top of page

Drake vs K-Dot


Written by Thawed Media


Hip Hop, the Culture, was built on competition. From DJ's wanting to have the best parties over other DJ's, to Break Dancers going head to head on cardboards. Literally. It's many that want to see that competition die off. Some even fearing that these Artists have no control over their emotions. That the words in the lyrics will eventually bring death. They're not that far off, as some battles in the past years have spiraled out of control. But was that Rap or the participants?? We all know how Biggie and Pac tragically died. Yet, Pac wasn't killed over lyrics. Not after what happened in Vegas. And the activity from chains, to stomping. It was more. Yet, it could have been more issues with that Battle, since it tried to pit WHOLE Coasts, East Coast vs West Coast, against each other. And considering how many Young Artists recently have died or some of the instances that their rapping got to be "too real", even as many of it was manufactured, many were concerned?


It wasn't that long ago, that one of the biggest events to help kick off the Culture's growth, was Kool Moe Dee vs Busy Bee Starski. Back in December of 1981, Kool Moe Dee changed the trajectory of Hip Hop. Busy Bee was the MC focused on rocking the crowd. Crowd participation was what crowned an MC then. They mostly rocked the parties and kept the crowd involved. Yet, Kool Mee Dee was more intricate, and a thinker who carved out clever lyrics. Even today, that's not the best way to get a party started. Not when the crowd is more focused on shaking n grooving to the beat. Yet, Kool Moe Dee took on and took down Busy Bee and they are great friends til this day, almost 43 years later.

There were more battles to come that gained many, far and wide, attention. But that one, set it off and many times, it was that same formula. Crafty Party MC that has so many diehard fans vs thoughtful, intricate uber rhyming MC.


Sound Familiar?

Well, fast forward to present day. After a few battles that took bad turns, and Hip Hop seemingly on life support, only thing is moving is Songs that you can dance to on tik tok. We now have a battle that will go down in Hip Hop History. Will it change the trajectory of Hip Hop like that Historic, Busy Bee Starski vs Kool Moe Dee battle? That's yet to be seen, but some songs recently released have been bar heavy, or at least underground because not many dropped during the Kendrick Lamar vs Drake WEEK.

It was a week, where many of their fans stated they didn't sleep much. Bloggers and Video Reactors continued to put out plenty of content. Did anyone else besides K-Dot and Drake put out any music during that week?? And to believe, it all started with “Motherf-ck the big three, it’s just big me.” Now, I say it began there but it had been brewing for years. It's many articles on that background. But We'll begin at "First Person Shooter" where it seemed like it wasn't much there, as far as beefin'. Yet, underlying was J. Cole referring to the Big 3 but even more so, where J-Cole says he feels like is the Muhammed Ali. Of course, mentioning K Dot and Drake, with yourself as the Big 3 but subtly saying you're Muhammed Ali?? Thats the Greatest, right? Well, that was the start of a battle to remember.

"Love when they argue the hardest MC/ Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?

/We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali/ Huh, yeah, yeah, huh-huh, yeah, Muhammad Ali..." So, now that we're caught up, we wont even discuss J. Cole dropping a diss track called 7 Minute Drill towards K-Dot and his verse on "Like that". Where, uhh Drill? Nahhh we won't do it. It's enough out there already on that. So, now we are at where J. Cole has stepped far away from the situation, but the fire is lit. As Drake drops not long after. 7 days after J. Cole removed his diss track off streaming services. April 19th Drake drops "Push Ups" and it was a bomb that surely let K-Dot know, he was awoke and ready. Drake hit him with his signature party rockin sound but the lyrics were definitely battle ready.

It didn't take much longer as K-Dot rose up wit the scorcher "Euphoria". And we now had a full fledged Rap Battle that had the makings of something epic. With the internet era, it doesn't seem the same as when it was harder to get a hold of the music. In that time, you prolly were a die-hard Hip Hop'er or even a serious listener, to get a hold of the dis tracks. They weren't as accessible as just clicking on a site like Youtube. Or going on Twitter n catching Artists in a Meme battle. Yea, that one is still wild to me Ha.. Let us move on... K-Dot wasn't done either after Euphoria, as he dropped 6:16 in LA soon after. It had a lot of underlying themes and meanings and will probably have to be broken down more lyrically, than most of the other battle songs in this battle, as it was at the bottom half of what K-Dot released.


After Drake had to remove his second attempt, "Taylor Made", it wasn't looking good for Drake. How would he respond? He came wit a solid song in "Push Ups", that had gained momentum and quite enough that Taylor Made, as bad as it was, couldn't stop Drake. He was ready for battle. But here K- Dot was, going for the jugular and with a lot of accusations, that you could tell where setting up songs for the future. Drake, dropped "Family Matters" and if there was any doubt beforehand, it wasn't after. Drake was ready for any smoke. This began to look like the beginning of a never ending marathon instead of a sprint. We won't even discuss all the memes, tweets, posts etc as the algorithms may have even wanted a lil break as these MCs were dropping quicker and quicker.

Hip Hop had taken front and center again. Even tho many outside of Hip Hop didn't want the battle or inherit mud slangin'. Which is a big difference also from so many years past, where Battle Rapping was in Hip Hop's DNA, and the Mainstream had no say. Now, Hip Hop is Mainstream and right now, two oif the Biggest Artists in the WORLD were going at it. That is one of the biggest reasons, you will rarely see these epic battles as much or often. You'll just have to go watch more Battle Rap leagues.

Drake hit Kendrick hard wit "Family Matters" but, Kendrick responded so fast, within an hour or less, it took a lot of the sting away, wit "Meet the Grahams". And that was in the same form of going at Family, and it just seemed like K-Dot was steering the car in the battle. Drake had thrown haymakers and took them but it just seemed that it was becoming draining for Drake. Finally, "Not like Us" hit Drake in his arena, party music.

It seemed over!! and it was, even as Drake came wit a somber "“The Heart Part 6”!! Drake kept it creative wit a touch of disrespect as the cover shows Dave Free and his comment. Yet, even wit the track, disses and seemingly low energy after just being hit wit "Not like Us", and you can even include Metro Bommin's "BBL Drizzy instrumental, that it seemed like this was the last one. As Drake tweeted In a post to X, he wrote, “And we know you’re dropping [six] minutes after, so instead of posting my address, you have a lot to address.”

So, who do you think won?? We think, the Culture won. That fans whad great music dropping almost daily. A week of so much activity, fun takes, video reactions, viral posts, viral tweets, and viral tik tok dances as well as clubs rockin nightly. For a week atleast, it felt like the mid 90's!! Salute to Drake and Kendrick Lamar and even tho, we can never know if someone drops spontaneously at some point in time, that for right now, you can all enjoy the music and moments and keep it respectful!!

Boom Cover sample.jpg
bottom of page