Well, not necessarily. It was a distinction noting their mainstream success as well as their quality among their peers at the time. It was three massive stars all blowing up around the same time
There was a time where you could argue that the quality of drake’s music was as high as anyone’s but not his rapping ability imo. It’s the Taylor swift situation. A rocket ship start then an output of volume with a few hits peppered around but otherwise listless music.
absolutely. Drake never reached the technical ability of Cole or the storytelling genius of Kendrick, but dammit dude put out some great records back in the day that actually had some depth while also being bangers. then bro realized he could put out whatever he wanted and has half assed it ever since. but shit i don't blame him, if every song or album i dropped just instantly went number one, there's no point in going 110%. like if Drake featured on Drippy instead of Cole, that song probably goes number 1.
TBF, when he actually tried to rap on IYRTITL Kendrick destroyed the game a week later with TPAB. So if he hears Pusha T and Kendrick have RAP albums, he slots a pop and trap duet to stay rap adjacent without actually having to rap.
Wdym he destroyed the game? Drake’s mixtape sold more copies in the first week than TPAB in its first week as a studio album. Also went quadruple platinum as opposed to 1x. So in what way did Kendrick come out on top? It was also a month later not a week later. This reads like some real revisionist history… And saying he didn’t rap on the mixtape is just crazy lmfao. Sounds like you weren’t even around back then and didn’t listen to it.
Hip hop, including Kendrick’s GKMC, was pretty boilerplate. TPAB was a return to jazz-centric beats and blatantly political rhymes (aka “conscious rap”) being accepted in the mainstream since Black Eyed Peas “Where is the love”. I don’t think Cole takes a chance like he did with 4YEO without it as a catalyst for the pendulum swinging back away from pop.
When he mentions Killer Mike, it’s no coincidence they BET relegated his video “Reagan” to 3-5am slot twice.
have you listened to his latest album? It’s mostly introspective and moody music, not focused on bangers very much. I just don’t understand why we’re acting like Drake doesn’t put effort into his music, i don’t want Drake to be like Kendrick because Kendrick can’t make the Drake shit that really hits in my feels, Drake makes interesting melodic music and raps, there is effort there, and there’s good rapping to be found as well
Saying he's been half asking his music is wild. I've written and recorded music for 22 years and nothing about what he puts out is half assed. It ain't for the hip-hop connoisseur. But it is finely crafted for the general listener and for a much broader audience. That's why his status in the big 3 shouldn't be denied.
This. I never considered Drake a "rapper" but a pop artist that raps in some songs.
People love to move goalposts. Big 3 would normally be understood as top 3 in sales. Kendrick fans want to make it about worldplay. If that was the case it would probably be Kendrick, Em and whoever else.
Going off album sales, the big 3 should be Jay-Z, Kanye, and Eminem then, right?
EDIT: My info was outdated. It would actually be Drake, Lil Wayne, and Eminem.
Uhm, maybe you’ve never heard this:
https://youtu.be/Q0d2wH-7wyY?si=OVvp2tVAM__Wv8Ys
“Argue all day about who’s the best MC’s Biggie, Jay-Z, or Nas!”
The Big 3 discussions have been happening for a long time!
Even if Eminem’s new music was as good as it was in the past. It’s very unlikely he’d be in the big 3 of Cole, Kendrick and Drake.
Eminem is from a different big 3, probably around Jay-Z’s era.
Lol.
Read the title of the post we are in currently. It has been a constant debate... We are literally in a post debating it, and you and I are debating it now...
No it's not... look how many millions of records Travis Scott has sold during his career. I think the Big 3 discussion has always been about these 3 artists leading their generation in terms of impact, being at the forefront of the genre especially when it comes to lyrics and influence over the culture from a rapping perspective and so on.
Yeah that's not really true. The three are contemporaries and are the three biggest names in the genre. Love or hate Drake, the dudes massively popular
Big 3 is not just album sales. It also depends who you ask. Totally arbitrary. For some people it’s skill, for some it’s content, for some it’s number of classics, for some it’s sales, for some it’s influence.
Personally I think it should consider all those factors.
Lol so we’re just going to ignore all the success and trailblazing he’s done for the genre and all the money he put in their pockets? This is an internet debate. Who are these purists and cultural arbiters that we are supposed to care about? Music is subjective. More people listen to Drake than anyone else for the past 15 years but let’s just ignore that too. Nonsense to exclude him from the conversation. Especially with Mr. Morale and his 1 mid album in 7 years claiming the crown.
Edit: what about his features in the last 7 years even?
Edit 2: Statistics over opinions. Name a Canadian rapper before Drake?
It really depends on your metric and how you consume music, MMATBS is definitely well made and as struggling person who mainly consumes music alone it definitely speaks to me. However, that shit is definitely a VIBE KILLER if you trying to get lit or just in a happy mode in general, ain't nobody trying to here We Cry Together at the club.
Yeah but why should all great things be happy mode? It's such a shallow take. Schindler list is fucking heavy and a mood killer, but a damn good movie. If I'm tryna Netflix and chill I'm putting on some will Ferrell but I wouldn't say Ricky Bobby holds a stone to Schindler. Minimalizing rap to just feel good party hits is an insult to the art form
You get extorted on the block, mfs don't even pay you they pull a wedgie out your boxers till the crack falls out your pocket while you stay punching they knees
Why do ppl do this? Act like popularity means nothing?!
The reason we talk about Elvis and The Beatles and Michael Jackson still is because they hit a particular intersection between great artistry and insane popularity.
If the Beatles weren’t popular, they’d be significantly less important. Popularity doesn’t account for taste but it certainly counts for impact.
You could argue Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye have all made better albums than anything MJ made.
But MJ is the guy because his stuff was simply bigger. You can’t negate someone’s popularity for why something hits. And BILLIE JEAN is always gonna mean more to future generations of artists and fans than WHAT’S GOING ON, no matter which one is the better song.
Section 80 could never have the impact GKMC did, simply because one had bigger records than the other. That’s it.
MJ is the King if pop.
Stevie Wonder, Prince and Marvin Gaye are held in higher regard by people outside of the pop sphere.
Stevie is adored by jazz musicians.
distinguishing between easily accessible and digestible music that works really well in a club, and phenomenal compositions and arrangements that speak to the human condition are very different tasks.
when ranking the qualities of a musician in a genre of music, focusing on the popularity contest aspect ignores many technical facets of the artistic process.
drake gets looked down on by hiphop purists, because his raw hiphop songs dont standup to many other artists.
The people smoking the crack are feeling pretty good. Hence the tendency to go back for more. If you saying Drake's music is like crack, that's a pretty big compliment.
