It didn’t take much for Meek Mill to “out” Drake as an artist who uses ghostwriters. Drake didn’t share the release of Meek’s latest album on Twitter, and Meek responded by tweeting that Drake doesn’t write his own songs. “He ain’t even write that verse on my album and if I knew I woulda took it off my album… I don’t trick my fans! Lol” were the words he sent out yesterday morning.
Since then all the gossip queens and Glen Coco’s out there have switched the dial on Drake’s Twitter feed, looking out to see how he would respond to Meek’s claim. Some even turned mobile notifications on for that instant update. But over twenty-four hours have passed and nothing. Not one single tweet. Looking in the more subtle shade throwing areas of the internet though, we can see Drake has responded to Meek in the most Drake way possible: a passive aggressive ‘like’ on Instagram and a leaked DM. Holy shit!
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The first “response” comes from a private message thread with battle rapper Hitman Holla. Hitman hit up Drake to A) kiss his ass and B) offer some support regarding Meek’s recent claims. As you can see with your eyes above, Drake replied by saying “I signed up for greatness. This comes with it”. Hitman Holla then reposted the thread on his Instagram because, as one can assume, he’s thirstier than a mouth-breathing flip-flop in the desert. Now he’s got people putting his name in the press. Smart dude.
The more interesting response comes in the ultimate form of shade – a like on an Instagram post. In the video above Krept and Konan can be seen replacing Meek Mill’s recent Fader cover feature with Skepta’s. Drake then liked the video. That’s a whole new dimension of shade. It’s the most subtle shade ever recorded. It’s how shade would shade shade if shade could shade.
The thing is, Drake doesn’t even need to respond to Meek Mill’s claims. For the hawk-eyed out there, it’s a fairly known fact that Drake uses ghostwriters for his work. Not only do the linear notes for Take Care and Nothing Was the Same include writer credits for an Anthony Palman – who isn’t listed as helping out on production, mixing, or anything else besides writing – there have been several instances where Drake’s been honest about working with other people.
In an interview with Elliot Wilson as part of his CRWN series last year, Drake said how the use of ghostwriter Noel Fisher helped take his “flow away from what people expected” on “Worst Behaviour”; how he works with OVO member 40 to write songs; and how he interpolates songs by other artists as part of a homage. Even this year’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late features a Quentin Miller in the writer credits – who, according to Funkmaster Flex (who played out Miller’s reference track to “10 Bands” on Hot 97 last night), is paid a $5,000 retainer by Drake.
So there you have it. The year’s biggest rap beef comes down to three things: miscommunication over information; tweets; and a passive aggressive like on Instagram. We are truly living in Drake’s millennial generation.
You can find Ryan Bassil on Twitter: @RyanBassil
