After a nearly-year-long hiatus, we decided it was about time to hit you once again with some of that smart, stinging, sarcastic hip-hop commentary that all six of our readers love so much (we might even give you our last three picks from that Top 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums EVER MADE list if you’re lucky). However, we felt the need to come back with something strong, and the shocking news of Snoop Dogg being arrested for marijuana possession or the sun rising this morning just didn’t seem sufficient. Lucky for us, a lyrical double goose down pillow fight erupted between Common and Drake. Let’s get to it.
First of all, we would be remiss if we failed to mention the fact that this is conflict between a dude named Lonnie and a dude named Aubrey, so don’t expect this beef to spill into the streets anytime soon. Also, is it still “beef” if the initiating party is a vegetarian? Probably not. To be safe, let's say Common got this BOCA Burger popping with the single “Sweet” from his new album, The Dreamer/The Believer. There aren’t any shots at Drake in the actual verses (and in fact Drake is never mentioned by name) but during the breaks Com vents a bit. He makes a few strong points, such as noting that Drake is not muthafucking Frank Sinatra and therefore should not be singing all around him, la la la. However, we can’t get past our initial response of “where does this guy get off calling anyone sweet?” Did he think we'd forget about his Peace, Love, and Gap ad campaign? Or his romantic comedy with Queen Latifah? Or that he once rocked this?
Obviously, Drake is about as soft as rappers come, but Common hasn’t been anywhere near hard since Can I Borrow A Dollar? That’s some real pot-calling-the-kettle-black shit right there. Drake quasi-responded with a few subliminals of his own on “Stay Schemin” from Rick Ross’s Rich Forever mixtape, including the request that Common “speak up” and “don’t be duckin’ like you never wanted nothin’,” apparently calling Common out for initially dodging the questions of who the Sweet rants were directed at. Common obliged, quickly releasing a remix of the aforementioned track complete with his own verse leaving no question of who he was targeting: “make no mistake, I’m talking to Drake.”
Obviously, Drake is about as soft as rappers come, but Common hasn’t been anywhere near hard since Can I Borrow A Dollar? That’s some real pot-calling-the-kettle-black shit right there. Drake quasi-responded with a few subliminals of his own on “Stay Schemin” from Rick Ross’s Rich Forever mixtape, including the request that Common “speak up” and “don’t be duckin’ like you never wanted nothin’,” apparently calling Common out for initially dodging the questions of who the Sweet rants were directed at. Common obliged, quickly releasing a remix of the aforementioned track complete with his own verse leaving no question of who he was targeting: “make no mistake, I’m talking to Drake.”
At this point, the battle is still in its infancy, but so far it seems like Drake is winning. First of all, apparently the main source of Common’s ire is this video, which allegedly depicts the current beneficiary of his simping object of his affection, Serena Williams, booty popping in Drake’s condo. If that’s true and Common actually did all this over a woman, then he is starting off at -10 on the scoreboards. Also, Common’s “Stay Schemin” response was decent but not really anything to write home about. Yeah, he called Drake’s dad a bitch, but who cares, and yeah the “Canada Dry” line seemed clever at first, but it has gotten cornier with each listen. The most scathing line of the verse is actually Common reciting Drake’s own lyrics: “You gon’ mess around and make me catch a body like that, awwwww… Don’t do it” Those words sounded absolutely ridiculous coming out of Drake’s mouth, and Common did well to point that out. The Destiny’s Child sample at the end is also pretty ingenious, but that’s about it.
Drake, on the other hand, had a few real zingers. Notable are lines like “it bothers me when the Gods get to acting like the broads” and “back when if a n**** reached it was for a weapon/nowadays n****s reach just to sell they record” which, almost respectfully, point out the absurdity of this whole thing. Drake is a new artist and has pretty much resigned to making pop music. Conversely, Common is an established, respected, and almost forefather-like figure in hip-hop. Common shouldn’t really be concerned with Drake, but for some reason (whether Serena or to boost his sales) he is. Drake also scores a couple points with “I’m just hittin my pinnacle and you and pussy identical,” because, again, who is Common to be calling Drake soft? The best shot of Drake’s verse, however, is short and discreet and you might just miss it, but hot damn it’s a good one. Considering the reason for this beef may be an inappropriate relationship between Drake and Serena Williams, the words “shorty wanna tell me secrets about a rap n****” sends a warning shot to Common of you-know-who-did-you-know-what-to-you-know-who magnitude. If Drake chooses to respond, it will be interesting to see what comes out.
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