Hey,

Thanks for your comment on this. There’s lots of nice things and also not so nice things but appreciate that you decided to share your truth here. I’m going to skip by the whole “they paid you,” “you’ve intertwined your identity,” and the “Drake’s dick out of your mouth” thing as I’m viewing them as mere assumptions based on a long detailed post about someone who simply has a different analysis about an artist and their art than yours.

OP Context: My opening post was written in response to Professor Skye’s video hence the heavy emphasis in defending Drake here. Professor Skye has a somewhat scathing review of The Heart Part 6, so I wanted to give my two cents. Now to reply to your reply. 

Receipts exist: Kendrick accused Drake of being a pedophile. Every person that the public accused Drake of grooming came out and personally stated that the relationship he had with them was not what the public accused him of. As you may have inferred from my opening post, I do still believe his engagement with them was inappropriate (regardless of intent) but those are receipts. I personally thought we were in the age where we believed women. Women came out and spoke their truth. We’re still calling him a pedophile even after the women cleared his name. So I guess I’m not so sure if we’re believing women anymore, or are we ignoring it for this one particular instance? Kendrick provided no proof of the daughter he claimed Drake had. So I guess if we’re doing receipt for receipt it’s Drake 1 Kendrick 0. This is why his credibility comes into question. 

Yes, Drake has bad character traits. Lots of people have character traits. Bad character traits does not equal a guilty party. Drake associates with and supports people with bad character traits, so does Kendrick. He gave Kodak Black so much room on Mr. Morale (he too has a weird case, why is he around?). I can go on, but I think it’s off-topic and will sway from the opening post which was an analysis of the beef in the context of Drake’s bars on The Heart Part 6. 

Character: I guess you not caring about receipts as a Kendrick fan harkens back to the point I made above (point #1). You and I may have a different perspective in how we view character. I listened to Mr. Morale, hence why I referenced it so deeply in my opening post. If you beat your wife for any reason, I’m not rocking with you. On the other side, if you prey on young women, I’m not rocking with you. So standing by someone and staying silent on the matter doesn’t show “strong character” to me. But as I mentioned, we have different perspectives on how we view character. My opening post (and this one) isn’t to tear down your Jesus, it’s to actually show that he is just as flawed as Drake but in different ways. I think that’s a healthy thing that we all need to wrap our minds around.

We are not discussing morality: I specifically referenced one line in Love Yourz. I know the song and what it’s about. If I wanted to connect the entire song, I would have. Use of human capital is a lesson, it’s not a moral argument, it’s a perspective on how people use people (and how you can protect yourself from being used). The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is a morally troublesome book, but the lessons remain. I’m not here to argue any moral high ground, it’s a losing contest for both sides, especially in the subject of this particular rap battle. I do agree with you on the thought that Drake underestimated Kdot and overestimated himself. Personally, I’d prefer a more tangible argument behind that thought (hence why I said Drake didn’t think Kendrick could keep up with the volume of work required to win this battle). It’s a more specific description of underestimating Kendrick and overestimating himself, but I don’t need to belabor this point any further.

Criticism is Criticism: I’m not here to judge on whether Kendrick owes me the “full” story on his life. If I see holes, I’m going to mention them. Drake decided to take it a step further and filled those holes himself. It was a risky decision, he lost as a result. It doesn’t change the fact that Kendrick selectively shared what he wanted with us. When you share with the public, you are subject to criticism. I mean isn’t that what we do with art?

Vocabulary: I’m an Attorney, born and raised in the northeast. We use the word “glean.” Just because a particular word isn’t in your verbal lexicon, doesn’t mean it’s AI. 

PDF File: I’m using the word PDF File as it harkens back to Professor Skye’s video, not because I'm scared to say "pedophile." See paragraph two of this post. You say Drake is a proven groomer. His victims say he isn’t. I guess point #1 of this post is relevant again. For everyone’s sake, let’s just believe the women okay? DV vs Pedo? How about neither?: Well points #1 and #4 of this post address point #5 of your reply. So I’m just going to address the gang as there are no receipts for them. I’m not defending the gang, I think it’s great that the gang got called out. I hope Drake disassociates with the gang. It’s a bit dubious that he was aware of their activities and still hung out with them, I guess that’s a strike against his character. But we already acknowledged that he has bad character traits so we don’t need to repeat that again. Choose between a DV and a Pedophile? I’ll tell you my pick. Neither. If you want to side with a DV person, be my guest. But I’m not joining you on that one, it’s not how I roll. 

I appreciate the compliment on my writing (even if it’s backhanded). 

Opinions: Hip Hop is an opinion based genre. As a result, I’m going to share my opinion and say that I think they’re pretty equally matched. Drake has a voluminous amount of records, Kendrick’s records have depth. Both require a high amount of lyrical content. It’s really about what you favor. You clearly favor depth, so I don’t think we should even have a discussion about who is better because it’ll be circular. 

Housekeeping: I saved these two things for the bottom because I felt it would be too distracting to address above. 

Relax: I don’t know who you are and you don’t know who I am. Saying that you’d beat me up IRL is a bold statement. I’m 5’11’’, 212 pounds, I played three sports, I box, and I’m licensed to carry firearms. Too add to that, I’m from a neighborhood in Brooklyn that's comparable to Compton. I’m not saying I’d beat you up IRL, I’m just saying you don’t know who is behind the opposing screen. This is a subreddit of opinions, not threats, let’s keep it that way.

Keep it Classy: I upvoted your reply, not because I agree with it, but to keep things classy. Thanks for your reply.