Just checking, Toronto: do we understand that the “they” Kendrick Lamar is referring to in the chorus of “Not Like Us” includes you and me? Look, I get it: we鈥檙e all tired of the hip hop feud 鈥 the biggest since Tupac vs. Biggie 鈥 that exploded into the mainstream in May, with Lamar and Drake trading diss tracks until Lamar delivered a knockout punch with the chart-topping, culture-dominating 鈥淣ot Like Us.鈥
No doubt, Drake would love nothing more than to move on and drink passion fruit tequila out of a fishbowl by the lake for the rest of the summer. But damn it, Lamar dropped the music video on the 4th of July, he turned DeMar DeRozan against us, Team USA is playing the track to troll Team Canada heading into the Olympics, and we鈥檙e all just sitting around screaming along to, “Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, dot f 鈥 k them up.” It鈥檚 a bit peculiar. Why aren’t we angrier? Why haven’t more 海角社区官网artists responded? Why have we, as a city, not collectively mounted a more spirited defence of the 6 God, given all that Drake has done for us?鈥
We can be expected to ignore some of the taunts.聽Making fun of Drake鈥檚 faux patois accent and choice of slang is fine and dandy 鈥 we can see how he might sound a bit silly to an outsider. But, in the last verse of “Not Like Us,” Lamar takes it a few steps further.
You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars
No, you not a colleague, you a f——-’ colonizer
The family matter, and the truth of the matter
It was God’s plan to show y’all the liar
With “Not Like Us,” Lamar suggests that Drake, as a Canadian and a former child TV star, will never be truly “of the culture.”聽Lamar accuses Drake of appropriating Black southern culture by playing up his ties to Atlanta and his proximity to rappers from the region.聽By invoking Atlanta 鈥 arguably, the most important city outside of 海角社区官网to Drake鈥檚 career 鈥 Lamar does more than paint Drake as an impostor (a familiar insult). He weaponizes the southern city鈥檚 civil rights history to call Drake a 鈥渃olonizer鈥 while simultaneously delegitimatizing Toronto鈥檚 place in pop culture.聽
The song is definitely less fun when you think about it that way.
In an attempt to understand Toronto鈥檚 muted response to the feud, the Star reached out to an all-star lineup of local hip-hop pioneers, cultural critics, community builders and artists.
Why haven’t more 海角社区官网artists defended Drake?聽
Tinesha Richards, the former director of music festival Manifesto and the founder of marketing firm 925 Agency, intimately understands Toronto’s hip-hop scene and its artists. She said that coming to Drake’s defence right now is more risk than reward.
“In the court of public opinion, had Drake won (the feud), I think we鈥檇 see a bunch of people rally behind him,鈥 said Richards. 鈥淏ut because people feel as though this is an 鈥楲鈥 for him, it’s like, Do I take the risk of putting my neck out for this person that doesn’t really affect my life in any way, shape or form?”
鈥淚 don’t think it’s even a Drake-specific thing. If anyone were to lose the way that (Drake did), I don’t think anyone would really back them. Right now, it’s just better to be silent.”
- Emilie Hanskamp Special to the Star
Elamin Abdelmahmoud, a writer and host of the CBC podcast Commotion, pointed out that Drake hasn鈥檛 tried to enlist Toronto’s help in this fight.
“Kendrick made it about the city. Drake made it about himself,” said Abdelmahmoud.
“When we think about the songs that Drake put out (during the feud), the best of which is probably ‘Family Matters,’ I’m not entirely convinced that he made it a 海角社区官网problem.”聽
Kendrick Lamar takes a swing at聽pi帽ata that looks an awful lot like the logo for Drake’s fashion brand OVO.聽
YouTube“Drake is out here rapping about heading to Delilah with all of his ice on 鈥 Delilah is in L.A.,鈥 said Abdelmahmoud, referring to Drake鈥檚 guest verse on Snowd4y鈥檚 鈥淲ah Gwan Delilah.鈥 鈥淒rake isn鈥檛 trying to fight this on behalf of Toronto. He’s trying to fight this to prove that he belongs everywhere he goes.”聽
Why isn鈥檛 海角社区官网angrier on Drake鈥檚 behalf?
David “Click” Cox said that Americans will never understand the connection that Drake, as a Torontonian, has to other cultures.聽
“I laugh and flip it around and say, they’re not like us either,” said Cox, a former A&R for Universal Music Group Canada, a teacher at the Remix Project and member of the 鈥90s hip-hop group the Maximum Definitive.聽
”(Americans) don’t really embrace other cultures the way I feel 海角社区官网does, and I think that鈥檚 reflected in Drake’s style. Living in Toronto, we have way more cultures collide here, and there is way more appreciation 鈥 we鈥檙e connected to Caribana every year, we鈥檙e connected to Little India, Greek Town. These things bring us together to celebrate instead of separating us.”
Drake attends Limp Bizkit concert in Toronto, Canada, gets booed at a Limp Bizkit show in Toronto, Canada; Fred left confused, perplexed by the show of vitriol (2024)
鈥 crazy ass moments in nu metal history (@numetal_moment)
“There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other cultures and embracing that 鈥 they鈥檙e flipping it on him in a negative way. But 海角社区官网is not trying to be like L.A.; 海角社区官网is Toronto.”聽
Dan-e-o, a solo artist and the founding member of 鈥90s hip-hop group Monolith, told the Star he thinks Americans fundamentally misunderstand Toronto’s hip-hop scene. “海角社区官网is a multicultural and diverse city 鈥 it stands to reason that our music landscape is also multicultural and diverse.”
Dan-e-o, however, resisted the idea that the 鈥渢hey鈥 in 鈥淣ot Like Us鈥 applies to him or other artists in the city 鈥渄oing real dope hip-hop.鈥 “I live and breathe hip-hop and have done so since I was 10. So not Kendrick or anyone else on earth could say they are referring to me.” Dan-e-o added that, while he 鈥渘othing but respect鈥 for Drake and his catalogue, 鈥淚f Drake is your barometer for hip-hop in Canada, and you think they’re not like us, then you’re focused on the wrong dude.”
Where do Drake and聽海角社区官网go from here?聽
聽鈥淭he quickest way to make all of this go away, is a hit,鈥 said Abdelmahmoud.聽鈥淚t won鈥檛 be hard for Drake to get back into the people鈥檚 good graces. What he needs is another 鈥楪od鈥檚 Plan.鈥 The moment he delivers a song of that magnitude, he goes back to his winning ways.鈥
Dan-e-o agreed, laughing. 鈥淗e just has to keep going. Dude is winning 鈥 he has found a formula that the rest of us have not. He鈥檚 newsworthy even when he is not creating news.鈥
Richards said that Toronto鈥檚 cultural cachet as a global music incubator is safe, and that Drake can rest easy knowing he has opened doors for 海角社区官网artists outside of Canada.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really up to the next generation of artists,鈥 said Richards.聽“The next Daniel Caesar, the next Charlotte Day Wilson 鈥 how do we bring those artists together so we grow?”
Cox is optimistic about the future of Toronto鈥檚 music scene and our next generation of artists. “I鈥檝e met artists who have moved to the city for music 鈥 that friggin鈥 blows my mind. People are moving to the city because the imprint that we’ve made around the world is so impactful that they feel like 海角社区官网is the space for them. There is fire under the belly now.”聽
“We don’t need to compare ourselves to L.A,鈥 said Cox. 鈥淭heir impact on culture is older, it’s bigger and it’s deeper. We’re still a little bit of a baby. We still only have one OVO.”聽
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