Even months after the release of “Not Like Us” and “The Heart Part 6,” the dust has only settled in the hip-hop game. It’s to be expected after two cultural bulls locked horns in the way rappers Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Aubrey “Drake” Graham did.
Dot accused Drizzy of being a bad father, a pedophile, and a financially irresponsible vulture, while the Canadian fired back at claims that Lamar was a domestic abuser and a spineless cuckoo who, among other things, raised a child with his business partner’s fiancée.
At the height of the meat, the tournament produced world-shattering allegations that could be career-damaging if they ever prove to be absolutely true.
But then again, that’s always been the nature of rap beef: cut deep and be ruthless with the opposition, no matter the cost. That was the case between Nas and Jay-Z in the early 2000s.
The NWA split influenced the game and produced iconic records like Eazy E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s” and Ice Cube’s classic “No Vaseline.” What they all had in common, though, was that all of these and other beefs saw opponents grimace and take punches to the chin.
It was something of an anomaly for the Toronto crown prince to take to court not once, but twice, something that happened in his battle with the reigning king of Compton.
While “Meet the Grahams” saw Kung Fu Kenny make bold claims that Drake was a sex offender with a penchant for underage children, it was the chart-topping, DJ Mustard-produced “Not Like Us” that garnered the most attention.
The superstar’s company, Frozen Moments LLC, has filed its first legal petition against both Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify for artificially boosting streams of “Not Like Us” through bots, which in turn distorted people’s perceptions of Drake and the song’s popularity in general.
The second lawsuit against UMG, however, is the most surprising, especially after the storm of beef. In the latest attempt, Drake’s company accused UMG of giving iHeartRadio brown envelopes, aka payola, to play “Not Like Us,” while also arguing that the label could have done more to stop the album from being released because it “falsely” accused him of being a pedophile.
UMG responded and denied those allegations. However, these legal petitions pose a troubling dilemma for a number of reasons, especially for the “God’s Plan” hitmaker. Watch “Not Like Us”:
The first is knowing when to draw the line in the sand. When a feud escalates into an ongoing battle in the hip-hop game, it’s always a tough one. And it was no different between the two juggernauts, who both took some serious knocks.
It’s worth noting, though, that Graham also made some cryptic allegations not just about Duckworth, but about his family. From accusing his fiancée Whitney Alford of cheating on Dave Free and fathering a child in the process to battering his wife, Drake made some disturbing cuts in “Family Matters,” his strongest shot at beef.
After all, there’s no reality where an abuser is considered better than a child predator—both are equally vile. And yet, Kendrick managed to keep everything in the beef business and let his music do the talking instead of running to lawyers.
Kendrick Lamar’s entire premise, even in his fight against Drake, was to defend a culture that Lamar felt—and continues to feel—was poisoned and corrupted by misrepresentations like Aubrey. It’s all written into his music. “Not Like Us” was the culmination of that ideal: dancing on the grave of someone he’s been trying to expose as a traitor and a hidden enemy of not just hip-hop but essentially black culture.
NOT LIKE US MUSIC VIDEO:
Drake is taking legal action over the song’s popularity, not the actual chain of rifts that reeks of hypocrisy and misplaced priorities. If Drake’s outrage is about “Not Like Us” and UMG allegedly cooking up numbers through bots and payola, why haven’t the same complaints been raised over “Meet the Grahams,” in which Kendrick explicitly wishes Drake would die while also framing him as a failed father hiding another child? Given that, Drake’s behavior doesn’t show the way he’s been doing it.
And that means only one thing: more streams. From real people.
