February 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Today's episode explores the heated rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
• The origins of the Drake and Kendrick feud
• Kendrick's bold lyricism on "Control" as a catalyst
• The impact of ghostwriting accusations on Drake's reputation
• 2023 tensions and Kendrick's absence from First Person Shooter
• Analysis of Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance and its significance
• The implications of Drake's lawsuit against Universal Music Group
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome, welcome in to the Third Down Conversation,
your place for sports andentertainment.
I am D Turnip Seed and ontoday's episode, they not like
us.
Drake and Kendrick.
How did we get here?
Who won the battle?
What are my thoughts on theSuper Bowl performance?
(00:29):
Well, I'm gonna jump into allthat.
As you know, I keep it real, Ikeep it authentic and I'm always
in context.
But I'm also Team Drake.
Let's jump in, let's jump in.
So how did we get to kendrickcalling drake a pedophile?
(00:51):
How did not like us become thecrescendo of the super bowl?
Well, the story all begins backin 2012.
(01:12):
Back in 2012, drake goes ontour.
It was called the club paradisetour and for some reason, drake
really wanted to take kendrickon tour with him.
Now his management team wantedother artists, but but Drake
felt like Kendrick was supertalented.
He had just had Kendrick on hisTake Care album in 2011 and was
(01:32):
like nah, kendrick is going ontour and, by all accounts, the
tour goes great.
People are exposed to Kendrickin person for the first time and
Kendrick kind of blows up alittle bit.
We're gonna fast forward to thenext year, 2013.
Kendrick jumps on Big Sean'ssong Control and on this song
(01:59):
Kendrick goes at all theup-and-coming artists Drake, j
Cole, even Big Sean himself.
Who's?
I mean, that's his song andKendrick takes shots at him Bold
move, by the way, bold move.
Here's a little snippet of whatKendrick said on that song.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Please excuse the explicit language murder you
niggas.
Trying to make sure your courtfans never heard of you niggas.
They don't want to hear not onemore noun or verb from you
niggas.
What is competition?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
so, as you can see, kendrick is coming in, guns are
blazing, aiming at all theup-and-comers, all the new guys
or, as triple x calls them, thefreshman class, and drake didn't
like this very much, and canyou blame him?
I mean, the previous year Itook you on tour.
(03:08):
I let people see who you are, Ilet people see just how
talented you are, and this ishow you return the favor.
Here's a few words from Drakeon how he felt about what
Kendrick said on control after.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Kendrick said on control After Kendrick's thing
you wouldn't.
I noticed you didn't really getinto that too much.
I just like I don't know, itjust wasn't real.
To me it's like I saw him afterthat and it was just like love.
So it's like, was that real orwas that just like for the
people you know?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
what.
I mean, I think it's a sparringkind of sport, yeah, but at the
same time it's like you know,then let it be real.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Then you know, I mean , because those were harsh words
, Right.
So it's like don't just youcan't just say that and then see
me and be like, yeah, man,what's up, Pretending like
nothing ever happened.
That's not real, that's not tome, that's not like the nature
of battling.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, there's passion behind it, there's anger
behind you know and Ipersonally enjoy making like
great music and bodies of workover, like being the talk of
Twitter for like five days Now.
As you see, drake is very, verybothered.
He views it as fake.
(04:17):
Kendrick just wants to seekattention you know, get Twitter
buzzing, but, to Kendrick'scredit, he's only coming from a
competition standpoint.
He wants to compete, eventhough what he said was pretty
aggressive, but it's aboutcompetition for kendrick.
(04:38):
However, drake, on the otherhand and this is where people
start to call Drake sensitive hedoesn't take it that way.
He's very offended, to say theleast.
He's bothered by what Kendricksaid.
That same year, drake drops analbum Called Nothing Was the
(05:01):
Same.
He has a song on that albumcalled the Language.
Many fans speculated that a lotof the verses in that song were
about Kendrick, but no versesticks out more than the very
first verse of that song whereDrake raps.
Kendrick is known as aninspirational rapper.
(05:36):
He wants to uplift the culture.
So it's clear that that lineright there, oh yeah, bang, bang
, those are shots at Kendrick.
Kendrick then responds to Drakein a song called King Kunta and
in that song Kendrick raps.
I can dig rapping, but a rapperwith a ghost writer what the F
(06:00):
happened?
Now Drake, at this moment intime, is being accused of having
ghostwriters write his raps.
The claim originally came fromMeek Mill.
Meek Mill and Drake and MeekMill get into a bit of a back
and forth and sidebar.
I'm a Drake fan and everything,but it is odd that so many
(06:24):
people beef with this guy.
Meek Mill, p Diddy, pusha T,kendrick, like so many different
people, got a problem withDrake.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
Like something's off.
Either he is like some sort ofbad guy or this is some next
(06:45):
level hate, but anyway, anyway,back to the story.
So Meek Mill calls out Drakefor having ghost writers.
Kendrick alludes to Drakehaving ghostwriters by that rap,
and a ghostwriter is someonewho writes content on the behalf
of someone else withoutreceiving official credit.
(07:07):
Now to defend Drake, just alittle bit.
