It’s safe to say 2024 has not been Drake’s year. The industry titan has found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place following his feud with Kendrick Lamar earlier this year.
It seems Drake has moved on from the conflict after releasing “The Heart 6” in May, which has been slammed by critics and the public alike for questionable lyrics and lack of meaningful substance.
Following his beef with Lamar, the rapper released his “100 Gigs” EP, which features four songs and features from the likes of Young Thug, 21 Savage and Latto.
But the “hits” just aren’t hitting the same for Drizzy, as his latest tracks only managed to reach No. 28 on the Billboard charts. The Toronto rapper — who’s tied with Michael Jackson for 13 No. 1 solo hits — taunted Lamar throughout their beef, claiming he will always have better numbers.
“Numbers-wise, I’m out of here, you not fuckin’ creepin’ up,” Drake rapped on his song “Push Ups.”
But Drake couldn’t have been proven more wrong, as Lamar’s smash hit “Not Like Us” has broken nearly every streaming record Drake has set throughout his career. From most single-day streams for a solo rap song, fastest rap songs to reach 500 million streams, most song streams in any week for a rapper … you name it, Lamar broke it.
With a reputation smeared by Lamar’s scathing allegations earlier this year and records that aren’t topping the charts like they used to, it begs the question: Where does Drake go from here?
Honestly, Champagne Papi should consider taking a break from music altogether. In the past six years alone, Drake has released seven projects, some in the same year. He has nothing left to prove, and the shadow of Lamar still looms large over him.
It might be best to take some time to reflect. Time heals all wounds, and the damage inflicted by Lamar will fade away.
The oversaturation of Drake has also become a problem for the rapper in recent years. As more time has passed and the Toronto native continues to pump out more and more music, the general public has grown tired of hearing the same music constantly.
Taking an extended break from music might benefit Drake in the long run, no matter how oversaturated his music currently is, the man is just too popular to never drop music again. Eventually, fans would start to miss his music and it might set up a massive comeback that could see the rapper top the charts once again.
It just seems like the time is right, if Drake continues down the path he’s currently on, who knows what will happen. It’s time for the rapper to take a step back while his image and reputation begin to heal.
