And there’s this sense, true or not, that Kendrick noticed the entire area and moved accordingly.
CARAMANICA It’s not merely that he did that, it’s that nobody anticipated him, the one rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize, to do this. Individuals didn’t assume Kendrick was a gamer on this method. He could be like, “I’m the very best rapper,” however “I’ve been accumulating grime on you for weeks and weeks and weeks, probably months, probably years, with the intention to completely ether you in your personal home”? That’s totally different. Nobody anticipated that of Kendrick. So he will get an incredible quantity of credit score for the chasm between what individuals thought he would do and what he truly did.
COSCARELLI Whereas Drake mainly lived as much as precisely what you anticipated.
CARAMANICA Drake did Drake. And if something, Kendrick additionally did Drake.
COSCARELLI He went back-to-back after “Euphoria,” releasing “6:16 in LA” earlier than Drake may reply. He additionally made hits, which we’ll get to.
CARAMANICA I’ll say, this beef was enjoyable till it wasn’t enjoyable. One among two issues is true about Drake’s “Household Issues”: Both what he’s saying is correct, and he’s simply executed irreparable harm to a person’s fame and his household, or Drake is mendacity and speaking about abuse in such an off-the-cuff method in order to attenuate the precise dialog round abuse.
This beef began with “I’m the very best rapper.” It’s Kendrick saying, “It’s not the Large Three, it’s simply massive me.” And along with his responses, Kendrick is saying, basically: “I’m the very best rapper, and I’m utilizing these abilities to not say that you just’re the worst rapper, however that you just’re the worst individual. Not solely can I beat you with bars, however I can use these bars to beat you with condescension, disgust and distaste.”
COSCARELLI Regardless of my complaints about Kendrick’s “Meet the Grahams” as a tune — the theatricality of the artistic writing train, the condescension and the faux-enlightenment — that’s completely trumped by it as a strategic transfer. This tune, launched lower than half-hour after Drake’s “Household Issues” on Friday, is why Kendrick Lamar gained. That is the knockout.