Ghostwriting didn't start withDrake.
Several artists have beenaccused of having ghostwriters
and hip-hop is frowned uponbecause it's all about being
authentic and lyrical skill.
So in hip-hop it's a no-no.
(07:28):
But again, several rappers havebeen accused of using
ghostwriters and some have evenadmitted to using Ghostwriters.
Kanye West admitted that Drakewrote some of his raps.
Jay-z wrote one of Dr Dre'smost famous songs Still Dre,
(07:50):
which is odd because Dre andKendrick are like tight.
But he's accusing Drake ofhaving Ghostwriters, but Dre
used Ghostwriters anyway.
Maybe that's just me.
Maybe that's just me.
This whole ghostwriting thingdid not start with Drake, even
though most people would wantyou to believe that.
Oh, drake started this.
Drake even addressed this inhis song 7AM on Brought a Path,
(08:15):
where he raps letting me takethe wrath of that Casper the
ghost ass, while y'all findingthe loopholes.
He's letting you know in thatrhyme, in that rap, it's not
just me that is collaboratingwith other artists now.
Do I think drake uses ghostwriters?
I don't.
(08:35):
I don't believe Drake allowssomeone to write raps for him
and then he just raps what theywrite.
I do think he collaborates.
I also think that on Drake'stimestamp records, that's all
him.
No collaboration, pen to paperthat's all Drake.
(08:56):
Records such as 7 am on bridalpath, 5 am in Toronto I think
that's all Drake.
Now Drake and Kendrick continueto have these subliminal wars,
rapping about each other, butthey won't say each other names.
But all that came to an end in2023.
(09:18):
Say each other names, but allthat came to an end in 2023.
I hope you guys enjoyed thatfirst segment and if you haven't
had a chance, go ahead and hitthat like button.
Go ahead and hit that subscribebutton and a five-star review
will sure help a brother out.
Remember.
Shows will drop every tuesdayand follow me on socials at the
(09:42):
third down conversation.
Now let's continue the show andjump into segment number two.
In 2023, drake drops an albumcalled For All the Dogs.
(10:08):
On that album, he had a songwith J Cole called First Person
Shooter.
It's been reported thatKendrick Lamar was supposed to
be on this song and Kendrick,drake and J Cole were supposed
to be this big three.
There's conflicting reports outthere that says that Kendrick
(10:31):
declined the invitation to be onthe song or Kendrick accepted
and Drake didn't wait forKendrick to send his verse.
I don't know which one is true.
Again conflicting reports.
Kendrick wasn't on the song.
J Cole and Drake make the songand it's very popular top 100 on
(10:54):
the billboard charts.
That album was released inOctober of 2023.
A song by Metro Boomin' andFuture Comes out in 2024, a few
months later, called Like that.
While Kendrick did not mentionDrake by name, he took direct
shots at Drake, specificallywhen he raps F the Big 3, it's
(11:20):
just big me.
Up until that point, therehadn't been a shot so direct at
the other.
Again, it's been allsubliminals up until that point,
but when Kendrick goes and rapswhat he raps, it's game time.
The ref has thrown the ball inthe air.
Kendrick won the tip and madethe first three-pointer.
(11:47):
So now, at this point, kendrickhas essentially called Drake
out and says there's no bigthree, I'm the top dog.
Drake being ego-driven as mostartists in his position are, he
responds with a song calledpush-ups.
This song is really mockingKendrick's height and a video
(12:07):
where Kendrick unexplicably isdoing push-ups and stuff in like
a parking lot or like abackyard.
I don't know why he's doingthat, but Drake is attacking him
from that angle your height andtalking about, um, his record
deal as far as the splits,because he feels like his
manager is getting over on him.
(12:29):
Once drake responds, kendrickis now on the clock in hip-hop.
You got like a couple of daysto a week to respond, but
Kendrick took his precious time.
Like he took his time.
Push-ups was released on April13th.
Kendrick didn't respond untillike April 30th, so he took his
(12:51):
time.
But Drake drops push-ups on the13th and then he drops another
song on the 19th called TaylorMade Freestyle, and he used some
AI to sound like Tupac andSnoop Dogg you know West Coast
(13:14):
legends Egg and Kendrick on torespond.
He also went to Instagram andhe's just like drop something,
drop, drop, drop, like it's.
It's continuous for Drake.
All the trolling that Drake wasdoing, I think, was his downfall
, because then Kendrick releasesEuphoria on the 30th of April
(13:36):
and in this song, euphoria well,kendrick just pretty much tells
Drake he hates him the way hewalks, the way he talks, claims
Drake is being well tougher thanwhat he actually is and says is
it the brakes?
Like he attacks his wholepersona and I got to admit he
attacks it.
Well, he really brings intoquestion who Drake thinks he is
(14:02):
versus who he actually is.
So on April 3rd, kendrick dropsagain, and this time the song
is called 616 in LA.
Now, remember how I mentionedthat Drake likes to do timestamp
records.
As you can see, kendrick hascopied that, where he is again
(14:25):
attacking Drake's authenticity.
He truly believes Drake is afraud.
