More than most other popular rappers, Drake’s* brand has been about openly courting artistic legitimacy. These charges places Drake* as less than the artist he presents himself as and more as a fraudulent, shark-biting dullard that that his harshest critics have always presumed he secretly was–charges that could be potentially devastating for rapper who prides himself on the “emotional honesty” of his music. Meek’s accusations that Drake* doesn’t write his own material by himself, along with the corroborating reference track leaks, call into question not only the authorship but the fundamental nature of Drake’s* art. It’s fairly telling that Drake* chose to respond to Meek Mill of all people while ignoring others that have tested his battle skills. When confronted with other artists throwing shots his way (Kendrick Lamar and Pusha T), Drizzy* offered little response on wax beyond the odd subliminal or snarky interview. “Diss me and you’ll never hear a reply for it.” It’s an ethos that Drake* has followed for his entire career. Forget winning or losing–why even give shine to an upstart when a response track, no matter how well-barbed and vicious, is an implicit validation that the opponent is worth your time? A loss to a smaller artist can be potentially catastrophic when you can just ignore the fruit flies. Modern rap beef 101 suggests that you never respond with a diss track to an artist that is less successful than you. What’s interesting to me isn’t who won the beef but that Drake* even bothered to respond in the first place. Drake* was successfully able to protect his corner and by proxy secure the notion that his artistry was legit. Shortly thereafter, Drake* dropped two mostly underwhelming but nonetheless effective diss tracks aimed at Meek “back-to-back” before he was able to properly respond–nine days after tweeting his allegations about Drake*–with a mostly underwhelming diss track of his own. First, his minions at OVO Sound closed ranks as Drake’s* primary producer Noah “40” Shebib took to Twitter to assure Drake’s* writerly bona fides were legitimate. To his credit, Drake* responded swiftly to the allegations of ghostwriting. His girlfriend might have even broke up with him over it. The iron grip of Drake* on popular culture proved too much for Meek Mill–who looked unprepared and over his head against the calculated energies of the Kings in the North from nearly the start–as the upstart rapper was punished for his insolence with an endless stream of mean-spirited memes. It didn’t matter that several reference tracks ostensibly credited to OVO associate Quentin Miller had surfaced and at least partially validated Meek’s claim that Drake* wasn’t writing his own shit. The rap world spent the last week clowning Meek Mill for the sin of questioning the legitimacy of another rapper’s art. Ghostface Killah, “Shark N****s (Biters )” Ivan Vanko, Iron Man II “Keep it real, get your own shit man and be original.” There will be blood in the water and the sharks will come.” “If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in Him.
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