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.

Things are very different now. VERY different.

First off, I will say that Meek Mill was out of bounds. Drake may or may not write 100% of his raps, but you don’t just outwardly snitch on that man. I mean, there really was no reason. Meek wasn’t provoked to “expose” Drake. Meek just felt some type of way, and took it upon himself to spill the beans. No bueno. Not to mention he kinda looks hypocritical, due to the fact that his boss was exposed for being a corrections officer and not the drug kingpin he portrays in his raps. It just looks bad.

On the flip side, there is blatant proof that Drake has in fact employed a ghostwriter in Quentin Miller. Not only are there reference tracks floating around (“Know Yourself” and “10 Bands”), but there is also the verse on Meek Mill’s “R.I.C.O.” where Drake appears to be rapping what Quentin wrote word for word. FYI: “R.I.C.O.” is apparently when Meek found out Drake wasn’t writing his own raps, and claims that’s the reason Drake didn’t help him promote his latest album Dreams Worth More Than Money.

“What’s the big deal? Everybody has ghostwriters”

As an avid lover of Hip-Hop, I have a huge issue with that statement. For one, I don’t believe it. Until blatant proof is provided (like it was with Drake) I won’t believe that emcees like Kendrick Lamar, Lupe Fiasco, J. Cole and more have ghostwriters. What really bothers me though is how an artist can be exposed as one who isn’t writing their own raps, yet nobody has a problem with it. What part of the game is that? Is that how this works, now? Are you really okay with rappers having ghostwriters? Or are you only okay with it because the rapper in question is your favorite? Because to be honest, I believe that if this was the other way around and Drake said “Meek don’t write his own raps!”, the Internet would be dragging Meek to Hell and back. I saw it happen with Bow Wow. While it was never really proven, it was always speculated that Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat and T.I. wrote all his raps. And for that, people would go on and on about how Bow Wow shouldn’t call himself an emcee if he’s not penning his own bars. The same should apply to Drake right? Right. But it doesn’t. Because Hip-Hop is clearly now a game of Stans and popularity as opposed to respecting the culture. Nowadays it’s okay to do something corny (like have a ghostwriter) as long as you’re someone “cool”.

This is Hip-Hop, man. This ain’t R&B, where you’re only judged on the quality of your voice. This ain’t Pop, where you’re only judged on having a certain look and being able to bust a few dance moves. This is Hip-Hop; the one culture where everyone in it is judged on how creative they can be. I don’t care if you’re Drake, Kanye West (who if you listen closely enough, you can tell he isn’t writing all his own raps), or whoever, if you’re not writing your shit, you’re disrespecting the culture, as well as the real emcees who are just as good as you (if not better) and don’t need help. And if you’re cosigning this fraudulent behavior, because you wanna play favorites, you’re just as harmful.

I knew I couldn’t trust y’all when y’all gave Rick Ross a pass.

The post “…But A Rapper With A Ghostwriter?! WTF Happened?” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

We wondered if Drake was going to address the situation with Meek Mill at his annual OVO Fest, boy were we in for a surprise. The buzz around what would be addressed during the event started hours earlier when Drizzy was spotted rocking that old “Free Meek Mill” shirt that we’ve seen before. It served as the precursor to what would unfold later that night as The Boy came out to “Charged Up” followed by “Back to Back” while memes making fun of Meek Mill cycled on the screen behind him. The Toronto crowd was charged up -no pun intended- as their hometown hero was slandering fire out of the Philly native. Peep the lit performance below, shoutout to Nigel D for the footage.

The post Drake Performs “Back to Back” at OVO Fest 2015 appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.