(Photo
by
Cole
Burston/Getty
Images)
Kendrick
Lamar.
Universal
Music
Group.
Drake.
His
defamation
lawsuit
has
some
big
names,
big
accusations,
and
big
money
in
the
balance.
With
things
this
heavy,
it
may
help
to
take
a
moment
to
step
back
and
appreciate
all
of
the
posturing
going
on.
For
that,
let’s
take
a
quick
aside.
You
ever
see
kids
play
fight
until
it
becomes
an
actual
fight
because
a
crowd
shows
up?
One
kid
eggs
on
that
he
can
punch
harder
than
his
friend.
His
friend
defends
his
honor
and
tells
the
challenger
to
squabble
up.
They
go
at
it
for
a
bit
with
light
jabs.
The
kid
who
started
it
yells
out
“That’s
all
you
got?!”
and
laughs
with
the
crowd.
The
other
kid
lands
a
haymaker
—
first
kid
runs
off
and
grabs
an
adult.
Or,
put
differently:
Back
to
the
grownups
playing.
Kendrick
Lamar’s
number
of
tweets
during
and
after
the
beef
was
only
5-6
above
Pauline
Newman’s:
Links
to
finished
songs
and
that’s
it.
Drake’s
twitter
fingers
on
the
other
hand
were
full
blown
events
filled
with
surprise
snippets
of
songs,
some
fake,
inside
jokes,
and
threats
to
drop
the
one
track
that
would
end
the
entire
thing
jokingly
referred
to
as
the
“Red
Button”:
Clear
provocation,
but
it
goes
further:
Drake
went
out
of
his
way
to
tell
Kai
Cenat
—
one
of
the
most
popular
streamers
in
the
world
—
to
stay
online
so
that
his
track
Family
Matters
could
get
extra
coverage.
Now
that
the
rap
battle
didn’t
go
Drake’s
way,
Cenat’s
now
being
named
in
the
defamation
lawsuit:
And
he’s
not
just
stopping
there.
Several
huge
streamers
are
caught
up
in
the
blowback:
Being
mad
at
UMG
for
not
enforcing
copyright
claims
after
Drake
wanted
them
to
post
reaction
videos
to
Family
Matters
to
help
his
numbers
is
the
adult
version
of
being
mad
at
the
teacher
for
not
stopping
the
fight
you
started.
One
of
the
interesting
this
about
this
particular
rap
beef
is
that
some
of
the
tracks
dropped
within
minutes
of
each
other.
That’s
why
RDC
are
wearing
the
same
clothes
in
this
video
when
they
reacted
to
Family
Matters
by
Drake
and
Meet
The
Grahams
by
Kendrick
Lamar:
Both
songs
functionally
got
the
same
amount
of
coverage:
This
is
what
happens
when
you
egg
on
Pulitzer
Prize
winners
in
a
word
fight
and
fail
to
factor
in
the
crowd
you
created.
Best
of
luck
to
whatever
is
left
of
Drake’s
career
after
this
suit.
Even
if
he
wins
the
suit,
the
RDC
skits
that
will
make
fun
of
him
running
to
the
courts
over
prose
will
be
legendary.
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.