Beef Well Done: Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Hip Hop's Family Feud
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- At (very) long last, my thoughts on this beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. This year, two of the biggest rappers in the world went head-to-head with a series of diss tracks, but the beef runs much deeper than just what we've heard over the last few months. With this video, I sought to create a definitive, historical guide to hip hop's family feud, analyzing the current beef in the context of more than twenty years of bad blood.
I can't imagine I'll ever make a longer video than this one, but to me this beef is a significant cultural milestone. Though I'm most certainly a guest in this space, I've been a devoted and respectful student of hip hop for more than a decade, and commenting on this beef gives me an opportunity to demonstrate my love and respect for a genre and culture that has energized and inspired me for the entirety of my adult life. I hope you all enjoy watching this as much as I did making it, this was truly a labor of love!
Listen to all of the songs: • Baby ft. Clipse - What...
Timestamps
Intro But It’s Longer Than 10 Seconds: 0:00
FPS: 1:08
The Control Tangent: 3:57
Like That: 9:57
7 Minute Drill + USDA Cole: 13:58
Push Ups: 17:13
Taylor Made Freestyle: 20:59
euphoria: 25:13
The Birdman Tangent: 30:00
The Clipse/Pharrell/Pusha T Tangent: 32:04
Drake vs Pusha + The Story Of Adidon: 37:36
6:16 In LA: 47:14
Family Matters + Buried Alive Interlude: 50:11
meet the grahams: 59:13
Not Like Us: 1:06:19
The Heart Part 6: 1:13:28
BBL Drizzy W/Metro Boomin: 1:21:36
Yuno Miles + Closing Thoughts: 1:22:41
The Sexxy Red Feature: 1:24:04
Outro But It’s Longer Than 10 Seconds: 1:26:26
damn. over 500 videos worth of content at once? we're eating
LETS EAT
You counted?
@@OwainCynanRobertsno we did math
My favorite aspect of Not Like Us is the fact that it fills a unique, yet needed role in club music. Even if it had nothing to do with Drake.
The party/clubbing scene has always had issues with creeps and pedos preying on the young and naive, so to have a club banger calling those types out DIRECTLY while everyone is listening/singing along is not only fun, it's necessary.
You know for a guy who puts out 10 second video reviews, you're really good at explaining yourself in longform content. This is probably the best zoomed-out breakdowns of the beef I've seen. Not very many people have been willing to break down Drake's side of things while also admitting that he lost. And nearly everything was accurate, with receipts too. Massive props
This is a huge compliment, thank you! I’m glad people are enjoying it
@@ruffcriminalmost definitely! Would love to see more if you’re into it
I know is not that deep, but I admire Ruff's use of the flashbacks to add to the whole story we all loved.
This is how you structure a video essay. Exceptional work man
Thank you! I think it’s critical to understanding everything
Yup. That’s what I always wanted people to talk more about it, and he did it.
me watching the whole video even though i know all the details of the beef already; it is simply entertaining to hear people talk about.
Very bold choice to stare at the camera and shout "BEE BEE BEE BEE" for 90 minutes, but honestly I respect it
BEADS????
Just to add: Mac also responded to the Control verse on his song Friends off of Faces where he jokingly says "No Control, fuck Ken Lamar" while Q does the chorus of the song.
R.I.P Mac Miller.
best part is the ad-lib "FUCK YOU KENDRICK!!!!!!!!!"
Still midway through but need to comment, this Video made me realize I need to listen to more of Pusha's back catalogue.
Treat yourself! I think the Drake beef was a lot of people’s first exposure to Pusha T but his catalogue (plus Clipse) is deep and very impressive
Drake does deserve credit for going back to back on Meek Mill, but to contextualize it: the track that preceded it, Charged Up, was poorly received and quickly became a meme. Back to Back was Drake’s way of (successfully) covering that track up.
Knowing that made his monologue at the end of The Heart Part 6 even funnier, because he accused Kendrick of trying to cover up Meet the Grahams with Not Like Us.
