Thinking about the fallout of the beef and the public discourse around Drake being “transparent” in his attempt to appeal to late Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

By virtue of latching onto Bendadonnn, Druski and Kai Cenat it seems he tried really hard to ingratiate himself with unscripted content creators and the new generation of skit makers

Has any artist been able to do this authentically?

Only ones that come to mind are

Tyler: blew up over a decade while I was in high school and is still held in high regard off the strength of being authentic and making good music

Kanye: for being unabashedly himself (but that’s another conversation)

Carti: For obvious reasons

Wouldn't most artists that are still popular and charting show they've successfully been able to appeal to younger audiences

Drake is just an example of a hardcore networker

Other artists just drop music and people like it

21 has done a bit of both for example

Kendrick just pulled it off

Future. He can appear on anybody's project young or old and nobody would blink

Hmm I think you can have a dedicated fan base that grows with you.

Those artists I just listed were ones I’ve seen that are seem to be building that same core audience with a younger crowd while retaining their original fans, and they don’t get the criticism of seeming “forced”

True, pretty impressive that the hoodville city boy era gave him a hell of a second wind