As someone who thinks Kendrick thoroughly and unanimously won, I’d be remiss to not acknowledge the fact that Drake’s declining goodwill & reputation in the public eye over the past few years ultimately played a factor into how things turned out for him.

People are all but sick and tired of the 20+ song bloat albums now, they say that he tries too hard to appeal to younger demographics, the questionable associations with younger women and just women in general at this point, etc., all of these things kind of perfectly came to a head this year for Kendrick to pinpoint and attack in all of the songs he released.

We all know that these two have been subbing each other for years, so it got me thinking how everything would’ve went down if everything happened at an earlier date? Like, for example, if things popped off in 2017 when Kendrick was on top of the world and Drake’s reputation was not as tainted as it had been entering 2024.

How do you think their approaches would’ve been different? Would anything have remained the same? And most importantly, would the outcome change at all?

The outcome would probably be the same. Drake always makes beefs weirdly personal by mentioning rapper’s wives/girlfriends. It’s what made Kendrick and Push see red and aim for the jugular

Kendrick would have won the beef pretty much any year because he's fundamentally a better lyricist than Drake, but the cultural context brought on by Drake being mid, weird and overexposed for the past 5 years helped him out a lot.

Kendrick's hook game has also gotten more consistent while Drake's has arguably gotten worse since 2018, which is important to public perception. Not Like Us wouldn't be what it is without that hook.

Overall, I would say Drake has gotten sloppier and more desperate with time, whereas Kendrick has become more poised and calculating in response to his success. Those are great qualities for rap beef.

Every rap artist is essentially defying gravity after their debut album - you’re walking a tightrope, dodging the pressures of the label, an audience that’s more than willing to clap if you fall off, and a listener base that’s constantly shifting demographics and tastes.

I don’t think much would change here - Drake’s run would still be seen as in the pantheon of the greatest ever, and Kendrick would continue to be hailed as one of the best, if not the best discographies out. Two incredible artists sparring and one (Drake) losing after an insane run.

For some reason I don’t think Kendrick would’ve made any NLU’s and we would’ve got 5 MTG’s

the beef may have probably turned out slightly differently if it happened around the time of before MMBS dropped. Drake's always had a lot of negativity surrounding him (esp after the initial Pusha T stuff) but it slid even more downward significantly in the time leading up to and following FATD's release. Kendrick's always had a golden boy reputation but it dipped slightly around MMBS. I don't think the majority of people would ever sided with Drake though, I think he's had a lot of negativity surrounding him for awhile. If you want a genuine point where Drake maybe could have won, it'd probably be pre-Scorpion max. Even though people say Views disappointed (debatable, but not really in the public eye objectively), the run of Scorpion->DLDT->CLB->HL->HNVM just continually spurred out more and more negativity for him online. Scorpion was saved by its monumental singles. Everything after that kept charting but seems like it just created more and more negativity for him in rap circles outside of his core fanbase.

If it had happened earlier @op would still probably have done his “I’m a Drake fan but have never said a good thing about him on this website” gimmick

as long as kendrick used the internets favourite drake insult he’d win tbh

Please @op for the sake of doots mental health please say something nice about Drake

I’ve said numerous positive things about Drake on here man, if you ain’t seen it that’s on you

Link? Source?

Wouldve been a lot more interesting in 2013/2016. We got the washed version of both in 2024.

What would Kendrick’s angle have been in 2017/2018 though?

I feel like most of the things he talked about were all negative critiques that have been bubbling up for Drake in the past 6 years

kendrick still wouldve won it just off being the better rapper but it could be possible that meet the grahams and maybe not like us even may have not existed since that drake kissing that minor vid wasnt as widespread like it is now

I think the beef would only go very differently if it occurred before the push beef

It would be far more bars-oriented and less related to gossip and performance

Kendrick would still win on the mic but Drake would have bigger songs

The cultural narrative would be more way more spllit if it happened in 2018 for sure. As far as bars Kendrick would still have washed imo

One of the few knocks against Euphoria was that a lot of that s*** was old content repackaged in a funny, clever way. He would have leaned heavily into racial insecurity, morality, the way he treats women, etc. It wouldn't have been that different, just more difficult to sell.

If X does Y instead of Z does A happen

Drake didnt wanna see DAMN Kendrick dawg lol.

Well deserved victory lap for Kendrick now and loving GNX but lowkey hope both can move on and make their best music going forward

this guy would've won

TPAB Kendrick neither. Bro was hungry af

I think the fatigue from the back to back albums and tour played a part in how drake was moving. Also the amount of people coming out against at the time. Feel like it would of been better match up if these two aspects weren't there.

If it was like 2017-2018 that would been pretty close i think

What rapper makes their best music in their 40s