When “Summer Sixteen” finally dropped (and was played 4 times in a row), it took Twitter by storm. Not only did he take shots at Tory Lanez, he mentioned Chris Brown, Jay-Z, Kanye, Meek and most surprisingly Obama.

Although it was surprising to hear Meek references on a new track in 2016, it did not really cross my mind as anything other than some well-written, laughable bars that could add to Drake’s dominant run. As I was re-listened to “Summer Sixteen” and tried to decipher some of the lyrics, I saw that Meek dropped the other half of his 4/4 EP and that there would be another Drake diss record on it, entitled “War Pain”.

Even though I am a fan of Meek’s music, I really did not care to listen to it. I thought that I had heard all of the Philly rapper’s ammo. But later that night, when I logged back on to Twitter, I saw people reacting to more than just the track. They were reacting to the timing.

Meek released War Pain fifteen minutes after Drake released Summer Sixteen . Not only was this timing a bit odd, but the actual track itself contained direct references to Drake’s song. He mentioned the Jay-Z line, the Tory Lanez diss, as well as the now infamous 4 Seasons incident. It seems as though Meek had heard Drake’s song prior to it’s release.

Meek Mill released his record the same day as Drake’s, got a copy of the song before hand, and responded directly to what Drake said, and not to mention put out a dope record. Have the tables turned?

By no means, am I necessarily saying that Meek out-rapped Drake on Saturday night, but I think he may have won the strategic battle. Drake had always been credited as being a strategic, marketing mastermind. But on Saturday, Meek’s attack looked so well planned and orchestrated that he may have taken Drake’s role. No tweets in response, just bars. The Instagram post that he did put up was a picture of him laughing that had the caption “The ghost writer told me!” which, even though I don’t believe, was a very clever, almost Drake-like move.

The ghost writer told me! ?

A photo posted by Meek Mill (@meekmill) on Jan 30, 2016 at 7:48pm PST

Now that Drake has re-ignited this flame, do we have new life in a battle that we all thought was over in the summer?

What is the next move from Drake?
He obviously has to question who is loyal, because somehow Meek got that track before-hand. If you don’t know who to trust, it’s hard to maneuver. It’s possible that Drake will leave it alone for now, but then again who knows; this thing is very unpredictable. He does have a huge platform with OVO Sound Radio every week, so could a response be in the cards for next weekend? Remember, “Back to Back” is nominated for a Grammy, so in the case of a win, the move might just be to flex on the gram.

What is the next move from Meek?
He has Dream Chasers 4 on the way. We have heard previews from his “Back to Back remix”, so it does not seem like he is letting up on the 6 God anytime soon. Is there more where “War Pain” came from on DC4? He makes reference to snatching Drake’s chain, so perhaps Drizzy will have to keep his head up. If he remains this strategic, then perhaps we are looking at a situation where the best is yet to come. Perhaps we have a real rap battle at our hands.

What do you think?
Did Drake lose any momentum in this beef after Saturday night’s events? Should we just leave this beef alone and all move forward with our hip-hop lives? Should Drake respond?

The post Did the Drake // Meek Beef Just Get New Life? appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.