He's a fake tough guy and atthis point most people in the
rap game were looking at Drakekind of sideways, because again,
you've been pushing him to drop.
Roy, what's your response?
Well, drake brings FamilyMatters late on May 3rd and on
(14:50):
Family Matters, drake snaps.
He really taps into his lyricalbag and aims at Kendrick's
fiance.
They've been engaged since 2015.
So Drake really attacks himfrom a standpoint of how moral
are you?
Why aren't y'all married?
Yet he takes it a step furtherby saying Kendrick's general
(15:14):
manager is the father of one ofhis kids.
Now, in my opinion, that's toofar.
I just like that's too far.
He goes even farther in thesong, saying that his fiance is
always posting things thatscream save me.
So drake is really hitting himfrom a family angle, because
(15:39):
kendrick is all about, you know,mr morale, mr moral, his family
being a father, being a well, Iguess, kind of like a husband,
but that's Kendrick whole thing,just being this uplifting guy.
While Kendrick's angle withDrake is more so about how he
won't grow up, how he won'tmature, how he won't be there
(16:01):
for his son.
And Kendrick alludes to that inhis song in response to Family
Matters called Meet the Grams,and Kendrick releases this song
five minutes after Drake dropsFamily Matters.
So essentially, kendrick stompsall over Family Matters with
(16:22):
another release.
So people heard Drake'sresponse and then Kendrick was
back with a response like itwasn't even 30 minutes and
Kendrick had already responded.
And in the song called Meet theGrams, kendrick alludes to
Drake having a hidden child.
(16:42):
Now, this is important becausewhen Drake and Pusha T were in a
rap battle, pusha T won thatbattle because he exposed Drake
for having a hidden child.
The only difference is whenPusha T did it it was true, but
when Kendrick did it it wasn'ttrue, but it dominated the
(17:05):
conversation.
So at that point you kind ofgive the nod to Kendrick,
because when it comes to rapbattles, it's the court of
public opinion, ain't noreferees, ain't no scoreboard.
So Meet the Grams dropped late,late On May 3rd, and then On May
4th Kendrick releases Not LikeUs.
(17:28):
He drops again and Not Like Us.
It was drops again and Not LikeUs.
It was a man, it was a banger,it was a bop.
I didn't like it.
It was hard for me to, you know, vibe to a song calling a guy a
pedophile.
But look again, publicperception, public opinion, they
(17:52):
loved it.
He had created a bop.
Beat Drake at his own game.
If you guys are enjoying theshow, please remember to like,
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Guys are enjoying the show.
(18:13):
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(18:33):
Now let's finish the show Froma lyrical standpoint.
Drake was hanging with him andfor me that was surprising,
(18:53):
because Kendrick is viewed asthis lyrical mastermind His
nickname is the boogeyman, likethat's how good he is on the, on
the, as an emcee.
But Drake was there Every stepof the way, from just like
rapping.
Drake was there with him, butKendrick had a better strategy.
(19:15):
Did kendrick win?
Sure, but he won because of hisstrategy.
Drake is like drop, drop, drop,drop, and kendrick's over there
just stockpiling sauce.
He's just he, just you gettinghis war chest ready.
So when Drake did dropsomething, he was ready and
could instantly respond.
(19:36):
In my opinion, drake tookKendrick too lightly.
He underestimated him and notlike us became a smash hit.
I mean a smash hit.
Everybody's screaming A minor,everybody looking at him
sideways and as a Drake fan, Icouldn't even defend him.
He beat him.
Next thing, you know, kendrickis getting offered to perform at
(19:58):
the Super Bowl.
The song gets all kind ofGrammy nominations.
So at the Grammys, not Like Uswins 5 awards 5 awards, which is
insane for a diss song.
But if I'm Drake, what happenedat the Grammys that night?
That would have bothered memore than anything, because when
(20:21):
Kendrick went up to receive hisawards, they would play the
song and usually they would playlike the hook.
No, they played like a verseand that verse was the a minor
verse, and you got people in thestands that are, you know, fans
.
But you have yourcontemporaries, people that are
(20:43):
in the industry with you taylor,swift, beyonce, they down there
vibing to it, dancing to it,and if I'm Drake, that would
have hurt me.
Well, that's painful.
That was a reflection of whatthe industry thinks of you.
In my opinion, a lot of peoplewant to point to what happened
at the Super Bowl.
(21:03):
That had to be expected.
If I'm Drake, you had to knowthat he was going to perform the
song you had to know thateveryone in the crowd was going
to sing A minor.
So that should have beenexpected.
But what happened to theGrammys?
In my opinion, that was theunexpected right there, because
now you can see how you helpBeyonce write songs, how Lucien
(21:24):
Grange, who runs Universal MusicGroup he's high-fiving Dr Dre.
You can see it all in plainsight.
Nobody's hiding anymore.
No one is being fake anymore.
So now you know.
Just as a human being, you gotto adjust accordingly.
So I would have been way moreupset about that than what
happened at the Super Bowl.
(21:44):
And since I brought up SuperBowl, let's move towards the
Super Bowl.
Let's first start with the Drakeangle of Kendrick's performance
.
