Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
In a world as obsessed with fame and celebrity as hip-hop is, optics are everything. One minute, you can be up; the next minute, you can be down, not even necessarily because of something you’ve done, but because of how something you’re related to looks to the entire world. This is the space that Drake finds himself in right now.
On November 25, 2024, Drake filed a petition in a New York court alleging that Universal Music Group (UMG), the company that distributes both his and Kendrick Lamar’s music, effectively used payola and shady industry moves with streamers to inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s summer hit and Drake diss, “Not Like Us.” In essence, Drake is alleging that the song would not be as organically popular as it is without the help of industry rule number 4080: “Record company people are shady.”
The irony of this is delicious. Let’s say this petition ends up as a full lawsuit — at this point it is only a petition, not a lawsuit, though the goal is information-gathering in pursuit of a lawsuit — this would have to end up exposing Drake as well. According to Drake, we are to believe that Kendrick Lamar’s summer banger that pulled the pin on one of the most entertaining rap beefs in decades would not be AS successful without UMG engaging in shady business practices. But, like, what is the measuring stick there? Should the song have only been 75 percent as successful? Would that make a difference?
Is the reason my four-year-old likes to say “O-V-Hoe” because UMG greased the wheels or because the song is STD-level catchy? Who wasn’t listening to that song this summer?? Like seriously, I’d like to meet the person who is up on pop culture but only heard it one time. I’m responsible for thousands of plays on my own. It was everywhere because of the beef and because somebody was toppling The Boy with precision. Some things are just good to everybody.
Conversely, and let’s just be honest here, there is no way Drake is as rich and successful as he is right now without those same industry practices. Literally. Drake went from a nobody to a somebody almost overnight. He has a great story, but come on; Kendrick’s song wouldn’t have organically caught on, but Drake’s entire catalog is just so valuable and profitable simply because everybody liked him? That’s just stupid — and Drake has to know that. Maybe that’s the point; maybe Drake knows who’s behind the curtain and has decided his ethics and morals can no longer let him allow such king-making to happen at the expense of the integrity of the culture, especially now that he’s good.
And look, let’s say Drake’s ultimate point here is that the label that distributes his work is using money that he helped them make to participate in his destruction. If that is his ultimate goal then bravo, Drake — law school courses will dine out on the time Aubrey Drake Graham exposed the shadiness of the music industry!
Except hip-hop doesn’t care about law school courses. Hip-hop cares about the culture and what Drake just did, in hip-hop culture terms, is call the cops on Kendrick Lamar because he got curb-stomped in a battle he assumed his brand and popularity would help him win. It looks like Drake is saying that nobody should like “Not Like Us” as much as they do and it shouldn’t be nominated for all those Grammys and the video shouldn’t have 200 million views or nearly a billion streams on Spotify. The petition (and let’s be real, potential lawsuit) is saying that Kendrick Lamar wouldn’t be having this moment that he is having without help at the expense of Drake. That brand isn’t looking like Teflon in the light anymore.
Drake seems to not understand how hip-hop culture works at all, which isn’t a claim I’d have previously made. I’m not one to assert that Drake is just a voyeur taking advantage of Black pop culture for his own gain; that take always seemed very, very unfair. And yet, here we are.
For one, involving the law is about as not hip-hop as you can get. Drake is now a snitch. He’s looking like the colonizer that Kendrick accused him of being on “Not Like Us”; the opening lyrics on “euphoria” are looking really accurate in the light. Instead of being a dude who lost a hip-hop battle, Drake looks like a Karen. Is there shadiness afoot? Maybe. Probably. The industry is known for its shady practices and stiffing artists all of the time. What’s known doesn’t need to be explained, as they say. But that’s public perception and open secrets, not legal action. The issue is, Drake filed a petition to get information so that he could make a case. He doesn’t even have proof, but filed a legal action anyway. He called the laws, bro.
Hey, Drake — Karen called and she wants her schtick back.
Optics are everything. Drake called the cops because he lost a battle and social media has been on his neck; that is what this whole thing looks like. Especially because the legal part of this is inessential to the hip-hop credibility part of this. Nobody but the labels (and Drake, I guess) cares how this ends up.
Sure, once the dust settles, we’ll all talk about it and yadda yadda yadda, but what folks will always remember is that Drake filed a legal action against Kendrick Lamar over “Not Like Us.” As of now, Kendrick isn’t even mentioned in the petition; just the label. But from the culture’s perspective, Drake is taking aim at Kendrick in the courts over a battle he continues to lose with every passing day. 2024 has sucked for The Boy.
I do wonder what was going on in the heads of Drake and his team when they decided that now was the time to drop this petition, knowing that it was going to have this exact impact on how he looks. I don’t understand the play here at all.
I’m sure some Drake apologist will tell us this is chess, not checkers, but if so, maybe Drake isn’t good at chess, either.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).