When I first heard that Drake was firing shots at Kanye, I didn’t care.
That’s the problem with yacht rap: It’s too comfortable for a real beef. Back in the day, rap beef was something entertaining. Who can forget when Cam’ron called 50 Cent “a gorilla with rabbit teeth” (below, rabbit teeth at around the 18 second mark)?
Or when Jay-Z went went all Costanza on Nas and pointed out “Yeah? Well I had sex with your wife!” Those were rap beefs for the ages, the kind that made the ground shake, and the Hot 97 phone line stay busy.
But that was the mid aughties. These days, Jay-Z makes songs with that guy from Coldplay, Roc-A-Fella is no more, and Kanye West is making those blokes from Oasis look like they have their egos in check. Yacht rap is the movement.
Jay and Kanye’s new album “Watch the Throne” is droppng soon (leaked track listing at passionweiss), and Drake is heated. On Lil Wayne’s “I’m On One” he rapped “I’m just feeling like the throne is for the taking, watch me take it.” And on his own “Dreams Money Can Buy,” he said, “Never seen the car you claim to drive…. Shit I seen it, you just ain’t inside.”(Thanks to Tablet for the quotes). Back in my day, these would barely register as disses but I guess the game’s gotten more polite. Still, it could escalate, maybe.
Whatever happens, us Jews at New Voices have to side with our brother Drake in this possible beef. I don’t like the album cover to “Watch the Throne,” I don’t like anything Jay’s done in years, and Kanye, like Ice Cube said about Dre, should “stick to producin’“. Drake, if you’re reading this, New Voices has your back. Sorry we never got back to you about the interview. Hit us up for a feature.