I truly believe that Kendrickgave Drake way too much
attention.
I mean, he played a euphoriaand not like us at the Super
Bowl.
I think Kendrick should havemade it more about him.
(22:06):
You know, forget Drake From ahip hop standpoint.
He would have caught somejudgment behind not performing a
song and people would have feltlike, oh, that's weak, he ain't
do the song.
But just as an artist, kendrickdoesn't need Drake to have a
good performance.
Kendrick doesn't strike me as aguy that does what the people
want him to do.
He normally does his own thing,marches on beat.
(22:29):
That's what people love abouthim.
So I feel like he gave Drakeway too much attention in that
performance.
Now, as far as Kendrick'sperformance as a whole, it's
received mixed reviews.
Some people loved it and calledit black excellence and
(22:49):
highlighted how somewhat of anattack on the government and
some people hated it felt likeit was the wrong place for a
message.
And for me, as soon as I sawSamuel L Jackson dressed up as
Uncle Sam, oh, I knew it wasabout to go over my head like I
had just finished with midtermand I was like, yeah, this is
(23:09):
about to be a think piece and mythinking cap is not with me, so
I'm about to miss three-fourthsof this.
I wouldn't necessarily call itblack excellence because there
were some points where it showednot the best side of the
culture.
When you think about, you knowthe bloods, the crips, the crib
walking, but there were someelements in the performance that
(23:32):
show a good side of the culture, talking about coming together.
Thing that I really had tounderstand was that this is
Kendrick's perspective, this ishow he sees America and I think
in that lane I gotta respectthat, whether I agree with it or
not, that's his perspective.
(23:52):
As Americans, we have to do abetter job of respecting how
someone feels or how they seethings.
You know it's okay to agree todisagree, so, whether you liked
it or not, maybe it wasn't foryou, maybe it was for you, but
that's his perspective.
(24:12):
Now Kendrick performing Not LikeUs at the Super Bowl is more
alarming because Drake has nowfiled a lawsuit.
Now, this lawsuit was filedbefore the Super Bowl, but I
think when Kendrick actuallyperformed a song on a national
stage, it highlights the lawsuiteven more.
And in this lawsuit, drake isclaiming defamation of character
(24:36):
, also claiming that UniversalMusic Group, or UMG, is
purposely trying to destroy hisvalue.
Now Drake is catching a lot ofheat about this lawsuit because
a lot of people want to say it'snot hip-hop and it's not a rap.
Battle goes down, things getsaid, the public decides who
(24:59):
wins and usually that's it.
However, drake is trying to geta new deal and UMG, well,
they're trying to shortchangehim.
And this is very, very similarto sports, and I like using
sports comparisons becausesports, in my opinion, is a
microcosm of society.
(25:21):
So just imagine you go outthere and you're playing
football or basketball.
You're in a contract year andyou don't perform as well as you
are capable of, and theorganization comes back to you
and say we're going to give youthis, while you feel like now I
(25:42):
deserve more than that.
This whole thing with Drake andUMG is very similar to that
using Not Like Us and reallypromoting it to the point where
it's devaluing who he is as anartist to where now they can
(26:02):
give him not the best dealpossible.
And if Drake truly feels thatway, I don't blame him for the
lawsuit.
I also don't blame people forsaying that it's weak and that
it's not hip hop, because it'snot.
It comes across as a sore loserbecause he's not suing Kendrick
, he's only suing UMG, so whynot sue Kendrick as well?
(26:23):
If?
If it's about defamation ofcharacter?
This plot thickens becauseDrake just released a new collab
album with the party next doorcalled some sexy songs for you,
and the album is um projectednot to do as well as drake
(26:43):
normally would do.
So could this be more to apoint what drake is saying?
Could he use this to helpbolster his argument in court as
far as a lawsuit?
Maybe?
All I know is it's a prettygood album for an R&B album.
Yes, I'm a Drake guy.
Kendrick won the battle.
Kendrick had a better strategy.
(27:05):
But one thing we can't say isKendrick doesn't make better
music than Drake.
Drake music is just better.
Drake get accused of not makingmusic that moves you from a
soul standpoint.
It's just not true.
His most popular songs are kindof surface level, but he's got
those deep ones too.
They're just in the form oflove songs or songs that are
(27:29):
talking about some of hisshortcomings.
And you know we can like both.
We don't have to dislikeKendrick to like Drake and we
don't have to dislike Drake tolike Kendrick.
Both are good artists, they'rejust different.
It's like comparing LeBron toMJ.
You can't do that becausethey're just different players.
Lebron is closer to magic, kobeis closer to MJ as far as
(27:54):
comparison.
But these are just my thoughts.
I still can't believe Kendrickperformed that song at the Super
Bowl.
I figured he would, but I don'tknow.
I guess I thought maybe hewouldn't.
But if I'm Drake, yo man, dropit, leave it alone, let it go.
Brother.
Get back to making that goodmusic.
Get back to making that goodmusic.
Get back to making that musicthat fans like myself want to
(28:17):
hear.
This has been the third downconversation.
I'm d turnip seed.
Jesus loves you and I'm out.
Peace, thanks for watching.