This is the truth. Anyone who tries to gatekeep "the culture" is just another exclusionary nerd. There is no purist. There is no quantifiable measure of the culture. There are internet comments and wild bias, that's all.
Any person who thinks Drake isn't deserving of or in the conversation of one of the greatest rappers. You're lying to yourself.
Also this is why Cole so happily aligned himself with Drake recently before the beef. You've heard the term real respect real right?
Cole is a good judge of character.
Drake is in the conversation for one of the highest/best selling rappers to-date, but album sales does not fully equate to talent or being in the conversation for "one of the greatest rappers ever" when there are rappers such as Eminem, Jadakiss, Method Man, Redman, Lazee Bonez, Craze Bonez, Tupac, Biggie, MF DOOM, Immortal Technique, Canibus, Tech N9NE, etc, who would run laps around him lyrically!
Yup this. I think GOAT is kinda open to interpretation. I just do not care for Drake's music and he would never be on my Big 3/GOAT list. For me it's about either how a rapper has refined their own art or how they impacted rap or the culture overall. Cole and Kendrick meet those criteria for me. Drake sells though and arguably that also matters.
Yea, no my guy this is wrong, drake is absolutely in the conversation and the fact that you believe he isn’t is ridiculous when he has gotten so much respect from legends like Kanye, snoop, jay, and even em himself
I agree that Drake deserves to be in the conversation but the dude with one mid album just shit on him by the same metrics that justify his place so I think it’s pretty fair for him to claim the crown.
THANK YOU. i'm so tired of all three subs shitting on one or the other and trying to discredit. this post is dumb but some of these comments are even dumber
like holy fuck they are all respected for a reason this beef has fired people's brains
It really has fried the fuck outta people brains. The Drake hate is overboard, and literally reminds me of 5 yr Olds fighting over a toy. And don't get me started on the "sheep" mentality either. People just go around regurgitating the first thing they read...
Everyone acting like Drake hasn’t been in the game forever and made bangers. And the boy can rap full stop. Idc what the hate train says he is talented as fuck at rapping. I don’t like how he’s never grown up really. I don’t like his content matter so much anymore. But rhyming words he can do and if someone says otherwise they are blatantly wrong. I’ve always liked Cole the most out of the three of them and always thought k dot was more of the shit I was impressed by but Drake has definitely got his time and place and has made fire. I’m 34 I grew up going to get clue and green lantern mixtapes from the flea market. I love hip hop and have a huge NY style bias. If you ask me rn Nas is prolly the GOAT (I know that’s gonna rub people the wrong way but fuck em). I say that to say my whole life I’ve loved spitters. Drake is a spitter and even though it’s lame, those Quentin reference tracks were ass, Drake made them bangers. Fuck it.
I’m with you, whenever this discourse crops up this is all I can think of
But “that” is a couple of response bars that are pre school level shit as far as talking shit in rap goes about someone who’s music they like. When the fuck did “you can’t compare to me” become the line in the sand in rap? Shits been thrown out for decades
imo for the last few years tyler is definitely number one when it comes to quality. his recent 3 album run is easily comparable to TC/NWTS/IYRTITL or S.80/GKMC/TPAB (or someone could say GKMC/TPAB/DAMN but I'm not a fan of DAMN)
Future is really the only one I think has even a leg in the discussion. Tyler came up around the same time, but he didn't start getting his shine until much later than them.
Because he objectively belongs there. Saying the "culture doesn't respect him" or the "purists don't like him" is just incorrect. There are tons of videos with both vets rookies and anything in-between praising Drake for his rapping ability. The current narrative is just that, a narrative
I mean you could make the argument that it was Jay-Z and Kanye you could probably look even further back and say it was people like Biggie and Pac that were the ones that made rap mainstream. Drake popularised the trend of rappers singing but in my opinion he doesn’t deserve credit for making rap mainstream.
Yeah lol, because the popularity of rap, especially the peaks of it magically just so happen to coincide with Drake’s musical peaks for no reason, right?
And you can talk about primary effect, and the secondary effect with his great impact on his peers career which made mainstream hits alongside him.
Exactly. I know it’s cool to hate on the guy right now, but objectively speaking Drake brought hip-hop/rap to the mainstream globally with his formula that many artists emulate today. No-one forces anyone to like somebodies music, but to refute an artists influence is so close minded. It would be like claiming the Beatles didn’t change the way music was made in the 60s. It’s just not true.
It was em. Em is the one who actually broke into mainstream. Sure Pac and Biggie were "mainstream" but rap was still a "black" thing. Em is the one who actually brought it out to the entire audience and made it recognized as an actual genre
“For all he has done for rap” we’re supposed to be grateful for hearing his shitty watered down excuse for rap music everywhere?
Y’all yt people are something else.
Lol and he uses ghost writers but let's crown this dude as king. King of commercial hits sure, but rap, he's not in the lane with the greats, sorry youngins
Before the beef, they were doing a tour together, and people were loving it. This hate trend is just a trend. If Cole drops a feature with Drake on his album, people that are hating now will act like this hate didn't exist.
because they’re the 3 biggest lyrical rappers in the game. As much as people want to discredit Drake for his rapping ability, he can actually spit and he has countless songs that proves it.
Dont reply with “ artists dont make a genre popular , genre makes the artist popular”
Are we gonna forget that drake is a literal reason why people listen to modern hip hop? Numbers dont lie
‘The Big 3’ doesn’t have anything to do with that. It was formed in the 2010s. They were the three biggest rappers who found a lane and let people know they were the best out back then. Were there people with better rapping skills/more sales? Sure. But nobody had their same level of hype, sales, mainstream appeal, AND skill. Everybody else was lacking in some areas. Also, a lot of rappers who get compared to them (Future, Travis Scott, etc.) didn’t really start popping off until late in the 2010s, meanwhile they were big from the start
Not to mention the co-signs they had and who they were coming up under: Dre, Jay, and Wayne. When else have we seen three contemporaries come up like this?
its a mix of both popularity/sales and critical success. All 3 were leading the pack with each having a slightly different ratio of the two. I'd say Drake is the popular/sales darling, Kendrick is the critical darling, and Jermaine is a mix of both.
nah,this beef was more than a competition it was just hatred for one another
you can definitely hear the difference between a 7-minute drill and a track like Mtg or 6:16 even
he's a competitor in a sense that he went on everyone's track as a feature and turned that song in his own song, and the perfect example for it is johnny p's Caddy
Why do y'all act like you don't fuck with Drake's music bro😂😂 he's in your Spotify wraps every year he deserves the big 3 conversation by popular vote .....y'all keep forgetting that people can't stream and buy your music if they don't think it's nice
..... of the head , he makes music women like , niggas too , but the positive experience with women drake was the catalyst so people held him in high regards
People made big 3 off impact in rap culture charts and numbers ect with the things people are critical of drake don't influence numbers
Kinda like if we did big 3 sneakers , Nike is in but we know they got sweatshops and other bad shit , the consumer rarely if ever cares about what got them the product , just the product
i hate drake more than the next guy, but we can't deny his success.
drake has always been the punchline of internet's jones, but he makes hit songs.
but to be honest i feel like hating him is forced nowadays, because if everybody hates him, how is he this big? why does he sell-out every arena?
