No matter what you thought of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, there was only one undisputed winner by the end of it all: the reaction community in the worlds of streaming and YouTube. Your favorite content creators broke down the bars, reacted to all the most shocking moments, and helped this showdown become one of hip-hop's most culturally significant and resonant moments in a long time... For better or worse. See, the battle's technically not over yet, but only because the 6ix God's idea of victory is clearly quite different. In his federal defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group – his label – for releasing K.Dot's "Not Like Us," he named various content creators who allegedly helped boost the track's widespread popularity and, as a result, its supposedly defamatory nature.
Furthermore, the specific allegation that Drake brings up in this highly controversial lawsuit is that UMG "whitelisted" copyright claims for YouTubers, streamers, etc. concerning "Not Like Us." This means that they would be able to monetize their content without facing a copyright claim from UMG over "Not Like Us," and this isn't really an allegation because various creators have backed this up. But a few important (alleged) caveats that people are talking about online need to be clear. First, "whitelisting" supposedly happens on behalf of a record label behind a song like the West Coast banger, and UMG is instead the distributor of that track. Secondly, as rapper and online personality ScruFaceJean brings up as seen in the post below, tracks like "Push Ups" were also "whitelisted" by its team.
Along with Jean, many other of your favorite content creators spoke out against this Drake lawsuit. Zias! and B.Lou, for example, spoke with their lawyer about the possibility of countersuing for emotional distress, as they found the Toronto superstar's accusations and his implication of them very disturbing and misguided. NoLifeShaq also dragged The Boy through the mud, calling him "soft" and positing that, whether "whitelisting" happened or not, they would react to "Not Like Us" accordingly as they did to his own tracks.
In addition, it's important to bring up that many others fans have pointed to how Drake excitedly used streamers to generate hype and reaction clips for his own diss tracks against Kendrick Lamar. The most direct example is with Kai Cenat, whom he texted to "stay on stream" before dropping "Family Matters." Ironically, the Twitch giant appears in this clowned-upon defamation lawsuit as an example of what the OVO mogul's accusations and implications are. And one more thing: there is no direct link between monetization and algorithmic boosting on sites like YouTube. With all this in mind, content creators seem to feel almost insulted at the idea that they only reacted to the two biggest rappers in the world beefing with each other because one of them would allow them to make money. If Drizzy knew the first thing about the reaction community, maybe he wouldn't have included this...
A$AP Rocky has been quiet during his legal battle. The rapper has not said a word entering the court or a word during his trial. Barring some brief praise for his friend and blog rap peer Kendrick Lamar. A$AP has made sure to be careful when it comes to what he says. His facade dropped, however, during a shocking exchange on Friday. The rapper told a witness not to answer a question during an interrogation. It was a shocking moment on several front, and is generally considered a bad sign during a criminal trial.
The awkward moment was captured on film. A$AP Twelvy, a member of Rocky's A$AP Mob, was being asked what the meaning of a specific photo was. The rapper made it clear he wasn't sure what it meant, but in the midst of his answer, Rocky spoke out. Prosecution interrupted the line of questioning and then redirected the focus to A$AP Rocky's question. "Did you hear the defendant when asked question loudly say," he asked. "Do not answer it." Twelvy admits he heard something but claimed he wasn't sure what was said from Rocky's side of the courtroom.
The prosecution suggested that A$AP Twelvy was being coy about his knowledge due to the fact that A$AP Rocky told him not give an answer. The rapper attempted to downplay Rocky's comment, saying he didn't even hear what was said. Prosecution doubled down, and attempted to get an answer out of the A$AP Mob member. The video account of the exchange is cut off when the judge decides to take a break from the interrogation.
Twelvy's controversial exchange is an unexpected development. The rapper appears to be on A$AP Rocky's side, and even testified that he did not open fire on A$AP Relli the way that Relli is claiming. Twelvy told the court that Rocky actually fired a starter pistol that he kept on him during the alleged encounter with Relli. "He walked around with a prop, like a starter pistol," Twelvy stated. "I seen it on several occasions." The rapper then claimed that the gun was clearly identified as fake before said confrontation went down. "He told him to shoot that fake-ass gun," Twelvy added.