Hating on Drake and his entire persona is extremely popular right now and there is only one person to thank, Kendrick Lamar.
His diss track, “Not Like Us,” has you united haters of the 6 God in a way unlike anything we’ve ever seen in hip-hop. But in another sense, it’s also rekindled a unique kinship with California and the entire West Coast.
That’s due in part to LA’s taking down the biggest rap artist in the world in a historic rap battle, but also Drake said some things that would rightly piss off the West Coast and its supporters.
While Kendrick and Drake’s beef had been building up for more than a decade, the animosity the West Coast has for Drizzy is fairly new. Let’s lay it all out.
“Get more love in the city that you from…”
On Drake’s first official diss track toward K. Dot, he made fun of the Compton rapper’s height, shoe size and most importantly, claimed that he’s more revered in Los Angeles than he is by rapping. “Get more love in the city that you from n***a.”
While Kendrick did not respond to this specific line in any of his diss tracks, it’s clear that it bothered him. So instead of telling him, Lamar showed him by putting on one of the greatest rap shows in recent memory for the whole world to see.
Based on the turnout, the artists who performed, and the figures who came up on stage to rap “Not Like Us” with Kendrick, it’s clear that Drake does not in fact “get more love” in Dot’s city.
Oh, and ‘The Boy’ also made a mistake. He confused Los Angeles with Hollywood. They’re not the same.
Van Lathan discussed this subject on his “Higher Learning” podcast with Rachel Lindsay shortly after “Not Like Us” dropped.
“Drake does something that a lot of people do all the time. He confused Hollywood for Los Angeles... Drake confused Delilah for Watts. He confused Poppy for Compton,’’ he said. “He confused West Hollywood for Inglewood.”
Then he added, “The people that I observed bobbing to ‘Not Like Us.’ They was two-stepping to that b***h.”
When there’s a cultural disconnect on what your rival considers “his city,” you’ve already lost and pissed off people in the process.
AI Pac & Snoop
This is likely Drake’s biggest misstep. On a random Friday night, to egg Kendrick on, Drake dropped “Taylor Made Freestyle” on Instagram. The song uses artificial intelligence to copy and manipulate the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg where it sounds like they are essentially disappointed in Lamar’s behavior. This pissed off Pac’s estate, California, and Lamar himself.
On “Not Like Us,” he asked, “You think the Bay gon’ let you disrespect Pac n***a/I think that Oakland show might be your last stop n***a.”
Furthermore, during “The Pop Out,” Lamar called out this act directly, and the crowd agreed. As he was performing, Lamar asked, “Oh so y’all ain’t gonna let anyone disrespect the West Coast huh? Oh y’all ain’t gon’ let nobody mock and imitate our legends huh?”
Tupac’s ring is another Issue
Drake has been showing off Tupac’s ring ever since he purchased it at a Sotheby’s auction for more than $1 million, more than three times the presale estimate, according to the Smithsonian.
This purchase bothered the “DAMN” rapper to the point where he addressed it on “Euphoria,” his first official response to The Boy, rapping, “Somebody had told that me you got a ring/ On God, I’m ready to double the wage/I’d rather do that than let a Canadian n***a make Pac turn in his grave.”
The Toronto artist continued to poke fun at Lamar’s frustration by including the piece of jewelry in the music video for “Family Matters.”
During “The Pop Out,” K. Dot doubled down on his annoyance with Drake owning the ring by changing one of the lines on “Euphoria,” by rapping, “Gimme Tupac ring back & “I might give you a little respect.”
“You know who really bang a set? My n***a YG…”
Here was another Drake misstep. During his first verse on “Family Matters,” he attempted to G-check Dot by saying, “You know who really bang a set? My n***a YG.”
This pissed off a lot of people on the West Coast in numerous ways. First, YG is from Compton and bangs a set with which Lamar is affiliated.
Second, YG later told Drake to never mention his name in a beef on the song, “Weird.” He rapped, “When it’s smoke, don’t ever mention my name.”
Third, YG decided to stand with Kendrick after he came out as the clear winner during “The Pop Out.” Not only did he perform during DJ Mustard’s set, he was also seen dancing on stage as Lamar was performing “Not Like Us” for the fifth time.
The Game’s manager, Wack 100, explained why it was a mistake to mention YG’s name in a recent interview.
He said, “Huge L for Drake. The worst part about was YG. Drake can never perform that song and mention YG’s name. He did that to himself.”
“Don’t even go back to your hood and plant no money trees…”
Again, on “Family Matters,” Drake argued that Dot doesn’t give back to his community by rapping. “Don’t even go back to your hood and plant no money trees.”
First of all, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Lamar has given back to Compton on multiple occasions; he just hasn’t made a public showing of it.
Do you recall Lamar donating money to his high school alma mater, something that wasn’t public until it was brought up to him in an interview with Noisey. When they discovered that he was being generous with his money, Lamar asked, “How y’all know that?”
It’s just something he’d rather not make a big showing of.
But this time around he did. Not only did he bring his city together during “The Pop Out,” he also unified them during the filming of the “Not Like Us” music video.
Instead of simply saying “F**k Drake,” Compton debunked this claim by simply showing the world that Kendrick is planting Money Trees in the city in more ways than one, and everyone in the community seems to appreciate it.