A Ruff Criminal video that’s more than 10 seconds long? Let’s goooo
The heart pt6 is absolutely NOT drakes best performance, even ignoring the lyrics. He uses a bunch of “-ation” rhymes in a row. For how much lyrical miracle energy it gives, there are very few internal rhymes and switch ups. He sounds half asleep for the whole song. This the type of rapping that makes Ak fall asleep on stream.
"What, I put this guy on and he's trying to kill me?"
"He's not trying to kill you, Drake. *At least not yet.* "
god I love this so much already
The bar that I think ironically has gone over most peoples heads is the one on Euphoria where Kendrick says he needs to aim further down. Maybe I’m reaching but that isn’t simply Kendrick saying he aimed poorly, it’s him saying to Drake that the warnings he gave to him went over his head and this is his final warning. Which ties into “random acts of kindness”.
Despite everything Kendrick said on “Meet The Grahams”, he actually warned Drake repeatedly.
"if you take it there, I'm taking it further, that's something you don't wanna do"
Love that your coming from a place of respect for both artists. That's been difficult to find.
The genius of the song Not like us is the fact that Kendrick takes the memorable things that Drake is proud to be associated with and completely replaced them with even more catchy, repeatable names and phrases. OVHoes, OnotherVaginal Option, certified loverboy certify Ped,... Just a complete assassination.
The great thing about this video is that it really goes down the rabbit hole. Like, I didn’t really understand fully the Pharrell bit and didn’t even know the whole Clipse arc. Big props to you for explaining everything and thoroughly too
Thanks for spending some TIME with us!!!
Anyone that doesn’t know much about Drake and Kendrick or even Hip Hop in general, THIS is the video to go to. 🙌🙌
Video essay Ruff Criminal lets gooooooo
i think Drake immediately lost after Tom McDonald co-signed him on Twitter LMAO.
I don’t know how this comment made it 5 days without a horribly written response from a Tom fan freaking out about how “he is the best rapper alive and the only one that writes real lyrics! He doesn’t get the attention he deserves because of his political leaning! Blah blah blah” etc…. 😂😂
@@matthews4625 i don't think Ruff has ever talked about him, so there's less chance to spot a wild Tom fan around here. i'm still kinda sad i didn't get one though lol.
@@thelawsonman I’ve sadly seen them pop up on channels that had never uttered his name before. I don’t politically align 100% with any artist, and my taste in music isn’t defined by what political shtick an artists gives off. But sadly his fans think politics defines every second of every day and they will scour the depths of the internet to defend him. I’m shocked it’s taken this long, but as some point we will both get notifications about this post with someone claiming he’s the only real artists blah blah blah 🤣🤣🤣
this is NOT 10 seconds
euphoria is my favorite song from this feud
Same here
That thumbnail is genius. This does truly put a smile on my face
I thought everyone was lying when they said he only did 10 sec reviews☠️
This is the first hour plus long video I’ve watched in full in years. You did a great job with this
That means a lot, seriously, thank you!
The McGregor vs Khabib of hip hop:
- The mainstream Mega-star vs the purist's Icon
- Accessible, flashy style with some questionable performances vs the more well rounded, but (debatably) less accessible style that's never fallen short
- The Mega-star gets called out (UFC 205 / Like That) and eventually decides to egg on the Icon ("drop! drop! drop!" / "let's wrestle!")
- The Mega-star takes things a bit too far and raises the stakes (Taylor Made / the bus attack / mentioning family)
- The Icon dismantles the Mega-star in a compelling, but clearly decisive contest, beating him on every level, including at his own game (Not Like Us / the round 2 knockdown)
- The contest ultimately ends via submission, but it's arguable that the Mega-star took one round and put up a good fight
- The die-hard fan bases go to war with each other on the internet
- Biggest UFC fight of all time / biggest rap battle of all time(?)
