After a hellacious heavyweight feud between two of rap’s prime superstars, Kendrick Lamar and Drake, the courtroom of public opinion appears poised to announce the Compton MC because the victor. For now, Kendrick can rejoice and maintain his head excessive after issuing the knockout blow of the battle on Saturday (Could 4) with “Not Like Us,” topping streaming charts on Spotify and Apple and already making its manner into the guts of popular culture. In the meantime, his adversary Drake is left to ponder his subsequent transfer, after seemingly dismissing the lyrical fight in what was possible his final track of the battle, Sunday’s “The Coronary heart Pt. 6.”
Although Drake can proudly hoist his laundry checklist of accolades, spanning from his 13 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 to his all-time report variety of Sizzling 100 entries, there’s no denying that this loss towards hip-hop’s cerebral murderer will definitely muddy his standing within the rap world. Although he fought tooth-and-nail with Lamar all through the weeks-long back-and-forth, you don’t get brownie factors for coming in second place in hip-hop. Regardless of his shiny Corridor of Fame resume, the query stays: Can Drake reclaim his glory and get well? Or did Kendrick ship his fatality?
From a mainstream standpoint, Drake’s legacy gained’t be affected. For 15 years, he has shattered data by placing up online game numbers. He’s second to Jay-Z relating to rappers with essentially the most Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, whereas being fourth total (additionally behind Taylor Swift and The Beatles). Even after his 2023 For All of the Canine left followers and critics principally underwhelmed, he nonetheless topped the Billboard 200 throughout the set’s opening week with 402,000 equal album items moved, whereas additionally notching two Sizzling 100 chart-toppers with the SZA-assisted “Slime You Out” and “First Individual Shooter” with J. Cole.
Drake’s skill to weave out and in of the pop world each time he chooses has enabled him to have a fanbase outdoors of rap. However whereas this beef has crossed over into popular culture, the fact is the feud was strictly for hip-hop tradition and probably not anybody else. The individuals who adored Drake for making “Hotline Bling” or “One Dance” gained’t care an excessive amount of about his loss to Kendrick versus The Tradition and can proceed to champion him.
When Drake sparred towards Pusha T in 2018, he was within the midst of the most effective industrial run of his profession. He had launched again to again smashes in “God’s Plan” and “Good for What,” in the end topping the Sizzling 100 for a mixed 19 weeks between them. However then, Pusha briefly toppled Drake with “The Story of Adidon,” leaving the 6 God surprised and underneath duress. Although Drake didn’t reply to the scathing diss monitor, he pushed ahead along with his fifth studio album, Scorpion, and in the end gained the summer time along with his meme-ready, dance-challenge-inspiring single “In My Emotions,” which grew to become his third No. 1 hit throughout that run. Whereas The Tradition buried Drake after his disappointing loss, the pop world by no means deserted him.
In 2018, Drake survived Pusha’s avalanche onslaught by shifting consideration away from the meat and in direction of the factor he nonetheless does finest: making anthems. Although hip-hop listeners have lengthy recollections, mainstream America generally is a little extra susceptible to amnesia – and in the end, who doesn’t love a comeback story?
As well as, now that the battle is nearing its finish, by taking a well-deserved break, Drake will enable not solely hip-hop however, in the end, followers to overlook what he dropped at the desk basically nonstop during the last 15 years. Absence makes the guts develop fonder, and the style must see what life appears like with out Drake for the subsequent yr or two, as he reimagines what he desires the subsequent section of his profession to appear like. The juggling act between trying to be each the last word pop star and hip-hop’s most revered MC is a tall order for anybody to deal with, together with Drake. Whereas his resume on the previous half is unquestionable, he’s by no means absolutely achieved the rap half of it – there have at all times been friends, together with Kendrick, that demand extra innate respect from the streets than Drake.
As he weighs his future, Drake might must determine which route he desires to go when ending his story. After receiving harsh criticism for For All of the Canine, he dashed into the studio as a result of The Tradition demanded extra rap songs. That birthed the venture’s Scary Hours Version, that includes a few of his finest rapping thus far. Although hip-hop purists applauded his efforts, not everybody clapped for him, as they awaited his demise and later rebuked him after Kendrick’s demolition derby.
Drake additionally must determine if chasing love and admiration in hip-hop, a style the place a few of the greatest stars collided with him throughout his “20 V 1” showdown, is well worth the pursuit. If that’s the case, he ought to focus his efforts on proving himself with a hard-nosed rap album, contemplating that’s the one factor he hasn’t actually finished since If You’re Studying This It’s Too Late. If he’s detached to that concept, then he might absolutely embrace the pop star picture and whip up radio anthems that may proceed to chart and dominate. However he ought to choose one of many two lanes, as a result of making an attempt to function in each is nearly inconceivable for him at this juncture of his profession. And both manner, the aim for Drake ought to stay the identical: to place out the most effective music of his life, the type that immediately adjustments the dialog and leaves the most important L of his profession one other distant reminiscence.
