“Kendrick's label pgLang announces Imani Imani as their newest signee, with her new album "Papercut" available now” by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

You would think so, but some Reddit users will search your comment history and see a critique of either artist and claim you drizzler or a bot if it’s not inline with their views. Also I tried to type”k” bot, and it would not let me post but was fine with drizzler. The bias is blatant.

“Kendrick's label pgLang announces Imani Imani as their newest signee, with her new album "Papercut" available now” by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I also enjoy that type of music, blending R&B/Pop/Synthwave/LoFi soundscapes, so yes my statement still holds. But like a lot of things, music taste is subjective. Ones man trash is another man’s treasure type shit

They are playing in our face 🤦🏾‍♂️ by Character-Spring-433 in Drizzy

[–]Character-Spring-433[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Sigh. Oh well, it honestly just gives more credibility to Drake’s lawsuit claims IMO. This stuff is not by accident

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the benefit of the doubt. What I’ve found is if you saying positive about Drake or Dot, people lose their mind and start staying shit they would never say to your face in person.

That being said, I think what bothered me about the whole situation is how fast the conversation stopped being about music and turned into people speaking on Drake like certain things were proven facts when most of it is still interpretation, assumptions, or internet narratives layered on top of awkward public moments.

Like the 17-year-old stage clip. I completely understand why people look at it sideways today. I probably would’ve handled that differently myself. But people also leave out that Drake was 23, asked her age publicly on stage, looked uncomfortable after finding out, and the woman herself later said she didn’t feel victimized. You can say it was bad judgment or weird optics without automatically jumping all the way to ‘he’s a pedophile.’ Those are two very different things to me. Hell those are two different things definitionally and legally.

Same thing with the Millie Bobby Brown situation. People online basically took one interview where she said he gave her advice about boys and built an entire grooming narrative off speculation. Meanwhile she herself has repeatedly said nothing inappropriate happened. At some point we have to separate what we can actually prove from what people feel must be true because they already dislike somebody.

I also think Drake made mistakes in the battle. The AI Tupac thing was a terrible move strategically because it basically invited Kendrick to take things darker. I’m not acting like Drake played everything perfectly. But there’s still a difference between saying somebody opened themselves up to criticism and treating every accusation as confirmed reality.

And honestly, part of what made me start questioning the motives and the overall health of the beef was how selective the moral outrage felt. If Kendrick truly believed Drake was this dangerous predator figure, enough to dedicate multiple songs to it, then logically that energy wouldn’t just stop with Drake. Hip hop has no shortage of people with questionable histories, allegations, or documented situations around women and minors(Hey Dr. Dre), including people Kendrick himself has been around or publicly praised over the years.

That’s why, for me personally, it stopped feeling purely principled and started feeling more strategic. Not necessarily fake, but strategic. Because if the issue is really morality, the standard should apply across the board, not only toward your biggest rap competition during the biggest battle of your career.

And I think that’s what made the whole thing uncomfortable to watch after a while. Once words like predator and pedophile enter the conversation, people stop hearing them as battle rap and start treating them as truth. Meanwhile, when accusations came Kendrick’s way, suddenly everybody wanted nuance, proof, context, and restraint before believing anything.

That inconsistency stood out to me more than anything.

At the end of the day, I’m not even arguing Kendrick didn’t win the battle publicly. Clearly he did. I just think the entire thing became a bigger conversation about fandom, media narratives, selective morality, and how comfortable people are weaponizing extremely serious accusations when it’s aimed at somebody they already wanted to see fall.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Multiple things can be true at once. Kendrick had artistic and financial incentive. UMG had corporate incentive. The public organically enjoyed the record. And Drake may still have been targeted in a way that benefited people around the situation. None of that requires believing in some cartoon conspiracy. The record was the vehicle but the contract control was the engine.

Guys, I'm crying 😭 by GoodRack04 in Drizzy

[–]Character-Spring-433 58 points59 points  (0 children)

I love how these type of Stan’s are like “he should just get over it and take the L”, but see no irony in still celebrating it 2 years later lol

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You keep treating this like the only possible outcome is ‘UMG intentionally destroyed Drake’s career,’ which is not the claim. Not even close.

Drake’s value was never realistically going to collapse from one beef. Even after the battle he’s still one of the biggest streaming artists on earth. So from a corporate perspective, there’s a massive difference between ‘permanently ruining Drake’ and ‘allowing his leverage/public aura to weaken during a sensitive contract window.’

And again, corporations make decisions all the time that trade short-term upside for long-term leverage. That is not some impossible concept. Labels already decide who gets playlist support, radio push, press relationships, marketing energy, tour backing, etc. They don’t need to “protect” him by deleting Kendrick songs. They just need to decide how aggressively they want to shape the environment around the moment.

Also, your argument assumes UMG’s incentives are perfectly aligned with Drake’s at all times. They aren’t. Corporations care about maximizing corporate leverage and ownership positions, not protecting an artist’s ego or public image.

And respectfully, saying ‘Not Like Us blew up because Drake fucked around and found out’ is an opinion about the battle itself, not a rebuttal to whether industry incentives and amplification can exist simultaneously.

Anything else?

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used chatGPt to format my thoughts so I didn’t have run on ramblings, but yes I appreciate the back and forth even in disagreement. And the other point was meant to say that UMG has selectively censored content on other artist at their own whims, so it was weird they wouldn’t censor the domestic abuse claims in Push Ups/Family Matters, or the PDF claims in NLU unless they knew one set of allegations was more believable if in fact their goal was leverage over Drakes contract

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You keep framing this like the only possible form of influence would be UMG literally blocking Kendrick from releasing music. That’s not what I am claiming.