Welcome, welcome in to the Third Down Conversation,
your place for sports andentertainment.
I am D Turnip Seed and ontoday's episode, they not like
us.
Drake and Kendrick.
How did we get here?
Who won the battle?
What are my thoughts on theSuper Bowl performance?
(00:29):
Well, I'm gonna jump into allthat.
As you know, I keep it real, Ikeep it authentic and I'm always
in context.
But I'm also Team Drake.
Let's jump in, let's jump in.
So how did we get to kendrickcalling drake a pedophile?
(00:51):
How did not like us become thecrescendo of the super bowl?
Well, the story all begins backin 2012.
(01:12):
Back in 2012, drake goes ontour.
It was called the club paradisetour and for some reason, drake
really wanted to take kendrickon tour with him.
Now his management team wantedother artists, but but Drake
felt like Kendrick was supertalented.
He had just had Kendrick on hisTake Care album in 2011 and was
(01:32):
like nah, kendrick is going ontour and, by all accounts, the
tour goes great.
People are exposed to Kendrickin person for the first time and
Kendrick kind of blows up alittle bit.
We're gonna fast forward to thenext year, 2013.
Kendrick jumps on Big Sean'ssong Control and on this song
(01:59):
Kendrick goes at all theup-and-coming artists Drake, j
Cole, even Big Sean himself.
Who's?
I mean, that's his song andKendrick takes shots at him Bold
move, by the way, bold move.
Here's a little snippet of whatKendrick said on that song.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Please excuse the explicit language murder you
niggas.
Trying to make sure your courtfans never heard of you niggas.
They don't want to hear not onemore noun or verb from you
niggas.
What is competition?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
so, as you can see, kendrick is coming in, guns are
blazing, aiming at all theup-and-comers, all the new guys
or, as triple x calls them, thefreshman class, and drake didn't
like this very much, and canyou blame him?
I mean, the previous year Itook you on tour.
(03:08):
I let people see who you are, Ilet people see just how
talented you are, and this ishow you return the favor.
Here's a few words from Drakeon how he felt about what
Kendrick said on control after.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Kendrick said on control After Kendrick's thing
you wouldn't.
I noticed you didn't really getinto that too much.
I just like I don't know, itjust wasn't real.
To me it's like I saw him afterthat and it was just like love.
So it's like, was that real orwas that just like for the
people you know?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
what.
I mean, I think it's a sparringkind of sport, yeah, but at the
same time it's like you know,then let it be real.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Then you know, I mean , because those were harsh words
, Right.
So it's like don't just youcan't just say that and then see
me and be like, yeah, man,what's up, Pretending like
nothing ever happened.
That's not real, that's not tome, that's not like the nature
of battling.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I mean, there's passion behind it, there's anger
behind you know and Ipersonally enjoy making like
great music and bodies of workover, like being the talk of
Twitter for like five days Now.
As you see, drake is very, verybothered.
He views it as fake.
(04:17):
Kendrick just wants to seekattention you know, get Twitter
buzzing, but, to Kendrick'scredit, he's only coming from a
competition standpoint.
He wants to compete, eventhough what he said was pretty
aggressive, but it's aboutcompetition for kendrick.
(04:38):
However, drake, on the otherhand and this is where people
start to call Drake sensitive hedoesn't take it that way.
He's very offended, to say theleast.
He's bothered by what Kendricksaid.
That same year, drake drops analbum Called Nothing Was the
(05:01):
Same.
He has a song on that albumcalled the Language.
Many fans speculated that a lotof the verses in that song were
about Kendrick, but no versesticks out more than the very
first verse of that song whereDrake raps.
Kendrick is known as aninspirational rapper.
(05:36):
He wants to uplift the culture.
So it's clear that that lineright there, oh yeah, bang, bang
, those are shots at Kendrick.
Kendrick then responds to Drakein a song called King Kunta and
in that song Kendrick raps.
I can dig rapping, but a rapperwith a ghost writer what the F
(06:00):
happened?
Now Drake, at this moment intime, is being accused of having
ghostwriters write his raps.
The claim originally came fromMeek Mill.
Meek Mill and Drake and MeekMill get into a bit of a back
and forth and sidebar.
I'm a Drake fan and everything,but it is odd that so many
(06:24):
people beef with this guy.
Meek Mill, p Diddy, pusha T,kendrick, like so many different
people, got a problem withDrake.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
It's a little weird.
Like something's off.
Either he is like some sort ofbad guy or this is some next
(06:45):
level hate, but anyway, anyway,back to the story.
So Meek Mill calls out Drakefor having ghost writers.
Kendrick alludes to Drakehaving ghostwriters by that rap,
and a ghostwriter is someonewho writes content on the behalf
of someone else withoutreceiving official credit.
(07:07):
Now to defend Drake, just alittle bit.
Ghostwriting didn't start withDrake.
Several artists have beenaccused of having ghostwriters
and hip-hop is frowned uponbecause it's all about being
authentic and lyrical skill.
So in hip-hop it's a no-no.
(07:28):
But again, several rappers havebeen accused of using
ghostwriters and some have evenadmitted to using Ghostwriters.
