Rap Latte: Drake Called HR On Kendrick!!!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Toure Show – "Rap Latte: Drake Called HR On Kendrick!!!"

Episode Information:

• Title: Rap Latte: Drake Called HR On Kendrick!!!
• Host/Authors: DCP Entertainment (Torres and King Green)
• Release Date: November 29, 2024
• Description: In this episode of Rap Latte, Torres and King Green delve into the heated rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, exploring the intricacies of the music industry's promotional tactics and the impact on hip hop culture.

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1. Introduction to Rap Latte

The episode begins with Torres introducing the podcast Rap Latte, a platform dedicated to in-depth conversations about hip hop. He highlights the show’s focus on discussing hot new albums, classic emcees, and various aspects of hip hop culture.

• Torres: "Welcome to Rap Latte, a deeper conversation about hip hop, hosted by me Torres, a veteran hip hop journalist, and King Green, a longtime emcee." [00:45]

2. The Drake vs. Kendrick Lawsuit

The core of the episode revolves around Drake's recent legal action against Kendrick Lamar, which Torres and King Green dissect thoroughly.

• King Green: "We have to go deep on the Drake legal action because it is so important. It's hysterical." [01:37]

The hosts discuss allegations that major record labels, such as Universal Music Group (UMG), engage in practices like payola and bot manipulation to promote artists. Drake's lawsuit claims that these practices were used against him by promoting Kendrick Lamar, thereby suppressing his own success.

• Torres: "The reality of it all is that the company does what they do for every single one of their artists... The bigger artists get more resources." [02:14]

3. Understanding Industry Practices: Payola and Promotion

Torres provides an in-depth analysis of how major labels operate, particularly focusing on promotional tactics.

• Torres: "Major labels would have advertising teams, marketing teams, promotional teams. Over time, they outsourced these through third-party promotional teams." [04:12]

He explains that labels pay third-party promoters to influence radio play and streaming playlist placements, often blurring the lines with unethical practices akin to payola.

• Torres: "I paid this promo team to promote my song to the radio... There's a $250,000 baseline limit of radio promotion budget just to get into the top five." [06:01]

4. Impact on Drake’s Image and Hip Hop Culture

The hosts critique Drake's response to the lawsuit, arguing that it damages his standing within authentic hip hop culture.

• King Green: "People do respect somebody who's like, good job. Take my loss with grace, like a gentleman. This is the opposite of that." [30:54]

They argue that Drake’s legal actions portray him as unsympathetic and out of touch with the community, undermining his credibility.

• Torres: "He feels like there's a loss of value where he can acquire more value by doing this suit." [29:38]

5. Personal Reflections and Anecdotes

Torres shares his personal journey with Drake, highlighting his initial skepticism and eventual respect for Drake's artistry, despite not personally liking him as an individual.

• Torres: "I thought he was corny and lame, but I respect him as an artist." [22:40]

This anecdote underscores the complex relationship artists can have with each other within the industry.

6. Cultural and Ethical Implications

The conversation delves into the ethical considerations of Drake's actions, comparing them to "snitching" within the cultural context of hip hop.

• King Green: "So he did crimes with UMG, and now he's saying, look, they committed crimes with that guy. Is this not corporate wet snitching?" [28:35]

They debate whether Drake's lawsuit is a betrayal of hip hop values, suggesting it aligns with corporate manipulation rather than authentic artistic rivalry.

• Torres: "Culturally, what I'm trying to tell you is that he's so out of it, he's not doing anything that's within the guidelines of what the culture is saying ethically." [29:27]

7. Future Implications for Drake and Hip Hop

Torres and King Green speculate on the future trajectory of Drake's career if he continues down this path, suggesting potential isolation from the hip hop community and a tarnished legacy.

• King Green: "He’s risking the ruination of his career with this chapter of this battle." [25:32]

They posit that while Drake may retain mainstream success, his standing within genuine hip hop circles could suffer irreparable damage.

