Michael Eric Dyson has commented on the ongoing Kendrick Lamar-Drake feud, and the noted professor has defended the Toronto rapper.
In an interview on “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on Sunday, May 19, Dyson explained his thoughts, which first appeared in his most recent article for The Philadelphia Citizen about his take on the epic rap duel.
According to the New York Times Best-Selling author Dyson, the focus should be on the rapper’s wordplay, and Drake shouldn’t be “dismissed” from the culture because he’s a native of Canada and half-Jewish.
“I’m pissed that Drake gets dismissed, off the scene, when he’s been Drake for 15 years and you act like you didn’t know that, [and] now he’s not really Black?” Dyson asked.
“Challenging his racial identity saying he’s a culture vulture when he’s a Black man-‘he’s from Canada he ain’t real’-Idris Elba is from the UK, people still love him on The Wire,” Dyson went on. “So why is it that being outside of our geography outside of our nationality raises suspicions about Drake?”
“So what he’s done to expand the horizon of hip-hop is underestimated, even artistically,” he continued. “We have to stop this narrow, punishing, pernicious, limited viewpoint about Blackness.”
While Dyson considers Kendrick one of the greatest MCs in the game, he argues that Drake is on par with his nemesis when judged by lyricism alone.
“Kendrick Lamar is a brilliant rapper and a formidable foe. But so is Drake. And what he’s done to expand the horizon of Hip Hop is underestimated, even artistically […],” Dyson said. We have to stop this narrow, punishing, pernicious, limited viewpoint about Blackness.”
Throughout the rap beef, Kendrick raised questions about Drake’s racial identity and how he allegedly exploited various sounds and styles of hip-hop culture for his own benefit. In “Euphoria,” Kendrick raps, “I even hate when you say the word “ni**a, ” but that’s just me, I guess/Some shit just cringeworthy, it ain’t even gotta be deep, I guess.”
On “Family Matters,” Drake starts with his mother, Sandra, who is white. She says, “Maybe in this song, you shouldn’t start by saying…” before Drake interjects and says, “Ni**a, I said it, I know that you’re mad.” He also accused Kendrick of “rapping like you’re trying to get the slaves free.”
K-Dot claimed on “Not Like Us,” which is currently the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, that the 6 God doubled down on his slave rhetoric and is not a colleague but a colonizer.
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