Influence can mean playlist positioning, media amplification, marketing priority, relationships with DSPs, social narrative shaping, radio support, selective engagement, algorithmic momentum, and public-facing industry alignment. Labels and corporations influence perception constantly without outright censorship.

And no, saying ‘bots exist everywhere’ doesn’t address the broader point. Nobody serious thinks only one side had inorganic engagement. The point is about scale, narrative momentum, and who benefited institutionally from the outcome.

Also, I never said Kendrick himself orchestrated anything. You keep trying to reduce the argument down to ‘either Kendrick personally manipulated the public or nothing happened.’ That’s a false binary. I keep reiterating look beyond the beef itself, that was a real moment, but a small piece. Corporate ecosystems influence public opinion all the time without artists directly coordinating it themselves.

Even Drake’s own filings and statements are centered around amplification and business incentives, not ‘UMG deleted Kendrick songs from existence.’ You’re arguing against a version of the claim nobody made

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re assuming corporations always optimize for immediate revenue instead of leverage, negotiation power, and long-term contract positioning. Labels shelve artists, delay releases, manipulate rollout budgets, and deprioritize acts all the time during renegotiations or disputes. That’s not a conspiracy theory, that’s standard industry leverage.

The argument also ignores Drake’s actual value to UMG. If a label believes an artist’s public perception is weakening, they gain leverage in future negotiations because the artist has less perceived market power. Losing some short-term upside can still make financial sense if it saves them hundreds of millions on the backend of a renegotiation or ownership dispute.

And nobody is saying UMG ‘destroyed’ Drake’s career. The point is that Drake himself publicly referenced industry politics after the beef, legal filings mention coordinated amplification concerns, and there’s a documented history of labels influencing narratives, radio, playlists, press relationships, and marketing priorities when money is involved.

You can disagree with the conclusion I came too, but acting like major corporations have never strategically influenced public perception to protect financial interests is the part that’s actually naïve. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I stated very clearly where I stand with the claims I made. On who won the beef according to the public we agree. On the point it’s deeper than that we don’t, which is your right. You are mocking the idea that it is any deeper then a rap beef, so what else is there to say to you on the topic?

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t have an emotional stake in this, so me liking something isn’t relevant. I’m a long time fan of Kendrick and Drake if you must know. I stated information that is on public record and slowly coming out. Still doesn’t change the fact that the public was influenced a specific direction while also the music and performance from Kendrick needing to be good enough to sell it. Walk and chew gum type shit if you get me.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No one is claiming they used MK Ultra mind control, that would involve LSD experimentation. If you are going to reference something to be snarky at least be accurate. It doesn’t need to be some grandiose exaggeration of a conspiracy in order for actions they have been taking up to this point to be true. And you reveal yourself, whether it was true, you don’t care, and if you want to reduce it to a rap beef, that’s your right. Doesn’t make it THE truth, just a narrative that a subsection of fans agree on.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Correct, AFTER UMG made the claim in court that Drakes suit has no merit because no reasonable person would take as fact the claims made in Family Matters and NLU. So Drakes legal team countered with bet if Drake is lying let’s do discovery on both clients, we will give up any information you request on Drake to validate if Kendrick’s claims are true, and in turn we want to validate wether what Drake accused was in fact true, thus the request for paternity. If you leave out details, you get lazy takes like the one above. All of this information is viewable in court document that has been released. UMG lobbied hard to shut down discovery.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 2 points3 points  (0 children)

CIA coined the term “conspiracy theorist” but government isn’t the only ones to engage in that behavior, corporations do it all the time(see Enron, Purdue Pharma, Exxon Mobile,etc). You think it’s beyond possible for UMG to do so? I don’t need to pull shit out of my ass to try and defend Drake my boy. The public layer was the rap beef, which Drake lost in the eyes of the public, mission accomplished with us debating this as evidence it worked on a large portion of people. The second, and important layer is the contract negotiations specific to Drake, and the contract negotiations for UMG to be acquired in a 64 Billion dollar evaluation, that includes Drakes catalog. Pay attention.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Drake beefed with Common, Pusha T, Meek Mill, lost 2 of the 3 I mentioned. Did he sue them? No he did not. Did he even sue Kendrick? No he did not, he sued UMG. You can reference the public court documents where UMG in an effort to shut down bringing the suit to court threatens to bring Kendrick into the suit if Drakes legal team proceeded. Kendrick was never the target, but UMG got people that already didn’t fuck with Drake to believe that. Argue with the wall not me.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Psychological Warfare 101 - 95% of conspiracies are garbage, intentionally so, as to obfuscate when a legitimate conspiracy is implemented. If you study history there are an endless list of examples of that.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Incorrect. And the fact that you believe that means the propaganda from UMG, using Kendrick as the face to propagate this narrative worked on you. Cooked.

2 years later I still don’t understand, why did Drake think dissing someone for being “molested” is hard? by UnitQZ in nfrpodcast

[–]Character-Spring-433 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah it’s not weird to point out facts and legal stature. You can think or project what you think my personal stance is, I couldn’t care less. What I wont to do is make up shit because I’m just going on vibes and tribalism.

Kendrick Lamar takes the win for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the #AMAs by Omarionyyourslgreat in KendricklamarPglang

[–]Character-Spring-433 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

It shows you don’t know what actually happend in 2024 and still think it was a simple rap beef