whitney Alford have romantically connected since their teenage years, attending Centennial High School in Compton, California together. After the couple graduated high school in 2005, Kendrick began pursuing a rap career, while Whitney attended California State University for a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Kendrick’s earliest lyrical references to his fiancé include bars on the 2009 track “She Needs Me,” wherein the Pulitzer Prize winner raps “Five years later, an accounting major, work at a firm/ Abundance of paper, she got a career/ She look in the rear view mirror of a Mercedes that she can steer.” Since then, Kendrick has repeatedly referenced Whitney in his music and in interviews, praising her for her patience and spirit guidance, and calling her his “day 1” on multiple occasions.

Kendrick & Whitney Have Been Engaged For Nearly 10 Years

Kendrick Lamar and Whitney Alford announced their engagement in 2015, shortly after the release of Kendrick’s groundbreaking rap album To Pimp A Butterfly. While the details of their engagement remain scarce, Whitney has been photographed wearing a large diamond ring in many photos taken between then and now. If Drake’s claims on tracks such as “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6” hold true, it suggests that Kendrick and Whitney may have actually split up sometime in the last year. Still, there seems to be no concrete evidence to these claims, as the pair are famous for keeping their family lives intensely private. It’s also possible that Kendrick Lamar and Whitney Alford have tied the knot in a private ceremony since their engagement was first announced as Kendrick has repeatedly referred to her as his wife in the last several years.

Whitney maintains a public Instagram page with the handle @blushedbywhit, where she occasionally shares photos of herself alongside her family. Often these posts celebrate mindfulness and family values. One particularly adorable post from 2022 highlights her gratefulness towards Kendrick specifically. In the Father’s Day upload, Whitney writes “Today I am more than happy to celebrate the men in my life… I choose to celebrate them for stepping up instead of stepping out, for providing, for assisting us women, for healing, for showing up physically and most importantly for showing up emotionally… I am grateful for the men that are showing me a different picture, my lens was very narrow before but not anymore.”

Read More: Drake Might’ve Referenced Kendrick Lamar’s Wife Cheating On Him Years Ago, Fans Think

The Couple Share Two Kids Together

Kendrick Lamar and Whitney Alford share two young children both pictured on the cover art for Lamar’s 2022 album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. Their first child is a girl named Uzi, who was born in July of 2019, and their second child is a boy named Enoch, born some time in mid to late 2021. Kendrick has boasted about the joys of fatherhood on numerous songs, including the Drake diss record “Euphoria.” Drake responded to Kendrick’s harsh words by suggesting, with no evidence, that one of his children was actually born out of an affair between Whitney Alford and Kendrick Lamar’s long-time business partner Dave Free, though most fans find this claim to be patently absurd.

In an interview with W Magazine, Kendrick Lamar offered his first public comments about fatherhood, expressing, “My children allowed me, in their development as human beings beginning to walk and talk, to remove my ego… To know that my children, too, will have their own independence, that allows me to understand the unconditional love on my end.”

[Via][Via]

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J Cole Spotted Enjoying Relaxing Beach Day Amid Kendrick Lamar & Drake’s Heated Beef

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There is still a lot of debate swirling around J Cole’s decision to drop out of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. The original narrative was that the German-born lyricist was weak and did not want to embrace the competition. Now, it has shifted, as hip-hop fanatics have grown to understand his choice to gracefully step away. Part of that is because of how serious the shots have been between the two heavyweights. The Might Delete Later creator is all about working to be the best. But when he apologized for “7 Minute Drill” it showed his true colors. He is not and will never be about disrespecting people he admires. That is why J Cole is going to the beach instead of writing his next verses for a diss response.

That is not some metaphor, the North Carolina rapper was actually spotted at a beach recently. An X account by the name of Modern Notoriety, shared a photo of the peacemaker at some sandy location with a female fan. The supporter posted a TikTok after the experience, saying, “Me: goes to the beach to clear my head. Me: casually meets J. Cole.” In the picture they are sitting next to each other, as Cole is wearing headphones that are attached to a laptop.

Read More: DJ Akademiks Claims New Drake-Kendrick Lamar Diss Was Delayed After Shooting

J Cole Is At Peace On The Beach

There is a possibility that he could be working on some tracks for the long-awaited The Fall Off. Fans have been waiting on his supposed final album for the last couple of years. However, not much is known still. What we can say is that J Cole is just enjoying himself and keeping his own sanity and that is wonderful to see.

What are your thoughts on J Cole spending a day at the beach during the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef? Do you think that he made the right decision by removing himself from the rap battle, why or why not? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding J Cole and the Drake versus Kendrick Lamar beef. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.

Read More: Kendrick Lamar & Drake’s Rap Beef Overshadows Taylor Swift On Apple Music Charts (hotnewhiphop.com)

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Kendrick Lamar Fans & Drake Fans Are One & The Same: A Parasocial Paradox

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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.

Read More: Kendrick Lamar & Drake Beef: A Complete Timeline Of Diss Songs

The Artistic Arguments

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.

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The Personal Arguments

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.

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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.

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