Kanye West admitted that Drakewrote some of his raps.
Jay-z wrote one of Dr Dre'smost famous songs Still Dre,
(07:50):
which is odd because Dre andKendrick are like tight.
But he's accusing Drake ofhaving Ghostwriters, but Dre
used Ghostwriters anyway.
Maybe that's just me.
Maybe that's just me.
This whole ghostwriting thingdid not start with Drake, even
though most people would wantyou to believe that.
Oh, drake started this.
Drake even addressed this inhis song 7AM on Brought a Path,
(08:15):
where he raps letting me takethe wrath of that Casper the
ghost ass, while y'all findingthe loopholes.
He's letting you know in thatrhyme, in that rap, it's not
just me that is collaboratingwith other artists now.
Do I think drake uses ghostwriters?
I don't.
(08:35):
I don't believe Drake allowssomeone to write raps for him
and then he just raps what theywrite.
I do think he collaborates.
I also think that on Drake'stimestamp records, that's all
him.
No collaboration, pen to paperthat's all Drake.
(08:56):
Records such as 7 am on bridalpath, 5 am in Toronto I think
that's all Drake.
Now Drake and Kendrick continueto have these subliminal wars,
rapping about each other, butthey won't say each other names.
But all that came to an end in2023.
(09:18):
Say each other names, but allthat came to an end in 2023.
I hope you guys enjoyed thatfirst segment and if you haven't
had a chance, go ahead and hitthat like button.
Go ahead and hit that subscribebutton and a five-star review
will sure help a brother out.
Remember.
Shows will drop every tuesdayand follow me on socials at the
(09:42):
third down conversation.
Now let's continue the show andjump into segment number two.
In 2023, drake drops an albumcalled For All the Dogs.
(10:08):
On that album, he had a songwith J Cole called First Person
Shooter.
It's been reported thatKendrick Lamar was supposed to
be on this song and Kendrick,drake and J Cole were supposed
to be this big three.
There's conflicting reports outthere that says that Kendrick
(10:31):
declined the invitation to be onthe song or Kendrick accepted
and Drake didn't wait forKendrick to send his verse.
I don't know which one is true.
Again conflicting reports.
Kendrick wasn't on the song.
J Cole and Drake make the songand it's very popular top 100 on
(10:54):
the billboard charts.
That album was released inOctober of 2023.
A song by Metro Boomin' andFuture Comes out in 2024, a few
months later, called Like that.
While Kendrick did not mentionDrake by name, he took direct
shots at Drake, specificallywhen he raps F the Big 3, it's
(11:20):
just big me.
Up until that point, therehadn't been a shot so direct at
the other.
Again, it's been allsubliminals up until that point,
but when Kendrick goes and rapswhat he raps, it's game time.
The ref has thrown the ball inthe air.
Kendrick won the tip and madethe first three-pointer.
(11:47):
So now, at this point, kendrickhas essentially called Drake
out and says there's no bigthree, I'm the top dog.
Drake being ego-driven as mostartists in his position are, he
responds with a song calledpush-ups.
This song is really mockingKendrick's height and a video
(12:07):
where Kendrick unexplicably isdoing push-ups and stuff in like
a parking lot or like abackyard.
I don't know why he's doingthat, but Drake is attacking him
from that angle your height andtalking about, um, his record
deal as far as the splits,because he feels like his
manager is getting over on him.
(12:29):
Once drake responds, kendrickis now on the clock in hip-hop.
You got like a couple of daysto a week to respond, but
Kendrick took his precious time.
Like he took his time.
Push-ups was released on April13th.
Kendrick didn't respond untillike April 30th, so he took his
(12:51):
time.
But Drake drops push-ups on the13th and then he drops another
song on the 19th called TaylorMade Freestyle, and he used some
AI to sound like Tupac andSnoop Dogg you know West Coast
(13:14):
legends Egg and Kendrick on torespond.
He also went to Instagram andhe's just like drop something,
drop, drop, drop, like it's.
It's continuous for Drake.
All the trolling that Drake wasdoing, I think, was his downfall
, because then Kendrick releasesEuphoria on the 30th of April
(13:36):
and in this song, euphoria well,kendrick just pretty much tells
Drake he hates him the way hewalks, the way he talks, claims
Drake is being well tougher thanwhat he actually is and says is
it the brakes?
Like he attacks his wholepersona and I got to admit he
attacks it.
Well, he really brings intoquestion who Drake thinks he is
(14:02):
versus who he actually is.
So on April 3rd, kendrick dropsagain, and this time the song
is called 616 in LA.
Now, remember how I mentionedthat Drake likes to do timestamp
records.
As you can see, kendrick hascopied that, where he is again
(14:25):
attacking Drake's authenticity.
He truly believes Drake is afraud.
He's a fake tough guy and atthis point most people in the
rap game were looking at Drakekind of sideways, because again,
you've been pushing him to drop.
Roy, what's your response?
Well, drake brings FamilyMatters late on May 3rd and on
(14:50):
Family Matters, drake snaps.
He really taps into his lyricalbag and aims at Kendrick's
fiance.
They've been engaged since 2015.