• Torres: "The cultural cache is at negative 15... He said you’re not hip hop." [25:49]

8. Conclusion: The Battle's Aftermath

In wrapping up, the hosts emphasize the significance of maintaining authenticity and respect within the hip hop community. They lament the loss of cultural integrity exemplified by Drake's actions and predict long-term consequences for his reputation.

• King Green: "This is the exact opposite of taking your loss gracefully... This is gonna leave a stain." [31:32]

They conclude by reinforcing the need for artists to uphold the ethical standards of hip hop to preserve its cultural essence.

• Torres: "This is really ridiculous... But anyways, we can end here for real." [34:15]

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Torres: "Welcome to Rap Latte, a deeper conversation about hip hop." [00:45]
• King Green: "We have to go deep on the Drake legal action because it is so important. It's hysterical." [01:37]
• Torres: "Major labels would have advertising teams, marketing teams, promotional teams." [04:12]
• Torres: "There's a $250,000 baseline limit of radio promotion budget just to get into the top five." [06:01]
• King Green: "People do respect somebody who's like, good job. Take my loss with grace, like a gentleman." [30:54]
• Torres: "He felt like he's so out of it, he's not doing anything that's within the guidelines of what the culture is saying ethically." [29:27]
• King Green: "He’s risking the ruination of his career with this chapter of this battle." [25:32]
• Torres: "This is the exact opposite of taking your loss gracefully... This is gonna leave a stain." [31:32]

---

Conclusion:

In "Rap Latte: Drake Called HR On Kendrick!!!," Torres and King Green offer a critical examination of Drake's lawsuit against Kendrick Lamar, framing it within the broader context of the music industry's promotional strategies and the ethical standards of hip hop culture. Through detailed analysis and personal anecdotes, the hosts argue that Drake's actions not only challenge industry norms but also jeopardize his integrity and standing within the authentic hip hop community. This episode serves as a thought-provoking exploration of the interplay between artistry, business practices, and cultural values in the world of hip hop.

Transcript

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[Torre]

Welcome to Rap Latte, a deeper conversation about hip hop, hosted by me Torre, a veteran hip hop journalist, and King Green, a longtime emcee. We get together every day and talk about hip hop, hot new albums, classic emcees. We're going through every aspect of this culture on a deeper level. Check out this EP about Tyler, the creator's amazing new album, Chromacopia, which Green and I both think is the best hip hop album of the year. Rap Latte is a podcast and a YouTube show, so check out Rap Latte on YouTube. Go to Raplatte to find us or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.

[King Green]

I'm gonna get $1 million in the bank. What up, y'all? It's Torres, Rap Latte and King Green.

[Torre]

Deeper conversations about hip hop.

[King Green]

And we have to go deep on the Drake legal action because it is so important. It's hysterical. It's kind of, you know, if. If it was a movie about the beef and it ends with Drake suing because of the loss, alleging that the company that has conspired for over a decade to make him the biggest star, one of the biggest stars in the world, is now conspiring and scheming to make somebody else a bigger star on his back.

[Torre]

Yeah, it's hysterical. It's hysterical. It's honest. There's so many things to say about that. That's like actually going into what the filings are talking about is saying that this company is doing this and this company is not doing that. It's the reality of it all is that the company does what they do for every single one of their artists, whatever it is that they do. And he was one.

[King Green]

Well, they don't treat every artist the same.

[Torre]

No, I said they do what they do for every one of their artists. The bigger artists get more resources. That's the difference, Right, right, right.

[King Green]

Of course.

[Torre]

The bigger artists get re resources and the artists that are small, they're either there because there for market share or they're betting on them. Those are the two reasons why you have smaller artists. I'm betting on you to be a bigger artist or I don't want those people to have you only reason why you have smaller artists. And the bigger artists bring in the money to keep the lights on. Right? They bring in the products. And Drake's a big artist. So he got the same resources that Kendrick has, that Sabrina Carpenter got, that Katy Perry got, that everyone got at that level. It's just so much. I don't even know where to start. Where do we start? Let's just figure out how we start.

