Last time we looked at the Drake-Meek Mill Twitter beef/rap beef/somewhat confusing fight over Nicki Minaj, it was relatively small in scope -- Meek accused Drake of having other people write his rhymes (which was already kind of common knowledge), said possible ghostwriter Quentin Miller had to run for the hills, and poor Nicki Minaj was caught at the center of two dudes -- a slap-fight between her current boyfriend and a man with whom she has a rather complicated personal and musical past. It's developed sufficiently now to suggest all kinds of levels of strangeness, and to require this: a full timeline of recent developments in the Great Meek Mill-Drake Battle of 2015.
Saturday, 7/25 -- Drake Drops Meek Mill Diss Track "Charged Up"
"Charged Up" premieres on the OVO Beats 1 radio show. It's a pretty much what you expect from a Drake diss track, in that it's relatively non-aggressive, sad, and has spawned a minor meme comparing Drake to a fully charged iPhone battery (and Meek to a phone about to die).
Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex, a New York hip-hop mainstay (for perhaps too long), has already announced his interest in the Meek-Drake beef, claiming to have the reference tracks ghostwriter Quentin Miller recorded. Flex loudly says that Meek is going to premiere his response on his show, which entices many people to listen to terrestrial radio for the first time in years. Instead, Flex loops Rihanna and Fetty Wap and becomes the subject of a vast array of jokes on the internet.
Later Monday Night -- Meek Screams Into His Computer
Meek claims to have dropped a response diss track called "Beautiful Night," which is just him yelling. 'Kay.
Tuesday, 7/28 -- Nicki's Ex Safaree Issues a Cry For Attention
Safaree Samuels, the ex Nicki has already sufficiently clowned, attempts to enter the musical fray by, among other things, claiming that he ghostwrote swathes of The Pinkprint (notice how many of these moves are just people claiming things without showing the receipts). The track, ironically titled "Lifeline,"is very bad, but you can find it here if you are feeling particularly masochistic with regards to tertiary participants in mediocre rap beefs.
Tuesday Night -- Meek and Nicki Perform in Toronto, and it is Weird
Nicki's Pinkprint tour stops in Toronto, the city her boyfriend Meek Mill is supposedly barred from by the most badass city councillor in the game. Meek is late for his set, but eventually shows up to what appear to be light boos.
Wednesday, 7/29 -- Drake Drops "Back to Back"
With Meek seemingly collapsing, Drake goes in for the kill with another diss track, a "freestyle" in which he addresses the situation far more aggressively, owning his role as a musical curator ("I got the Midas touch") and leaving us with classically divisive Aubrey phrases. (Like, seriously -- is "trigger fingers turn to Twitter fingers" genius, or horrible?)
And here we are. There are some other minor developments piling on the participants (like this GoFundMe campaign to help Meek finally record an actual diss track), but for now, we're left with a large number of extremely confusing choices and questions. Why hasn't Meek made an actual explicit diss track? (This is especially confusing since he is, by all accounts, a pretty good battle rapper.) Why is Drake going in so hard on Meek, when all of the laws of rap beef suggest you never, ever punch down at someone less popular than you, lest you validate them and give them unnecessary attention? How pissed is Nicki at both of these man-children?
The only plausible explanation, from where I'm sitting, is that this is all a PR campaign gone horribly wrong for a secret Drake-Meek Mill collaborative album, their own version of Watch the Throne where the throne is adorned with psychosexual post-breakup hangups and framed photos of Nicki Minaj while she rolls her eyes from the booth, where she is actually continuing to do the work being a recording artist. The cover of this album will feature Meek and Drake hugging. It will be profound.
Thursday Night/Friday, 7/30-31 -- Day of the Dead Instagrams
It's fitting that much of the conflict has played out through open-letter, weird social media posts, since Meek started it on Twitter. But this time, an entire round went down on Instagram, as Drake first sort-of responded to "Wanna Know" before Meek basically reiterated his position again. And now, with a lull in the beef, we have to ask ourselves: What did it all mean? (Maybe these memes can help.)
Monday, 8/3 -- Drake Gets Petty With His Shirts
Once more unto the breach, fam. A couple of updates on the Drake front. First, at a kickball game he was apparently supposed to play with LeBron James, Drake says he "hasn't taken a loss all week" and then reveals the "Charged Up" logo on his shirt which, ha, because he's winning the beef! (And he's really good at turning stuff into clothing-based memes.)
Then he wears a "Free Meek Mill" shirt backstage at OVO Fest, continuing his tradition of sick burns through torso clothing.
Saturday, 7/25 -- Drake Drops Meek Mill Diss Track "Charged Up"
"Charged Up" premieres on the OVO Beats 1 radio show. It's a pretty much what you expect from a Drake diss track, in that it's relatively non-aggressive, sad, and has spawned a minor meme comparing Drake to a fully charged iPhone battery (and Meek to a phone about to die).
Someone wore this to the Pinkprint tour in Toronto today. pic.twitter.com/7K5e4VRCry
-- HIP HOP FACTS (@DailyRapFacts) July 29, 2015Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex, a New York hip-hop mainstay (for perhaps too long), has already announced his interest in the Meek-Drake beef, claiming to have the reference tracks ghostwriter Quentin Miller recorded. Flex loudly says that Meek is going to premiere his response on his show, which entices many people to listen to terrestrial radio for the first time in years. Instead, Flex loops Rihanna and Fetty Wap and becomes the subject of a vast array of jokes on the internet.
