Todd: For the last 20 years, music criticism has been shaped by a movement called
[graphic for...] "Poptimism".
Which existed in opposition to...
..."Rockism".
Todd (VO): Which uh... It's rock supremacy basically. And it was a big criticism of all the big journalists and gatekeepers of music at that time. Before this, the idea that we would talk about, like, Christina Aguilera as, like, a real serious artist, it- it was a joke. She wasn't
[ a real musician like Eric Clapton or whoever. In 2002, Pitchfork wrote a joke review of Kylie Minogue.
Todd: What's the joke, you're asking? That is the joke. The joke is that Pitchfork reviewed Kylie Minogue.
The idea that this would be funny is so dated, it might as well be written in hieroglyphics. The joke doesn't make any sense at all these days when everyone, including Pitchfork, treats Ariana Grande with the same weight and gravity that they used to cover Radiohead with. That's what Poptimism was all about, dismissing all the snobbery that said, "We would never review someone as shallow as Kylie Minogue." Like, we wrote all that off as tedious boomer shit coming from gatekeeping old white guys. Drop your preconceptions about authenticity or whatever, sometimes you just wanna dance. Sometimes you just wanna listen to something catchy, and that's ok. And more than ok, it's worthy of praise, we all decided.
Todd: Nowadays, we respect pop.
[beat] Or do we?
Despite how the discourse has been shaped by quote, unquote "Poptimism", "pop" is still an insult when you apply it to genres other than pop music. Pop rap is still an insult, pop country is still an insult. If you called Coldplay pop, you would understand that as an insult because they're supposed to be an alternative rock band, allegedly. So being called pop cheapens them. That's why the criticism of Drake hits weird for me. Like, I hear all the shit people say, you know, "It's shallow, he's superficial, it's all image, it's music for girls, he doesn't even write it himself."
These are all things I heard said about...
...Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys before Poptimism existed. And I always kinda wondered what it would look like if...
..."Pop Raptimism" existed.
Like, this shit
about ghostwriters, who cares? Like, it's been an open secret that Dr. Dre doesn't necessarily write all his own stuff, he's still one of the greats. I mean, there he is standing with Kendrick right there. And Snoop uses ghostwriters now too, he's admitted it, he's not one bit ashamed of it. He cited Diana Ross, one of the greatest ever pop stars as his reason.
So like, what if?
What if pop rappers were given any respect? What if the "Big 3" were Flo Rida, Pitbull, and Fergie?
It sounds ridiculous, right?
: We don't think that way, Kendrick proved it.
"Not Like Us" is one of the most stunning defeats of Poptimism I've ever seen. Like, the chorus is "Not like us".
That's literally gatekeeping, that's- I mean, that's the literal definition of gatekeeping. Kendrick attacks Drake for being a pop star, Kendrick
destroys Drake for being a pop star. And it kinda makes me wonder what "Poptimism" has actually meant. Like, what is it- what was the meaning behind this?
And my conclusion is... It means the gays like it. Right? That's all it means?
Poptimism is, I think, inextricable from the rise of gay rights as a mainstream movement. And once the gays became widely understood as a marginalized demographic worth respecting, so too did quote, unquote "gay music". One of the big attacks on Rockism was being homophobic, and one of the first major moves of Poptimism was a re-evaluation of disco. That's why shitting on pop music now gets you the same dirty looks that shitting on rap music does, because of all those concrete ties to a respectable social movement. So for all that Poptimism has replaced Rockism... it kinda just feels like it's just the same thing with a coat of pink paint on it.
Rock fans were so pretentious about rock because it was the sound of rebellion and youth, and hip hop is the sound of the disenfranchised, and now pop has its movement. Genre respect is still tied to its social importance. And this is why Drake as a pop rapper seems to have no respect at all anymore. Rap music was already connected to something culturally important, it has been since its inception. Being pop here means nothing, because there's...
...not really a whole lot aesthetically gay about any of this.
Kendrick said some things during this feud that get kinda borderline homophobic, has a whole song about being late to the party on this issue.
And Drake said things that were just homophobic straight up.
Todd: In fact, Kendrick straight up admitted that he liked Drake: The pop star, not the rapper. Making pop connects you to something important, making pop rap disconnects you from it. And Kendrick just lays all that out in devastating detail.
You'd think if anyone was gonna make the case for pop rap as a worthy genre, it'd be Drake, who's been playing both sides of the hits/credibility divide for a long time. Like, he was one of the "Big 3", he was respected.
Todd: But it turns out he was the absolute worst person to make a case for pop rap.
Todd (VO): His shit hasn't been good in years! And it's all sucked for the same reason pop music in general sucks; the shallowness, the trend riding, the numbers chasing, the callow attaching himself to whatever hot newcomer pops up in the scene.
The Drake phenomenon has- has become
painfully hollow. And all that pretentious shit about authenticity we're told doesn't matter anymore, it does matter. It matters a lot.