[King Green]

Let's start with this. His. You. You ha. You actually signed. You're signed in the UMG system, right?

[Torre]

I was. I have. UMG has ownership of my music still. But I am not signed to mg. I'm signed to Warner.

[King Green]

Drake's Is Drake's general thesis that payola bots and other forms of, let's say manipulation are used to make artists bigger than they are or been bigger than they seem. That that happens.

[Torre]

It does happen. And I want to say it in a very almost PC. Not PC, but I'm gonna like wipe my hands clean a little bit. Let's just say that there's bigger major labels, parent companies and since the beginning inception in 1950s, they would have advertising teams, marketing teams, promotional teams, part of the company as time passed, they got rid of those teams. Especially now they got rid of those teams because payola and all those things became illegal. Right? And really got cracked down on. Not the only reason why they got rid of it. They also got rid of it because of overhead. But that's one part. So now we would spend our money on third party promotional and marketing teams. And when a third party radio team goes to a radio station, you give them money and they go to a radio station with that money and pays to get your record play. I don't know what that promo team's doing. I'm the major label. I paid this promo team to promote my song to the radio. However that money gets exchanged and whatever is happening is out of my hands.

[King Green]

And that money is not generally like, please play not like us. Here's a check, right? It's more like UMG or whoever took the whole staff to Hawaii with their families on an amazing three Day vacation, meet some stars, have a big. Well, this is a big thing that's been done for a while, right?

[Torre]

No, no.

[King Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the, the radio.

[Torre]

I want to say the. Specifically what I'm talking about.

[King Green]

Go ahead, Go ahead.

[Torre]

Yeah, I want to specifically say what I'm talking about. Yes, I hear what you're saying, but it's like I'm. You're part of. You're the radio team and you're called the. The Emerald. I'm UMG's radio staff. I pay you the Emerald 50, $15,000 to promote this record for two weeks.

[King Green]

Right.

[Torre]

I don't know what you're doing. I don't know what promotion is. You, as a radio promoter have contacts at the radio stations. That money is exchanged with the radio stations from you. The Emerald person, however, party is used.

[King Green]

Money, not the label. And that's how you get out of calling it payola.

[Torre]

Exactly. And we don't know what happens. I'm not saying that they did something. I'm not saying that they do. I'm just letting you guys know how the business works. Me at the label pays Emerald $15,000. Now it's. It's testing well and it's being played well and the fans like it at the radio station. I need more money to help promote to more stations. Give me $50,000. Do you understand what I'm saying? And it gets up. Why does every record In a top five, there's like a $250,000 baseline limit of radio promotion budget just to get into the top five. This is a fact.

[King Green]

Somebody, somebody has to spend a quarter of a million guarantee record into the top five.

[Torre]

Guaranteed.

[King Green]

Guaranteed in this third party way.

[Torre]

Yes, guarantee.

[King Green]

This is how you're saying. So you're saying that the general notion here, that they paid some money to help not like Us rise. That's probably true.

[Torre]

If it. Yes, it's a. It's a. It's a song in the music industry. Every single song in the music industry works this way. However, and I'm trying to say. I'm talking about radio promotion, that business model when streaming came into play. The same thing. When Drake's dropping his album. The way that they do it, there's all these people who have playlists and sometimes labels own these playlists and they put their artists on these playlists and you're at the top of the playlist. You're going to get more streams, you get more streams, you get more money. You're getting put on those playlists because you generate Money. And because money is being pushed behind you, I need to recoup. I need you to get these plays. And there are bot farms, there's third party companies who do streaming promotion the same way that there's radio promotion, that labels pay for streaming promotion. And somehow they just get a bunch of plays every single time they promote.

