I prefer kendrick but your right
Drake is the number one artist rn. Kendrick has been killing the rap game every release but is still behind Drake in popularity

“Bitch I just rapped then it went pop”

Drake obviously takes rap very seriously. There’s a reason he’s the most impactful rap feature verse artist of all time. Been chopping niccas heads off for a decade

He doesn’t go and collaborate with Taylor Swifts like Kendrick has. He just can sing and makes Rnb type music too

They're not equals, but they're also not competing in the same arenas, is what I'm saying.

So what is he?

yeah that's indisputable, always has been this way

since drake raps and rap is now the most popular form of music drake can be seen as the #1 rapper.

I Am speaking on popularity not musical output. Many view prince as better than mj (me included) but that doesn’t mean mj wasn’t the king of all it. Just like many view Kendrick better than drake, but drake is still #1

Kendrick has always been second most popular, so even though he occupies a different lane than drake (like prince and mj) they will always be compared

I whole heartily agree with this, I don’t think Drake wants to occupy that rap lane, he’s already proven he can if wanted to

But he said it himself, he’s more focused on dominating than appealing to a bunch of backpackers

That was him just flexing lmao

Basically saying he can kill people with the rap s*** at will.

whats funny is drake is prob the most versatile artist going from pop and rap but it doesn't show that much in his discography. it's weird that artist like kendrick, ye, and Tyler have completely different sounding albums over a span of time than drake.
closest I can see is More Life and IYRTITL

that's fair. i guess in that context, drake can be seen as the #1 rapper

Because drake follows the same tried and true formula that works for him.

Every album he will have a few songs for the rap heads, a few poppy songs, some r&b s*** and that’s going to be that. That’s what his fans want, when I listen to drake I don’t listen for experimental music or seeing what he is going to come up with that is new, and that’s okay

Drake has more rap songs than R&B, pop or dancehall so it’s craxy to me how people categorize him as a pop star when Andre 3k has done just as many pop records

People forget Jay Z had pop songs Sunshine & Give it to Me

lol took me a minute to realize, but we're basically saying the same thing. drake could probably dominate hip hop if he wanted to from a purely "I only rap and that's it" standpoint, but he's never attempted to do so because he saw the bigger picture. He's easily the most popular rapper right now, never having been challenged in that department aside from late-career Eminem from 2010-2015, even if Drake was running laps around dude talent-wise at that time. But at this point, his influences is just much more vast than rap, whereas Kendrick's is pretty much only influential in rap.

Oh no andre I put in the same boat. he's just as much of a rapper is he is a pop artist imo

Drake and Jay Z are the same

I think Jay Z dumb down his style to be more appeal, people forget Jay Z also chased hit records and pop songs

There are people like Kendrick that care about pure lyricism & great hip hop projects

Then there are people like Drake & Jay Z who take calculated risks for more appeal and industry dominance

I agree, it feels weird to put Andre in a just exclusive rapper category. That said, I'm contradicting myself a bit because I did put him in the elite mechanical rap skill category, which he is, so I guess I should be objective and say that if I'll give that lenience to 3K, I gotta put Drake up as not only the #1 pop artist, but the #1 rapper too. Although in around 2003, I genuinely would have put Andre in the pop star category over the rapper category, and I genuinely saw dude as more of a pop star than a rapper at that time.

tbh I've just gotten to the point where if your able to do both pop and rap that should not handicap you when it comes to rap discussions

Lol

That's a fair comparison. I'd frankly sooner compare Drake to Andre 3000 in that department. By 2003 Three Stacks had graduated from being being only lauded in rap, he was a certified pop star, like Drake is.

Being a pop star, unlike what many people are alluding to itt (not you tho), isn't some lowly achievement. Sure, there are a lot of s***ty pop stars. But Prince was a pop star. Michael Jackson was a pop star. The Weeknd is a pop star. Fleetwood Mac were pop stars. Those are all amazing artists too. Drake is in that category. Not sure why people think being a pop star is like an insult lmao

Comparison has been so ingrained in the youth through social media that they know nothing else.

This was such an amazing discussion, no trolling or games just good vibes and conversations

@TooBrokeToCare @MrIndigo96 Kings/Queens 😩💕

Srry I didn’t want to assume gender lol

lol its all good. just great to have a discussion with ppl who aint trolling or stanning

Drake will have to release three classics to catch up to where Kendrick is currently at. Safe to say he is never catching Kendrick

I guess I'm a king haha, but thanks. And yeah, I'm not tryna troll or anything. Drizzy and K Dot are dope as hell, been fans since day one. I just never really saw them as direct competition. As rap has grown, the genre is so diverse now that the idea of being #1 overall is kind of obsolete. If you like bars and bars only, and you like mainstream rap, Kendrick is probably your #1 guy. If you like musical diversity that incorporates rap as well as a variety of other genres pretty evenly, and you like mainstream rap, Drake is easily your #1 guy. If you like trap, street s***, Thug or Future are probably #1. That's why nobody can really firmly agree on #1 in the game anymore, as far as artistry is concerned (Drake obv #1 popularity wise tho no contest). The genre's so diverse rn that you can't really pin it down anymore to just 1.

Kenny makes intellectual music, that people write about.

Drake makes catchy music, that people dance to.

In the beginning I liked Kenny the most, but a year or 2 ago I saw that the quality of making music that people actually likes to listen to, and not on some intellectual non body experience