Saturday (Jan. 13), Yasiin “Mos Def” Bey went viral after a clip of him discussing his thoughts on Drake’s music was released. The acclaimed lyricist said, “Drake is pop to me.” He continued, “In the sense like, if I was at Target in Houston, and I heard a Drake song, it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping.”
While Bey seemed to understand the weight of his controversial take, he doubled down by stating, “What happens when this thing collapses? What happens when the columns start buckling? Are we not in the early stages of that at this present hour? Are we seeing the collapse of the empire? What’s in it for your audience,” he continued, “apart from like banging the pom poms?”
The “Mathematics” emcee also claimed, “It’s easy listening to me; just turn it on and you get it, and I’m ok with that.” Many fans have different views on the poignant rapper’s hot take. One fan wrote, “SO many rappers, old and new, feel the need to discredit Drake, and if that’s not a testament to his stamp on Hip Hop, [I don’t know] what is.”
While another said, “I get what he’s saying. I wish people could have honest conversations without always taking offense to something objective or over an opinion from someone. He’s been in the game. Who else would have the ability to make these opinions? He’s not hating.”
One user claimed, “I’m a Mos Def fan, but n**ga sounds salty. Drake has tons of boom baps on songs with Little Brother, Slum Village, etc., if you go back and listen to his mixtapes. The dude can do it all. He just excelled in ways unimaginable.”
While Drake is known for being the self-proclaimed “petty king,” he has yet to respond to the claims. The “Hotline Bling” recording artist mentioned Bey on “Away From Home” from his latest album, For All The Dogs. He rapped, “In Memphis smokin’ Blacks, tryna act like I enjoy them/ Maurice François Girbaud what I’m sportin’/ And Mos Def gave me like a rack for performin’/ Crib I got now make me think of when I had to put some money on a mortgage.”