The cutting edge of pop culture can be a mind-numbing place. And when it involves two 30-something men, it’s even worse. Such has been my education from the Drake versus Kendrick Lamar nonsense.
It was obvious by my sophomore year of high school that I wasn’t one of the cool kids, but well into my 40s, I still try. That’s how I stumbled across this feud—that, and my kids told me.
Aubrey Drake Graham (aka Drake): The dude from Toronto, nephew of some guy from Sly and the Family Stone, son of an African American drummer and a Canadian Jew. He was on Degrassi: The Next Generation and then hit it big with his music.
Kendrick Lamar: The chap from Compton, son of a gangster and a hairdresser, both originally from the South Side of Chicago. He grew up on poetry and turned it into Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize.
The two were once collaborators.
Then, in 2023, on Drake’s track “First Person Shooter,” someone named J. Cole (who’s that?) referred to himself, Drake, and Lamar as rap’s big three, with Cole being like Muhammad Ali.
The next year, former Drake collaborators Metro Boomin and Future handed the mic to Lamar on a track called “Like That,” and Lamar calmly stated, motherf*ck the big three…it’s just big me.
From there, the quarrel escalated, birthing a back and forth sequence of diss tracks with which I was obligated to engage.
Highlights included Drake’s “Push Ups” and its classic pipsqueak, pipe down in reference to Lamar’s unimpressive height and occasionally annoying voice.
Lamar eventually countered with the now-famous “Not Like Us,” accusing Drake of pedophilia and trying to strike a particular chord called A minor.
That song earned a bunch of awards and a defamation lawsuit, courtesy you know who.
It was also front and center during Super Bowl LIX when Lamar took a few final digs and declared Game Over.
***
It’s possible I missed something—or a lot of things.
I’m sure there’s more to the story.
But along the way, I lost interest.
Stated another way, I realized I truly didn’t care.
I did, however, find another Drake that is far more compelling.
This one was born on the mean streets of Rushville, Illinois, later taking his street smarts to Centerville, Iowa.
He fought for the Union in the Civil War and further polished those leadership skills on his way to becoming governor of Iowa.
He wasn’t a rapper, but he did pave the way for other artists to shine.
His brainchild, after all, played a role in the growth of Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods and A Short History of Nearly Everything (among many others).
He might not have been known as a social justice warrior, but his work facilitated a Pulitzer-Prize-winning photo sequence that captured the Johnny Bright incident and helped move society’s needle toward common sense.
His legacy also includes a near-historic upset of the UCLA Bruins in the 1969 Final Four and one of the country’s most prominent track and field events.
In other words, there’s nothing mind-numbing about this Drake.
Because this Drake, I’ve learned, can provide a real education.
Note
The author would like to thank Francis Marion Drake, co-founder of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, for not being part of the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud.