[King Green]

All of this has been used in Drake's favor over and over and over throughout his career. And he knows that. And it's like, well, when the cheating was working for me, it was fine. But now that it's working for somebody else, kind of against me, now I'm crying foul and filing a lawsuit.

[Torre]

Yeah. So the petitions. And this is what I want to say about the petitions too. The other one got petitioned today, and that's what I thought was weird. The first initial petition, people were talking, were talking about this in a virtuous and a virtue and justice way. Like, you were even commenting on, like, Drake's going at the UMG for doing horrible practices. Like it's something new. And we're saying that it's not nothing new. But the only reason why you can go at them for horrible practices is after the second petition where he says that song that they're promoting unlawfully is defaming me. So that's why I can say that, hey, I think you should stop them from doing this. You guys are breaching my contract with you guys. Because that's actually what's happening too. It's like, you guys are breaching my contract with you guys by promoting this song that defames me. That's all that's being said in two different filing petitions. And it's disingenuous. It's not virtuous. Has nothing to do with any smaller artists. It's not the big business versus the artist. This is, I want you to be responsible for my. For this. For the lack of my success and the suppression of my success and my integrity.

[King Green]

Is there no manager, advisor, trusted friend in the circle who could say, yo, money, this is perhaps the worst way to respond at this stage of the game. People do respect you if you take an L with grace and keep it moving. Drake has already lost a battle in a big way in his career. Brushed it off, kept going, and it was like, well, damn, he's big enough to lose a battle. Like, damn, you know? And now this is like the most anti hip hop way of responding. And it fits with Kendrick's thesis of the case that you're not really one of us. And so when this push moment comes to shove, he's gonna act like a white boy and sue him and not realize that is exactly the wrong thing to do.

[Torre]

The real talk about it. Because, like, I want to talk about this in legal terms so much. Because my real perspective from a rapper perspective is it's so like, I just wanted to come on here and just call people names. Like I. And I know that doesn't make any sense. It's the Cornish in the world. No, no, no. I have to cope. I have to come through in proper legal terms. I feel like this is very craven. This is very craven of this individual to have this perspective. This is someone who's not a part of this culture. This is someone who was. Who was put on to this thing. Felt validated because of the people that put him on. He works with politics with a K. I'm specifically using that. He goes into the politics of it all. That's where Kendrick makes gnx, which validates the. The aggression that's on gnx. Before, I was thinking like, yeah, this is aggressive. To be still aggressive seven months later. But now I know why. I understand why. There's politics at an undercurrent that is like at a street level. That's what I'm saying. There's an undercurrent of a street level politics that now goes to the surface level. When it comes to this petition and lawsuit. This is complete. All just. You are not like us. And you are coming at this whole situation trying to. You're grasping for everything. You're trying to. You're trying to jeopardize my career. You're trying to jeopardize my life. You're doing whatever you can. You're. You're drowning. You are what? Spiraling.

[King Green]

He told you that he was his dude.

[Torre]

You are spiraling.

[King Green]

It reminds me of like, you have a fight with another kid in school and then. And you win, and then the kid goes against his dad to go to the school. Be like, how are you letting my kid fight at school? Like, you wanted to fight Drake. You called him out. Like you. You made.

[Torre]

That's a fight. Yeah, that's a fight. It's cool, let's do it more. It's like you and your cousin are fighting. That's what it feels like. Because if you're in this hip hop shit, you know the rules. You know, you and your cousin slap boxing in the basement. Your cousin loses and goes upstairs and tells your mom that's what happened. What?

[King Green]

Bro, we know that people, when people are talking in certain ways, sometimes we know this is what.

[Torre]

I can't believe this shit, bro.

