The years-long rap rivalry turned bitter feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake came to its explosive climax as the two rappers traded their most savage bars across an EP’s worth of songs. Lamar responded to Drake’s “Push Ups” and the controversial A.I. driven song “Taylor Made Freestyle” with “Euphoria,” he continued the rampage with “6:16 In L.A.” When Drake attempted to finish Lamar with the critical “Family Matters,” he viciously countered with the sinister “Meet the Grahams” and the infectious hit “Not Like Us,” until Drake concluded the back and forth with “The Heart Pt. 6.”
The supposed “friendly” battle was taken to a different level when both of them hurled grisly allusion to deep-seated misogynoir, domestic violence, child predation, sexual assault, and infidelity, among other nasty accusations about their personal lives. On “Family Matters,” Drake raps, “When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defense ’cause she bigger than you?/Your back is up against the curb, you diggin’ for dirt, should be diggin’ for proof/Why did you move to New York? Is it ’cause you livin’ that bachelor life.”
Then, on Kendrick’s gnarly response, “Meet The Grahams,” he maliciously spat, “He hates Black women, hypersexualize ’em with kinks of a nympho fetish/Grew facial hair because he understood bein’ a beard just fit him better/He got sex offenders on ho-VO that he keep on a monthly allowance/A child should never be compromised and he keepin’ his child around them.”
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As both of them continued to air out each other dirty laundry about the women in their lives, the beef unraveled a layer of hypocrisy to their attacks, given their complicated histories with women throughout their careers. Whether in real life or a rap war, women have always been quickly exploited as ways to harm men critically to either provoke or outright destroy them, be it their mothers, sisters, children, or more commonly, significant partners.
On Drake’s “The Heart pt 6,” after he spent most song dismissing the disturbing allegations of lusting for underaged girls that have haunted his career as of late, he raps, “I don’t wanna fight with a woman beater, it feeds your nature/If you still bumpin’ R. Kelly, you could thank the Savior/said if they deleted his music, then your music is goin’ too, a hypocrite, I don’t understand why these people praise ya.”
For Drake and Kendrick, their heavy-handed volleys are all too familiar, but it’s their self-righteous virtue signaling that does not feel consistent with their complicated history of women. In most cases, when some men dig up harmful allegations to levee against their opposition and do not have a consistent history of showing up for these issues when it matters, it’s not because they’re seeking justice for the woman as much as it’s selfish intent is to critically harm the man by any means more than anything.
Drake and Kendrick also have a history of platforming artists who have been accused and/or convicted of abusing, maiming, and sexually assaulting women. Back in February, Drake called for the freedom of the incarcerated Tory Lanez after he was convicted for shooting Megan Thee Stallion’s foot in Los Angeles, while Lamar also collaborated with Kodak Black on “Silent Hill” from 2022’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Megan has since aired out Drake on “Hiss,” and with Kodak, there are questions still lingering from that paring wondering if Kendrick had at least privately held the “Tunnel Vision” rapper accountable for his alleged sexual assault and self-destructive behavior.
While Lamar’s portrayal of women in his music has not always been perfect, he has shown a degree of reverence towards Black women in his music over the years. Although he’s garnered a massive fanbase of Black women, he’s shown many behaviors over the years that contribute to misogyny and patriarchy.
Back in 2022, when the Supreme Court recalled Roe vs. Wade, he closed his set at the Glastonbury festival, repeatedly chanting, “They judge you, they judge Christ, Godspeed for women’s rights,’ Four years earlier. However, Kendrick was rumored to have threatened to have his catalog removed from Spotify if the late XXXTentacion, who at the time was accused of physically abusing his girlfriend, and R. Kelly’s music were removed from their playlists in the wake of their hate speech policy.
Drake, however, despite being revered by many for his past lover boy anthems, has since leaned further towards being misogynistic towards women over the years in music. He collaborated with all of our favorite rap and R&B girlies, Sexxy Redd, City Girls, Big Freedia, Summer Walker, and SZA, to name a few, to secure his place on the top of the Billboard charts.
The music industry as a whole has never been safe for women since its early beginnings, and it’s no different from hip-hop. Recently, hip hop mogul and co-founder of Def Jam Records, Russell Simmons, decided to give his take on the issue on social media, expressing more concern for the possibility of gun violence, which is arguably overblown in this case, than any concern for the women and families that were addressed. Despite his extensive contributions towards the growth of hip hop, his call to action fell flat given his own accused transgressions against A&R Drew Dixon among many other women.
If these men are going to continue to utilize women who never asked to be a part of their war, then they must show solidarity and commit to making the environment of the rap business safer for the women they use to further their lives and careers. If these rappers have such a strong stance against abuse towards women, one place they could start is to cease the silence and enabling happening amongst their peers.
Considering how Black women, artists, friends, and family have played an important role in furthering their careers, Drake and Kendrick Lamar owe largely overdue debt to Black women. Be it through public accountability for their past harm and comment on growth or through tangible actions that help further the various causes that affect women worldwide.
For Black women, it takes a massive amount of cognitive dissonance to see the entertainment of it all without acknowledging the widespread harm being dealt to the women on both sides. While I cannot speak in place of Black women, as a man, I can call out shenanigans and foolery only the biggest stans in the world are unable to see. The women in all of this don’t deserve to be used as mere pawns in the games being played on both sides, as Drake and Kendrick play fake moral police.
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About the Author: Mark P. Braboy is an award-winning music, culture and cannabis writer and photographer from Chicago whose work has appeared in nearly 30 publications across the country and holds a deep passion for all of the colorful things about hip-hop, photography and cannabis culture. You can find him on Instagram and Twitter at @shootyourmark.