When it comes to hip-hop beef, I prefer mine without misogyny and violence.
Ladies first: Texas-born Megan Thee Stallion (whose given name is Megan Pete) has been in the spotlight in recent years not only for her explosive rise to the top of the music industry but also for being a victim of male violence. In 2020, rapper Tory Lanez shot Megan in the foot. Despite being called a liar and dragged by men in the rap and podcast industries, Megan kept speaking out; Lanez was finally sentenced to 10 years in prison last year. Megan released a diss track called “Hiss” that referenced Megan’s Law, a dig at Minaj’s husband, who had been convicted of attempted rape and failure to register as a sex offender. Minaj released a track called “Big Foot,” taking shots at Megan, including saying that she was lying about her dead mother and her gunshot wounds. “Like a bodybuilder, I keep raising the bar / F--- you get shot with no scar?” runs one line.
But the vitriol wasn’t contained to just the airwaves. Minaj’s online fans, known as “Barbz,” allegedly started taking matters into their own hands. Houston police had to increase security for Megan’s mother’s gravesite after Minaj’s fans allegedly doxed the location of the cemetery and encouraged others to vandalize the grave.
Now for the men: The current iteration of the Lamar-Drake battle has centered on accusations of pedophilia and domestic violence against women — and around Drake’s authenticity as a Black artist. In his track “Not Like Us,” Lamar raps, “You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars / No, you not a colleague, you a f----- colonizer,” and “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor,” hinting at Drake’s supposed preference for underage girls. Drake struck back, accusing Lamar of domestic violence.
As Boima Tucker writes in the blog Africa Is a Country: “On the face of it, the charges that Kendrick has laid against Drake are clear: He is firstly, a vampiric cultural appropriator; secondly, a sexual predator with a penchant for underage black women; third, a feminine, biracial man, a wannabe who likes to pose as tough masculine black man; and, fourth, an insecure, plastic surgery addicted, body self-mutilator.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning Lamar then gets to be the dark-skinned masculine gatekeeper not only of hip-hop but also of Blackness — against Drake, the light-skinned infiltrator.
But it is easier to go after Drake than the actual White gatekeepers of the recording industry. Drake is well past his heyday and has been the butt of jokes and memes for a while now. In recent years, his music has become more misogynistic — he has gone after Rihanna, Megan after her shooting and other prominent Black women.
I’d argue that rapper Macklemore, who is White and released “Hind’s Hall,” a song supporting anti-genocide student protests, has done way more this year to challenge power, and industry gatekeepers, by releasing art in resistance to Israel’s war in Gaza, which has largely been killing women and children.
But little artistic energy has gone into having an actual #MeToo movement in rap and hip-hop to protect women and minors. Even from the women. None of these rappers are coming hard for, say, hip-hop mogul Diddy, who has been accused by numerous people of rape, sexual assault and human trafficking. Chris Brown, Trey Songz and other artists still continue to go unchecked by their male peers despite having proven records of domestic violence and assault.
And maybe all this is why these 2024 rap beefs and the discourse around them feel so hollow and regressive.
Comparing the women’s rap beef with the men’s, the stage is not equal. The exchange between Drake and Lamar has been treated as a once-in-a-generation rap feud, up there with Tupac and Biggie or Nas and Jay-Z. Their songs have been generating clicks, think-pieces and spots on the Billboard charts. Meanwhile, female rappers who engage in battles are called petty and urged to stop.
As in the Minaj-Megan war, real-world violence has been reported in the Drake-Lamar beef. A security guard outside Drake’s home was shot several days ago in a drive-by attack. We know from Tupac’s and Biggie’s deaths that rap beef can kill. Now that Drake’s security guard has been shot, are we going to hear pleas for rap beef peace? I doubt it.
Because at the end of the day, fighting to the death to protect Black men’s honor is what sells most in hip-hop, even if you’re a woman. In Minaj’s case, this meant retaliating hard after Megan came for her husband’s criminal record. And, in real life, Minaj has been accused of pressuring her husband’s victim not to press charges. For Drake and Lamar, digs about domestic violence and pedophilia are convenient weapons for one-upping one another — little of this is out of concern for women and minors.
Of course, fans will say it’s just enjoyable music to escape from life’s realities. But when art imitates real-life misogyny and violence without offering remedies, today’s rap beefs feel quite undercooked.
