“A Looking We Will Go.”
That’s the music whose melody Omar whistles within the eighth episode of the primary season of The Wire, after he baits Wee-Bay and Stinkum into an ambush, capturing the previous within the leg and killing the latter. That is the tune that should’ve been ringing off in Drake’s head as he grew an increasing number of impatient ready for Kendrick’s rebuttal. Properly, it’s lastly right here — and The King within the North is wounded, ducking for canopy like Wee-Bay behind that automotive.
“Them tremendous powers gettin’ neutralized, I can solely watch in silence/ The well-known actor we as soon as knew is lookin’ paranoid, and now it’s spiraling,” is how Kenny begins off “Euphoria,” primarily confirming the hypothesis that he was making Drake wait on objective.
I’ve been a kind of folks preaching persistence — primarily as a result of I keep in mind when to be able to hear a diss observe, you needed to both go discover the mixtape it was on, look ahead to it to be premiered on the radio or reside on stage, or look ahead to an artist’s album to drop. A back-and-forth usually took months to play out, not days or even weeks. Drake took about three weeks to answer Kendrick’s verse on “Like That,” and has since dropped two songs: “Push Ups,” directed at Rap’s Sinister Six (Future, Metro, Kendrick, The Weeknd, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky) and the very bizarre and controversial “Taylor Made,” that includes AI variations of 2Pac and Snoop, which he was ultimately pressured to take down. And this all of this was taking place whereas he tried to out-meme and out-funny Rick Ross on Instagram, which is a shedding battle in itself. The irony of all that is “Euphoria” makes it appear as if Kendrick would have responded earlier if Drake didn’t attempt to bait him with gimmicks.
However that’s all previously. In the present day, Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 8:24 AM PST (keep in mind the Kobe line from “Stories About My Brother“?,) the King of the West pushed the button on a diss observe that’s six minutes and 23 seconds of pure, unadulterated hate. And let’s be clear and let the report present: Kendrick didn’t “leak” this diss report to a streamer, or depart any doubt about this observe being AI. He didn’t wait to place it on streaming providers on New Music Friday, or connect the music to an album rollout. No, he put the music on his YouTube web page and tweeted the hyperlink out, utterly proudly owning the second. This observe is principally that Beef DVD clip of fifty Cent standing outdoors on a balcony talking on Ja Rule, shaking his head in disgust and telling the digicam: “I actually don’t like that man.”
There are such a lot of issues to unpack. First you’ve got the title of the music being “Euphoria” and the definition of the phrase as the one art work. I’ll spare you the Genius annotation, however everyone knows Drake is an government producer on HBO’s hit present Euphoria, proper? The definition can be a nod to Lamar having a sense of euphoria after lastly getting all this Drake hate off his chest. The music begins off with backwards audio from a scene in 1978’s The Wiz, the place the Wizard (performed by Richard Pryor) is uncovered as a phony. “All the pieces they are saying about me is true, I’m a phony…,” the Wizard says. Lamar additionally mentions the paranoia Drake should’ve been feeling as he waited on this rebuttal. Kenny then flips a swap and goes into overdrive, giving critics and followers what they’ve been ready for: an actual life rap battle.
He throws photographs in each route, telling the Canadian rapper all the cash and energy can’t cease somebody from being lame. He then refers back to the recreation of hen he’s been enjoying and asks Drake, “Have you ever ever walked your enemy down, like with a poker face?” He’s principally saying Drake blinked first after the “Like That” verse shook up the sport. He mentions that Drake shopping for considered one of Tupac’s rings and utilizing synthetic intelligence to control Pac’s voice made the late hip-hop legend “flip in his grave.” And he questions Drake’s “faux powerful man” act, advising him to complete his beef with Pusha T earlier than interested by responding to him, spitting, “I don’t such as you poppin’ s–t at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the meat/ Yeah, f—okay all that pushin’ P, let me see you push a T/ You higher off spinnin’ once more on him, you concentrate on pushin’ me? He’s Terrance Thornton, I’m Terrance Crawford, yeah, I’m whoopin’ ft.”
Kendrick additionally confirms that this battle isn’t actually for enjoyable or for the crown, it’s actually about “love and hate” — revealing that he’s additionally secretly Drake’s greatest hater, rapping, “I hate the best way that you just stroll, the best way that you just discuss/ I hate the best way that you just gown I hate the best way you sneak diss/ If I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct/ We hate the bitches you f—okay, ’trigger they confuse themselves with actual ladies/ And spot, I mentioned “We”, it’s not simply me, I’m what the tradition feelin’.” He’s clearly sick of the Canadian’s sh—t and has been for some time now.
Drake’s “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” had been stable efforts, however for my cash, they didn’t hit as onerous because the “Like That” verse or “Euphoria.” “Push ups” was intelligent and humorous, and he was in a tricky spot as a result of he had to answer like six completely different folks. “Taylor Made Freestyle,” nevertheless, confirmed a chink in his armor. It got here throughout determined for a response, and it wasn’t very boss-like. I believe it uncovered how impatient he was changing into, as Kendrick gave nothing however radio silence as rumors began to unfold about what he had underneath his sleeve.
This response was effectively well worth the wait. You possibly can’t put a timer on artwork, and I’m not placing a timer on Drake to fireplace again. I hope this rap battle carries on for the remainder of the 12 months, as a result of metal sharpens metal and rap music on the whole can solely profit from this conflict of titans.
Now we wait within the enviornment for the King within the North to collect his ideas and reply. However, as Omar mentioned, “You come on the king, you finest not miss.”
