Drake’s Hunting Spree

With the announcement of Drake ‘s new collaborative playlist ‘More Life’ came the release of four new tracks. These include the controversial ‘Two birds, one shot’, which has played a big part in the current conflict between him and Kid Cudi.

Every now and then, it seems necessary to examine one’s sensibility towards others in different or worse situations, in the hope that empathy could help restore some real meaning to the word ‘humanity’. However, it also seems we’ve collectively decided this is not the time for that. Celebrity beefing is just a token.

‘So? Hip hop is all about beef. That’s why they call them rap battles,’ you may say. Yes, but in reality, the music industry behind it all is actually composed of strategic and often sincere friendships and partnerships. In short, yes, people can change how they feel about other people. It’s just the timing of Drake’s response and the circumstances of the conflict that makes it harder to digest.

At the very least, Drake’s attitude towards his current detractors seems to be shallow. While talking about mental illness and drug abuse in his new song ‘two birds, one stone’ he misses the point in terms of actual discussions trying to advance awareness of these issues. So, although it may be an honest response, it is also a really harmful one.

The first bird was Pusha T, who got shot for questioning his gangster cred. Drake called him out on his past as a drug dealer. The second was Kid Cudi, who recently went into rehab due to depression and suicidal tendencies.

Open season by Drake

Kid Cudi was the instigator of this whole mess, no doubt. Shortly before he went into therapy to treat his mental illness, he went on Twitter to criticize other rappers in the industry. This included Drake and Kanye, implying they had become cocky even though they rely heavily on other people to write their songs.  Kanye later made up with Kid Cudi, taking the high road on this one. Drake’s position has been merely to back up his disc in ‘two birds, one shot’.

Also, in all fairness, Drake’s lyrics were probably written way before Cudi’s decision to enter rehab had been made public. So, they weren’t meant as a direct note on his current situation. However, they do reflect on his poor ability to think about the issues, and the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes in our society.

The bird on the moon

Kid Cudi’s camp was angered especially by the references in the actual lyrics:

“You were the man on the moon
now you just go through your phases
Life of the angry and famous
Rap like I know I’m the greatest”

And his implications that drug abuse equals weakness of character:

“You stay xanned and perked up / So when reality set in you don’t gotta face it.”

The reality is that this kind of stigmatization is known to cause harmful effects on the health of recovering patients. Drug abuse is actually a complex chronic health condition and not a failure of the person’s moral values. The effort to drive out this kind of mentality is prevented by these kinds of implications, and more people continue to end up not receiving the treatment they need as a result.

Well, I’m not trying to blame America’s general disregard for mental health issues on one performer . I just want to point out how deep this kind of misconception goes in our culture, and how easily it can spread.

Meanwhile, actions like the ones taken by Kid Cudi may be seen as the right example of how to deal with such a situation. In fact, his actions have sparked a very much needed conversation nationwide about mental health issues. This could be seen as one positive outcome of this particular beef.