Drake vs Kendrick: Where Do Women Factor In?

what’s been happening, why is there is moral high ground, and why do they keep mentioning baby mamas? including: a timeline with background for the beef

This is a developing story. Last Updated May 5, 12.23am PST

By now you’ve most likely have heard endlessly about the quickening rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Technically spanning since 2011 until now, the hatred between the two rappers runs deep. But ever since Drake’s album For All The Dogs released in October 2023, where he and J. Cole had a song together that off-handedly dissed Kendrick, the animosity has been never ending

[J. COLE]

Love when they argue the hardest MC 
Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? 
We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali 
Huh, yeah, yeah, huh-huh, yeah, Muhammad Ali.

While the rivalry has gained immense notoriety, a bandwagoning has occurred on both sides, blindly believing that one is far more skillful/respected/popular, etc than the other. I won’t lie and say I haven’t participated in any public displays of preference. Even more the beef truly started I argued with countless people about who’s better between Drake and Kendrick Lamar–the answer has always seemed clear to me as to who’s on top. After all, I’m a journalist, who am I to disrespect the authority and lyrical ability of someone who holds a Pulitzer Prize?

Nevertheless, this bandwagon idea overlooks what these rappers are actually saying. Yes, there is acknowledgement of the content, the disses that occur, of course, but the implications of how women are treated is hard to overlook, on both sides. Both use and bring up women when it’s convenient, from Drake alleging that Kendrick beats his wife, to Kendrick mentioning Drake’s pedophilic tendencies now when it’s implied he waited to drop the news until a diss where it would be “appropriate.”

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To provide further context to the beginning of this drama, in late January Megan Thee Stallion released the HISS, which went extremely viral online for her lines:

Aye, these hoes don't be mad at Megan 
These hoes mad at Megan's Law 
I don't really know what the problem is 
But I guarantee, y'all don't want me to start

Nicki Minaj immediately fired back, perhaps for the connection between “Megan’s Law” which states that sex offenders must be made publicly known to Minaj’s own husband Kenneth Perry. In 1995, Perry was convicted of attempted rape of a 16-year-old-girl and in 2022, he failed to register as a sex offender, which resulted in house arrest. As entertainment reporter Alexandra Del Rosario writes for The Detroit News, “Hiss did not directly name Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer collaborator Minaj – nor the core of their alleged beef – but it seems the latter took the Megan’s Law lyric personally. Hours after the song dropped on Friday, Minaj tweeted a graphic line describing what her rival allegedly would do for a ‘free beat.’” 

Three days later Minaj would drop Big Foot, a track that “resorted to low-hanging fruit – including Megan’s romantic relationships, the 2019 death of her mother, her 2020 shooting by Tory Lanez and the media attention surrounding that highly public trial.”

But what truly matters is not Minaj’s insensitivity, but rather what Megan called out, only to be buried within “rap drama.” Megan tried to further the conversation about how people disregard the sexual violence but was disregarded herself. A large personality that propelled this glossing over is Drake In HISS, Megan continues

These n— hate on BBLs and be walkin' 'round with the same scars

A more direct blow to Drake, who is rumored to have undergone ab surgery or a BBL, and who sided with Tory Lanez in the trial and implied that Megan lied about the shooting. Behavior that he publicized to his audience, which only further pushes the hatred against women who speak out or take action. 

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But to fast forward to now, as I’m writing this (May 4th, 10.41pm), both sides have dropped two major tracks: Family Matters from Drake and Meet the Grahams from Kendrick. The most important takeaway in Family Matters is the allegation that Kendrick beats his fiancée Whitney and the most important takeaway from Meet the Grahams is the allegation that Drake is protecting sex offenders on payroll at his record label OVO. In the eerie song, a letter to Drake’s son and mother, Kendrick even compares Drake to Harvey Weinstein, a convicted sex offender, former film producer, and primary subject of allegations in the #MeToo movement. 

TikToker Christian Divyne (@xtinedivyne) put it succinctly when he said that Kendrick has “primed his fan base to be blindly trustworthy to his moral high ground.” In fact, this allegation from Drake, as well as previous actions, highlights a certain hypocrisy from Kendrick. Drake’s entire persona is being a “culture vulture” as Kendrick says, being a womanizer that has hidden children before, so allegations that he’s a gambler or has a secret daughter can be less than surprising. 

However, with Kendrick, there is a different side being shown. To the general public, and especially to his fans, he is respected. Kendrick is not made a joke as Drake is, so this allegation in particular pushes Kendrick off a pedestal. Yet people who have bandwagoned onto his side barely even acknowledge it. His actions and words are rationalized, after all, Kendrick’s last album was Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, all about therapy, healing, showing how he understands the culture. 

As Divyne also mentions in his TikTok, neither side has shown legitimate proof of the more serious allegations. While Kendrick’s cover for Meet the Grahams features pill bottles and an Ozempic prescription with Drake’s name on it, it’s not particularly surprising, and nothing has been confirmed of his sex trafficking staff. 

Continually are women being used to posit this moral high ground, on both sides. They both accuse each other of misogyny, yet never acknowledge their own. Just because Drake is an established creep among the culture does not make the new allegations any less heinous, lest we forget about his $350,000 settlement against a sexual assault allegation or his previous texting of a 14-year-old Millie Bobby Brown, a 17-year-old Billie Eilish, and a 22-year-old Kylie Jenner. A question must also be asked about why now? If Kendrick knew all of this incredibly incriminating information about the sex trafficking ring within OVO, why wait to release the information on a diss track, and not even the first one, in the fourth, the height of its popularity. Given Kendrick’s previous positive moral compass, it’s not a question of people believing him, they already do, rather, it’s the action of using a literal crime as something to hang over another’s head.

@Side_Madden on Twitter / X

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Woah! Was this post, and the past week insane! This may be the fastest I’ve ever written a post. I’m very serious when I say this rap beef yanked me out of a writing slump. I hope you enjoyed. If you’re new here and haven’t already, please subscribe because you directly support me and my publication (also we’re six of you away from 200!!!!!)

In other news I was expecting to share in June with my quarterly review but was propelled to because of this : I made a TikTok for AuxComp! Most of the posts are light-hearted, about fashion or media, but I’ve been doing accompanying posts for promotion of AuxComp I have been going ham at Canva, trust me. Follow me @alaiapitch on TikTok!