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Both rappers have weaponized feminism and demonised women in an effort to one-up each other.
It was the feud heard around the world.
By now, you’ll know that Drake and Kendrick Lamar are far from friendly. After years of alleged hostility, both singers have released searing diss tracks that seem to have united a divided world; we can’t help but micro-analyse every lyric.
But it’s not all popcorn and streams. Watching tensions unfold between two mega-stars might be the summer entertainment we’ve been waiting for, but despite heated debates over who’s come out on top, it’s clear there’s only one loser in this battle: women.
Rap music has never had a sparkling reputation when it comes to issues of gender. Many of the genre’s most famous faces have made their millions by mocking, criticising, and sexualising women.
The Drake and Kendrick feud has turned heads for its ostensible rejection of the misogyny synonymous with rap music.
Instead of calling out how many women the other has slept with, or targeting the female partners, family and friends of their rival, both rappers have been more concerned with how the other has mistreated and exploited women.
This has led to a series of vicious allegations including abuse and paedophilia. But what’s interesting is the response to these tactics – with some suggesting both rappers are somehow respecting women in the process.
In reality, this is far from the case. Both Drake and Kendrick are proving that rap has a long way to go in undoing the misogynistic attitudes that have shaped it for decades, because both artists are choosing to weaponize feminism as a means of berating the other.
The only ones caught in the crossfire of this exchange are the women themselves.
As Kyndall Cunningham wrote for Vox, both artists are presenting us with seriously weighty allegations, and the decision to drop them in a diss track seems both ‘clunky and insensitive’. Not least for the victims who are potentially involved.
‘Is this truly an exciting moment in hip-hop when it comes at the expense of women? Or are fans just enabling a disturbing status quo within the genre?’ Cunningham asked.
As supporters of both Drake and Kendrick argue over who is in the wrong, it’s hard to ignore the glaring hypocrisy of both men. Throughout their careers, each of them have demonstrated sexist attitudes in their music and supported abusers in the industry.
Attempting to expose each other’s mistreatment of women is only highlighting an ignorance to their own misogyny, as both use women as pawns in a highly publicised squabble.
