Newly released albums highlights feud between
muscisians
T
oronto rapper Aubrey Drake Graham and Chicago
rapper Kanye Omari West are arguably the two biggest
names in the music industry today as former collabo-
rators and friends. According to an early COMPLEX
article, Drake had said this about him.
“Kanye West shaped a lot of what I do, as far as music goes...
I had the utmost respect for Kanye West. I’d even go as far as to
say he’s the most influential person I’d ever had in my life.” Says
Drake.
The two rappers have had a long, complicated history, dating
back to 2010 when West’s track “All of the Lights,” was released
without Drake’s verse. Drake had claimed he agreed with it and
in an interview with Shade 45’s morning show, Drake said that
Kanye’s creative process was “ever-changing,” and wasn’t bothered
with the adjustment. It wasn’t until later that Drake had made his
artistic view very clear, he sees Kanye as a competitor.
“My goal is to surpass everything he’s accomplished. I don’t
want to be as good as Kanye, I want to be better.” Drake says in an
interview with The Source.
In an interview with Tim Westwood, Drake was asked about
a possible collaboration with Lil Wayne, which Drake jokingly
responded:
“I heard some other guys are coming out with an album, too.
There’s two other rappers that are coming out with an album
together.”
At the time, West was planning to release a joint album with
Jay-Z called “Watch the Throne.”
Going to 2016, the feud between the two rappers died down.
West was seen at Drake’s OVO Fest, (Octobers Very Own, Drake’s
record label) a festival in Toronto to celebrate Drake and his fans.
It wasn’t until then that Kanye confirmed an upcoming project
with Drake, and then reaffirmed those claims during a Vogue
interview.
The dispute came up again after Kanye aimed the blame at
radio stations for overplaying the song “For Free,” a single by DJ
Khaled, featuring Drake.
“Is it just me or have you heard that song so many times? ….
They set that song up, bro.”
Kanye was on tour in Sacramento when he yelled that to the
crowd.
Recently, Ohio rapper Trippie Redd dropped his album Trip at
Knight which included a feature from Drake in the song Betrayal.
In his verse, Drake appeared to take a shot at West with the lines,
“Ye ain’t changin’ **** for me, it’s set in stone,” which triggered
a set of responses from him. West then posted a screenshot of a
group chat, Drake included - and sent a photo of the joker cap-
tioned, “You will never recover. I promise you.” He took it further
and even leaked the Toronto rapper’s address for the internet.
Drake responded by posting a video of him driving around toron-
to, laughing into the camera implying he was unbothered.
Subsequently, both Kanye West and Drake’s albums have been
by BAYANAMMAR
Staff Writer
released and are receiving all the recognition, with fans specu-
lating which album will take the number one spot, furthermore
streaming their favorite of the two. Sophomore Jalen Banks
addresses his opinion on the album he likes the most, Donda.
Banks comments about Donda and how it’s his favorite because
the features came through and did well for the album.
“I like Donda more because he had features from Rooga, Play-
boy carti, and Fivio Foriegn” Banks says.
His favorite song on the album is Off The Grid. Freshman Oli-
ver Stryker - who prefers Donda over Certified Lover boy as well,
also prefers Off the Grid over all the other songs on the album.
“I most preferred Donda because I overall loved the vocal
performance of every artist on it. The production in many of the
songs is very good” Says Stryker.
Stryker states that West’s album exceeded his expectations
and understands the kind of trouble making music is for Kanye,
coming off of a harsh divorce, death of his mother and struggling
mental health. Stryker had his hopes set on Certified Lover Boy
but his excitement went towards Donda after.
Some other students had their opinions set on Certified Lover
Boy as the better album, most of which agree that the features
carried a lot of the album. Roy Arriaza had this to say about the
album:
“I like Certified Lover Boy more because of the beats and the
connection I have with it. The Lyrics are good as well.” Arriaza
says.
Arriaza prefers this album and ‘Scorpion,’ a past Drake album
over the rest.
“Drake’s album definitely lived up to my expectations. Drake
has many features with multiple artists which made the album
ten times better.” Arriaza comments. Altogether he says the songs
were hits.
Sophomore Alonzo Lindsey believes Drake’s album was the
better one from the two, but still didn’t exceed his expectations.
“Don’t get me wrong, but it did not live up to the hype. I feel
like Drake is expected more as an artist so all of the fans were
overhyping the album.”
He still feels the album was impressive and streams the majori-
ty of the songs, with his favorite being the song Knife Talk with 21
Savage.
Both artists delivered well made and fairly long albums in the
last month. Within the first week of its release, Donda had around
357 million streams in the United States, which is the most in a
week so far this year. It had also hit number one in 152 countries
the day it was released. Certified Lover Boy was released five days
later and had its successes as well. According to Billboard, Drake
Landed all 21 Tracks in Hot 100’s Top 40 it’s first week which has
only happened twice. The first time was with Drake’s other album
‘Scorpion’ released in 2018. And with CLB having fewer songs
than Donda, the album still acquired double the units West’s
album did, reaching more than more than 595,000 streams.