"i take people to deep waters and they discover themselves" is very much ken's energy in this beef lol
I love these level headed retrospectives
the exact reason you like the "where's your uncle at?" bar is the reason i don't, lol. to me, "your trans uncle is more of a man than you" carries a subtle implication that drake thinks trans men aren't "real" men. coupled with the line where he says weeknd's music plays in gay neighborhoods, he definitely put his foot in his mouth around queer issues on "family matters" which is a shame because it's my favorite drake song in years
Interesting perspective! I can see what you mean, I didn’t think of it that way. I didn’t bother getting into the “pride” bars because those weren’t even worth the time
Oh shoot, I forgot about him mentioning Kendrick’s uncle like that. Drake really just bringing his fall down to himself jfc 😂
I give it a 40% transphobic. If we use a J.K. Rowling tweet as a 100% bench mark, I'd rate Auntie Diaries at a 35%, in that his heart's in the right place but it's a bit clumsy, and this line is worse for the reason you stated but is at least semi-respectful. J. Cole's trans line in PI is at least a 70% because it's directly invalidating.
@@thrownstairi definitely think drake and cole were more queerphobic than kendrick was in this beef. auntie diaries means a lot to me personally, and i think even if it's a little clumsy it's still extremely honest, and easily the best commentary any mainstream rapper has had on queer issues in their music. rap culture in general is still pretty homo/transphobic etc. but the people kendrick wanted to reach with that song definitely got it
Great video and very detailed. You sound like someone who loves, appreciates and studies hip hop. Great job.
Thank you, I appreciate that!
this was an incredibly good and well-balanced breakdown! I can't lie and say I haven't enjoyed more sensational and opinionated videos on the beef, but you staying even-keeled (and really doing your research) made this not only really fun but also interesting and informative. I know this length of video is not your chosen lane, but you are very good at it and I'm hoping something sparks this much interest in you again.
Great video, I ended up watching the whole thing which I didn't expect. Also love the last 5 seconds
My favorite part about Not like us is that he changed his flow at first to sound smooth cool like Snoop then switched to a hard and fast style like Pac and then went into his own flow. Like he showed drake how he should have done Taylor Made.
The object permanence Peekaboo bit was fucking funny😂😂
“His daddy a killer” and that whole scheme is a reference to J Prince and his son. It can be interpreted as bird man but it’s way too many clues that point to the Princes
dude i loved it. i stumble across lots of uninformed beef recap videos and they all talked about superficially known stuff. this had me hooked the entire time
Ive seen alot of videos and u were the only one that brought up that interlude. I didnt know about that.
I can’t believe how many things you addressed in this video that I always thought why people not talking about it enough. Great job and people who mildly interested to this will finally get the full picture.
Excellent video brother, I’ve watched countless and this one is nicely done, informative and cohesive!
Brand new to the channel and have to say you are hilarious. I love a good wry wit. Keep it up 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Appreciate it, thank you! And welcome 🤝
Can’t believe this isn’t 10 seconds
Also kinda cool on Not Like Us. I'm pretty sure Mustard chopped soul, answering the Control-like callout from Hit-Boy on his song with The Alchemist.
Im still baffled that kendrick featured in Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
Lmao
I'm gonna be real, My first exposure to Kendrick was that one feature he did for Maroon 5.
And because of that, I thought he was a mediocre rapper that no one really likes 💀
@@MidnightWanderer00 Damn
@@newchillzone224 Oh was I so wrong later on lmao
So glad that you made such a long / genuine video really brealing down as much as you could. Loved this Ruff! Would love to see some more long stuff from you!
another meaning of the title of Not Like Us i think refers to "Not Like U.S." as in not from the United States (a colonizer using american hip-hop to get richer and more powerful)
Really well structured video. I was surprised to see how long it was once I finished.
Loved this video and synopsis so much, binged the whole watch. Comprehensively includes so much of the important nuance in the tracks themselves while showcasing so much history and context I never knew about
1:08:03 John Stockton also went to Gonzaga which could be a reference to Spike the bulldog on a jersey drake wore in April 2023, on tour with Cole
Is that the same bulldog featured on the shirt that made the cover of Meet the Grahams?
@@ruffcriminal design looks super similar!
They ain’t even recognise hov until Annie
What a bookend in this vid
I love how calm and reserved you are in your commentary. It was so insightful and relaxing to hear you recap the history! Great job!
