Ever since Meek Mill hopped on Twitter to air out his frustrations on Nicki Minaj’s ex-boyfriend Safaree and Drake for allegedly not writing his verse for the two’s collaboration on Dreams Worth More Than Money, “Rico”, the saga has been incredibly anticlimactic. Stepping back from the hilarious memes and the social media commentary, it seems like the ordeal could never be much more than it's become already. Both Meek and Drake have developed in front of our eyes over the years--Drake as a Canadian teenage actor turned rapper and Meek as a kid from the streets of Philly, literally rapping his way out of a reality with very familiar fates waiting for him. So naturally, what these two deem as respectable or honorable are not going to line up, exactly. The code of the American streets is not one that Drake lives by -- and he shouldn’t have to because he’s not of them.
Over the weekend, Drake dropped his answer to Meek’s accusations with “Charged Up” and it’s very Drake: creeping production, catty shots at Meek struggling to go gold and needing Nicki’s counsel on his raps, mentioning that he’s done doing people favors (like his verse on "Rico") While it’s far from a classic or even something that’ll be played a year from now, the song’s angle is true to Drake's character. Meek on the other hand called the diss “baby lotion soft”and promised a response by 7 p.m. last night that Funk Flex would premiere on his Hot 97 show, which never happened. Instead, he dropped “Beautiful Nightmare” a hilariously confusing clip of him screaming for 15 seconds, making him look even sillier than he has over the past week.
It was in that moment when I heard Meek screaming that I realized: I don’t think he can do this. And maybe that’s what Meek has come to realize as well. As stated before, Meek and Drake don’t play by the same rules and that’s evident when you listen to their music. We know a bit about Meek Mill, the person: he was in the trap, he was a great street rapper before the fame, he’s done a couple bids, he dreamed of making Nicki Minaj his. We know almost EVERYTHING about Drake: he’s Canadian (a.k.a soft in many Americans’ eyes), he played on Degrassi, he’s sensitive as hell when it comes to women, he never really started from the bottom, and everything else he's told us in his music about his grandmother, dad and past girlfriends. What makes an entertaining diss track is the opponents' imagination to go at what the other doesn’t reveal about themselves.
When Jay Z accused NaS of never seeing a Tec or when he revealed that he had sex with his daughter’s mother, there was shock value in his disrespect. When NaS’ responded and clowned Jay for being Jaz-O’s sidekick in “Hawaiian Sophie”, it was funny because Jay didn’t publicize that part of his career and many of his younger fans, including myself, had no idea of those beginning stages. Last year, when Freddie Gibbs dissed Jeezy (who never responded) in “Real”, he clowned Jeezy for seeing Gucci in public and not approaching him. All of these shots were successful because us listeners had no knowledge of these events –making it juicy gossip and dirt-throwing.
With Drake coming up on TV and being so open about his flaws and vulnerabilities, what is Meek gonna say? Clown him for being soft? We know that already. Remind us that Drake’s not from the trenches? We know that too. Tell us that Drake didn’t write his rhymes again? With Drake being more of an entertainer than rapper in most people’s eyes, that’s not going to hurt as much as it would if they were on opposite sides. Meek won't get the fight he wants out of Drake because they're not cut from the same cloth. Aubrey has already aired out all of his own dirty laundry on wax, leaving the two to squabble over their place within the ranks of hip-hop culture and mass appeal -- which Drake has an obvious lead in both.