Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef woke up America, but why?

Recently, rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar have had the hip hop world in a chokehold with their very public, very personal diss tracks. These aren’t just your run of the mill, regular offensive lyrics; these rappers have taken an extra step to attack each other’s families, characters, alleged sexual abuse and physical abuse and even render death threats on beat. Shockingly though, these lyrics have not been the main talking points of most social media disagreements. What could be more confrontational than attacking a person’s character and their family? The answer to that is one that has been and continues to serve as a divider amongst our community, and that question is “Who is Black and who has access to cultural Blackness?” In Lamar’s song, “Not Like Us,” he breaks down Drake’s proximity to Blackness by naming each of his connections in the city of Atlanta and how he uses those connections to gain access to a culture he doesn’t understand. He famously ends the line with, “You’re not a colleague, you’re a … colonizer,” to describe what he sees as Drake taking from “the culture.” This line, among many, upset Drake fans and Kdot (Lamar) fans alike and conversations...