Big Daddy Kane has seen his fair share of rap battles in his day, so naturally he had some thoughts on the main event currently happening between rap heavyweights Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The rap legend sat down with The Art of Dialogue podcast and was asked about the beef when he revealed the discourse has turned him off
“I was trying to keep up with the Kendrick and Drake thing but I kinda lost interest,” he shared. “It just wasn’t exciting to me — not because of them two, but because of the fanbase. The fanbase just made it to where, I’m good.”
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“It’s not a competitive thing about who spit the better bars,” he elaborated. “It’s a thing about fact-checking to see if this person told the truth. It’s like, if the line is dope and he dissed you, it’s dope. It’s that simple. … Why are we trying to critique and decipher what was said? It’s just a dope rhyme. Enjoy the music for what it is. It’s a battle, they goin’ at each other.”
Kane added, “In my days of battling people, I’ve said stuff about people that isn’t true, but it was funny as hell. You laughed and enjoyed it. If that’s the way the younger generation looks at battles, hey, that’s their thing then. I hope they’re enjoying it. It just wasn’t for me, man. Like I said, it’s not about Kendrick or Drake; it’s the fanbase, the listeners and their comments and their views. They make it unenjoyable for me.”
He did admit to liking Kendrick’s effort a little more, but also said Drake was eventually “sayin’ some s–t” before the fact-checkers turned him off. “Everyone wanna fact check and [say], ‘Somebody wrote that for him’ and this, that, and … you know what? Y’all can have it, I’m good. I’ll go back and listen to Kool Moe Dee and Busy Bee, y’all can have this s–t.”
When asked who he’s more of a fan of between Kendrick and Drake, the man they call King Asiatic Nobody’s Equal actually said he’s more of a J. Cole fan, giving the Carolina rapper very high praise. “I’m more of a J. Cole fan. I think he is probably the greatest lyricist of this era. He’s my personal favorite, you know, of all them cats.”
However, while he was disappointed about Cole’s apology, he understood why he might’ve chosen to bow out because of the times we’re living in. “Where I’m from? I’m from I said what I said, so if I said it, I meant it, and that’s that.” He continued, “But today is a different day, man. You live in a world where people get canceled for some of the dumbest s–t, so I can’t be upset with him for saying, ‘I take it back,’ because the world is different. The world is super sensitive and super emotional now. People are built different today.”
Check out the whole clip above and stop fact-checking rap battles.