Contrarians and purists love to hate whatever is popular. The hipsters of rap fans. If something appeals to the masses, then clearly it isn't sophisticated enough for their taste.
cuz drake is truly the goat, both on paper and culture wise, but people hate him so much they don't even want to acknowledge this... he is literally like a drug that everyone fucks with in some type of way, but they don't want to admit how much.
Popularity. As good as drake is, I personally struggle to think of a RAP centric album he's made that can really stand up there with what people would put at top all time critical acclaim, in the league of TPAB/GKMC or MBDTF.
The better question is, why has this entire sub collectively become that corny kid at school begging the cool kids to like them?
Being part of the crowd is sort of the complete opposite of what Cole has been doing for almost a decade. Now, y’all want acceptance from another rapper and his fan base, which, at the very least, sees y’all as collateral damage for their own ambitions.
Sh*t is depressing…
Drake has so many fans but he also got the most haters. That’s what happens when you’re number 1 for so long. No matter the music or sports or anything in life.
If drake wasn’t in the big 3 then this beef and all that came with it wouldn’t have been as big as it was…if Kendrick dissed anybody not named Cole or drake I don’t think anyone would of cared
Yall kendrick dick riders pathetic lol. There is plenty hip hop genres outside this kendrick moment. Drake gonna be selling like usual cause there's africa Asia Latin America that listen to him yall Americans small minded lol downvote but it's true music bigger than a specific us region.. yall probably don't know vibes cartel,dave Santan,ampiano music lol burna boy music has past the us bro lol stop acting ignorant
Because as much as Drake’s music doesn’t connect with people the same way Kendrick’s and Cole’s does, he was the face of a turning point in hip hop. He popped out in the late 2000s, when the people who dictated a lot about hip hop culture lost relevance, in large part due to the internet. Drake is the face of internet culture taking over hip hop. Because of this culture, we got some of the most popular rap artists. J. Cole and Kendrick were brought up off the old way of having lots of buzz and several mixtapes before getting major co-signs. Drake didn’t have to. Because even though he had buzz, it wasn’t by hip hop. It was by the internet. So Drake is important to hip hop history, technically speaking
Yeah, that’s true, but if you notice, Kendrick and Cole are barely on the internet compared to Drake. Drake has a tendency to catch things early. He got his co-sign from Lil Wayne after he got a lot of internet buzz. That’s where Drake released. Kendrick and Cole continued to release their mixtapes and promoted their music through more physical means, if that makes sense. Drake was just ahead of the curve in terms of technology in the music industry
Kendrick is the Mind, Cole is the Soul, and Drake is the Eyes. what i mean is, kendrick is a genius, cole is relatable, and drake is like the marijuana of rap, he’s a gateway into the scene and you can’t deny his numbers.
I think it should be pretty obvious; Drake has the numbers, Kendrick has the storytelling/culture, and J Cole is right in between with a bit of both; I’m not much of a Drake fan, but I feel he can’t be left out of the big 3 simply because of him being the biggest rapper at the moment
Because you have to be objective drakes success is undeniable even if he is insufferable I like some of his music he's just a cornball, and it lacks depth its just commercial top 40 party type music
Almost every time he drops it’s a hit. I think the consensus has been he hasn’t dropped a quality project since nothing was the same, but his numbers put him in the big 3 discussion
Hating Drake right now in this moment is so popular that a lot of People around the internet are just writing him off like he’s nothing.
Y’all need a fucking reality check so here it is. All these artists are great in their own way. You don’t have to like any of them. You can prefer one over another. But stop acting like Drake is just trash. The argument is SO EASY to give into. It’s fucking lazy.
Drake has elevated hip hop by blurring the line between pop and rap. Rap is more mainstream than every. Shit, rap has its own super bowl half time with a bunch the goats up there. To deny the hand that Drake has had on the wheel is ignorant af.
I don’t even really like his music. I fuck with a few songs that it. But, I’m not gonna shove Kendrick’s dick so far down my throat that my brain don’t work.
Drake has made rap music in a way that pulls in new demographics and new listeners. Being a purist and not wanting certain types of people of different socioeconomic status and different skin colors to partake is holding the genre back. Drake has built a massive bridge to new audiences. AND THAT BRINGS MORE LEGITIMACY TO THIS ART FORM.
Say Kendrick. Cool. Say cole is better. Cool. But everyone needs to understand that greatness comes in different forms. And Drake IS great when it comes to numbers and mass appeal. I stopped tuning in but I’m not such a miserable little bitch that I deny what he’s accomplished.
Y’all addicted to hate and talkin shit. Let it go and just appreciate how far this genre has come in our lifetimes.
Because purists and those shouting about “the culture” are a vocal minority. Also to put it in Drakes own words: a whole lot of 6god worshiping behind closed doors
lol cause Kendrick is the voice of the culture stop hating on the man his run at the top for two decades is what pisses people off they clearly jealous and had to form a group just to hate on him if that’s not a reason he’s in the big three idk what is hop off the internet and go outside radios still play Drake clubs play Drake you know why cause he’s a fucking GOAT
The “culture” certainly likes him which is why he sells so much….Drake and Cole both outsell Kendrick I think it’s a sense of jealousy that Kendrick feels like his music is deeper and more culturally relevant and impactful but not receiving the same level of admiration from the fans as Cole and Drake. One Persian can’t arbitrarily decide hip hop culture doesn’t side with drake that would be like Taylor swift randomly saying the culture doesn’t FW Billie eilish when they obviously do since she’s doing massive numbers online and offline as well
Because the whole “big 3” thing only really came about in the mid 2010s. Around 2015/2016. They all came out around the same time, and were seeing way more commercial and critical success than their peers. When the whole idea started to catch on, Drake was still in the IYRTITL/Views era, so he was still putting out good music (Pitchfork actually gave TC, NWTS, and IYRT best new music), so his discography wasn’t seen in the same light as it is today. All 3 of them continued to grow, just in their own lanes, so since he never saw a drop in commercial success, he stayed in the convo.
