Drake could use some rabbinic advice on his lawsuit – The Forward

Rappers Drake (Left) and Kendrick Lamar have traded insults in a series of songs that have drawn commentary far beyond the music. (Prince Williams/Wireimage; Erika Goldring/FilmMagic; via Getty Images)

It seemed like the months-long, extremely public feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake had come to an end; The two had been releasing dissident tracks against each other for months, but nothing new had been released since May. But now Drake seems to want to drag out the conflict; Just last week, he filed a lawsuit against the better judgment of all the rabbinic sages who advised the Jewish hip-hop artist.

The turning point in the battle was the May 4 release of Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” which quickly broke Spotify’s record for most streams of a hip-hop song within 24 hours of its release with 12.8 million streams. The song accuses Drake, a Canadian Jew, of pedophilia and alienation from Black American culture. (To make matters worse, this record was previously held by Drake’s song “Girls Want Girls” – which only received 6.593 million streams in a single day.)

Drake tried to hit back the next day with a track titled “The Heart Part 6”, but it was rejected by both critics and fans. “Not Like Us” had an irreversible cultural impact and became one of the defining songs of the year. It broke dozens of music records and has already been nominated for five Grammys.

Having failed to win the battle on purely musical grounds, Drake has now resorted to more bureaucratic means; Last week, Drake’s lawyers filed motions to investigate Universal Music Group, the parent company of Drake and Lamar’s record labels, for artificially boosting Lamar’s streams on Spotify and iHeartRadio stations via bots and secretly paying stations for more plays.

It seems unlikely that Lamar, who has become a household name and one of the most decorated figures in the world of rap, will also win a Pulitzer Prize for his lyricism in addition to his 17 Grammy wins, the third most of any rapper in history Style won – needs this kind of help. Legal experts have already commented on Drake’s lawsuit, saying the allegations don’t appear to hold much weight for them. The fact that the applications were filed just a few days after the release of Lamar’s latest album, GNX, makes it seem like a small attempt to undermine his competitor.

It’s not a great look; Drake is being criticized online for being a sore loser. Perhaps he could have saved face by listening to ancient advice. In Pirkei Avot 4:1, Rabbi Ben Zoma warns against being ungrateful and tells us that “he who rejoices in his lot” is truly rich. He goes on to refer to a psalm: “You will enjoy the fruit of your labor, you will be happy and it will go well with you.”

With all the success Drake already has, he could have comfortably put his feet up in his $100 million mansion in Toronto. Despite his poor showing in the feud with Lamar, he remains a legend in the hip-hop world and the music industry in general. He holds multiple Billboard Hot 100 records, including the most charted singles of any artist in history – he has 338. And he was named the “Best Living Rapper Since 1979” by Complexa youth-oriented pop culture magazine, three times: 2011, 2012 and 2015.

Drake has occasionally referenced his Judaism throughout his career; his video for his 2022 song “Falling Back” is set at a Jewish wedding, and when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2014, he did a bar mitzvah sketch. If he were to embrace his legacy now, perhaps he could salvage his reputation from transforming into that of an artist angered by spiteful litigation.

Many Jews grew up with strong warnings about the evil eye, which in Pirkei Avot is understood as a concept of envy and jealousy that can bring destruction to its targets. Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah says, “An evil eye, an evil impulse, and hatred of humanity drive a man out of the world.” This means that when Drake turns the evil eye on Lamar, he is actually only bringing misfortune upon himself could.

Drake should also listen to the wise words of Rabbi Ben Azzai: “Despise no one and discriminate against nothing, for there is no man who does not have his moment and there is nothing that does not have his place.”

This year was clearly Lamar’s moment, but Drake shouldn’t feel like he’s lost the war. His time and place will likely come again. After all, rap feuds don’t end in a year.