Did you think the diss fight between Drake and Meek Mill was over? Think again.
Drake dropped several more disses for Meek Sunday night, the Philly stop of his Summer Sixteen tour. The pinnacle of the disrespect came when Drake performed “Back to Back” in Meek’s hometown. The crowd not only sang along, but Drake left lines open for the audience to shout back at him. And they obliged.
In case you need a recap: “Back to Back” was the second of two diss tracks towards Meek, released after the Philly rapper tore into the Canadian in an epic Twitter rant where he told all of the internets that Drake had a ghostwriter. Not that either of Drake’s diss tracks were spectacular, but Meek’s response, “Wanna Know,” was pretty universally panned. In other words, Drake won and he won easily, despite Meek’s criticism over not writing all of his lyrics.
The crowd was with Drake line for line as he batted back Meek’s ghostwriting claim: “This for y’all to think that I don’t write enough. They just mad cause I got the midas touch.”
When Drake finished “Back to Back” on stage at the Wells Fargo Center last night, he took the fight again to Meek: “And just remember, when you watch that video over and over tonight, it’s not about your city. I love your city. You did that shit to your motherfucking self, boy.”
And the crowd? They noticed.
Gossip account ThaCelebritea shared a video of one of Meek’s “bodyguards” saying they were headed down to Drake, “ a 100, 200 deep.”
“THE TRAP WILL B FOREVER LIT…..” Meek posted on Instagram after. “THEY MAD THAT COMMERCIAL TALK CANT EFFECT THE KID! ?”
And so Twitter was taken again by the Drake vs. Meek feud. How could Meek’s hometown crowd let Drake come up in here, in a Dr. J jersey, and unleash so much disrespect?
It’s not the first time an out-of-town rapper has brought beef to a Philly rapper in what everyone calls the City of Brotherly Love. Multiple Twitter users recalled Jadakiss coming to Philly when he was beefing with Beanie Sigel. In 2001, Jadakiss was having a good set, according to MTV News, until this: “Send Sigel a message that I’m ridin’ again.” Oops. The crowd flung bottles, glow sticks and car keys at him, according to reports. So what happened this time?
It’s weird, but when you think about, it’s not that weird.
These were Drake fans
Think of all of the memes that seem to pop up at every slightly-mockable move Drake makes. Think of the live reviews that have criticized him, even this major longform feature that was penned by a friend that basically explains that Coachella was supposed to be his legend concert and he didn’t perform well. Think of the Drake stans who heard of Quentin Miller’s existence, heard the actual snippet of Quentin Miller performing Drake raps, and reacted from Whateversville.
I saw a video on Twitter of Drake dancing awkwardly and singing “One Dance,” a song I really like, at times off-key, and shrugged. Drake is going to Drake. This was an arena full of people who love Drake despite everything people poke fun at him for.
Imagine that there’s a guy who looked at the Take Care album cover, and his first reaction was, ‘Oh man, Drake is so smooth.’ Now, imagine that guy when he sees that Drake is coming to town. That guy sings “Back to Back.”
We are the home of the Drake party, So Far Gone
A lot of people have been ambivalent about the Meek/Drake beef in Philly for a minute. And then some people have not really cared much at all, and kept rocking with Drake the whole time. Like the hosts of So Far Gone (Drake Night), a highly popular monthly party that plays the Canadian rapper’s music all night. That Philly party is touring nationally now. Dirty South Joe, one of the DJs, gave an interview to Complex last year, where he professed to feeling no shame at all. Here’s a key quote that needs annotating.
“God bless Meek Mill.” ? Joe went Southern grandmother-style here. It could almost sound like he’s not judging the situation. But we know better. We also believe that Meek needs hugs and biscuits, and that above all, Jesus knows his heart.
“Hopefully he’ll get back on track, but he’s playing checkers while Drake is playing chess. Hopefully this isn’t the end of his career.” ? ???????
“We all make mistakes.” ? Yes, Meek’s diss-response “Wanna Know,” released last July, was indeed ill-advised. The beat was fantastic, though.
“As for feeling any ‘guilt’ about hosting ‘Drake Night’ in ‘Meek’s city’? No, not in the slightest.” ? Well, then.
This isn’t actually like the Jadakiss performace
I love Meek, but I think it’s important for all of us gathered to take a moment of silence for the notion that he’s comparable as a rapper.
…
Okay, beloveds. Now that we mourned together, we can also maybe acknowledge that this was a different era in Philly, where Beanie was held in a different esteem. Dream Chasers is not State Property. DC hasn’t put as many rappers on the map, or carved out a space for Philly rappers to have a string of well-charting hits. Plus, just as it’s relevant that Drake embarrassed Meek at a Drake concert, Philly taught Jadakiss a lesson at Powerhouse. There was a mix of local rap fans there, not a stan brigade.
Drake needed to stunt
For multiple reasons. One, this had rap blog candy written all over it. Two, Tory Lanez, the fellow Torontan rapper who’s currently beefing with Drake, took this jab at Drake during a visit to Philly earlier this month: “Unlike you, I’m good in Philly, n****.”
Now, consider that Andre 3000 dropped what everyone with a basic sense of deduction has interpreted shade towards Drake. Three Stacks was featured on Frank Ocean’s long-gestating album Blonde. And the last lines of his verse on “Solo (Reprise)” are as following, emphasis ours.
“After 20 years in
I’m so naive, I was under the im-
-pression that everyone wrote they own verses
It’s coming back different and yeah that shit hurts me
I’m humming and whistling to those not deserving
I stumbled and lived every word, was I working just way too hard?”
I was gape-jawed when I first heard. It’s not that 3000 solely looks down on rappers who used ghostwriters. But he admits that it’s painful to wrap his head around the concept of a ghostwriter, considering all of the work he put into his own music.
Whew. The L-mobile arrived for Drake. And he told it to move right along.
In one fell swoop, Drake proved Tory wrong and made the story from the weekend that he humiliated Meek… not that one of the best rappers of all time popped out of his cave and, during his brief time outdoors, noted his disdain for the whole ghostwriting thing.
To be able to say “you not really from Philly, and they can tell” to cheers elevates Drake to a new level of peak petty. I still believe that a mixed, sensible crowd would have been like this to that line: ???. But Drake wasn’t much speaking to Philly, as he was preaching to the choir.
