Yasiin Bey takes aim at feuding "big three" on new freestyle over 'Like That'

Yasiin Bey, the widely influential rapper formerly known as Mos Def, has had his say on the ongoing feud between rap’s supposed “big three.” This year, there have been a series of increasingly intense volleys between Kendrick Lamar on one side and Drake and J Cole on the other.

While Lamar and Drake have been involved in a feud since 2013, things escalated after ‘Like That’ was released in March this year by Future, featuring Metro Boomin and Lamar. Lamar trashed J. Cole and Drake in his verse on the track after the former suggested on ‘First Person Shooter’ that they were the “big three” of hip-hop. 

Cole responded with ‘7 Minute Drill’, but eventually apologised and removed it from streaming sites. Then Drake entered the ring and made things much more personal, releasing both ‘Push Ups’ and ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’. However, the Canadian didn’t cover himself in glory as using AI-generated vocals of Tupac and Snoop Dogg in the latter caused the late Tupac’s estate to threaten him with legal action. 

Undeterred, Lamar, who had been quiet on the matter, released ‘Euphoria’ out of nowhere on April 30th and ‘6:16 in LA’ a few days later. Drizzy then responded with ‘Family Matters’, which accused the To Pimp a Butterfly pioneer of domestic abuse and claimed that one of his children was actually fathered by Dave Free, his PGLang creative partner. 

Lamar had another ace up his sleeve, and under an hour later, uploaded ‘Meet the Grahams’, which accused Drake of sex trafficking, being a sexual predator and fathering a secret child. The following night, he arrived with ‘Not Like Us’, which suggested his Canadian counterpart is a paedophile and liar. Drake then responded with ‘The Heart Part 6’, denying the accusations and stating that his team gave Lamar fake information. 

While all this has been unfolding, the whole world has been caught by storm, with everyone from rap heroes to Joe Biden commenting on the matter.

Prior to the conflagration, back in January, Bey had already questioned Drake’s position in hip-hop, calling him “pop” and shopping music akin to what he’d hear in Target in Houston. He said: “It feels like a lot of his music is compatible with… shopping. Or, as you know, shopping with an edge in certain instances.”

Now, Bey has returned with a freestyle that clearly airs his thoughts on the feud, with his instrumental of choice being none other than ‘Like That’. “Greedy, seedy, and creepy / Corny, horny, and boring,” Bey raps at one point. “Bougie, goofy, and moody / Foolish, ruthless, and clueless / Variations on a petty Big 3 / A whole lot to look at, but not much to see.”

Bey isn’t the only renowned rapper who has criticised the idea of the ongoing rap “beef.” Long Beach legend Vince Staples, fresh off the back of his hit Netflix miniseries, recently celebrated Youth Day by sitting down with his hometown’s mayor, Rex Richard, and was asked by a fan what he thinks about the feud between Lamar and Drake.

He explained: “While Taylor Swift is fighting for people to be able to have streaming money, n***as is on the internet arguing with each other about some rap shit. So that’s how I feel about it, honestly.” 

Staples pointedly concluded: “Personally, I think we better than that. I think we deserve better than that because we’ve been saying for decades that we want people to respect Black music and Black art and Black people.