To answer Why Kendrick has not yet responded a few things must be understood. The first thing is the fact that a grilled cheese takes 5 minutes but a beef wellington takes much much longer. A beef wellington is a complex dish that takes a long time to master and has complicated steps in order to complete the dish.
The Beef Wellington is a perfect example of who and what Kendrick Lamar is as an artist. It is layered, delicious and full of substance. Kendrick Lamar is an artist beyond his peers. Great art does not take 1 hour. Great art doesn’t take one day. Kendrick Lamar makes masterpieces and masterpieces take a long time. An example of a lyrical masterpiece is Nas’ diss against Jay-Z named “ ether”.
Ether
Ether is a hip hop classic and one of the greatest rap disses to ever be conceived. Nas’ “Ether” comes as a response to Jay-Z’s “Takeover”. The Jay Z( plus all of Roc Nation) versus Nas beef is a legendary beef that has gone down in rap history. The point here is that Nas’s response to Jay Z took 3 months. This is what is generally meant when people say “let him cook”. The world needs to let Kendrick cook instead of all this extra pressure to release a half baked pile of nonsense like J Cole released.
Art Takes Time
Drake is taking advantage of the fact that Kendrick is someone who likes to take his time by releasing multiple disses and pretending like Kendrick is scared. Furthermore, Kendrick wasn’t scared in 2013 when he released the control verse. He wasn’t scared when he released like that and he isn’t scared now. Drake lyrics in his first diss are indicative of his misunderstanding of who Kendrick Lamar truly is. Drake sets all other rappers to his standard.
Impact Over Records
Furthermore, Drake is a rapper that cares about how much his records sell, meanwhile Kdot cares more about the impact that his albums have. Drake said that Travis Scott, SZA, and 21 savage have him beat by records. “You ain’t in no big three, SZA got you wiped down, Travis got you wiped down, Savage got you wiped down” according to Genius.
However, what Drake doesn’t understand is that none of these artists, especially 21 savage, have the impact that Kendrick Lamar has. They aren’t better lyricists, and the topics they choose to rhyme about have no substance. Furthermore, Kendrick doesn’t play by the rules that Drake does. He may have done those features with Taylor Swift and “Maroon 5”, but who says that wasn’t a consequence of being controlled by the label he left in 2022.
Art Versus Hits
Kendrick is an artist, and Drake is a rapper. This is why Drake is entirely comfortable with releasing songs he admits he spent very little time on. “The first one really only took me an hour or two The next one is really ’bout to bring out the coward in you” according to Genius.
Drake is a rapper who releases his songs in order to make money. On its own there is nothing inherently wrong with this. However he knows that Kendrick is trying to take his time to create something “ether” worthy. In the digital age of 8 second attention spans and week long trends taking 3 months for a diss looks weak. However, as stated previously great art takes a while.
Hip Hop gives those who want to take the time to make something special the opportunity to do so. Rap music is more than a genre. Rap music is black expressionist art that has defined multiple generations of black culture. Drake sells records, but Kendrick sells culture defining artistry, and high art is not made in a week.
Pure Disrespect
Finally, there is no one in this world with enough music cred or respect in the community to use Tupac’s voice and flow on a song. The farthest of people on this list would be the Canadian “Degrassi” star Mr. Aubrey Graham. Drake should never have thought it was ok to use Tupac’s voice to goad Kendrick into dropping a diss.
As of the time of writing of this article it is not clear if Drake asked the Shakur family if he could use Tupac’s likeness. Outside of that, Snoop is still alive, and it is still extremely disrespectful. Snoop Dogg has cosigned Kendrick as one of the greatest artists of Kendrick’s generation. Drake is an attention seeking rapper of little to no substance. It is time let the greatest rap artist of the 2010s finish what he started.
Updates
Finally, as of April 26, The Tupac estate has sent a cease and desist to drake over the use of AI in “Taylor Made Freestyle”. “The estate’s lawyer, Howard King, called the use of AI Tupac a “flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights,” as well as a “blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”” according to Rolling Stone.
Opinion by Kenneth Mazerat
Sources
Genius: Taylor Made Freestyle
Genius: Push Ups
Rollingstone: Drake Mostly Made Himself Look Bad on His Latest Diss by Andre Gee
Rollingstone: Drake Removes ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ After Lawsuit Threat Over AI Tupac BY JON BLISTEIN
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Julien’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Merlijn Hoek’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
