My in-game sideline report of Common vs. Drake
Of all the hours I spent listening to hip hop in my life, these two account for a huge portion. Both have their place on my iPod. I mellowed out to Common in college and based my first Pandora station on him for work. But when I'm at a party or need to entertain myself in the car, it's all about Drizzayyyy.
It hasn't gone a full two rounds yet, with Drake having to respond to Common's latest verse. Normally, I'd call this a no-brainer with Common's experience. I think the general consensus right now is that Common's "winning" as well, but to me he's far from a clear victory. Despite solid punches in both of his songs, I'm not taking Common seriously for two reasons.
1. His jabs are aimed at the wrong target. Yes, Drake sings when he raps. He admits that and frankly doesn't give a fuck. Neither do fans or the "hardcore" rappers who keep trying to make songs with him. Throw in the fact that Eminem and Kanye won't stop singing and sound terrible at it. It's a relatively new part of hip hop now, and trying to diss that is what's old.
2. The guy yelling "hoe ass n***a" all over the adlibs of these songs isn't Common to me. The real Common might be the hardest dude ever to come from Chicago, but on my iPod he's a sweet poet with a charitable heart and uplifting lyrics. He's lighting incense with Erykah Badu. He's standing outside a deaf girl's window holding up cute signs. And he's dancing around in GAP commercials.
That's the Common I know. You can't go all 2pac "Hit Em Up" on one song and expect me to thing you're a cold-blooded thug overnight. Maybe if he didn't sound so seriously angry on his tracks, I would take him more seriously as angry.
Drake has one verse in the fray now, and it's also decent. My only critique is that Drake calls Common out for not calling Drake out, yet Drake never calls Common out clearly himself. It wasn't until Common's recent rebuttal that someone actually threw a direct reference out there.
But based on the image Drake's created for himself, he's primed for a battle like this. When Drake isn't crooning over the mean women in his life, he's firing at all his critics and the negative people he's encountered. Common now puts a face to those haters, and I don't have to stop and ask myself "Is this really him?" when Drake attacks, which I had to do for Common.
For the sake of hip hop, I hope it doesn't end here. This is hardly Jay-Z and Nas, but it's a great clash between polar opposites in the game: old school vs. new, pure vs. watered down, a rapper who pines for golden days of hip hop vs. one who pines for goldigging strippers. Let's hope Drake can keep up on his next attempt (if he chooses to).
The initial firing shot from Common:
Drake's subliminal response on Rick Ross' "Stay Schemin", followed by Common's latest rebuttal added on:
