Is This Still “Beef” at This Point?
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Washington chapter.
Ok, we’ve had a few days to ruminate.
I don’t like referring to this whole Drake-Kendrick situation as “beef.”
Sure, this started off as “yet another” back-and-forth between rappers. There have been some pretty iconic ones, plenty involving Drake, and one that involved the revelation of Drake’s son. It’s difficult to look away, it’s strangely “fun.” Yes, there may be awful people involved saying awful things about each other, but my guy “won.”
“Won.” Like it’s a game.
But when such heavy allegations are thrown about from both Drake and Kendrick, this is no longer a game, no longer “rap beef,” it’s ridiculously serious. There are allegedly partners and children being hurt, but all that matters is that someone “won?” And how does one “win” in this situation? By being less awful than the other one? How low is the bar?
Now, I would be lying if I said I was not initially intrigued. While I do not listen to rap, lyrics will always be the most important part of a song—in my opinion—and there is a reason why Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics in 2018. He’s a storyteller, weaving history, personal anecdotes, metaphors, allusions, double entendres, and more into works commonly regarded as the best rap has to offer. I mean, there’s a reason Drake was only referred to as a “entertainer” by former President Barack Obama whereas Kendrick received heavy praise.
And sure, let’s discuss the musicality of the tracks, these men are artists, after all, but it cannot take up the whole conversation, neither can views, streams, whatever metric used, because these lyrics outwardly allege some horrifying things targeted at mainly women and girls. As many have posited following the release of these tracks, would any of this been taken seriously had it been coming from a woman? My fear—and my sad belief—is no, especially because we don’t know if law enforcement is involved. We don’t know what is actually being done behind the scenes to address and punish the actions alleged. We’re forced to sit, waiting for a “response” from either party, but what we really need are proper investigations and actions.
Who knows how long this information was sitting, waiting for the moment to “strike?” Who knows how many knew about these allegations and whether or not they are true? It’s disheartening. Obviously, given the state of the world, a “rap beef” if the least of our concerns, which is why I don’t like referring to this as a “rap beef,” it is clearly so much more than that. But will it be treated with the weight is deserves? Will anything come of this? That, I do not know, which makes it all the more disheartening.
<p>The post Is This Still “Beef” at This Point? first appeared on Her Campus.</p>
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