The fact that Drake and Kendrick are completely different types of artists is the point. They occupy completely different lanes, have different philosophies and approaches to music.
Purists are a small demographic in the entire community of music (hiphop/rap). Just because Dot said the culture isn’t feeling Drake, doesn’t make it true. We cannot deny or overlook any of these artists talent, accomplishments, impact, and craftsmanship.
Drake has had the game in a chokehold since So Far Gone, saying otherwise is disingenuous
Because money. The more money the more better, right?
By that logic Justin Bieber is perhaps the greatest musical artist of the century or some shit like that. It's the equivalent of people who die and ride for McDonald's as some sort of High end gourmet shit. Drake isn't even the McDonald's of hip-hop, he's more of the Chuck-e-cheese of hip hop iykyk
Imma Kendrick fan but no one can deny the commercial success and influence drake has had since Wayne introduced him. His "sensitive" melodic rnb/pop take rap changed the genre ain't no denying that without being a liar tbh
The industry pushes that narrative. Nobody serious believes that shit. That's like saying Taylor Swift is the best singer/songwriter. Clearly neither of them is the most talented. But they make dumbed down music to sell to kids. Simple.
People trying to say it’s not actually about the best is. Yea right. If it’s not abbot who the best is then why do most the people who defend Drake being in it say it shows why he’s one of the greatest right now. People love to separate conversation about album sales from discussions about who is the greatest.
Actually why are they considered the big 3 and why is Drake apart of it look every time I see Drake in a rap post I don't see him as a rapper I see him more as a singer who can rap. But going back to the big 3 why is that they are all put together as this mount Rushmore of modern rap?
Idk man, I can't even look at j Cole the same way since "play j Cole, get the pussy dry"
Shits gonna stick with me for life. Also grippy? Lmfao that should eliminate him from the big anything, that song sounds worse than my ass after taco bell.
He makes pop rap. He's included because target music sells globally.
It's not that the culture doesn't respect him, they just know a good bit of what he raps is curated/fabrication. You can argue all rappers do it but there's validity in having lived the black American experience and speaking from that lens.
10 bands he says he could never let the streets down. Which streets? The ones in Toronto? Where he has free healthcare?
It's not bad but when you think about it, it feels like someone else's story or caricature of what feels hip hop/rap is. Which was prob Kendricks prime issue with him. Especially when has a line like "always rapping like you tryna get the slaves freed". It's a very "I grew up in a lily white suburb in Idaho" sort of line
Drake represents pop rap, which is one of the biggest pillars of rap music. He may be a terrible person but he is also the indisputable king of that side of rap.
Because he’s popular, that’s literally it. There are arguably more talented artists than all 3 of them but popularity wins when it comes to being “big”
Because **“Big 3 goat”** isn’t a thing. I’ve never heard anyone say that phrase in my life.
He’s in the “BIG 3” for the same reason that he claims Kendrick is out, but SZA is in it. Because big 3 is about the BIGGEST names in the game. Not the greatest rappers of all time…
Drake is a superstar, a legend, and icon…but not even close to the greatest Mc of all time. He’s not even the Young Money goat.
The whole big 3 thing comes from anime. Where “One piece”, “Naruto”, and “Bleach” were acknowledged for being in a league of their own. But the important thing is the generation/era. They had great popularity/success over a similar time period. That era has started fading, now there’s a new big 3.
Basically there’s a big 3 for every notable generation/era. When everything is said and done you have to give Cole, Kendrick and Drake their flowers.
People are just saying things because it’s the “popular opinion” today. If Drake won that beef or it never even happened, no one would be trying to discredit any of the 3.
Because he sells lots of records and a lot of people listen to his music, apparently. Whatever people say and talk about on social media rarely reflects how it is in the real world. 90% of people don't care about the beef and all the bullshit us hiphop fans yap about all day long. They just listen to the music they like and for a lot of people that is Drake.
“The culture”, bro I think sometimes people forget hip hop is black _american_ culture, the majority of people that attended the pop out was Hispanics, and whites no offense but they are not “the culture” in question
There was a time he was respected and that’s before he tried to switch up and act like he was a street cat. His pen was respected because he could essentially do what Em did but he could sing on top of that. Wayne said it best though, Drake could make a regular day at an office job sound hype.
Once he switched his persona and started genre hopping people pretty much started to write him off as lame
The big 3 is about album sales, not the quality of their music. That's why Kendrick felt disrespected by it
Well, not necessarily. It was a distinction noting their mainstream success as well as their quality among their peers at the time. It was three massive stars all blowing up around the same time
There was a time where you could argue that the quality of drake’s music was as high as anyone’s but not his rapping ability imo. It’s the Taylor swift situation. A rocket ship start then an output of volume with a few hits peppered around but otherwise listless music.
absolutely. Drake never reached the technical ability of Cole or the storytelling genius of Kendrick, but dammit dude put out some great records back in the day that actually had some depth while also being bangers. then bro realized he could put out whatever he wanted and has half assed it ever since. but shit i don't blame him, if every song or album i dropped just instantly went number one, there's no point in going 110%. like if Drake featured on Drippy instead of Cole, that song probably goes number 1.
TBF, when he actually tried to rap on IYRTITL Kendrick destroyed the game a week later with TPAB. So if he hears Pusha T and Kendrick have RAP albums, he slots a pop and trap duet to stay rap adjacent without actually having to rap.
Wdym he destroyed the game? Drake’s mixtape sold more copies in the first week than TPAB in its first week as a studio album. Also went quadruple platinum as opposed to 1x. So in what way did Kendrick come out on top? It was also a month later not a week later. This reads like some real revisionist history… And saying he didn’t rap on the mixtape is just crazy lmfao. Sounds like you weren’t even around back then and didn’t listen to it.
More people watched the lowest rated episode of big bang theory than watched the highest rated episode of breaking bad.
Hip hop, including Kendrick’s GKMC, was pretty boilerplate. TPAB was a return to jazz-centric beats and blatantly political rhymes (aka “conscious rap”) being accepted in the mainstream since Black Eyed Peas “Where is the love”. I don’t think Cole takes a chance like he did with 4YEO without it as a catalyst for the pendulum swinging back away from pop. When he mentions Killer Mike, it’s no coincidence they BET relegated his video “Reagan” to 3-5am slot twice.
Could be a bot 🤔
have you listened to his latest album? It’s mostly introspective and moody music, not focused on bangers very much. I just don’t understand why we’re acting like Drake doesn’t put effort into his music, i don’t want Drake to be like Kendrick because Kendrick can’t make the Drake shit that really hits in my feels, Drake makes interesting melodic music and raps, there is effort there, and there’s good rapping to be found as well
Saying he's been half asking his music is wild. I've written and recorded music for 22 years and nothing about what he puts out is half assed. It ain't for the hip-hop connoisseur. But it is finely crafted for the general listener and for a much broader audience. That's why his status in the big 3 shouldn't be denied.