So Drake really attacks himfrom a standpoint of how moral
are you?
Why aren't y'all married?
Yet he takes it a step furtherby saying Kendrick's general
(15:14):
manager is the father of one ofhis kids.
Now, in my opinion, that's toofar.
I just like that's too far.
He goes even farther in thesong, saying that his fiance is
always posting things thatscream save me.
So drake is really hitting himfrom a family angle, because
(15:39):
kendrick is all about, you know,mr morale, mr moral, his family
being a father, being a well, Iguess, kind of like a husband,
but that's Kendrick whole thing,just being this uplifting guy.
While Kendrick's angle withDrake is more so about how he
won't grow up, how he won'tmature, how he won't be there
(16:01):
for his son.
And Kendrick alludes to that inhis song in response to Family
Matters called Meet the Grams,and Kendrick releases this song
five minutes after Drake dropsFamily Matters.
So essentially, kendrick stompsall over Family Matters with
(16:22):
another release.
So people heard Drake'sresponse and then Kendrick was
back with a response like itwasn't even 30 minutes and
Kendrick had already responded.
And in the song called Meet theGrams, kendrick alludes to
Drake having a hidden child.
(16:42):
Now, this is important becausewhen Drake and Pusha T were in a
rap battle, pusha T won thatbattle because he exposed Drake
for having a hidden child.
The only difference is whenPusha T did it it was true, but
when Kendrick did it it wasn'ttrue, but it dominated the
(17:05):
conversation.
So at that point you kind ofgive the nod to Kendrick,
because when it comes to rapbattles, it's the court of
public opinion, ain't noreferees, ain't no scoreboard.
So Meet the Grams dropped late,late On May 3rd, and then On May
4th Kendrick releases Not LikeUs.
(17:28):
He drops again and Not Like Us.
It was drops again and Not LikeUs.
It was a man, it was a banger,it was a bop.
I didn't like it.
It was hard for me to, you know, vibe to a song calling a guy a
pedophile.
But look again, publicperception, public opinion, they
(17:52):
loved it.
He had created a bop.
Beat Drake at his own game.
If you guys are enjoying theshow, please remember to like,
subscribe and follow.
Guys are enjoying the show.
(18:13):
Please remember to like,subscribe and follow.
If there's a certain topic youwant me to talk about, drop it
in the comments.
Remember, this podcast can befound on all podcast platforms,
as well as twitter, instagramand youtube at the third down
conversation.
Now let's finish the show.
Instagram and YouTube at theThird Down Conversation.
(18:33):
Now let's finish the show Froma lyrical standpoint.
Drake was hanging with him andfor me that was surprising,
(18:53):
because Kendrick is viewed asthis lyrical mastermind His
nickname is the boogeyman, likethat's how good he is on the, on
the, as an emcee.
But Drake was there Every stepof the way, from just like
rapping.
Drake was there with him, butKendrick had a better strategy.
(19:15):
Did kendrick win?
Sure, but he won because of hisstrategy.
Drake is like drop, drop, drop,drop, and kendrick's over there
just stockpiling sauce.
He's just he, just you gettinghis war chest ready.
So when Drake did dropsomething, he was ready and
could instantly respond.
(19:36):
In my opinion, drake tookKendrick too lightly.
He underestimated him and notlike us became a smash hit.
I mean a smash hit.
Everybody's screaming A minor,everybody looking at him
sideways and as a Drake fan, Icouldn't even defend him.
He beat him.
Next thing, you know, kendrickis getting offered to perform at
(19:58):
the Super Bowl.
The song gets all kind ofGrammy nominations.
So at the Grammys, not Like Uswins 5 awards 5 awards, which is
insane for a diss song.
But if I'm Drake, what happenedat the Grammys that night?
That would have bothered memore than anything, because when
(20:21):
Kendrick went up to receive hisawards, they would play the
song and usually they would playlike the hook.
No, they played like a verseand that verse was the a minor
verse, and you got people in thestands that are, you know, fans
.
But you have yourcontemporaries, people that are
(20:43):
in the industry with you taylor,swift, beyonce, they down there
vibing to it, dancing to it,and if I'm Drake, that would
have hurt me.
Well, that's painful.
That was a reflection of whatthe industry thinks of you.
In my opinion, a lot of peoplewant to point to what happened
at the Super Bowl.
(21:03):
That had to be expected.
If I'm Drake, you had to knowthat he was going to perform the
song you had to know thateveryone in the crowd was going
to sing A minor.
So that should have beenexpected.
But what happened to theGrammys?
In my opinion, that was theunexpected right there, because
now you can see how you helpBeyonce write songs, how Lucien
(21:24):
Grange, who runs Universal MusicGroup he's high-fiving Dr Dre.
You can see it all in plainsight.
Nobody's hiding anymore.
No one is being fake anymore.
So now you know.
Just as a human being, you gotto adjust accordingly.
So I would have been way moreupset about that than what
happened at the Super Bowl.
(21:44):
And since I brought up SuperBowl, let's move towards the
Super Bowl.
Let's first start with the Drakeangle of Kendrick's performance
.