Dope analysis
This was a GREAT video! I've been trying to find a good video to send my non hip hop head friends to explain it, but even the great breakdowns of Shawn Cee or Hivemind haven't fully covered what I wanted. Yours did. The emphasis that this originally started as "good exhibition within the game" is such an important thing to mention, because beef is now scene as something where violence must happen, and not a peaceful staple of the game and its culture (which is what its supposed to be). I remember when Like That came out and then was followed up by Push Ups I was so excited because it meant that Kendrick's challenging of the legends inspired everybody to start putting a boatload of effort into the music they are making. Even though the beef got personal, I still feel that effect has still been felt.
Also, I would like to add the context of three songs to your explanation. From Kendrick, there is "Hood Politics" and "Family Ties". On "Hood Politics", Kendrick mentions the control verse and how he was talking to Jay-Z about it. While that is important, he also says "I'm the only n- next to snoop that could push the button". Now "Family Ties" has a lot of important content, because it was Kendrick coming out of this really long hiatus to double down on everything he said on "Control". This was almost the prelude to "First Person Shooter" because Kendrick is like "Guys, I might not be making music for years at a time, but just know I am still the best and always will be". But to call back to "Hood Politics", Kendrick says on "Family Ties", "Soon as I press that button n- get right like the ambulance coming". Reading this in hindsight, it is really cool to see "Like That" as the button Kendrick pushes. Right after he pushes it, it seems like this 20 v 1 against Drake starts forming. And while the beefs for other artists like Rick Ross and Metro have been brewing, it wasn't until Kendrick said something that everyone else started saying something. So as all of Kendricks disses are becoming more and more true as time goes on, I think "Family Ties" is a part of that. The last song that I want to mention is "Jimmy Cooks". The main line Drake repeats on this song is "If you don't like the way I talk n- say something". Which Kendrick replies to perfectly in Euphoria when he says, "I hate the way that you talk". Great video!
Really appreciate it, thank you! Those are some great tie-in tracks too, I chose not to get into many of the subliminal tracks because frankly there are way too many that could be part of that conversation lol
17:40 another thing about leaking it, although maybe unintentional, was that I wasn’t sure if it was real at first. I couldn’t tell if it was AI, so I didn’t trust it. When he finally officially dropped it, that was an “oh shit, this is happening” moment
My ADHD ass watched this to 53 mins. You have no idea how much of a compliment this is. I'll be back to finish this eventually, lol. Very well compiled video.
Real as hell for that, thank you 🙏
Thank you for all that you do i really like your videos and your perspective on music
Seriously great video kept me engaged the whole way love the way you explained it!
Stunning video, you go through this so fluidly, without too much fluff, and with genuine reactions and thoughts
10/10
good job!
very well worded video, ruff. enjoyed it a ton!
Just wanted to say as I've come back to this video quite a few times (amazing to pass out to, but also great to listen to while completing tasks, at work in general), but I have to say I LOVE your delivery on some lines like 49:47.
Gets me laughing every time in how honest it is.
listening to this while doing my assignment is really entertaining Lmao!! great video man!
Really appreciate your in-depth analysis. I know this was a labor of love to put together, so thank you for your hard work and dedication to tell this story with so much depth!
glad i’m not the only one who heard Nosetalgia differently post-beef
Did anyone notice he kinda got emotional with the tone of his voice when he was discussing meet the grahams?
"An exhausted surrender" - this made me cry 🥲
This was a fantastic video, really a perfect breakdown of the beef imo. Also perfect that you mentioned Yuno miles the GOAT to end the video.
loved this longform video man, you're well spoken and engaging. hope to see more stuff like this :)
Thank you for being honest !! People said nobody dissed him on First Person Shooter that was a lie.
the object permanence line killed me, amazing video
This is a movie ✨ thankU
i really enjoyed the video! didn’t feel like 1 hour at all. you explained everything so well and calm i kinda want to watch it again hahaha
Loved this vid man ❤
56:41 I do not believe Drake wrote that line in good faith, he was being facetious and therefore transphobic (saying someone who wasn't AMAB was more of a man than Kendrick)
Someone else pointed this out too, you both might be right. May have been wrong for me to give him the benefit of the doubt there because I thought it was positive, but I understand this perspective too
wow drake is so based
@@aka_15 you mean cringe?