[King Green]

You think when you are. If you think that I'm like that, the other person is like that. That's because you're like that, right? He thinks that bots and payola is being used against him because he knows that his team employs bots and payola on his own behalf. So he's sort of revealing his own tactics, right? He's revealing the way that he approaches the game entirely. But the notion that UMG would be hurting him when he is one of their biggest rainmakers, surely bigger than Kendrick, right? At least until this year. That doesn't make any sense.

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[Torre]

You make any sense? Because are we trying, when you ask that question, are we trying to figure out why he's doing this? Because I could say why he's doing it.

[King Green]

What? Why do you think he's doing it?

[Torre]

Drake has a contract with UMG. He has a big contract with UNG. He has a contract 500 plus reportedly. Do we know the inner workings of all that contract? No. But we do know that that contract says that he gets money from Spotify and umg. That's why Spotify is roped into this as well. If he can prove, you know, compel arbitration enforced to enforce the contract paying him directly. Not technically directly, but this is. This is why UMG Ha. UMG owns a part of Spotify. Spotify has to pay UMG in a. In a big large sum. Then after that large sum is collected by umg, UMG pays all the artists before. So before that money goes to the artist. This is, this is, he says, she say, that big lump sum. Drake is getting a percentage on top of what he's supposed to get. For him being an artist. That's what seemingly has been said it's possibly. So there's a deal there with. With. With Spotify. Spotify is incorporated in that UMG deal. And their part, UMG owns a piece of Spotify. So that's why they're incorporated. So now, now, now. And like I said, that's speculation of what the percentage is or how it gets paid. Obviously I don't know. But I know that they're incorporated within this petition in that deal. So I'm saying is if I have a deal, if I have a contract with UMG where my best interest is to their best interest, my best interest is theirs. And it's in the contract that I'm 360. Everything about me needs to be making money. If you are promoting something that's making me not make money as well as not promoting the things that I put. Put out, I could say that your con. This contract's nothing void. So I could do two things. Either could. So if I already got this large sum of money and I'm supposed to do all these things that are in this contract, I could say that I'm keeping the money now and I'm getting out of the contract. So Now I got 500 million for no reason. That's why Drake can. That's why he could win out of this situation. It's like I could be like, you defamed me. You promoted this thing you made. You did not. You weren't acting in my best interest. And now the 500 plus you gave me, I keep. And I don't have to do anything of the things you said.

[King Green]

Plus you think that Drake might get.

[Torre]

Out of his deal, out of this 500 without anything. And now what can you do when you don't have a deal? You could get another one. Would another company. None of the three companies. So say so Drake could get another 500 plus million dollar deal.

[King Green]

You really. You really think that he could get out of his UMG deal in this situation?

[Torre]

That's the. That's the case that they're. You're trying. That's the what the petition is trying to present. It's not only just.

[King Green]

That's what he's trying to do.

[Torre]

That's the. Yeah, it's. It's a possibility of our outcome.

[King Green]

So. So that's why he's suing UMG and not Kendrick.

[Torre]

Exactly. You follow the money, right? So like you said, you follow the money. So if this is the money funding everything, give me my money. I don't want to do. I'm not gonna owe you any more albums. Or anything like that. I can do everything and operate however I want, whether it's independent or make my own deals or however that goes. As well as trying to, to discredit the validity of not like us, which is the made part. Right. I'ma discredit this too. So my fan base, the 6070 who's still listening to me can feel emboldened to be like, oh, that wasn't really real, you see, because there's a, there's a petition out there because people who are idiots who don't understand how the music business works, they're going to be like, oh, I read this and this is what he said that they did. Therefore that's fact. Where I can make a whole petition about you right now tour and say that you took this and, and, and took and took all our streaming revenue and all that type of. You can make us a petition about anything. And that's why I do feel like.

[King Green]

Drake is really risking a lot here as far as his image and that he survived. He lost it. He survived. He survived. Not like us. Right. He still is viable. But this is self harm to his image that makes him look like a terrible, like just a dumb, whiny sore loser. If he's coming back with new music right now, like, okay, let's talk about your new music. Right? That's how you should be responding. This is the opposite of what hip hop would do in this situation. And you are proving Kendrick's, Kendrick's thesis.