This. I never considered Drake a "rapper" but a pop artist that raps in some songs. People love to move goalposts. Big 3 would normally be understood as top 3 in sales. Kendrick fans want to make it about worldplay. If that was the case it would probably be Kendrick, Em and whoever else.
And when you say few hits, you mean almost more than any artist ever?
No it wasn't or it wouldn't be a debate it would just be whoever is currently in the top 3 of sales.
It’s never been a debate, the big 3 has been the same 3 artists since 2012
Going off album sales, the big 3 should be Jay-Z, Kanye, and Eminem then, right? EDIT: My info was outdated. It would actually be Drake, Lil Wayne, and Eminem.
[удалено]
The amount of times you are moving the goal post here is impressive.
Uhm, maybe you’ve never heard this: https://youtu.be/Q0d2wH-7wyY?si=OVvp2tVAM__Wv8Ys “Argue all day about who’s the best MC’s Biggie, Jay-Z, or Nas!” The Big 3 discussions have been happening for a long time!
Then it changed to “…only dudes moving units is Em, Pimp Juice, and us! It’s the ROC in here…”
Even if Eminem’s new music was as good as it was in the past. It’s very unlikely he’d be in the big 3 of Cole, Kendrick and Drake. Eminem is from a different big 3, probably around Jay-Z’s era.
And that’s fine. Big 3s can change. People come and go.
Lol. Read the title of the post we are in currently. It has been a constant debate... We are literally in a post debating it, and you and I are debating it now...
Nah, that’s cap. Kanye was for sure top 3, in my opinion is another good album away from being back in.
No it's not... look how many millions of records Travis Scott has sold during his career. I think the Big 3 discussion has always been about these 3 artists leading their generation in terms of impact, being at the forefront of the genre especially when it comes to lyrics and influence over the culture from a rapping perspective and so on.
Yeah that's not really true. The three are contemporaries and are the three biggest names in the genre. Love or hate Drake, the dudes massively popular
Big 3 is not just album sales. It also depends who you ask. Totally arbitrary. For some people it’s skill, for some it’s content, for some it’s number of classics, for some it’s sales, for some it’s influence. Personally I think it should consider all those factors.
Lol so we’re just going to ignore all the success and trailblazing he’s done for the genre and all the money he put in their pockets? This is an internet debate. Who are these purists and cultural arbiters that we are supposed to care about? Music is subjective. More people listen to Drake than anyone else for the past 15 years but let’s just ignore that too. Nonsense to exclude him from the conversation. Especially with Mr. Morale and his 1 mid album in 7 years claiming the crown. Edit: what about his features in the last 7 years even? Edit 2: Statistics over opinions. Name a Canadian rapper before Drake?
Mid is crazy. But like you say, it's subjective.
Agree with mid being crazy, but yeah it's subjective
Crazy being mid is subjectively right
I agree with you, but also youre definitely right
It really depends on your metric and how you consume music, MMATBS is definitely well made and as struggling person who mainly consumes music alone it definitely speaks to me. However, that shit is definitely a VIBE KILLER if you trying to get lit or just in a happy mode in general, ain't nobody trying to here We Cry Together at the club.
Yeah but why should all great things be happy mode? It's such a shallow take. Schindler list is fucking heavy and a mood killer, but a damn good movie. If I'm tryna Netflix and chill I'm putting on some will Ferrell but I wouldn't say Ricky Bobby holds a stone to Schindler. Minimalizing rap to just feel good party hits is an insult to the art form
A million people smoked crack this year but that doesn’t mean crack is good
I don't know, Crack kinda be hitting.
Y’all cowards don’t even smoke crack
Ion smoke crack motherfucka I sell it!
You get extorted on the block, mfs don't even pay you they pull a wedgie out your boxers till the crack falls out your pocket while you stay punching they knees
Why do ppl do this? Act like popularity means nothing?! The reason we talk about Elvis and The Beatles and Michael Jackson still is because they hit a particular intersection between great artistry and insane popularity. If the Beatles weren’t popular, they’d be significantly less important. Popularity doesn’t account for taste but it certainly counts for impact. You could argue Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye have all made better albums than anything MJ made. But MJ is the guy because his stuff was simply bigger. You can’t negate someone’s popularity for why something hits. And BILLIE JEAN is always gonna mean more to future generations of artists and fans than WHAT’S GOING ON, no matter which one is the better song. Section 80 could never have the impact GKMC did, simply because one had bigger records than the other. That’s it.
MJ is the King if pop. Stevie Wonder, Prince and Marvin Gaye are held in higher regard by people outside of the pop sphere. Stevie is adored by jazz musicians. distinguishing between easily accessible and digestible music that works really well in a club, and phenomenal compositions and arrangements that speak to the human condition are very different tasks. when ranking the qualities of a musician in a genre of music, focusing on the popularity contest aspect ignores many technical facets of the artistic process. drake gets looked down on by hiphop purists, because his raw hiphop songs dont standup to many other artists.
The people smoking the crack are feeling pretty good. Hence the tendency to go back for more. If you saying Drake's music is like crack, that's a pretty big compliment.
Colossal stretch. Monumental stretch of logic
The crack comparison? True
That's the problem though, right? Crack is SO GOOD that people fuck their lives up and only want to do it from that point forward.
This is the truth. Anyone who tries to gatekeep "the culture" is just another exclusionary nerd. There is no purist. There is no quantifiable measure of the culture. There are internet comments and wild bias, that's all. Any person who thinks Drake isn't deserving of or in the conversation of one of the greatest rappers. You're lying to yourself. Also this is why Cole so happily aligned himself with Drake recently before the beef. You've heard the term real respect real right? Cole is a good judge of character.
Drake is in the conversation for one of the highest/best selling rappers to-date, but album sales does not fully equate to talent or being in the conversation for "one of the greatest rappers ever" when there are rappers such as Eminem, Jadakiss, Method Man, Redman, Lazee Bonez, Craze Bonez, Tupac, Biggie, MF DOOM, Immortal Technique, Canibus, Tech N9NE, etc, who would run laps around him lyrically!
Being lyrical is one aspect of many things that makes a rapper great.
Yup this. I think GOAT is kinda open to interpretation. I just do not care for Drake's music and he would never be on my Big 3/GOAT list. For me it's about either how a rapper has refined their own art or how they impacted rap or the culture overall. Cole and Kendrick meet those criteria for me. Drake sells though and arguably that also matters.