I love when you make these long videos!
isnt the mole claim proven to be true when Kendrick dropped Meet the Graham 20-40 minutes after Family Matters dropped?
Everyone from "WE DON'T TRUST YOU" and "WE STILL DON'T TRUST YOU" has beef with Drake, except Travis Scott. The two albums were diss albums.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but apparently a big reason for the start of Future/Metro falling out with Drake was due to Drake scrapping WATTBA2 to instead release Her Loss. Drake apparently sent subliminals on one of the songs on that project (that Metro produced) on top of him announcing the project would be released the same day as Heroes & Villains (Metro had already announced the release date prior) which Metro pushed back due to “sample clearance issues”. Add to it all that Metro took Drake off of the final version of the Heroes & Villains cut Trance, this beef was bound to erupt someday.
Thought the video was great.
Reminded me of the tone, pacing and depth of Richard Schickel's brilliant Once Upon a Time In America audio commentary.
I feel like I have to check that out now, thank you!
29:50 i get your meaning of the line, where he means he didnt aim low enough as line "low blows" and how hes gonna really go there. My first way of hearing it immediately was as a rebuttal to drakes height jokes, saying "im gonna aim down to shoot you because i look down on you despite our height differences"
Top tier video, one for the history books of Hip Hop.
34:51 so I see Ye and Yasiin Bey… ik this a stretch but whoever gets it gets it
1:05:18 only after all this time that i noticed Kendrick kinda slips a bit at this final line, in a way that makes him sounded malicious, as if he pities yet mocked the eternal struggle Drake will be fighting till he die
40:05 Pusha T is... he's kind of a scary guy
Understatement of the century
Soooo well spoken😊
Something a lot of people don't know is that Cole wanted Kendrick on First Person Shooter, and Drake did send a feature request, but he planned to reject the verse no matter how good it was. Kendrick mentions this on euphoria.
You made some awesome points! Great vid
Love how thoroughly you covered it. One thing I'd like to mention was how Kendrick said if Drake kept it hip-hop, he'd have kept it bar for bar on euphoria with the lines "keep making me dance, waving my hand and it won't be no threat" and reinforced it in 6:16 in LA with "It was fun until you started to put money in the streets
Then lost money 'cause they came back with no receipts
I'm sorry that I live a boring life, I love peace" which is also a callback to when Push claimed Drake put 100k for dirt on him.
Another callback he did from euphoria to 6:16 was the game of "have you ever?"
1hr 30min holly crap. This is a podcast episode. Let’s go
Somehow I keep forgetting that you like honestly nevermind 😂 still watching but it’s fun already.
I'd say Not Like Us is a sextuple entendre, pertaining in a sixth way to the immediately preceding line: "A MINORRR"
Kendrick is bringing it back to the grooming accusation, saying "they (minors) cannot give meaningful consent like us"
34:00
Oh yeah, I remember, 9th grade playing that beat on school desks and lunch tables with a mechanical pencil. 😅
I like you.
I really like this video.
Wonderful job. ❤
Great reflection but everyone’s missing the whole role scary hours pt 3 plays into this. It’s not just first person shooter that pissed Kendrick off. I’d argue the sneak disses on Evil Ways (dna get rearranged) and Stories About My Brother (not Kobe to us) pissed Kendrick off more than anything said on FPS.
Those were the most direct sneak disses ever from Drake or Cole towards Kendrick and Drake and Cole teamed up to do it.
More things to add:
-drake and Kendrick have been comparing themselves to MJ and Prince respectively for almost 10 years now.
-that diss on push ups was in response to future saying that drake is his number one fan on “we dont trust you” which is an album full of drake disses along with the we still don’t trust you album.
Damn I never realized how much they were kinda beefing before the disses started
This was a great breakdown!
You are very good at this my man 👏
This breakdown was so good
I prefer medium rare, myself.
I want to tell you about a underground beef with silkmoney and icytwat who are underground kings. Silk just released a diss track responding to twat in TH-cam that’s really good and cerebral like Kendrick
Flawless Analysis 👌🏾 Deep Dive 🙌🏾