Why the Drake Kendrick Lamar beef made André 3000 “sad”
Last year, Outkast legend André 3000 released his exciting album New Blue Sun, but unfortunately, it got mixed reviews from fans. The project marked his first solo album of all time, but he shocked and disappointed many by dropping an eight-track instrumental project comprised entirely of original flute compositions.
Longtime Outkast followers were looking forward to a return of the rapping André 3000 of the 2000s, but the emcee and flautist wasn’t in that space creatively or spiritually. That said, he still pays attention to the contemporary hip-hop scene and has unveiled that he was disappointed earlier this year when he saw Drake and Kendrick Lamar exchanging diss tracks.
Although he understands the competitive nature of hip-hop as a child of the 1980s, he admitted that what he witnessed this year was very different from the battles he loved as a teenager.
During an in-depth discussion, Three Stacks explained, “I got a little sad at a certain point. In early rap battles, you had kids in the park rapping against each other.” However, André believes that in the new age, people aren’t just putting their lyrical credibility on the line.
Detailing how he feels it has changed, André commented, “But it’s not just people rapping now. You got people with 100 employees. You have livelihoods, empires, companies, deals — all of it can be jeopardized.”
Both Drake and Kendrick Lamar are individuals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, so the Outkast frontman proceeded to explain how if you have already built a name for yourself and are at the top of your game, battling serves no purpose, stating, “If you don’t have anything to lose, sure, go for it! But if I already made it, I’m not sure it’s even worth it any more.”
What’s strange is that Drake seems to know this and detailed life from his perspective during the 2016 track ‘4pm in Calabasas’, on which he rhymes, “I got a lot to lose ’cause in every situation I’m the bigger artist/ Always gotta play it smarter.”
Although he was slightly sad that there was a battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar after the release of ‘Like That’, the Atlanta native was happy that there was a line about him in the Future and Metro Boomin song.
Expressing his gratitude, he told CRACK magazine, “As a 49-year-old rapper, you’re just happy to get a shout-out. But as a rapper, I’ve noticed myself walking around with this stick. So it was a line for me, too, and I was trying to find a way to use it. But Kendrick used it, so I had to say, ‘Yeah, he got it.’”
For the moment, it appears André 3000 isn’t going to be releasing music. However, that may change in the near future.