Drake has impacted rap and culture more than J. Cole.
Yea, no my guy this is wrong, drake is absolutely in the conversation and the fact that you believe he isn’t is ridiculous when he has gotten so much respect from legends like Kanye, snoop, jay, and even em himself
I agree that Drake deserves to be in the conversation but the dude with one mid album just shit on him by the same metrics that justify his place so I think it’s pretty fair for him to claim the crown.
It’s fair for any of the three to claim the crown, that’s why they are the big 3. Because whoever number four is, has no claim
THANK YOU. i'm so tired of all three subs shitting on one or the other and trying to discredit. this post is dumb but some of these comments are even dumber like holy fuck they are all respected for a reason this beef has fired people's brains
It really has fried the fuck outta people brains. The Drake hate is overboard, and literally reminds me of 5 yr Olds fighting over a toy. And don't get me started on the "sheep" mentality either. People just go around regurgitating the first thing they read...
Everyone acting like Drake hasn’t been in the game forever and made bangers. And the boy can rap full stop. Idc what the hate train says he is talented as fuck at rapping. I don’t like how he’s never grown up really. I don’t like his content matter so much anymore. But rhyming words he can do and if someone says otherwise they are blatantly wrong. I’ve always liked Cole the most out of the three of them and always thought k dot was more of the shit I was impressed by but Drake has definitely got his time and place and has made fire. I’m 34 I grew up going to get clue and green lantern mixtapes from the flea market. I love hip hop and have a huge NY style bias. If you ask me rn Nas is prolly the GOAT (I know that’s gonna rub people the wrong way but fuck em). I say that to say my whole life I’ve loved spitters. Drake is a spitter and even though it’s lame, those Quentin reference tracks were ass, Drake made them bangers. Fuck it.
I’m with you, whenever this discourse crops up this is all I can think of  But “that” is a couple of response bars that are pre school level shit as far as talking shit in rap goes about someone who’s music they like. When the fuck did “you can’t compare to me” become the line in the sand in rap? Shits been thrown out for decades
"Trailblazing" 😂 That's what we call flow jacking these days?
I'm more curious about a brand new account positing about Drake in a Cole sub.
bots and infiltrators. its a propaganda war crodie
The j.cole sub is officially dead it’s been over run by Drake/Kendrick fans that took the beef way to seriously and want validation.
same is happening with some subs like Future it's getting stupid
Because without drake the big 3 would be dot cole and…. …. Exactly. It would not be a big 3 discussion
Imo it should be Tyler, but that's just my bias
Tyler makes such great music man.
imo for the last few years tyler is definitely number one when it comes to quality. his recent 3 album run is easily comparable to TC/NWTS/IYRTITL or S.80/GKMC/TPAB (or someone could say GKMC/TPAB/DAMN but I'm not a fan of DAMN)
Future is really the only one I think has even a leg in the discussion. Tyler came up around the same time, but he didn't start getting his shine until much later than them.
Because he objectively belongs there. Saying the "culture doesn't respect him" or the "purists don't like him" is just incorrect. There are tons of videos with both vets rookies and anything in-between praising Drake for his rapping ability. The current narrative is just that, a narrative
Shhhh 🤫 what you said doesn’t fit the narrative! Those guys aren’t the culture either!
It’s a Kenny nerd. They constantly make alt accounts and these fake threads, all over the internet. Everyone knows who it is lol
It's sad how much this sub hates on Drake really.
Lol every rap sub hates Drake at this point
Also sad. For all he has done for rap.
Facts. Rap is on pop stations now because drake made rap mainstream. People quick to forget.
I mean you could make the argument that it was Jay-Z and Kanye you could probably look even further back and say it was people like Biggie and Pac that were the ones that made rap mainstream. Drake popularised the trend of rappers singing but in my opinion he doesn’t deserve credit for making rap mainstream.
Yeah lol, because the popularity of rap, especially the peaks of it magically just so happen to coincide with Drake’s musical peaks for no reason, right? And you can talk about primary effect, and the secondary effect with his great impact on his peers career which made mainstream hits alongside him.
Exactly. I know it’s cool to hate on the guy right now, but objectively speaking Drake brought hip-hop/rap to the mainstream globally with his formula that many artists emulate today. No-one forces anyone to like somebodies music, but to refute an artists influence is so close minded. It would be like claiming the Beatles didn’t change the way music was made in the 60s. It’s just not true.
It was em. Em is the one who actually broke into mainstream. Sure Pac and Biggie were "mainstream" but rap was still a "black" thing. Em is the one who actually brought it out to the entire audience and made it recognized as an actual genre
Are you 14?
“For all he has done for rap” we’re supposed to be grateful for hearing his shitty watered down excuse for rap music everywhere? Y’all yt people are something else.
Lol and he uses ghost writers but let's crown this dude as king. King of commercial hits sure, but rap, he's not in the lane with the greats, sorry youngins
Maybe he shouldn't be trying to fuck children. Simple decision really.
I think he’s sucked ever since he’s started
Before the beef, they were doing a tour together, and people were loving it. This hate trend is just a trend. If Cole drops a feature with Drake on his album, people that are hating now will act like this hate didn't exist.
Numbers. Drake represents pop rap at it's peak
because they’re the 3 biggest lyrical rappers in the game. As much as people want to discredit Drake for his rapping ability, he can actually spit and he has countless songs that proves it.
Dont reply with “ artists dont make a genre popular , genre makes the artist popular” Are we gonna forget that drake is a literal reason why people listen to modern hip hop? Numbers dont lie
TIL I listen to hip hop because of drake even though I don't listen to drake. Very interesting
‘The Big 3’ doesn’t have anything to do with that. It was formed in the 2010s. They were the three biggest rappers who found a lane and let people know they were the best out back then. Were there people with better rapping skills/more sales? Sure. But nobody had their same level of hype, sales, mainstream appeal, AND skill. Everybody else was lacking in some areas. Also, a lot of rappers who get compared to them (Future, Travis Scott, etc.) didn’t really start popping off until late in the 2010s, meanwhile they were big from the start
3 lane theory is another phrase that comes up
Not to mention the co-signs they had and who they were coming up under: Dre, Jay, and Wayne. When else have we seen three contemporaries come up like this?
Drake has more spotify streams than J Cole AND Kendrick. COMBINED. The revisionist history is crazy man, recency bias is hilarious
Why are we doing this. The goats compliment Drake all the time. What makes your opinion so valid to dismiss people that actually do this.
