Big Daddy Kane has weighed in on the recent feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, admitting he didn’t particularly “enjoy” the contest.
In an interview with The Art of Dialogue, the Juice Crew legend — who himself is no stranger to rap beef — explained why he “lost interest” in what has been deemed by many as the greatest rap battle ever.
“I was trying to keep up with the Kendrick and Drake thing but I kinda lost interest. It just wasn’t exciting to me — not because of them two, but because of the fanbase. The fanbase just made it to where, eugh, I’m good.
When asked about his issues with the rappers’ fans, Kane replied: “It’s not a competitive thing about who spit the better bars. It’s a thing about fact-checking to see if this person told the truth.
“It’s like, if the line is dope and he dissed you, it’s dope. It’s that simple […] Why are we trying to critique and decipher what was said? It’s just a dope rhyme. Enjoy the music, man, for what it is.”
He added: “It just wasn’t for me. It’s not about Kendrick or Drake; it’s the fanbase, the listeners and their comments and their views. They make it unenjoyable for me.”
Big Daddy Kane isn’t the only Hip Hop figure who feels this way. Questlove also recently criticized Kendrick and Drake’s feud for the unsubstantiated allegations lobbied back and forth, going so far as to claim that “Hip Hop is truly dead.”
In a disapproving Instagram post, The Roots drummer wrote: “Nobody won the war. This wasn’t about skill. This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary — women & children (& actual facts) be damned.
“Same audience wanting blood will soon put up ‘rip’ posts like they weren’t part of the problem. Hip Hop truly is dead.”
Challenging both Kendrick and Drake to step their game up, morally speaking, Quest added in his caption: “Here We Are Now…Entertain us?”
Charlamagne Tha God also took issue with some of the tactics used in the rap battle, despite crowning it the “best rap battle I’ve ever witnessed.”
“I don’t like seeing these brothers Me Too-ing each other over a rap feud,” he said on The Breakfast Club earlier this month. “To me, that’s corny. If you’re going to call somebody a pedophile, if you’re going to call someone a woman beater, you got to have some real proof.
“If you’re going to accuse my friend and my girl of having a baby, and me thinking that that child is mine — those are some heavy accusations.”
He added: “It’s not like they’re trying to hold each other accountable; they’re just throwing these types of accusations around to attempt to ruin the image of the other, and that’s whack to me. Other than that, it’s been great.”
Weirdo Gen Z fans.
These clowns always have an angle. Ninja fu.ck their fans! WHAT DID YOU THINK? WHAT WORKED FOR YOU?
he a fan, he a fan, he a fan
They only saying this cause Drake won. Family matters mogged. Old-heads will stay mad that their fake messiah Kendrick been wack since 2017
Imagine someone saying someone is a statutory r8per and you defending them. Drake fans are weirdos since 2013.
Fans are only apart of this if you want them to be. You can listen to the music without paying attention to what fans are saying. So Idk Kane, I do feel like some people are trying to create their own narrative based off of personal agenda’s. I feel like a lot East Coast guys don’t want to give Kendrick his props. You only see what fans are saying if you click on their reaction videos or if you’re reading the comments. You can bypass all of that and just listen to the music directly. Because if the fans make you feel this way about this situation then that means they impact you on everything else as well.
Think that was his point. No one was objectively talking about the music, which they weren’t. Nothing classic came out of ten songs or whatever it was between them, but you got their wack ass fans talking about it’s the greatest beef of all time and dickriding as usual. Nobody will revisit any of these songs in two years, let alone 25 years later like Hit Em Up, No Vaseline, or Ether. If you weren’t fans of these dudes already, you didn’t care for any of these songs.
He explained why it turned him off and that’s that. He’s right. Folk is doing WAY too much to the point where I just want it to go A-WAYYY. You think Kendrick won? Good. You think Drake won. Cool. We done? Even better, because I am. At the end of the day, I think this was a stain on the game. Sue me.