Funk Flex at HOT 97 like: "A Meek Mill diss track? Did I say something about a diss track?"pic.twitter.com/BWeKQfR8Ma
-- Racial Draft (@TheRaceDraft) July 28, 2015Later Monday Night -- Meek Screams Into His Computer
Meek claims to have dropped a response diss track called "Beautiful Night," which is just him yelling. 'Kay.
Here it gooooooooo lets get it 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/eWdMOXZrPh
-- Meek Mill (@MeekMill) July 28, 2015Tuesday, 7/28 -- Nicki's Ex Safaree Issues a Cry For Attention
Safaree Samuels, the ex Nicki has already sufficiently clowned, attempts to enter the musical fray by, among other things, claiming that he ghostwrote swathes of The Pinkprint (notice how many of these moves are just people claiming things without showing the receipts). The track, ironically titled "Lifeline,"is very bad, but you can find it here if you are feeling particularly masochistic with regards to tertiary participants in mediocre rap beefs.
Tuesday Night -- Meek and Nicki Perform in Toronto, and it is Weird
Nicki's Pinkprint tour stops in Toronto, the city her boyfriend Meek Mill is supposedly barred from by the most badass city councillor in the game. Meek is late for his set, but eventually shows up to what appear to be light boos.
Wow they Booing him pic.twitter.com/phlQMlLHyG
-- Simone (@paradicegold) July 29, 2015Meek might not leave Toronto alive b... pic.twitter.com/GpdFMElgZz
-- Killa Season,Trk 7 (@BigGhostLtd) July 29, 2015Wednesday, 7/29 -- Drake Drops "Back to Back"
With Meek seemingly collapsing, Drake goes in for the kill with another diss track, a "freestyle" in which he addresses the situation far more aggressively, owning his role as a musical curator ("I got the Midas touch") and leaving us with classically divisive Aubrey phrases. (Like, seriously -- is "trigger fingers turn to Twitter fingers" genius, or horrible?)
And here we are. There are some other minor developments piling on the participants (like this GoFundMe campaign to help Meek finally record an actual diss track), but for now, we're left with a large number of extremely confusing choices and questions. Why hasn't Meek made an actual explicit diss track? (This is especially confusing since he is, by all accounts, a pretty good battle rapper.) Why is Drake going in so hard on Meek, when all of the laws of rap beef suggest you never, ever punch down at someone less popular than you, lest you validate them and give them unnecessary attention? How pissed is Nicki at both of these man-children?
The only plausible explanation, from where I'm sitting, is that this is all a PR campaign gone horribly wrong for a secret Drake-Meek Mill collaborative album, their own version of Watch the Throne where the throne is adorned with psychosexual post-breakup hangups and framed photos of Nicki Minaj while she rolls her eyes from the booth, where she is actually continuing to do the work being a recording artist. The cover of this album will feature Meek and Drake hugging. It will be profound.
UPDATE: Thursday, 7/30 -- Meek Responds, Flex Thanks the Old Gods and the New
The beef is ongooooing. Meek claims he will finally drop his diss track on Hot 97, and the rap world reluctantly turns on their radios one last time, only to hear Funkmaster Flex go on and on about how "THE STREAM IS LIT" and "THE GRAM IS LIT" and some other random yelling that reminds you why Spotify is actually kind of great. After several hours, just before the end of his show, Flex plays the Quentin Miller reference tracks, and while it doesn't definitely prove Meek's allegations (is the reference track strictly for lyrics? is it for sound?), it does function as an actual, um, piece of evidence. Then, finally, the moment everyone had been waiting for -- Meek's diss. (Spoiler alert: It does not go down well with the internet.)
Yall petty af pic.twitter.com/eh6GcZmJNY
-- THE CULTURE (@Toussaint215) July 31, 2015Titled "Wanna Know," it includes a rather aggressive comparison between Drake and Milli Vanilli, the use of the Quentin Miller reference tracks as samples, an admittedly pretty fantastic beat that far outclasses the actual rapping, and the apparent accusation that someone once peed on Drake in a movie theater or something? It's not a great song, but it's a solid diss track, which means the internet gets to spend ever more time wondering who is winning the Drake-Meek beef this weekend. See you at OVO Fest!
Thursday Night/Friday, 7/30-31 -- Day of the Dead Instagrams
It's fitting that much of the conflict has played out through open-letter, weird social media posts, since Meek started it on Twitter. But this time, an entire round went down on Instagram, as Drake first sort-of responded to "Wanna Know" before Meek basically reiterated his position again. And now, with a lull in the beef, we have to ask ourselves: What did it all mean? (Maybe these memes can help.)
Monday, 8/3 -- Drake Gets Petty With His Shirts
Once more unto the breach, fam. A couple of updates on the Drake front. First, at a kickball game he was apparently supposed to play with LeBron James, Drake says he "hasn't taken a loss all week" and then reveals the "Charged Up" logo on his shirt which, ha, because he's winning the beef! (And he's really good at turning stuff into clothing-based memes.)
Drake Does His FIRST INTERVIEW Since He BODIES MEEK. . . Someone PUT A BATTERY IN HIS BACK . . . And He's STILL Shading Meek Mill!!
Posted by DeLorean on Sunday, August 2, 2015
Then he wears a "Free Meek Mill" shirt backstage at OVO Fest, continuing his tradition of sick burns through torso clothing.
Drake is wearing a "Free Meek Mill" T-shirt backstage at #OVOFestpic.twitter.com/mrqMgZrRex
-- Complex UK (@complex_uk) August 3, 2015Video of Drake looking over setlist and wearing the free Meek Mill shirt, pic.twitter.com/ZCfrp7LNQk
-- (the)6Track (@the6Tracks) August 3, 2015