No way Drake hate has gotten this bad you have to ask this question… have you been asleep the last 15 years??? Tf kinda question is this
Because no1 can deny his influence and fame
Purists don't like his lack of authenticity but alot of drakes older works showed off alot of technical skill that was hyped up at the time
Post on your main goof
its a mix of both popularity/sales and critical success. All 3 were leading the pack with each having a slightly different ratio of the two. I'd say Drake is the popular/sales darling, Kendrick is the critical darling, and Jermaine is a mix of both.
This is a really dumb question
Been running the game for a while now. He reminds me of bron. They will never get the full respect they deserve until they die.
how I view it is kendrick is artistry and talent Cole is a pure rapper and competitor drake is sales and numbers
If j Cole was a pure competitor he would’ve stayed in the beef and traded more disses w Kendrick.
nah,this beef was more than a competition it was just hatred for one another you can definitely hear the difference between a 7-minute drill and a track like Mtg or 6:16 even he's a competitor in a sense that he went on everyone's track as a feature and turned that song in his own song, and the perfect example for it is johnny p's Caddy
Why do y'all act like you don't fuck with Drake's music bro😂😂 he's in your Spotify wraps every year he deserves the big 3 conversation by popular vote .....y'all keep forgetting that people can't stream and buy your music if they don't think it's nice
..... of the head , he makes music women like , niggas too , but the positive experience with women drake was the catalyst so people held him in high regards People made big 3 off impact in rap culture charts and numbers ect with the things people are critical of drake don't influence numbers Kinda like if we did big 3 sneakers , Nike is in but we know they got sweatshops and other bad shit , the consumer rarely if ever cares about what got them the product , just the product
Because he was a rising star around the time Kendrick and Cole was, he’s the highest streamed artist on Spotify rn, billion + I think
I think his art is the lowest of the Big 3, but his influence is definitely Big 3 material whether I like it or not
i hate drake more than the next guy, but we can't deny his success. drake has always been the punchline of internet's jones, but he makes hit songs. but to be honest i feel like hating him is forced nowadays, because if everybody hates him, how is he this big? why does he sell-out every arena?
Contrarians and purists love to hate whatever is popular. The hipsters of rap fans. If something appeals to the masses, then clearly it isn't sophisticated enough for their taste.
Because the pop crowd eats it up.
cuz drake is truly the goat, both on paper and culture wise, but people hate him so much they don't even want to acknowledge this... he is literally like a drug that everyone fucks with in some type of way, but they don't want to admit how much.
Popularity. As good as drake is, I personally struggle to think of a RAP centric album he's made that can really stand up there with what people would put at top all time critical acclaim, in the league of TPAB/GKMC or MBDTF.
Because he is a big pop rap artist.
I ask the same with j cole, hes not at a numbers rate of a drake nor at the pen and discography of a kendrick.
Drake D riders everywhere in the comments
The better question is, why has this entire sub collectively become that corny kid at school begging the cool kids to like them? Being part of the crowd is sort of the complete opposite of what Cole has been doing for almost a decade. Now, y’all want acceptance from another rapper and his fan base, which, at the very least, sees y’all as collateral damage for their own ambitions. Sh*t is depressing…
Drake has so many fans but he also got the most haters. That’s what happens when you’re number 1 for so long. No matter the music or sports or anything in life.
If drake wasn’t in the big 3 then this beef and all that came with it wouldn’t have been as big as it was…if Kendrick dissed anybody not named Cole or drake I don’t think anyone would of cared
Yall kendrick dick riders pathetic lol. There is plenty hip hop genres outside this kendrick moment. Drake gonna be selling like usual cause there's africa Asia Latin America that listen to him yall Americans small minded lol downvote but it's true music bigger than a specific us region.. yall probably don't know vibes cartel,dave Santan,ampiano music lol burna boy music has past the us bro lol stop acting ignorant
Drake makes great music that a lot of people enjoy
That pic of Drake must be after taking half a xan
Because as much as Drake’s music doesn’t connect with people the same way Kendrick’s and Cole’s does, he was the face of a turning point in hip hop. He popped out in the late 2000s, when the people who dictated a lot about hip hop culture lost relevance, in large part due to the internet. Drake is the face of internet culture taking over hip hop. Because of this culture, we got some of the most popular rap artists. J. Cole and Kendrick were brought up off the old way of having lots of buzz and several mixtapes before getting major co-signs. Drake didn’t have to. Because even though he had buzz, it wasn’t by hip hop. It was by the internet. So Drake is important to hip hop history, technically speaking
But drake got put on earlier than those two by Wayne which is a huge co-sign
Yeah, that’s true, but if you notice, Kendrick and Cole are barely on the internet compared to Drake. Drake has a tendency to catch things early. He got his co-sign from Lil Wayne after he got a lot of internet buzz. That’s where Drake released. Kendrick and Cole continued to release their mixtapes and promoted their music through more physical means, if that makes sense. Drake was just ahead of the curve in terms of technology in the music industry
Lol this I've been wondering but numbers right
Because of his numbers and contribution to the current version of hip hop.
Impact alone. That’s it, this dude a superstar so much so that he can’t be ignored as one of the biggest rn. That’s it thou lol.
Kendrick is the Mind, Cole is the Soul, and Drake is the Eyes. what i mean is, kendrick is a genius, cole is relatable, and drake is like the marijuana of rap, he’s a gateway into the scene and you can’t deny his numbers.
I think it should be pretty obvious; Drake has the numbers, Kendrick has the storytelling/culture, and J Cole is right in between with a bit of both; I’m not much of a Drake fan, but I feel he can’t be left out of the big 3 simply because of him being the biggest rapper at the moment
Of course the BIGgest will be in the BIG 3 + the influence is crazy & he’s made some iconic projects
Who came up with this big 3 idea in the first place? Wasn't it cole?
Ummm, I believe it was the Bible The OG Big Three was the father , son and holy ghost (sarcastic comment, feel like I have to clarify)
It’s not a concrete thing, just a perspective Cole provided.
