It goes without saying that Kendrick Lamar and Drake‘s viral feud made a major splash in the world of hip-hop. According to Chance The Rapper, however, it may have done so in some unexpected ways. During a recent interview with Ebro Darden for Apple Music, the Chicago-born performer weighed in on the beef, revealing what he thinks it taught the world.
“The Kendrick and Drake beef was the first time that the general public started to have real discussions about paid media and botting,” he explained. “Not just botting views, but botting what’s called negative or positive sentiment. So it’s like paid bots that pretend to be social profiles and add to discussion.”
“Brands use it, artists, labels, everybody that has capital to use it uses this,” he continued. “And at that time, I didn’t know sh*t about that. ‘Cause I really, really am independent and just make songs, put them out, and hope that people like them.”
Drake & Kendrick Lamar Beef
Chance’s interview with Ebro was released just a few days after one of Kendrick Lamar’s most popular fan pages on X got exposed for being based in India. Reportedly, the owner previously claimed to be a Black man from Compton. Drake reacted to the chatter surrounding the revelation by liking a post shared by one of his own pages, @keep6ixsolid.
“TDE‘s most influential Twitter account, which claimed to be a black man from Compton, has been revealed to be based in India,” the post read. “This page used to deny Drake’s blackness.”
Of course, this prompted big reactions from the Toronto rapper’s fans, including DJ Akademiks. The internet personality hopped online earlier this week to throw some shade in response to a tweet by TDE Punch.
“I do this for my culture, to let em know what a n***a look like when a n***a in a rossa/roadster,” Punch’s tweet read. “Need location of this tweet,” Ak replied. “Might be from the TDE/PGLANG call center in India.”