this is correct, so is @thegreatdivine but this explains it better.

I think Divine is right that this didn't really make thaaat many new Kendrick fans and more so gave people who already disliked Drake a side to pick and support, not necessarily meaning they were fans of Kendricks music.

Even just anecdotally within my friend groups I know plenty of people blasting NLU and talking about how Drakes career is over yet they NEVER listened to Kendrick before and likely wont listen to his next project outside of looking for Drake subs.

However, put NLU on any project as a bonus and it immediately does numbers, then add on top Kendrick has definitely found this "west coast" formula that is clearly working for him (ie. like Star67 said about the snippet) and the general population will tune in to see what he has to say I think he will outsell anything Drake puts out this year.

Bonus, Drake has also been on a steady decline in sales in general, hes been more experimental (HNVM) and willing to play around and I think (and hope) he will explore that more in whatever he drops next.

you think she yo baby giiiiiiirl
she texts us like Dallas

Long day at the studio

Album sounds ridiculous

They ain’t ready

Now a celebratory dinner

Yeah facts @fuego ,

The other important part to note is that people were talking about Kendrick having the album practically done BEFORE Push Ups was even released. But if you look at the snippet before NLU video plays, he's talking about IP ownership and he's practically subbing Drake. So he made that song recently. And I for one believe he's reworked his album to go for that west coast commercial bangers route instead and that's why he hasn't released it yet. He's probably 70% done and has some ways to go. This is his by far biggest moment, he can make a killing $ and impact wise and the runway is cleared for him to do so so he cannot come with therapy music, or activist music - it has to be bangers.

NLU as bonus won’t affect first week numbers but I feel you

it does affect totals sales doesnt it though? honestly i could be wrong my understanding of all that stuff is very very surface level

Yes total sales. Just not first week!

total sales yes but it won't affect first week numbers but he'd be a fool to leave it off his album and considering he's milking this song into oblivion, he will put it on there

That snippet is being gassed because it basically sounds like NLU part 2. He uses the same exact flow as he did on NLU and they're gonna gas whatever Kendrick does online.

I already said I could definitely see him doing bigger numbers than his last album did (around 375-400k). But y'all are severely overestimating just how many people will show up for Kendrick when the music he drops isn't music that has him dissing Drake.

The NLU video was hyped like crazy, only for it to drop and people moved on after like a day or 2. Even during the beef, you could see how people moved from one song to the other because Kendrick doesn't have enough "fans" to supports multiple songs at the same time lol. Like That was the song with all the motion till euphoria dropped and then everyone rushed to support that. NLU drops and then rush to support that as well. Of course, he had that perfect storm week where all 3 songs were in the Hot 100 top 10 simultaneously but euphoria went 11-3-11. After that, Like That dropped out of the top 10 after only 7 weeks (despite spending its first 3 weeks at #1) and they've been throwing all their support behind NLU ever since. That told me all I needed to know.

I get it might seem like the whole world is on Kendrick's d*** right now but believe me, that's only something that seems that way online. Drake is still being played much more than Kendrick outside because literally the only Kendrick song with any motion outside right now is NLU. Kendrick's team isn't dumb. They played the perception game throughout this beef for a reason. Only those chronically online think Kendrick has magically become a megastar artist because of this beef.

As for Drake, he owns the hearts and ears of the people, regardless of what the current narrative about him online is. People are simply too obsessed with Drake for him to ever fall off.

I've already said it — nothing he drops will do numbers until he drops his next project (and it'll have to be a rap album).

This beef has helped Drake in the ways he's needed but couldn't do for himself.

1. It's made him the underdog again. A position he couldn't relate with since like 2013 with Nothing Was the Same.

2. It's given him reason to give his absolute best. Not saying he's been mailing it in the past few years but it's not surprising that some songs off every project he's dropped feel lazy. It's because there's been no competition and he's had no reason to give maximum effort on everything he drops, especially with him dropping so frequently.

3. He's currently being overlooked and counted out so most people are just waiting for his next album to use as proof of him being done. Interestingly enough, that also means there'll be more eyes and ears on his next project than probably anything he's dropped since Views/Scorpion.

All Drake has to do imo is not rush a release. The narrative for this year is already written and it's Kendrick's year. Just let the year end and save whatever you've made for Q1 next year or summer next year (if he wants to push some singles first). In the meantime, he should focus on small details to ensure whatever he drops is his best effort since his early albums, if not his best effort yet.

He does that and everything will sort itself out.

Yeah this thread finally back everyone having good convo and very thoughtful! Let’s goo

Usually but I’m worried he is sitting on it for a while or pushing it back

It’s prob best for Drake to wait but I’m selfish I want the music 🤷‍♂️

This. I want the music cause I want Drake music but he's finally moving strategically 1 for 1 with Kendrick & that entire squad by keeping this alleged project on standby till he sees what Kendrick does.

Poopoopeepee kaka in ghetto lenny booty

Oh we will get some fts I’m sure but I don’t think “new music”. We not getting any rap songs in awhile tbh but I’m sure he’ll drop some diff genre type music like we been hearing lol

Oh he’s back

Free therapy sessions with capt morg lmk

lol

Idk, I agree with some of your points about him needing to feel like the underdog and him being overlooked. But him being overlooked and people being too obsessed with Drake kind of contradict eachother, and I think its more likely a case of Drake's style and themes has ran its course.

As mentioned above or last page, Drake releases non stop and that is a plus for the fans but a negative for the general population. Hearing Drake on repeat for years is not going to make people like him more. Especially when he definitely has gotten lazy and phoned it in a lot (maybe except HNVM). For an example of "phoned it in" just look at the themes of his music. They are really not relatable to anyone and have been the same from him for years now. The younger generation can't really relate to f***ing 20 different girls or being rich and the generation that grew up on Drake has outgrown that mentality as well.

I know he has his moments outside of these themes but they're far and few between these days.

I can agree that its best for him to wait a while before releasing, and it'd be good to see some introspective underdog style raps and R&B tunes, but I don't know if Drake sees it that way. I hope he does though.

off topic, anyone here watch Interstellar? good movie?

like a cult classic for white dudes