This battle is back to the top of my mind because of Cole’s recent release, so I appreciate this post so much more. I might have to cook something up, you’re inspiring me! @johnnoire
🙏🏾 it's a virtuous cycle because I linked your "Women's Business" piece when talking about the casualties of war / rap beef. Also, your "There's No Such Thing As A Nice Guy In Rap" post is so relevant now, it's crazy.
Cole dropped "Port Antonio" at the right time because it also got me thinking about the trajectory of his career and how this beef has forced him to carve his own path. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with 👍🏾
Thanks! Just finished reading your piece and it was such a great and fascinating analysis! There's so much to unpack but I think my main takeaway / comment would be that both hip-hop and rap beef seem to have had an inverse relationship with authenticity over the past few decades.
In terms of hip-hop, 'keeping it real' is, arguably, less important now than it was in the 20th century and the best example of that would be Rick Ross. Rap has always been similar to wrestling for me but if someone like him can still have a thriving career then authenticity can no longer be the main thing (as opposed to whether somebody sounds confident / convincing enough in their raps).
On the flipside, Pusha T has made having a factual bombshell a key part of rap beef and it's probably the reason why Kendrick and Drake's encounter went as toxic as it did. It's no longer enough to just clown on somebody and make them lose face but (like you said in your piece) you have to almost go into investigative journalism and destroy somebody's character in order to win. This is the reason why Cole backed out of the beef as the prior rules / parameters of engagement had changed. It's just a shame that he dipped his toe in it in the first place.
Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your work and looking forward to catching up on the rest of your catalogue soon 👍🏾
Interesting, I think the authenticity always had a performative element, the relationship was always elastic (the example the springs to mind was MC Hammer being affiliated despite being known for the Hammer time dance) but I do think Rick Ross is the most interesting case of performativity, though.
what I think has happened was that the very idea of “keeping it real” has been historically narrow, in the past you were either you were conscious or gangsta, which didn’t leave much wiggle room. sometimes you were both like Wutang or Outkast but those were the camps of keeping it real — they are deeply to do with hyper masculinity (you could argue LL Cool J had a branch of gangsta luv, where he kept it real by being a womaniser)
As time has progressed, those categories become more fluid and the pageantry of hip hop has to accept new parameters in order to stay alive, not become stale and die. Drake is an example of the hypermasculine adapting by branching the womaniser camp of LL Cool J and splicing it with RNB, and the sonics of 808s and Heartbreak Kanye.
so i think authenticity was important in a very way that has expanded and allowed anomalies like Rick Ross to exist
Yeah exactly, so long as people feel that there is some consistency / ‘authenticity’ in your persona then they’ll rock with you but the moment that image is shattered, it’s hard to recover back from
This battle is back to the top of my mind because of Cole’s recent release, so I appreciate this post so much more. I might have to cook something up, you’re inspiring me! @johnnoire
🙏🏾 it's a virtuous cycle because I linked your "Women's Business" piece when talking about the casualties of war / rap beef. Also, your "There's No Such Thing As A Nice Guy In Rap" post is so relevant now, it's crazy.
Cole dropped "Port Antonio" at the right time because it also got me thinking about the trajectory of his career and how this beef has forced him to carve his own path. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with 👍🏾
The language of war throughout this is *chef’s kiss*
Thank you! Appreciate you reading and sharing man 👊🏾
great summing up! i wrote about the "lies" of the feud as the dust was settling. definitely would be interested in what you think about it!
Thanks! Just finished reading your piece and it was such a great and fascinating analysis! There's so much to unpack but I think my main takeaway / comment would be that both hip-hop and rap beef seem to have had an inverse relationship with authenticity over the past few decades.
In terms of hip-hop, 'keeping it real' is, arguably, less important now than it was in the 20th century and the best example of that would be Rick Ross. Rap has always been similar to wrestling for me but if someone like him can still have a thriving career then authenticity can no longer be the main thing (as opposed to whether somebody sounds confident / convincing enough in their raps).
On the flipside, Pusha T has made having a factual bombshell a key part of rap beef and it's probably the reason why Kendrick and Drake's encounter went as toxic as it did. It's no longer enough to just clown on somebody and make them lose face but (like you said in your piece) you have to almost go into investigative journalism and destroy somebody's character in order to win. This is the reason why Cole backed out of the beef as the prior rules / parameters of engagement had changed. It's just a shame that he dipped his toe in it in the first place.
Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your work and looking forward to catching up on the rest of your catalogue soon 👍🏾
Interesting, I think the authenticity always had a performative element, the relationship was always elastic (the example the springs to mind was MC Hammer being affiliated despite being known for the Hammer time dance) but I do think Rick Ross is the most interesting case of performativity, though.
what I think has happened was that the very idea of “keeping it real” has been historically narrow, in the past you were either you were conscious or gangsta, which didn’t leave much wiggle room. sometimes you were both like Wutang or Outkast but those were the camps of keeping it real — they are deeply to do with hyper masculinity (you could argue LL Cool J had a branch of gangsta luv, where he kept it real by being a womaniser)
As time has progressed, those categories become more fluid and the pageantry of hip hop has to accept new parameters in order to stay alive, not become stale and die. Drake is an example of the hypermasculine adapting by branching the womaniser camp of LL Cool J and splicing it with RNB, and the sonics of 808s and Heartbreak Kanye.
so i think authenticity was important in a very way that has expanded and allowed anomalies like Rick Ross to exist
Yeah exactly, so long as people feel that there is some consistency / ‘authenticity’ in your persona then they’ll rock with you but the moment that image is shattered, it’s hard to recover back from
This is goood!
I just wanna see what that Super Bowl performance is gonna be...and what happens after.
Thanks Alex! Same here, it will be interesting to see what direction he takes going forward 👀