I truly believe that Kendrickgave Drake way too much
attention.
I mean, he played a euphoriaand not like us at the Super
Bowl.
I think Kendrick should havemade it more about him.
(22:06):
You know, forget Drake From ahip hop standpoint.
He would have caught somejudgment behind not performing a
song and people would have feltlike, oh, that's weak, he ain't
do the song.
But just as an artist, kendrickdoesn't need Drake to have a
good performance.
Kendrick doesn't strike me as aguy that does what the people
want him to do.
He normally does his own thing,marches on beat.
(22:29):
That's what people love abouthim.
So I feel like he gave Drakeway too much attention in that
performance.
Now, as far as Kendrick'sperformance as a whole, it's
received mixed reviews.
Some people loved it and calledit black excellence and
(22:49):
highlighted how somewhat of anattack on the government and
some people hated it felt likeit was the wrong place for a
message.
And for me, as soon as I sawSamuel L Jackson dressed up as
Uncle Sam, oh, I knew it wasabout to go over my head like I
had just finished with midtermand I was like, yeah, this is
(23:09):
about to be a think piece and mythinking cap is not with me, so
I'm about to miss three-fourthsof this.
I wouldn't necessarily call itblack excellence because there
were some points where it showednot the best side of the
culture.
When you think about, you knowthe bloods, the crips, the crib
walking, but there were someelements in the performance that
(23:32):
show a good side of the culture, talking about coming together.
Thing that I really had tounderstand was that this is
Kendrick's perspective, this ishow he sees America and I think
in that lane I gotta respectthat, whether I agree with it or
not, that's his perspective.
(23:52):
As Americans, we have to do abetter job of respecting how
someone feels or how they seethings.
You know it's okay to agree todisagree, so, whether you liked
it or not, maybe it wasn't foryou, maybe it was for you, but
that's his perspective.
(24:12):
Now Kendrick performing Not LikeUs at the Super Bowl is more
alarming because Drake has nowfiled a lawsuit.
Now, this lawsuit was filedbefore the Super Bowl, but I
think when Kendrick actuallyperformed a song on a national
stage, it highlights the lawsuiteven more.
And in this lawsuit, drake isclaiming defamation of character
(24:36):
, also claiming that UniversalMusic Group, or UMG, is
purposely trying to destroy hisvalue.
Now Drake is catching a lot ofheat about this lawsuit because
a lot of people want to say it'snot hip-hop and it's not a rap.
Battle goes down, things getsaid, the public decides who
(24:59):
wins and usually that's it.
However, drake is trying to geta new deal and UMG, well,
they're trying to shortchangehim.
And this is very, very similarto sports, and I like using
sports comparisons becausesports, in my opinion, is a
microcosm of society.
(25:21):
So just imagine you go outthere and you're playing
football or basketball.
You're in a contract year andyou don't perform as well as you
are capable of, and theorganization comes back to you
and say we're going to give youthis, while you feel like now I
(25:42):
deserve more than that.
This whole thing with Drake andUMG is very similar to that
using Not Like Us and reallypromoting it to the point where
it's devaluing who he is as anartist to where now they can
(26:02):
give him not the best dealpossible.
And if Drake truly feels thatway, I don't blame him for the
lawsuit.
I also don't blame people forsaying that it's weak and that
it's not hip hop, because it'snot.
It comes across as a sore loserbecause he's not suing Kendrick
, he's only suing UMG, so whynot sue Kendrick as well?
(26:23):
If?
If it's about defamation ofcharacter?
This plot thickens becauseDrake just released a new collab
album with the party next doorcalled some sexy songs for you,
and the album is um projectednot to do as well as drake
(26:43):
normally would do.
So could this be more to apoint what drake is saying?
Could he use this to helpbolster his argument in court as
far as a lawsuit?
Maybe?
All I know is it's a prettygood album for an R&B album.
Yes, I'm a Drake guy.
Kendrick won the battle.
Kendrick had a better strategy.
(27:05):
But one thing we can't say isKendrick doesn't make better
music than Drake.
Drake music is just better.
Drake get accused of not makingmusic that moves you from a
soul standpoint.
It's just not true.
His most popular songs are kindof surface level, but he's got
those deep ones too.
They're just in the form oflove songs or songs that are
(27:29):
talking about some of hisshortcomings.
And you know we can like both.
We don't have to dislikeKendrick to like Drake and we
don't have to dislike Drake tolike Kendrick.
Both are good artists, they'rejust different.
It's like comparing LeBron toMJ.
You can't do that becausethey're just different players.
Lebron is closer to magic, kobeis closer to MJ as far as
(27:54):
comparison.
But these are just my thoughts.
I still can't believe Kendrickperformed that song at the Super
Bowl.
I figured he would, but I don'tknow.
I guess I thought maybe hewouldn't.
But if I'm Drake, yo man, dropit, leave it alone, let it go.
Brother.
Get back to making that goodmusic.
Get back to making that goodmusic.
Get back to making that musicthat fans like myself want to
(28:17):
hear.
This has been the third downconversation.
I'm d turnip seed.
Jesus loves you and I'm out.
Peace, thanks for watching.
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