“You come at the king, you best not miss.” That’s what Yasiin Bey learned after making some comments about Drake earlier this month.
During an interview on “The Cutting Room Floor,” Bey (formerly Mos Def) was asked if he viewed Drake as “Hip-Hop.” In response, he said that the 6 God is more “pop” and makes music he would expect to hear while shopping in Target.
Unsurprisingly, this comment resulted in debate across the Hip-Hop community, with some agreeing with the “Black On Both Sides” emcee while others strongly disagreed with him.
Shockingly, Common (who used to be Drake’s heated rival) came to the defense of the “For All the Dogs” rapper, saying during an interview on Hot 97’s “Ebro in the Morning”, “To me, I think Drake comes from Hip Hop. When I first heard him rhyming, I was like, ‘Yo, this dude rhyming,’ and if he goes out and makes songs that are popular, then that’s what it is. He’s still an emcee.”
This all brings us to Monday, when the 50-year-old rap legend decided to clarify his comments on an Instagram Live that lasted nearly 25 minutes.
“First of all, I don’t hate anyone. My opinion is mine. It’s legal in all states, as far as I’m aware,” Bey said. “It was not an opportunity to try to slander him or to clown on him. I have reached out to him, I have no responses yet. I’m not keen to talk about people or to them through a screen, I prefer to talk to people directly. But I will say this. The young man is very talented, he’s been able to be very successful with that talent, and I have no issue with his success or anything that he’s been able to achieve as a result of his talent.”
“I do feel that some of the criticism that he’s received in the past has been mean-spirited or unfair. So I don’t want to participate in that. I’ve never had no issue with you personally, I don’t know you well enough to have any sort of issue with you in that regard. Nonetheless, it’s not sacrilegious to have a critique or opinion of a public figure, particularly one of that magnitude in current, modern culture.”
Watch some of the IG Live below:
While Drake has not come out with a direct response toward Bey, he seemingly referenced the Black Star rapper when he shared an Instagram video of Method Man describing what Hip-Hop is along with the caption, “What Umi say again? Lemme shine my light king, don’t change up now.”
This is a likely reference to Bey’s 1999 track, “Umi Says.”
We’ll have to have to wait and see if Drake has any more words for the legendary Brooklyn emcee.