Drake vs. Meek Mill— Who Really Won?

Not many people have heard of Meek Mill before this feud with Drake, let’s just be honest. This is the exact reason this celebrity feud is so interesting— is the playing field even when one celebrity is tipping the popularity scale?

But before we get to that— a quick synopsis. Meek started it by throwing the first piece of shade at Drake via Twitter. Meek called out Drake for not promoting his new album, “Dreams Worth More Than Money”, due to the fact that Meek found out Drake allegedly used ghostwriters for the verses he contributed to the new album. Drake made a comeback in verse form with his first diss track, “Charged Up”. The song wasn’t extremely impressive, so Meek responded with some more comments on Drake’s rapping ability— calling the track “baby lotion soft”. However, Drake’s latest and most popular comeback track, “Back to Back” definitely closed the deal of the rap battle. In the lyrics, Drake insinuates Meek is using his girlfriend Nicki Minaj to advance his music career. The reason we think Drake is the winner of this feud is because of this song’s popularity. Yes, the song is clever/catchy however, we’ve also heard of his first feud-inspired single “Charged Up”, and it wasn’t that great. In contrast, we haven't heard very much about Meek’s diss track, “Wanna Know”, which wasn’t as catchy as Drake’s “Back to Back”, but still notable.

Meek’s song, “Wanna Know” featuring Quentin Miller (Drake’s alleged ghostwriter), is focused entirely on calling Drake out— Meek even referenced some of Drake’s other beef with other rappers. From a marketing perspective, there might be a reason why Drake’s “Back to Back” is more popular. And that’s because it’s lyrics are more ambiguous and less defensive, giving it a wider range of appeal as well as a nonchalant vibe. It seems as though Meek has to be on the offensive as well as the defensive because as a lesser known rapper attacking a more popular one, Meek is attacking all of Drake’s fans as well. And even though Meek’s ghostwriter accusations have a basis in fact, technically Quentin Miller is properly accredited in all collaborations with Drake. So with a better beat and wider target audience, Drake “wins” according to many publications, memes, and overall popular opinion.

Many also wonder if the feud was a set up, because Meek Mill has actually benefited from this publicity significantly. Maybe that’s why Nicki and Meek broke up, since Meek is more famous and doesn’t need to hop on “his girl’s tour” anymore. Anyway, the deciding factor is popular opinion since both sides have valid points about original rappers and assisting ghostwriters. A lot of major artists surround themselves with other talented musicians because there is a constant pressure for them to perform and deliver a certain standard. Whether you like it or not that is the reality of the music industry, so you could easily debate the topic and defend both rappers. The question is… which rapper has better defenders?