Throughout history, rap battles amongst the top stars in hip hop has given fans some of the most iconic moments the genre has ever seen.
Healthy competition is something that hip hop, a competitive sport by nature, truly needs. It makes the genre more exciting, pushes artists to be better, and ultimately shows people what they can do on the mic when push comes to shove.
It’s safe to say that in recent years, then, hip hop and its devoted fans have been missing true competition.
With a Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle seemingly imminent, and with our generation of greats ever so slowly paving way for the next generation of artists to break through, two gods of the genre going toe to toe in the name of competition would be the perfect example to set.
Think back to the impact of Nas’s “Ether” towards Jay-Z, Tupac’s “Hit ‘Em Up” directed at The Notorious B.I.G., or more recently Pusha-T’s “The Story of Adidon” aimed at Drake.
Each moment single-handedly elevated the genre, and created incredibly memorable moments for fans along the way.
In recent years, hip hop has become extremely collaborative, maybe even more so than normal (which is a great thing), but within collaboration, there still needs to exist healthy competition in order for the genre to succeed and continue to be driven forward for future generations. It’s the only way.
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As we enter the early rounds of the inevitable Drake and Kendrick Lamar battle, we’ve already seen the effect that it’s had on the hip hop world. Drake’s diss track towards Lamar leaked over the weekend, and it’s honestly probably the best he’s rapped in years.
Drizzy’s opened himself up to constant critiques over the years with albums like Honestly, Nevermind and his latest, For All the Dogs, which were mixed at best, leaving fans dissatisfied. However, clearly he just needed to be challenged.
On the leaked diss track he barely wastes a bar, likening himself to the glory days of 50 Cent taking on the industry all at once, which is honestly what some people have wanted from Drake for so long.
Above all, though, despite question marks around how the track was released, most rap fans are in unison that Drake did exactly what was hoped he would in responding to Kendrick, igniting the fire to a feud that’s been brewing for over a decade.
The beauty of this battle is that there are little-to-no stakes, aside from respect and bragging rights, which is all it should be. We don’t want to see these battles spilling over outside the studio, we just want to see who’s truly the best on the mic, which is what hip hop has always been about.
Let’s make something extremely clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with collaboration within hip hop. But competition and collaboration can co-exist, and rap has been missing some of the former over the last decade or so.
We’ve seen the biggest rappers do songs together, and not try to out-rap each other, which has not only led to lazy pens, but also some mediocre music.
On a local level, we all want to see our favourite local artists not shy away from a challenge.
Think back to when two of the biggest Australian artists, 360 and Kerser went head-to-head back in 2011, which sprouted an undoubtedly iconic moment that continues to live on.
More recently, there have been constant feuds in Australian hip hop (think ONEFOUR and Ay Huncho for example) that did have real life implications but also provided entertainment for fans, and had people tuning in to what each side had to say next. While that’s an extreme example, it shows how much competitiveness fuels the genre, no matter where you are in the world.
Now is the perfect time for the two greatest hip hop artists of their generation to finally go head-to-head and prove who’s the best once and for all. Going forward, hopefully this battle reignites hip hops much-needed competitive edge, and re-sets the standard of how hip hop should be.
