{"id":572746,"date":"2026-03-29T20:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572746\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T20:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:15:11","slug":"you-almost-wish-it-didnt-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/572746\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You Almost Wish It Didn’t Happen’"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Jay-Z<\/a> appreciated the spectacle of the Kendrick Lamar<\/a> and Drake<\/a> beef, he ultimately thinks everything that came with it, especially the fan involvement, was \u201ctoo much.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Frazier Tharpe\u2019s extensive GQ<\/a> cover story, Hov was asked about the beef, which he suggested was the biggest rap rivalry since he clashed with Nas<\/a> in the \u201890s. \u201cWe love the excitement and I love the sparring, but in this day and age there\u2019s so much negative stuff that comes with it that you almost wish it didn\u2019t happen,\u201d said Jay, adding that the apparent allegiances fans have with the artists has become an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, people that like Kendrick hate Drake, no matter what he makes,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s like an attack on his character. I don\u2019t know if I love that. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s helpful to our growth where the fallout lands, especially on social media. \u2026 It\u2019s too far. It\u2019s bringing people\u2019s kids in it. I don\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hov admitted that he comes across sounding \u201clike the old guy wagging his finger,\u201d but he thinks that the same level of excitement could be achieved through collaborations. \u201cIt could stand it before because there was no social media,\u201d he added. \u201cYou had the battle and it was fun and then you moved on. Right now, I don\u2019t know if it could stand it with the technology that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what’s next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hov said that the reactions on social media take up \u201cso much oxygen,\u201d making rap beefs more than just sparring. \u201cIt\u2019s like trying to tear down people\u2019s lives. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s worth it at this point,\u201d he explained. \u201cI love the idea that we got so much music in such a short period of time. Just everything around it was like, \u2018Man, this is taking us a couple steps back.\u2019 We\u2019ve just grown so much that\u2014I guess I\u2019m going to say it\u2014I don\u2019t know if battling needs to be part of the culture anymore. We grew from breakdancing. We love graffiti. Before, the MC\u2019s job was to bring attention to the DJ\u2026. I want to hear what the rapper is saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jay also said that he believes there\u2019s a \u201cheavy right-wing agenda\u201d to silence Black voices. \u201cAnd the culture is happily playing along in the name of this insane thirst of Stan culture to have something on the other side,\u201d he added. \u201cWe are in a strange time. I\u2019m curious as to how this plays out!\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his feelings on the beef, Jay maintained that he wasn\u2019t picking sides when he chose K Dot to headline the Super Bowl<\/a> Halftime Show last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose the guy that was having a monster year,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it was the right choice. What do I care about them two guys battling? What\u2019s that got to do with me? Have at it. They drag everybody in it, like everyone\u2019s part of this conspiracy to undermine Drake, I guess. But, it\u2019s like, what the fuck? I\u2019m f**kingJay-Z! All due respect to him. I\u2019m f**kingHov. Respectfully. It doesn\u2019t make any sense. It couldn\u2019t be that these guys just don\u2019t like each other. I think this has been brewing, just like me and Nas was brewing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jay added that he regrets beefing with Nas because he considers himself a fan. \u201cHe\u2019s a really nice guy,\u201d he said. \u201cI realize it\u2019s a bit hypocritical because of how many battles I\u2019ve been in, and given the nature of \u2018Super Ugly.\u2019 It takes growth to arrive at this place, because I\u2019ve done the bull s**t too!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Making Culture Pop. Find the latest entertainment news and the best in music, pop culture, sneakers, style and original shows.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Jay-Z appreciated the spectacle of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, he ultimately thinks everything that came…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,22026,21233,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-572746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jay-z","12":"tag-kendrick-lamar","13":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}