[Torre]

Like to the, to the 10,000th degree. And it's the problem I have with this is that the community and the culture is already is wiped this dude off the board, right? He's not in. He's like, we don't they not like us. We've all agreed to the now because of this situation. We're like, come on now.

[King Green]

But I mean every subset is like, everybody is like, I played not like Us a million times myself. So I, yeah, I don't think a billion streams is a weird number. Like everybody. Yeah. Feel like that made. It was like an organic success where we, you know, sometimes there's a success where we're like, where was that record played? I didn't hear that record. A million. And we all heard it. We all know that really happened.

[Torre]

So you're people are playing it now.

[King Green]

The legal back to the moment of was it earlier this year when not like us was everywhere? So you've reminded us of your worst moment in this whole situation.

[Torre]

Exactly. Like I'm, I'm on like all of the social medias. And people are like, yeah, I'm gonna play. Not like us all day with the volume down to get it to a billion plays. Because it's like, at 900 million, people are like, you're. This is not working for you. Like. Like, it's not working for you at a cultural, communal level. It's not working for you at a business level. If it does work for you, that's fine. No one's gonna care. I don't care about your business and the money you make. I don't care if you have $5 billion. You're still a corny fool. Craven. You're a craven, corny individual.

[King Green]

Like, I have always thought that he was corny. And just there's. It's. It's like, this is just so.

[Torre]

I saw it. I saw it live. I'm gonna be. Let me be. Let me tell you a quick little quick tidbit. I saw it live, but I let it slide in this way. I. I get signed to Republic Records, Drake's label, in 2013. 2013. Nothing was the same. Came out and started from the bottom. Came out. I enjoyed that song. That was a great song. I was listening to it. I was like, this is a good song. And my friends were like, they didn't like Drake. Like, the super hip hop ones, you know what I'm saying? They're like, I don't like Drake. They just never liked him. I was like, why y'all hating? He's just an artist doing artistic stuff, and he came from a TV show. Whatever. I get invited. I get given asked how many tickets I want to a drake show in D.C. because I'm on the record company. They said, you want to see the Drake show? I'm like, yeah, fine. So we go to the show, great seats. And then when we see Drake, honestly, my first thought was, this dude is so corny and lame. I didn't know. But I was like, he makes great.

[King Green]

He greats.

[Torre]

He makes great music. I was just saying as a person, I thought he was corny and lame as, like, just as a human being. And I was. And my boy, too, was with me. With. I had my girl with me, my boys. And we were like, damn, this thing is kind of. Is he. Is. He kind of. He's kind of lame, right? And then we were like. We were like.

[King Green]

And.

[Torre]

And it was not like a attribute. Like, we thought he was less than. We're just like, oh. I thought he was like, maybe be a cool person. Not that. That guy nice and tried to Perform all that type of stuff. Not that guy. I left there understanding who he was as a human being, but still respected him as an artist all the way up to the battle. Even if I didn't like some of his songs, I respect him as an artist. This part, I can't even listen to the art anymore because I know too much of the other. It's like, what are we doing, bro? Yo, what are we doing, bro?

[King Green]

To me, Drake's last name is Numbers. Because every time the his fans talk about his greatness, the first thing they mentioned is the numbers. He's doing big numbers. Now, if we have to concede in this situation that part of Drake's success comes from Paola and Bots, that severely undercuts your argument about Drake's numbers Numbers. Because now we know some of his numbers are fake.

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[Torre]

You know that statement, men lie, women lie, numbers don't. Numbers lie more than both men and women. They don't. They lie. They lie. The most numbers are made the most made up thing in the world. You know how many numbers are. Ask me how many numbers there are between 1 and 2. An infinite amount of numbers between 1 and 2. You like, what are we talking about? Numbers lie.

