The day that Hip Hop stood Still

“Wtf just happened?” – Everyone

May 3, 2024

A day that would live in infamy.

This was the day that the greatest beef in hip hop history reached its apex and if you weren’t plugged in to the discord, you missed one of the most legendary nights of dialogue and reactions that was ever witnessed. Let’s provide a brief recap to go along with this recap. Days prior, Kendrick Lamar released his song, “Euphoria”, a 6-minute evisceration that was made in response to two of Drake’s diss tracks that were released earlier in April. Rumors were swirling that something was going to happen on Friday. Surely, Drake must respond to Euphoria. If I was called a bad bitch and was told that I wasn’t black enough, I would be in the booth immediately. Everyone was waiting with bated breath as to what Drake was going to respond with.

Friday Morning:

What we woke up to was a track. A timestamp track. But not from the timestamp rapper. The first timestamp track was provided to us by Kendrick called “6:16 in LA”. The track was mesmerizing with its usage of an Al Green sample as Kendrick utilizes Drake’s patented flow (that he got from Big Sean originally) to mimic how Drake would rap before He proceeded into a prayer. That part reminded me of that Key & Peele skit with the Ultimate Fighting Match preview. We have one fighter who was the cocky, flashy dude who was bragging about how he was going to knock his opponent out. But then you get to his opponent and this man is talking about how God chose him to fight and how when dude’s family will be gathered around to see him paralyzed from the neck down, then they’ll be able to see the New him. Whenever someone starts praying before they get into some shit, gone head and bow out. They’re out here putting their prayer for forgiveness on pre-order. You can’t go to war with that type of person.

Once we got to the final part with Kendrick detailing how Drake’s entourage was out to get him, the listeners were left puzzled. Who’s the mole? What’s Kendrick talking about? What the hell is with this glove as the cover art? Either way, we were left with waaaay more questions than answers. Starting my day with that only had me excited for more bars. Not since Jay Z and Nas, have I been this excited for a battle and to see it build from its inception with the Control verse and witnessing how that impacted the game then and now bearing witness to a cold war gone hot. It’s every hip hop heads dream.

Friday Afternoon:

The internet was buzzing regarding when we would be getting a response from Drake. Kendrick just went back-to-back on the back-to-back originator, so you had his fanbase demanding a response. Rumors started coming out from reputable sources saying that he would be dropping that night. My thoughts were that he isn’t the type of MC to really compete with Kendrick bar for bar so he will attempt to dirty this up. Which leads to…

Friday Night:

I was seeing a play that my friend was in. I was excited to see him doing what he loved, but I was also keeping tabs on the diss tracks. I caught wind that streamers were being told to stay on stream and that something was dropping tonight. When the play went to intermission, that’s when Family Matters dropped. I was like, “Oh shit. Let’s see what Drake has to say” and honestly, it wasn’t bad….it just wasn’t good. There were some funny quotable bars ” Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now” or “the back against the curb” bar, but it not only wasn’t enough, but it was also, for lack of a better term, gossip-y and unfocused. He spent way too much time dissing folks that had long bowed out of the battle and not enough time focusing on the person that he was currently battling with. The Dave Free bar was bad. The constant shots at Kendrick’s fiancée’ were weird because he’s not battling Kendrick’s fiancée’, he’s supposed to be battling Kendrick. The cultural miscues that he continued to do like how he started the song and the slaves bar. It was a showcase on how to fumble a response in favor of shock value. He wasn’t concerned with winning via bars. He was concerned with giving streamers some talking points to grab onto. It was like someone telling a mid ass joke and then ooooooooooo-ing their own jokes. Filthy work. Everyone was talking about the song and the play’s intermission was over and we had 30 minutes to go. Surely, nothing else will happen tonight, right?

30 minutes later:

The play was over, and congratulations were in order. My friend did his thing and the whole play was dope af. I check my phone and then I get a notification. I checked it and the two words that are now etched in hip hop history came to my, and everyone’s mind: Kendrick dropped:

It. Was. Fucking. Pandemonium.

This has to me a joke. Ain’t no fucking way. Are you sure that they’re referring to the song that he dropped this morning? He already dropped and he dropped AGAIN? Social media was in shambles. Streamers were in disarray. I was fanboying in the goddamn car while my wife was chopping it up with my friend and his girl after the show. I had to listen to this damn song immediately. I turned it on, and the first two words told me all I needed to know about what I had just gotten myself into:

Dear Adonis.

Oh. So, we’re just going scorched earth, I see. 6 minutes of the most visceral, methodical, nefarious, diabolical (in the actual sense of the word, not how folks are just flippantly utilizing it to describe damn near everything) diss that has ever been recorded. I was floored with the only question floating in my mind being, “Wtf am I listening to?” Followed by, “I’m not having fun anymore”. As soon as the song was over, I got out of the car, told my friend to meet us at this taco spot and told him to listen to the song. When we met again, we were equally shocked and disturbed and discussed the details with other customers. All of us were equally enthralled in the content and wanted to know what’s going to come. Will Kendrick drop again? What’s Drake going to do? Where do we go from here?

That entire day was a legendary moment that will be spoken about for decades in hip hop history. The reactions, the music, the excitement, the drama, the bars. Everything that we loved, and some things that we dislike, was on full display that day. Old fans reinvigorated. New fans drawn in. The beef of the century. It was a truly unifying moment. No matter what side you were on…

Hip Hop won that night.

TCI