Drake, Yasiin Bey And The Tired Conversation Of 'Real Hip-Hop'

Around the turn of the last century, there was a cold war of sorts between so-called real hip-hop lyricists who put effort into mind-blowing metaphors, similes and rhyme schemes and the commercial hip-hop of Puff Daddys post-Biggie Bad Boy Records, along with No Limit Records and Cash Money Records Pen and Pixel cover takeover .

Hip-hop fans who rejected the genres commercialism at the time adored Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey), Black Star and its Rawkus Records ilk. In the 2002 film Brown Sugar, Beys character, Cavi, is the hero of hip-hop, while the Puffy-esque villain, Simon (played by Wendell Pierce), peddled the hip-hop dalmatians .

Bey brought every drop of Cavis energy to his recent interview on the fashion podcast The Cutting Room Floor,  where he went viral for throwing sincere yet incisive shade at Drake (and maybe Houston). Needless to say, it surprised all of us who wouldnt expect the Umi Says dude to be trending for any reason in 2024 outside of an early death.

Drake is pop to me in the sense like, if I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song, it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping ... shopping with an edge in certain instances, Bey said before jokingly offering his idea of a mall-frequenting Drake fan. So many products, I love this mall. Look at this place, they have everything. Everythings here. They have everything here. This is great. This is the new Drake, you hear it? Its great.

If this interview happened in the 2000s and Bey was still Mos Def talking about a Drake equivalent, early 20-something me wouldve been on the Okayplayer message boards, clacking away in agreement with him and using that silly old chestnut: Its not hip-hop its rap! 

But now, as a dude who wouldnt mind hearing a little Drake when running into Target to drop $180 when he only meant to spend $15.89, I recognize Beys comments as those of a 50-year-old codger whos willingly out of touch. 

Time and maturity have helped me realize how ridiculous the real hip-hop conversation is and how ridiculous its always been. Still, Drakes probably the best artist to frame it. Hes considered one of the holy trinity (alongside J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar) not because of his strained-cat-in-distress R&B ballads, but because he can genuinely rap when he wants to. (Just listen to any of his timestamp tracks .) 

But I understand how Gen Xers with 1990s hip-hop bona fides might take the Its not hip-hop its rap! position against Aubrey. Hes one of the most objectively ridiculous artists in hip-hop, for more reasons than Im willing to list here. That he possesses so many characteristics antithetical to a 30-year-old understanding of the genre painted nails, ponytails, a warm, margarine-soft approach toward women makes him an easy target for those of us weaned on Timberlands, hoodies and casual gun violence. 

Hip-hop heads have been having the rap, not hip-hop conversation well before Drakes ascendancy in the 2010s. But inconvenient truths abound; we like to forget that the genres progenitors were dropping a lot of One, two, buckle my shoe bars before the likes of Rakim, KRS-ONE and Big Daddy Kane swooped in and crafted what we consider strong lyricism.

Heads also tend to disregard the fact that much of the music we grew up loving and recall fondly isnt the Eminem-esque lyrical miracle split molecules in ya swimming pool nerd rap bars. Its the shoot a ni**a til his mama bleeds raps or the fuck every bitch not nailed down joints from Dr. Dres West Coast run. Besides, theres always been a place for hip-hop without a keen focus on lyricism. After all, no one wants to hear Common rapping about letting love reign in a strip club.

Regions also factor in the discussion: Few would consider Gucci Mane a lyrical impresario, but hes far more popular in certain enclaves than Jay-Z.

Of course, as with all music, generational differences still play a role in the conversation. Bey, a 90s boom-bap legend, is a predecessor of and probably an inspiration for Drake, whose music spoke to a bunch of kids who sag skinny jeans and grew up on first-generation smartphones. Beys inability to relate to that doesnt automatically invalidate Drake from the genre.

The irony is that Drake himself is on the downslope of his career. Folks who were still in high school during Barack Obamas second presidential term still check for his new and worsening albums, but todays high school kids care more about rappers who Id have to Google to list here. (If I polled every middle school student outside of New York, Id probably get a 2% affirmation of Bey familiarity.)

So, yes Drake is certainly a valid hip-hop torchbearer and hes made more meaningful music for the genre in the last 15 years than Bey has. At some point in the not-too-distant future, Drake will be talking about how a hot, younger artist didnt do hip-hop as well as he did. Knowing Drake, though, he wont accept that Father Time is undefeated and will likely try to bite that artists whole-ass style.