Morning Coffee 109: May 13th

Good morning. Currently sitting at the coffee shop with Rose: eggs, bacon, beignets, and coffee. Putting the finishing touches on the newsletter. This one’s much different than the usual topics. It’ll either be interesting to you, or completely pointless. Hip-Hop, and especially petty rap battling, won’t be for everyone. I followed every moment of it so you don’t have to. As always, I hope this letter finds you well.

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. Part One
3. Part Two
4. Part Three
5. Part Four
6. Commentary
7. Reactions
8. Conclusion

The Timeline of Kendrick v Drake

Photo source: The Ringer

Preface

A few weeks ago, a battle started between two of the biggest names in the music industry. Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Normally something like this drags out a lot longer than it did, but both artists were trading blows within days, and sometimes minutes.

It was fascinating to watch (or pointless if you’re not interested), and even though I have a bias towards Kendrick Lamar, I hope this delivers a comprehensive breakdown of the last few weeks.

Part One

• First Person Shooter: 11.15.23
• Like That: 03.31.24

The two big songs that created all of this. First Person Shooter is Drake and J. Cole basically saying they’re the two best out right now. We hadn’t heard from Kendrick in over a year, until he surprised us with the feature on Like That, which is a direct shot at Drake and J. Cole for the First Person Shooter song.

Part Two

• 7 Minute Drill: 04.05.24
• J. Cole’s Apology: 04.07.24
• Push Ups: 04.19.24
• Taylor Made Freestyle: 04.19.24 (later that night)

I batched these together because they’re the initial reactions to the Like That song. J. Cole responds, then regrets responding, and then Drake arrives with two songs, egging Kendrick on to respond.

Part Three

• Euphoria: 04.30.24
• 6.16 in LA: 05.03.24 (at 6:16 PT)
• Family Matters: 05.03.24 (at 11pm EST)
• Meet the Grahams: 05.03.24 (37 minutes later)

On Tuesday morning, Kendrick started the next chapter to all of this with Euphoria, and then 6.16 in LA a few days later (Friday morning). Drake followed up that night with Family Matters, but Kendrick instantly responded within minutes with Meet the Grahams. Where Family Matters was uptempo, Meet the Grahams was slow and eerie, on an Alchemist beat that sounded like something from a horror movie.

Part Four

• Not Like Us: 05.04.24
• The Heart Part 6: 05.05.24

The following day, Kendrick returned again with a completely different type of song. Not Like Us was the nail in the coffin in a lot of ways. The biggest reason is it’s currently the number one song in the world right now. It’s not every day that a diss record is also a hit record.

Drake followed up the next day with The Heart Part 6 that sounded like the end to this saga. He mentions that he’s done responding, and at times (in my opinion) even sounds exhausted.

Commentary

• Rap Life Review
• Joe Budden Podcast

These are two great discussions and breakdowns on everything that transpired. Rap Life gives a more calm discussion, where the Joe Budden Podcast was full of energy, yelling, and dancing.

Reactions

• Like That
• Push Ups
• Taylor Made Freestyle
• Euphoria
• Family Matters
• Meet the Grahams
• Not Like Us
• The Heart Part 6

When there’s a song that I really like, I usually also watch reactions of people’s first impressions. Someone was smart enough to make compilations of these reactions.

Conclusion

Battle rapping is something I’ve always enjoyed. It’s a sport. I wish this Kendrick v Drake battle would’ve been more about the music and less of a soap opera, but I think in 2024, this will always be the way it turns out. The internet feeds on this kind of gossip. Regardless though, it was entertaining.

I hope today’s newsletter gives you a simple but comprehensive breakdown of the situation. Feel free to share your thoughts with me about all of this.

Previously

1. A Home Arcade
2. An Obstacle Course
3. Delta Is Here
4. The Sequential Life
5. A Beam of Light

This is Morning Coffee: a weekly newsletter that arrives in your inbox every Monday morning. I write about productivity, technology, and cool things I find on the internet. Buy me a coffee to keep it going.