Todd (VO): Kendrick managed to make Drake the first black person cancelled for cultural appropriation. In this case, being a Canadian leeching off of, like, the Southern hip hop scene. You don't have to be up on all the intricacies of regional hip hop to notice the empty feeling. You can call it mutual respect or a cross-cultural connection I guess, but it sure doesn't feel like that. Especially considering how many of his closest collaborators hate his guts.
And to be clear, Kendrick didn't win the fight by calling Drake a fake, Drake lost the fight by
being fake.
Todd: "Family Matters", Drake's big attempted kill shot does not hold up to me
at all.
Cause it all hinges around this accusation of domestic abuse, and he just doesn't seem to actually believe it, you know, the whole tone is just "Nee-ner, Nee-ner, Nee-ner". Versus Kendrick, who seems to really believe what he's saying about Drake and is genuinely disgusted by it.
The most brutal insult of "Not Like Us" is the title.
"Not like us, you're not one of us". Rhetorically, it cuts Drake off from any support from anybody. Or anybody that matters at least. One of the more brilliant moves of the music video is showing Kendrick as a man of the people, which is as much a diss of Drake as the lyrics are. I mean, look at how much everyone loves him. The last time Drake did something like that was the "
God's Plan" video, which was the last time he was even remotely likeable. But more often, Drake's videos emphasize how rich he is, or he'll do, like, joke videos where he's just a regular schlub with a 9 to 5 and a shitty apartment in a way that's become really obnoxious. Like, "Ha ha, imagine me, Drake, working a job like you." Like, almost all rappers flex their wealth, but it doesn't feel right the way he does it.
He's not! He's not one of them. Kendrick is from the streets, Drake is a showbiz kid. Kendrick has a Pulitzer, Drake hosted the 2011 Juno Awards.
What the fuck am I watching? This is one of the "Big 3"!?
I mean, I've liked tons of Drake songs, but...
The more this feud has gone on, the more I agree with Kendrick. Like, fuck the "Big 3", what are we talking about, how did we ever group these two people together?
Like, Kendrick was not, like, perfect during this whole thing, he got away with things a lesser rapper would not have. Like, he got Joel Osteen confused with Haley Joel Osment, and he just played it off on the next song.
Todd (VO): Or how he ends "Not Like Us", I d- I don't get it at all.
Kendrick: Freaky-ass ni**a, he a 69 god
Freaky-ass ni**a, he a 69 god
[stammers] I don't get it, like, sex position god?
Todd: That's a compliment. Thank you?
[text appears: *When I previewed this video on Patreon, I got a lot of comments offering different explanations of this line to me, none of which I found very convincing. You can leave a comment explaining why this is brilliant wordplay that I'm clearly too stupid to get but I'd prefer that you didn't.]
Todd (VO): And yet, this still goes down as one of the most thorough and flawless victories that's ever happened. Like, when Drake lost the Pusha T battle, he wasn't the villain, he was just the loser; he's the villain now, though. Like, I don't know how many times in the past few years I've seen comments calling Drake the worst artist alive and a guy who's made zero good music. I think he's made good music, a lot of it, but it-it's getting pretty damn far in the past by this point.
Will he come back from this? I don't know.
Accusations ruined Michael Jackson's career and he did have hits after that, but it wasn't ever the same. Drake has been limping around like a beaten dog since this ended. Camila Cabello got a feature from him, which I think was supposed to put her back on the charts. Instead, Drake's relying on
Camila to get him back on the charts now, that's insane! But one point Kendrick made that really started to make me wonder is that he kept calling Drake a manipulator.
Cause you look at the situation, who was manipulating what here?
Who's the one who looked completely in charge of the situation at all times? Cause from here, it looked like Kendrick played Drake like a fiddle!
And all that talk of how Drake's the only one who likes being famous.
Does this look like a guy who doesn't wanna be famous to you? I mean, I do feel like I'm looking at Kendrick very differently at this point. Like,
Kendrick's last album was a huge downer, and I see him here, he looks so happy. I kinda suspect he did want the big pop success like Drake has, he just didn't wanna sacrifice his integrity to do it. And... He found a way so, you know, who can judge him for that?
Todd: I mean, there's your Poptimism. Kendrick
is the voice of the people, number 1 with a bullet, baby!
Todd (VO): So when I look at this and ask what this is a victory lap
for exactly... Uh, the correct answer is, of course: the culture. The culture that Drake isn't a part of and has been exploiting.
Todd: But I'm not part of that culture, so I can't share in that victory.
Todd (VO): What I see when I look at this is a victory for, just, shit mattering in general. Kendrick is essentially a music critic and a better one that I am. And he... You know, I agree with him; yes, authenticity does matter, artistry does matter.
Todd: It's not just about chasing numbers and streams.
I got issues with "Not Like Us". Like, whatever my misgivings about this, this is also just one of the greatest events in music history. I am glad to be alive to witness this, what an amazing thing. You-you'll tell your kids about this. If only to explain to them why they shouldn't let Drake give them candy.
Todd: [puts hands up] Allegedly!
[gets up and leaves] Allegedly, allegedly, allegedly.