[King Green]

Is he. Is he really risking the ruination of his career with this chapter of this battle?

[Torre]

Depending on what you mean by, by, by career, he. He's out of the culture of hip hop. The true culture of hip hop. He's not there.

[King Green]

Well, if you say that, if you mean the true culture, like the people who are like, I like lyricism, I like battles.

[Torre]

I'm not even talking about that. People.

[King Green]

Heads. All right, so more than. I mean, I think when he drops another album of half ass raps about girls who still kind of love him or don't people, it'll go platinum and people will listen to it and they'll say it's not as good as he used to be.

[Torre]

So he's people Will listen to it. But Katy Perry. Katy Perry can have a hit song, but she's not going to be hip hop. He's. He's there.

[King Green]

I don't think that's fair.

[Torre]

I don't know what you. What do you ask?

[King Green]

I don't think that's fair.

[Torre]

He's there.

[King Green]

I think that he maybe.

[Torre]

Is that just me? He's there. Not for me.

[King Green]

I don't know. I think he still has pop. I mean, he's there in my heart, but I think he still has pop. He definitely has pop fans who don't listen to anything but Drake. As far as hip hop.

[Torre]

Yeah.

[King Green]

The only. I don't like hip hop, but I like Drake. Drake, but he definitely. I mean, look at Mal. He still academics. He still has fans who live in the culture.

[Torre]

Those are people that he has affiliations.

[King Green]

With perhaps, but they're. They represent other. I know people in the culture. I had arguments during the battle. Some of them with zoomers, some of them with younger millennials who are like, you're glazing that Drake is still. He got numbers. He has fans. He still has fans. He'll always have those fans in hip hop culture. Right? Who. People who. I'm like, you like hip hop culture, but damn, you still like Drake. I don't get you. But I. Fine. Whatever the battle, I feel like he clearly lost, but he survived that he still has a career and feel like he clearly lost.

[Torre]

I have a problem with that statement.

[King Green]

We know he lost, but I feel like he's.

[Torre]

He says he lose. He just, he, he just put out.

[King Green]

A loss is clear. But he, but he, he does he still have a career? I would say yes. But this. I'm like he himself is saying within.

[Torre]

He himself saying with the petition is saying that there's been a chink in his armor and his actual numbers and the deals and the perception of him, of him has changed culturally. Right. He's agreeing to that. And even the thing that skeptic said, there's clearly things, deals, maybe perceptions of people who do not want to work with Drake. We could agree on that, right?

[King Green]

Yes.

[Torre]

Okay. There. 2019-2020-2021-2022. There's not a soul who wouldn't work or want to do a deal with Drake. 2024. There's people, there's companies that would not want to work with this, this entity of Drake.

[King Green]

So there is ice cold in 2024. I imagine he. He'll. He'll be back up. 20.

[Torre]

He said on that stream. He said he was Dropping a record.

[King Green]

I have a. I have a question. I have a question.

[Torre]

Yeah.

[King Green]

Because the music business is, in a way, a bunch of gangsters, right? Like, they are wearing suits, but they are taking from creative people, right? So. And Drake knows the insides of how that sausage is made as far as paola and bots and other things.

[Torre]

Yeah.

[King Green]

So he did crimes with umg, and now he's saying, look, they committed crimes with that guy. Is this not corporate wet snitching?

[Torre]

Corporate wet. It's not even dry snitching. This is. This is Rainy snitch, right?

[King Green]

It is, because there's a crime that was committed. You committed the crime, but now you're saying he committed the crime too, against me. But you've been doing that against everybody.

