rather late

10mo

Basically kanye sucks and is a loser?

CyberPunk

10mo

I am PROUD ZIONIST

niketech

10mo

long thread with but idgaf

Kendrick was able to articulately and creatively dissect Drake as an entity. He beat him in every metric, from sales to public perception to industry alliances. No one has publicly spoken out against Kendrick. Kanye thought he could do it with "Lift Yourself," or "Donda" vs. "CLB," or the Hoover concert, but those were really just chips at the armor and never true victories.

I like Drake with the melodies.
I don’t like Drake when he acts tough.

Kanye has struggled trying to articulate/accept Drake's success, and it’s honestly messed him up and his output. Kanye has often accepted Drake as the “GOAT,” not purely because of his skills as a musician but because he admires how Drake can make music that’s truly digestible in every setting (car, club, headphones, mall). It’s back to the Apple vs. Android debate, and his obsession with Apple. Androids could be the better technical product, but the general social stigma of your text bubble being green is enough for the masses to accept that the iPhone is better.

He also often talks about the internal conflict between chasing numbers/reach and just creating for the sake of pushing creative boundaries. "Vultures," "Donda," "Pablo" – all really are Kanye trying to compete with Drake when it comes to relevancy, particularly with contemporary features on the projects, while trying to outmatch him creatively. A lot of the colonization claims Kendrick made towards Drake can be argued against Kanye because of that.

Kanye was never going to win the numbers game. I’m not here to claim Drake’s numbers are insanely inflated, as I do believe his music is consumed a lot, but I am confident UMG has prioritized his numbers as it’s a huge part of his image. That’s through a combination of Drake making radio-friendly music with regional contemporaries along with massive push on radio + DS​Ps. Drake’s alignment with UMG is so powerful that every contemporary rapper MUST align with him to be successful. There are only a handful of rap artists this past decade who have been able to tour and do substantial album sales WITHOUT Drake's cosign. What stans don’t realize is it’s not a flex to say “everyone needs Drake.” Why? Because Drake literally is UMG. What they are really saying is “every musician needs a label to control their music in order to survive off their work.” Drake is what’s propping the major label up and diminishing the prospect of going independent (Apple vs. Android).

Kendrick is truly the last remaining traditional hip-hop artist who doesn’t need to remain contemporary with features and the “culture” and still drop platinum projects with impact. This is why he is truly the only one who could have pulled off what he did; he doesn’t need anything from Atlanta, New York, Memphis, or Houston. He doesn’t need to be aligned with anyone in the game to be in the position that he is in, and that’s why both Drake and Kanye envy him.

Kendrick had to sacrifice being in the limelight consistently and work out his label situation properly in order to build up the cultural cache to pull off what he did this past month. If you listen to his discography, he literally was creating in anticipation of this exact moment; where he could call out the lack of depth and exploitation in the mainstream music industry that the Drake machine continues to benefit from and be in a PERFECT position to reap the full benefits from it financially, culturally, and creatively. His next project is now his most anticipated EVER, and he is almost two decades in the game.

Kendrick anticipated the listener being fed up with being controlled. The Israel-Palestine conflict is a perfect example of “the people waking up,” with protests happening globally and people truly understanding how controlled mainstream news and social media have been for a while. Kanye may have made these critiques about the industry or global conflicts, but his approach was always harsh, often uncontrolled, and didn’t align with the musical output (Jesus is King being the outlier here).

In conclusion, Kendrick has provided a light at the end of the tunnel for independent artistry. I think Kanye may benefit tremendously from this because there is no more pressure to compete with Drake in sales. "Carnival" number 1 doesn’t mean the same to us as the moment we heard the sample on "On Sight." Kendrick provided a cultural reset, and those in the mainstream who make impactful/quality music will have the ear of the listener.

Jaman

10mo

ur from the netherlands

afterimage

10mo

well did you even read it?

he explained what ur asking about on this same page too

genghiskharti

10mo

how old are you op

OVO Steve Carell

10mo

whats the deal with kenny and israel? he anti-semitic?

Ace

10mo

F*** Israel 10 times

OVO Steve Carell

10mo

who said this? kenny?

Ace

10mo

• Ace 2024

OVO Steve Carell

10mo

ok dude but what did kenny say?

CyberPunk

10mo

F*** Kendrick for being part of the black antisemitic cult aka Black Hebrew Israelite and f*** Kanye for being a Nazi

MyLeftBrain

10mo

I could see Drake coming back and slamming Kanye to atoms, like when you arrive at prison and you beat down the weakest convict to assemble dominance

Chuckys Revenge

10mo

I could see Drake dying in prison once they find out how many daughters he snatched.

CyberPunk

10mo

I am PROUD ZIONIST

orobi

10mo

Translation: yo dot i gotchu