Ice Cube knows a thing to two about rap beef and shared some prophetic words last month ahead of the current tense feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The 54-year-old rapper explained the ramifications of two lyricists going at it and why he ultimately doesn’t like to see it happen.
“Beefs are volatile. You always have to be careful that a beef doesn’t turn into a murder,” he told Canada’s E-Talk. “Back in the day, you’d do a diss record, but it would stay somewhat in the Hip-Hop community. Now, it’s all over the world. All walks of life know what’s going on. And some people can’t really take that kind of humiliation. I don’t really like seeing rappers beef.”
The Los Angeles rapper believed that beef isn’t required to determine if someone is a star but he understands why they take place. “I don’t think it’s necessary to have a great career,” he said. “But it happens! Hey, it’s part of the game and I think when you in a beef, you can’t really hold back. It’s like being in a fight — you can’t really half-punch; you gotta go all the way.”
Ice Cube famously went head-to-head with his former N.W.A. crew and delivered one of the most memorable diss tracks in “No Vaseline.” However, he recognized the tension it caused in his career, community, and beyond. He is not alone in this thinking as Questlove recently shared his thoughts on the current beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
“Nobody won the war,” he wrote on Instagram this week. “This wasn’t about skill. This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary — women & children (& actual facts) be damned. Same audience wanting blood will soon put up ‘rip’ posts like they weren’t part of the problem. Hip-Hop truly is dead.”
Both veterans’ comments are heightened by the recent shootings that took place at Drake’s Toronto home and The Weeknd’s manager Cash XO’s Los Angeles residence. In both instances, security guards suffered gunshot wounds and were rushed to the hospital. And while there is no confirmation that these occurrences are tied to Drizzy and K. Dot’s recent feud, many people believe that the timing makes it difficult not to find a connection.
Before the unfortunate shootings, fans were entertained by the quality and quantity of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s releases. The Compton, Calif. rapper shared “Euphoria” on Tuesday afternoon (April 30) and doubled down with “6:16 In LA” on Friday morning (May 3). Drizzy responded with “Family Matters” and a parody of K. Dot’s verse on the “Buried Alive Interlude” later that evening.
However, Lamar immediately halted his momentum by releasing “Meet The Grahams” a little over a half hour later. He doubled down again with “Not Like Us” the following evening (May 4), which prompted the For All The Dogs artist to release “The Heart Part 6” on Sunday evening (May 5). That is the last release fans received, and it is unclear whether the battle is truly over or not.
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