Deen is sick of cleaning up your messes.
I was really hoping to never, ever, ever, never, ever write about this ridiculous pseudo-beef between Canada’s most meme-ish and Philadelphia’s most honest, but here we go. Again. On our own. Going down a much shittier road than we’ve ever known. Despite my best efforts to remain under a rock, I found myself privy to Drake and Meek’s current round of shenanigans last weekend. While my initial reaction to it all was exasperation, I realize that you people need me to tell you what to think since most of you are clearly too stupid to make PROPER sense of it all. You’re welcome.
So your fave relaunched his Views from the 6 campaign with what we used to call the ‘street’ single and he decided to pick on a bunch of easy targets to burnish a reputation that doesn’t really need burnishing in that particular fashion anymore. I suppose I’m just a different kind of nigga but listening to THIS nigga speak greasy on a track doesn’t quite work for me. I know we don’t care who did or does what anymore before they rap about it but imagining this kinda roadboy chest-puffing next to the passive aggressive whining on a genuinely fun song like “Hotline Bling” gives me hella cognitive dissonance. It’s also the reason why the biggest rapper in the game right now is about to drop his 4th or 5th project without a single classic in the bunch.
Then there’s the “looking for revenge” part that I’ll allow someone smarter than me to explain in some other piece someday. This pseudo nigga ouchea talmbout “tell Obama…,” and alluding to trolling Meek Mill by playing his diss record at loud volume while they were in the same hotel, and taking barely veiled shots at folks tryna come up in the Toronto scene (Tory Lanez, I presume). I guess people find that interesting. Especially when you combine it with him claiming he would have done what he did to Meek to anyone—which is really hilarious when you think of the numerous times Kendrick and Pusha T have tested his chin in the last three years, but let’s just ignore all that and focus on how large Drake’s pool is. If having bigger stuff than Kanye is the new stunt move then I can’t help wondering how long we have to wait before he brags about how much more sensitive his prostate is compared to Kanye’s.
Despite my seeming disapproval of Drake’s latest conceit, it has really only moved left at the moment. It’s what I would do if I was in his shoes. Going full on villain is the right move right now. The problem is that he’ll never turn full heel into the guy he thinks he is now. The guy he was before Nas and Beyonce civilized him, and that’s why his albums will continue not being Kendricky enough.
Meanwhile, Meek Mill is making the best music of his career right now but since he’s still the Internet’s sad clown, no one is actually listening to his stuff. The two EPs he’s dropped in the last month or two are on some turning shit to sugar shit. He’s still the same frantic and somewhat limited MC we’ve always known but he’s clearly on that Philly/Rocky shit because he’s not letting anything go. And by “anything” I mean his career, this now silly beef or his woman (who just happens to be the real prize here—don’t forget that). While Drake was launching his campaign on OVO Radio, Meek simultaneously dropped a Drake response/diss on his 4/4 Part 2 EP in the form of “War Pain (feat. Omelly).”
You can call me biased and it certainly took him way too long to go this hard at Drake but it’s a formidable retort. He sets the scene (and seemingly confirms that Drake actually trolled him in Toronto) and proceeds to reiterate that he only spoke the truth about Drake and his ghostwriters and calls you Internet niggas dickriders for all your meme-ing. He also points out his long-confirmed street bonafides, Drake’s fandom during their initial meeting, Drake’s hatred of new Toronto artists, and insinuates that his crew (or someone else) robbed Drake in Toronto. In addition, the timeliness of Meek’s response also suggests that he was aware of what Drake would say on “Summer Sixteen before it was released. A subsequent Instagram post had Meek doing his best Cheshire Cat grin along with the caption “The ghost writer told me!”. I know y’all ain’t listening like that no more but that’s all pretty solid to me. But I’m a darkskin nigga, so there’s that. There’s also the small matter of Future being a guest on this EP, but I’ll leave that as is. Meek definitely won’t score any knockouts with this effort simply because Drake is too big to fail at this point, and Meek’s not the most likable muthafucka alive, but he’s definitely earned my attention moving forward.
Ultimately, I get the sense that Drake doesn’t even want to rap anymore. He just does this shit because it’s the closest thing to acting without actually being able to become the next Will Smith. The guy was an actor first and I’m sure he’d love to pursue that Hollywood money and talk down on rap niggas but the sad truth is that Hollywood doesn’t really have room for him in his current incarnation. Put yourselves in a casting director’s shoes and think of what kinda roles you’d cast Drake in right now. Spoiler alert: the best you can do is the leading man’s best friend in a romantic comedy. Drake knows it too and that’s why he’s packing pounds on and acting like a bully so he can get a cameo in the next Expendables movie or some shit. I hope him and Meek keep shooting at each other forever while Kendrick and Pusha T keep laughing from a safe distance.
Man, I’m tired of this stupid shit. Fuck rap. I’m tryna listen to Whitesnake.
