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Drake has seemingly responded after fellow rapper Mos Def recently commented on his music. As The Shade Room previously reported, Def recently referred to Drake as someone who makes “pop” music that is “compatible with shopping.”
On Tuesday, January 16, Drake took to his Instagram Story to repost a resurfaced clip of Method Man. In the clip, the rapper explained what hip-hop is.
“Hip-hop is the culture. It’s a way of life, it’s the way you dress, the way you talk, the way you walk — it’s the breakdancing, the rhymes, stage shows, DJ, the mixin’, the scratchin’, the wordplay,” Method Man explained. “That’s hip-hop…”
Additionally, Drake captioned his post with a few words seemingly addressed to an individual he did not disclose. Drake seemed to imply that the individual was switching up on him.
“What umi say again? Lemme shine my light king don’t change up now…” he wrote.
Check out the rapper’s Instagram Story below.
Social media users entered The Shade Room’s comment section to share their stance on Drake and his place in hip-hop culture.
“I love Drake but like people can have opinions without it being taken as hate, dislike, shade, etc”
“Mos Def didn’t lie. I love Drake & his music but I don’t think of him when I think true HIP HOP. Honestly. He gives like a poppy, sanitized, commercial ‘Hip Hop’. & that’s ok! He’s the goat of HIS lane.🤷🏽♀️”
“Just cuz you rap doesn’t necessarily make you Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop is a culture. Part of that culture is being true to yourself and that should reflect in the art. Drake does alot of shit that is actually disingenuous to Hip-Hop culture. I understand the arguments of him not being Hip-Hop mainly because there is a certain lack of authenticity with him on a cultural level. Sometimes it feels like Aubrey Graham the actor is playing a character named Drake that is a rapper.”
“He’s part hip hop, part pop. I don’t think it’s even meant to be taken negatively”
“[Mos Def] said ‘to me’. That means it’s his opinion. Let people share their opinions.”
“Maybe, just maybe…Drake’s musical contribution is so vast, y’all just don’t know where to put him lol. Cause how is Drake not hh?”
“Y’all get so one track minded when it comes to versatile artists. Drake has major hip hop records and still is very much hip hop. Just because he makes money doing other types of music shouldn’t take away from him being a prominent HIP HOP figure. Let that hate and shade go. Because that was definitely shade.”
As The Shade Room previously reported, clips from Mos Def’s recent interview on ‘The Cutting Room Floor‘ podcast surfaced on January 13. In one particular clip, Mos Def was asked if he feels “Drake is hip-hop.”
“Why are you doing this to me,” the rapper initially responded before elaborating. “Drake is pop to me, in the sense like, if I was in Target in Houston, and I heard a Drake song… it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping.”
Mos Def added that the Toronto-bred rapper’s music is “likable” before he took a deep breath and burst into laughter off camera.
“Woo! So many products! So many SKUS — look at all these SKUS,” the rapper said, seemingly implying that Drake’s music is commercial.
Watch Mos Def’s full sentiments on Drake and his music below.
