The Kings Of Calabasas: 'Certified Lover Boy' vs 'Donda'
As the dust settles on Drake and Kanye's album clash, we reflect on the antics-filled saga in its entirety.
As the latest chapter in their catty, decade-long cold war comes to a close, Drake and Kanye West's respective albums—and the passive-aggressive subliminals surrounding the rollouts—left quite a few of their fans feeling exhausted and underwhelmed.
The Donda experience was admittedly much messier than Certified Lover Boy’s. That shit was supposed to drop in July of 2020! But along with those multiple delayed release dates came an erratic spectacle of an album release. From living in the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the cryptic Instagram posts, and a violent abuser and a homophobe on the porch of his model childhood home, the whole process seemed to involve anything but a completed and released album.
On the other hand, CLB stuck to the same predictable Drake formula we've seen for the last few years, introducing the project as: "A combination of toxic masculinity and acceptance of truth which is inevitably heart-breaking," whatever the hell that means. The album is very much the work of a 35-year-old bachelor who knows what sells and is more than comfortable turning to the same bag of tricks that made him a regular at the top of the charts... but that's about it.
Neither Donda nor Certified Lover Boy lived up to the lofty standards each artist has historically set for themselves and the industry. Drake phoned it in, and Kanye was all over the place, holding a classic album hostage amongst musical chaos. As the dust has settled on their beef, it begs the question... what was even happening in the first place? Secret collaboration for more record sales? Or two grown men with jumbo-sized egos, extremely loyal fanbases, and access to the hottest production in the world using their music to vent rather than talk it out.
Drake and Kanye's "feud" has been boiling on and off for almost 13 years. After a slew of collaborations like Drake's 2009 “Best I Ever Had” video and Ye lending his beat-making talents to Drake's 2010 synth-pop/R&B number “Find Your Love”, the two warring factions started out strong. The first red flag cropped up during the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sessions. Drake's verse got cut from “All Of The Lights”, which activated a competitive chip on Drake's shoulder, affirming his competitive spirit.
Drake's emblematic swimming pool bars on “Summer Sixteen” were an early sign of competition in more recent years. They, of course, boiled into the highly publicised war of words with frequent Kanye collaborator and coke rap aficionado Pusha T on “Infrared”, spawning the war on wax that was Drake's barrage of fire on “Duppy Freestyle” and Pusha T's Save the Children plea on “The Story of Adidon”.
The most recent instalment has been almost as petty. Drake name-dropped West on Trippie Redd's “Betrayal”, alluding to the fact that his release date was set, regardless of how many times Kanye switched his. Kanye took to the internet in response, posting screenshots of a group chat that supposedly included Drake, and later Pusha T.
West texted the group chat: "I live for this. I've been fucked with by nerd ass jock niggas like you my whole life. You will never recover. I promise you." The post was accompanied by an absurd picture of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker. Oh, and he leaked Drake's address too…
Drake then counter-attacked by leaking Kanye’s track “Life Of The Party”, a leftover cut from Donda that featured André 3000 and sounded quite a bit better than some of the songs that did make the cut. The track came together somewhat disingenuously. André 3000 donated yet another astounding verse musing on the loss of his own other, as he was under the impression that that was the theme of the song.
Instead, Kanye used his time on the track to explain himself, and his feud with Drake, stating: Told Drake don't play with me on GD / And he sent that message to everybody / So if I hit you with a 'WYD' / You better hit me with, 'Yes sir, I'm writing everything you need."
Where do we even go from here? The next steps for both Drake and Kanye are unclear. This bizarre standoff makes us think back to simpler times, like when Kanye gave Drake the "Find Your Love'“ beat or when GOOD Music and OVO publicly supported each other. While they've taken different lanes over the years, both have played massive roles in expanding the boundaries of hip-hop.
This beef they're having is great for clicks but bad for the game at large, especially given how great Drake and Kanye are when they work together. Who knows when or how this will ever get settled. These two live down the street from each other, though, so as Styles P put it the other day: "Go the fuck around the corner to square up or fucking hug."
They are literally neighbours. It can't be this hard for them to talk it out.