The Hate for Drake Won’t Let Up Following His Kendrick Lamar Beef
Drake has done his best to move forward with new music and put his beef with Kendrick Lamar behind him. However, the hate for Drizzy still won’t let up. Despite dropping a fresh batch of songs over the last few months, and giving the hip-hop community an intimate behind-the-scenes view of his life with his recent 100 gigs drop, it seems like Drake can’t do anything right in the eyes of some rap fans.
Drake Haters Won’t Let Him Escape Kendrick Lamar Beef
In the immediate aftermath of his vitriolic rap battle with Kendrick Lamar, Drake announced on his Instagram Story in May that he’d be putting the drama behind him to pivot into “good times” and “summer vibes.” After a few days of silence, Drake hopped on Sexyy Red’s “U My Everything” at the end of May. The song used Metro Boomin’s viral “BBL Drizzy” instrumental, which the producer made to clown The Boy for allegedly undergoing plastic surgery. “U My Everything” found Drake trying to turn his trolling into a sense of empowerment, with mixed results.
“I changed a lot of girls’ lives for real/They need a new body, they hittin’ me, aye/BBL Drizzy, they want a new body, they ask me for it,” Drake raps.
The song didn’t catch on in the way a Drake feature usually does, debuting at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100, and failing to rise any higher in the weeks that followed. Fans also called the move “calculated,” and trolled Drake for his obvious attempt at trying to shift the narrative.
“With all due respect, Drake spoilt U my Everything with that BBL drizzy part. F**k him,” one person wrote on X.
“Petition to get drake off ‘u my everything’ by sexyy red, ruins the song,” another added.
“Nah it’s official. Drake has officially mastered the art of being corny,” wrote another. “He thinks he’s part of the joke, oh no,” another individual mentioned, while another wrote, “He’s trying so hard to act nonchalant about it.”
So Drake decided to abandon the feuds altogether and instead sought to make good on that promise for “summer vibes.” In June, Drake hopped on the divisive track “Wah Gwan Delilah” by little-known Toronto rapper Snowd4y. The song was a parody of Plain White T’s 2005 hit “Hey There Delilah,” and seemed to be Drizzy’s attempt at comic relief after such a ferocious battle appeared to fall flat. Many people clowned Drake for the move, accusing him of trying to gloss over his stinging loss against Kendrick Lamar. The memes were also relentless, trolling Drake for using Jamaican patois in his verse. Fans posted pictures of Drake wearing fake dreads.
“What did Kendrick do to this man,” a user questioned on X.
“Drake, say it ain’t so Drake,” YouTuber No Life Shaq said in his reaction video.
Even the Plain White T’s voiced their disapproval in a reaction video of the track, with the band’s lead singer shaking his head in disappointment during Drizzy’s verse, and even theorized it could be the work of AI.
Still, Drake was determined to put the feud to rest and just have fun. At the end of June, he hopped on songs “Hot Uptown” and “Uuugly” with pop singer Camila Cabello. The new music arrived on her new album C,XOXO. Neither song charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and once again, the clowning of Drizzy continued with full force.
“If it weren’t for Drake lets be honest hot uptown would be a banger,” one user wrote on X in August.
“Kendrick would sound better,” Another person said.
“Hot Uptown was good, but it flopped,” another user wrote, adding, “It’s gonna take more than just good music. its gonna take redemption. He needs his respect back, and I dont see how he can get it. im being objective. every angle Kendrick took against drake destroyed his brand.”
Come July, Drizzy tried a different approach and tapped back into his Honestly, Nevermind bag on Gordo’s dance tracks “Sideways” and “Healing.” The tracks were received a little better. “Sideways” debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100, but still, the song fell off the chart entirely two weeks later.
Musically, it seemed Drake had flatlined. After his viral unreleased song with Lil Yachty “Super Soak” failed to drop due to sampling issues, Drizzy surprised the internet when he dropped off “100 Gigs for Your Headtop” in August. He promoted a website on a finsta account, which included 100 gigabytes of new music and a juggernaut collection of behind-the-scenes video footage from over the years. The drop seemed like a play to humanize Drake as well as give fans and critics a glimpse at the creative powerhouse that churned out all those hits everyone knows and love.
The Hate Doesn’t Outweigh the Love
At a glimpse, the move appears to be working. Longtime fans on TikTok have been nostalgically reminiscing about some of their favorite Drake moments off Take Care, Nothing Was The Same, Views. Others are resharing the footage with heaps of praise. One fan even went so far as to say they made a mistake hating on Drake during the beef.
The vibes seemed to be turning in Drizzy’s favor, so on Aug. 10, Drake tried to capitalize on the positive momentum by posting the three new songs heard in his 100 gigs collection onto streaming. While it remains to be seen how well each song charts, the reactions to “Blue Green Road,” “Housekeeping Knows” featuring Latto and “It’s Up” featuring Young Thug and 21 Savage appear to be positive.
“This is why he’s my [goat emoji],” one supporter said on TikTok before playing “It’s Up.”
While each of the aforementioned songs he’s released are objectively good tracks, it’s undeniable the feud still hangs heavily over the 6 God’s every move. It even hangs heavily over his OVO team. PARTYNEXTDOOR is currently on tour, and every tour recap post on his Instagram is littered with at least a few comments in support of Kendrick.
“This is why Kendrick won,” one person commented on a post.
“Party at the party playing with his nose now” seems to also be a go-to comment, a reference to a bar from Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” that appears to accuse PND of abusing drugs.
Aside from dropping off a slew of new music, Drake has also been on a humanitarian kick this summer. On Aug. 12, an article in GQ Italia noted the 6 God and his team “mobilized” North American investors to donate over $40 million euros to a struggling Venezia football club, saving it from bankruptcy. While a heartwarming gesture, the move hasn’t generated any positive attention for Drake in the States, as the trolling of the Canadian rapper continues to grind on relentlessly.
Not to mention, Drake made his move to Texas official on Aug. 12, and shared a new ID and photo on Instagram. Fans continued to flame him once again, and Sauce Walka called him out in an interview with The Breakfast Club for not supporting or putting on any Houston artists.
So was Drake’s decision to no longer speak on the beef a smart move? The bitter irony is that even if Drizzy commented, he likely would have been met with the same level of hate. It’s also worth noting that there are entire online communities dedicated to criticizing Drizzy, that downvote every song he posts on YouTube, and that clown him at every turn regardless of what he does. Some dedicated haters even go back into past Drake songs and tear them apart. So as Drake continues to try and push past one of the most intense moments of his career, let’s hope that time can truly heal all wounds.