[Torre]

Let's answer that on two levels, because what. The question you're asking is a cultural question, right? Is it snitching? That's a cultural question. Culturally, what I'm trying to tell you is that he's so out of it, he's not doing anything that's within the guidelines of what the culture is saying ethically. Cultural cachet all gone. The cultural cache Is at negative 15. When it comes to that individual entity. When it comes to that individual and the entity. When it comes to the business ethics, there are no such thing as business ethics. It's just about what you can prove, what you can't prove, and who can win the suit which gives you market share or value. Whatever you're fighting for is for market share or value. That's the only thing. And he feels like there's a loss of value where he can acquire more value by doing this suit. And as people around them feel this way and convince them that's the number one thing. It's the people around him that's convinced that this. This makes sense. Because. Because that's what. Who did this. That's who filed it. Right? I just can't. It's like, I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand.

[King Green]

I don't understand. I want people to learn from this that taking a loss gracefully is something that is respected. Right? People respect somebody who's like, good job. Salute. You beat me, I walk off. You know, don't throw a tantrum. Don't. Don't kick the ball. Right? I don't destroy. I don't turn the board over. Right. I take my loss with grace, like a gentleman. We will live to fight another day. This is the exact opposite of taking your loss gracefully. And this is gonna Leave a stain.

[Torre]

On your image for a long time.

Yeah, it's. That's horrible, bro. Like, it's horrible.

[King Green]

I wonder if Kendrick's gonna rhyme about this on his real album.

[Torre]

He needed drop that real album. Like, that is crazy. What? I saw someone. What was it Pigeon Fork that gave that Kendrick album a 6.6.

[King Green]

What?

[Torre]

And it was. Yeah, and it's a black dude who wrote the review. And I was like, fork gave G and 6.6. That's the craziest thing.

[King Green]

They're like, they're done.

[Torre]

That's crazy.

[King Green]

Six points. Six is a Pitchfork kind of rapper. So for them to do, like, that's weird. That's weird. That's why.

[Torre]

It make no sense. It make no sense.

[King Green]

Yo, somebody. Somebody said that this is the. The petition is giving. Karen adjacent. It's giving. Can I speak to the manager?

[Torre]

It's exactly that.

[King Green]

What is really good. But because he's at umg, it's giving. I'm gonna call HR on you.

[Torre]

The boy called hr. He called hr.

[King Green]

Boy called hr.

[Torre]

The boy called hr.

[King Green]

Hr.

[Torre]

The boy called hr. It's. It's. It's the wildest thing, like, ever. I understand that there's money involved, but if money's everything out of.

[King Green]

For.

[Torre]

For you at a place. Money and ego. It's money and ego that's involved your ego. Like you said, you should be able to deal and take a loss, let go of your ego, take the loss, and figure out a way to come out of this. That's what every other person in a battle has done, right? And then. Which he's done even before. Now, the money part, you're trying to. Both of those things you can't let go of because that's all you. You actually see yourself as is whatever ego that you've created for yourself and the money that you created for yourself. Yourself. If you really saw yourself as who you were, you probably would not do this. No, like, know yourself.

[King Green]

The man said. Kenny said, you're not hip hop. And Drake said, hold my beer.

[Torre]

He said. He said, you're right. You know what? You know what? You're right. I'm not hip hop. And. And you're gonna go to. I'mma see you in court, buddy.

[King Green]

I'll see you in court, buddy.

[Torre]

I'll see you in court.

[King Green]

Yo, I'll see you in court, fam.

[Torre]

This, fam. I'll see you in court, Brody. Yo, I can't. I can't deal with this, dude. It's the. I don't know. I'LL be trying. I be. I was trying. You know me. I'd be trying not to. Like, I'll be trying to keep it level. But this. This is ridiculous, bro.

[King Green]

This is really bad. This is really bad.

[Torre]

This is really ridiculous. I don't even know what to say at this point. But anyways, we can end here for real.

[King Green]

Let's stop because I'm going to hurt my stomach. Okay. All right. Rap Latte.

[Torre]

Thanks for listening to Rap Latte. A deeper conversation about hip hop. Check out me and Kareem talking about hip hop three times a week as a podcast and a YouTube show.