It’s been a year since the rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake began. On Mar. 22, 2024, Kendrick dropped his verse on “Like That” by Future and Metro Boomin, dissing J. Cole and, primarily, Drake. Since then, Kendrick and Drake’s feud has continued to dominate the media to this day.
As entertaining as it is to discuss the Kendrick and Drake beef, I’ve started to realize how two of the biggest rappers in the world have shaped pop culture and curated trends as I grew up. I listened to both, but I connected most with Kendrick’s musical style. As big of a Kendrick fan I am, I want to reflect on and give Drake his flowers for the times he truly created pop culture moments with his music that shaped my generation and continues to do so.
“HOTLINE BLING” MUSIC VIDEO
In 2015, Drake released his hit single “Hotline Bling” along with a music video that sparked multiple trends. With over 2 billion views on Youtube, the video became a major source of internet memes about Drake. What captivated the media was Drake’s series of unusual, goofy dance moves, expressive hand gestures, and shifting facial expressions. One viewer took these elements and turned Drake into the viral “doesn’t like” vs. “does like” meme format. This was just one of the many memes that went viral. Another popular meme involved converting Drake’s dancing into GIFs, adding objects to his hands to make it look like he was swatting or throwing them. One of the most viral versions was the meme of Drake playing tennis.
The music video also led the internet to find aesthetic pleasure in the art of James Turrell, as its setting was inspired by his work, transforming internal spaces with ever-shifting and changing artificial colors. Another way “Hotline Bling” became a viral internet aesthetic was through its single cover, which featured the repeated text “1-800-HOTLINE BLING” in white against a light pink background. This sparked a trend where people replaced the words “Hotline Bling” with their own phrases for branding purposes, while others simply embraced it as a Tumblr-style aesthetic.
From being mocked on daytime and nighttime broadcast shows to becoming the subject of viral memes, Vine parodies, and curated an aesthetic, Drake was unstoppable from 2015 to 2016 as “Hotline Bling” trends spread worldwide.
Summer Sixteen
“Summer Sixteen” was a single that Drake released at the beginning of 2016. Rather than being a massive hit, it served as an introduction to what would make 2016, especially the summer, a time to be alive. The song was a promotion lead-up to his fourth album, Views, an album that no one in 2016 could escape from hearing.
Views had hit after hit, including “Controlla,” “One Dance” featuring Kyla and Wizkid, “Too Good” featuring Rihanna, and “Hotline Bling.” Each of these songs dominated radio stations 24/7, especially during the summer, as they were all feel-good tracks perfect for enjoying a warm summer breeze. Almost every song on Views was being talked about and played across all social media platforms. I remember how Snapchat even created filters to promote the album. Another meme emerged from the album cover, featuring a miniature Drake sitting atop Toronto’s massive CN Tower, which people began inserting into various images. Drake shaped the summer of 2016 into an era that the media still talks about to this day.
Throughout the rollout of Views, Drake also announced his “Summer Sixteen” tour with Future, one of the highest-grossing hip hop tours. Aside from the media’s non-stop coverage of the performances, what captured people’s attention was the tour merch. The merchandise featured an athletic, bold font in vibrant summer colors, showcasing Drake’s trendy lyrics or catchphrases. His “Summer Sixteen” merch influenced an era in streetwear.
To this day, the media continues to reminisce about the release of Views. Some say that summer 2016 wouldn’t have been the same without the album. In recent years, the media has revisited the album, leading to stream songs like “Feel No Ways” and “Redemption.”
Summer 2016 was truly Drizzy season.
“In My Feelings” Challenge
“Kiki, do you love me?” I don’t think I went a single day without hearing that lyric throughout the summer of 2018. “In My Feelings” was a song from Drake’s fifth studio album, Scorpion. It became one of the most viral tracks from the album, thanks to a popular dance challenge. Even if you didn’t have the Musical.ly app, you weren’t missing out. It was a song that was all over Instagram and YouTube.
Before TikTok, there was Musical.ly, the platform where the dance challenge began. An Instagram star known as “The Shiggy Show” posted a video of himself interpreting the lyrics of “In My Feelings” through dance, and from that moment, the challenge spread across the internet. Although Shiggy created the challenge, many on social media added their own style to it. The most common part of the challenge involved having to jump out of a slowly moving car to perform the moves. Drake acknowledged the challenge and in the music video, he included videos of multiple celebrities and people who posted their version on social media.
The “In My Feelings” challenge remains one of the most popular challenges the media has witnessed and participated in, alongside others like the “mannequin challenge” and the “running man challenge.” During this time, social media was filled with various challenges for people to join in on and have fun with, and Drake was a part of it through his music.
Toosie Slide
Drake never fails to give the media a way to turn his music into viral challenges. In April 2020, he released his single “Toosie Slide” in a time when the world was going through the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, and everyone was in quarantine. Despite these difficult times, many musicians continued to release music, especially Drake.
The song was inspired by the creator of the dance, Toosie. Drake released a music video showing himself performing the “Toosie Slide” dance throughout his mansion. The media saw it as a great distraction from everything happening around the world. It’s one of those songs that carries those quarantine nostalgia vibes. Later that year, the song helped Drake promote the release of his mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes. He knew how to shift the media’s focus from difficult times while also giving his fans new music.
There have been many pop culture moments tied to Drake, whether through his music or his persona. To this day, he continues to make an impact on the media. While his beef with Kendrick Lamar affected his image, he’s certainly not disappearing from the media anytime soon. He has had so many successful moments in the spotlight that all I can say is…thanks for the good times while growing up in the 2010s.