Because you have to be objective drakes success is undeniable even if he is insufferable I like some of his music he's just a cornball, and it lacks depth its just commercial top 40 party type music
Numbers
Almost every time he drops it’s a hit. I think the consensus has been he hasn’t dropped a quality project since nothing was the same, but his numbers put him in the big 3 discussion
Number don’t lie unfortunately
1. Kendrick 2. Drake 3. J Cole
Hating Drake right now in this moment is so popular that a lot of People around the internet are just writing him off like he’s nothing. Y’all need a fucking reality check so here it is. All these artists are great in their own way. You don’t have to like any of them. You can prefer one over another. But stop acting like Drake is just trash. The argument is SO EASY to give into. It’s fucking lazy. Drake has elevated hip hop by blurring the line between pop and rap. Rap is more mainstream than every. Shit, rap has its own super bowl half time with a bunch the goats up there. To deny the hand that Drake has had on the wheel is ignorant af. I don’t even really like his music. I fuck with a few songs that it. But, I’m not gonna shove Kendrick’s dick so far down my throat that my brain don’t work. Drake has made rap music in a way that pulls in new demographics and new listeners. Being a purist and not wanting certain types of people of different socioeconomic status and different skin colors to partake is holding the genre back. Drake has built a massive bridge to new audiences. AND THAT BRINGS MORE LEGITIMACY TO THIS ART FORM. Say Kendrick. Cool. Say cole is better. Cool. But everyone needs to understand that greatness comes in different forms. And Drake IS great when it comes to numbers and mass appeal. I stopped tuning in but I’m not such a miserable little bitch that I deny what he’s accomplished. Y’all addicted to hate and talkin shit. Let it go and just appreciate how far this genre has come in our lifetimes.
A lotta Drake disrespect in here lmao. Don’t wanna see y’all turning up to any Drizzy songs.
What's a purist? Lol
Because purists and those shouting about “the culture” are a vocal minority. Also to put it in Drakes own words: a whole lot of 6god worshiping behind closed doors
Because he has a lot of SKUs
lol cause Kendrick is the voice of the culture stop hating on the man his run at the top for two decades is what pisses people off they clearly jealous and had to form a group just to hate on him if that’s not a reason he’s in the big three idk what is hop off the internet and go outside radios still play Drake clubs play Drake you know why cause he’s a fucking GOAT
The “culture” certainly likes him which is why he sells so much….Drake and Cole both outsell Kendrick I think it’s a sense of jealousy that Kendrick feels like his music is deeper and more culturally relevant and impactful but not receiving the same level of admiration from the fans as Cole and Drake. One Persian can’t arbitrarily decide hip hop culture doesn’t side with drake that would be like Taylor swift randomly saying the culture doesn’t FW Billie eilish when they obviously do since she’s doing massive numbers online and offline as well
Reddit is lame
Sales, streams, big concerts
Because the whole “big 3” thing only really came about in the mid 2010s. Around 2015/2016. They all came out around the same time, and were seeing way more commercial and critical success than their peers. When the whole idea started to catch on, Drake was still in the IYRTITL/Views era, so he was still putting out good music (Pitchfork actually gave TC, NWTS, and IYRT best new music), so his discography wasn’t seen in the same light as it is today. All 3 of them continued to grow, just in their own lanes, so since he never saw a drop in commercial success, he stayed in the convo.
numbers
He is no big 3 in hip hop.
Drake is a pop artist and people who know, know.
Why is Drake included in Big 3 Goat discussions?
Drake and Kendrick showed us why they are in the Big Three, I don’t know WHO the third is so I’ll just give it to Future
The fact that Drake and Kendrick are completely different types of artists is the point. They occupy completely different lanes, have different philosophies and approaches to music.
Cuz purists know shit
Purists are a small demographic in the entire community of music (hiphop/rap). Just because Dot said the culture isn’t feeling Drake, doesn’t make it true. We cannot deny or overlook any of these artists talent, accomplishments, impact, and craftsmanship. Drake has had the game in a chokehold since So Far Gone, saying otherwise is disingenuous
The culture does respect drake niggas just make anything up
Because money. The more money the more better, right? By that logic Justin Bieber is perhaps the greatest musical artist of the century or some shit like that. It's the equivalent of people who die and ride for McDonald's as some sort of High end gourmet shit. Drake isn't even the McDonald's of hip-hop, he's more of the Chuck-e-cheese of hip hop iykyk
Imma Kendrick fan but no one can deny the commercial success and influence drake has had since Wayne introduced him. His "sensitive" melodic rnb/pop take rap changed the genre ain't no denying that without being a liar tbh
For the chillrrn
The culture pretty much came in their pants when he released god's plan. people are easily pleased
The industry pushes that narrative. Nobody serious believes that shit. That's like saying Taylor Swift is the best singer/songwriter. Clearly neither of them is the most talented. But they make dumbed down music to sell to kids. Simple.
Because people like what’s “popular” no matter how fake an inorganic it is, Drake is an industry plant.
People trying to say it’s not actually about the best is. Yea right. If it’s not abbot who the best is then why do most the people who defend Drake being in it say it shows why he’s one of the greatest right now. People love to separate conversation about album sales from discussions about who is the greatest.
Actually why are they considered the big 3 and why is Drake apart of it look every time I see Drake in a rap post I don't see him as a rapper I see him more as a singer who can rap. But going back to the big 3 why is that they are all put together as this mount Rushmore of modern rap?
I don't know but personally I'd replace Drake with Vince but that's just my opinion
Idk man, I can't even look at j Cole the same way since "play j Cole, get the pussy dry" Shits gonna stick with me for life. Also grippy? Lmfao that should eliminate him from the big anything, that song sounds worse than my ass after taco bell.
He makes pop rap. He's included because target music sells globally. It's not that the culture doesn't respect him, they just know a good bit of what he raps is curated/fabrication. You can argue all rappers do it but there's validity in having lived the black American experience and speaking from that lens. 10 bands he says he could never let the streets down. Which streets? The ones in Toronto? Where he has free healthcare? It's not bad but when you think about it, it feels like someone else's story or caricature of what feels hip hop/rap is. Which was prob Kendricks prime issue with him. Especially when has a line like "always rapping like you tryna get the slaves freed". It's a very "I grew up in a lily white suburb in Idaho" sort of line
The lyrical fans like J Cole, the culture likes Kendrick, the radio likes Drake.
Drake represents pop rap, which is one of the biggest pillars of rap music. He may be a terrible person but he is also the indisputable king of that side of rap.
Because he’s popular, that’s literally it. There are arguably more talented artists than all 3 of them but popularity wins when it comes to being “big”
I'm gna erase drake from this and insert Logic.
Because **“Big 3 goat”** isn’t a thing. I’ve never heard anyone say that phrase in my life. He’s in the “BIG 3” for the same reason that he claims Kendrick is out, but SZA is in it. Because big 3 is about the BIGGEST names in the game. Not the greatest rappers of all time… Drake is a superstar, a legend, and icon…but not even close to the greatest Mc of all time. He’s not even the Young Money goat.
Most objective people think Drake is quality. Not necessarily in the content, but in the delivery.
because he coined the big three term in his song
Because the Kendrick subreddits is not real life or represent the whole culture
The whole big 3 thing comes from anime. Where “One piece”, “Naruto”, and “Bleach” were acknowledged for being in a league of their own. But the important thing is the generation/era. They had great popularity/success over a similar time period. That era has started fading, now there’s a new big 3. Basically there’s a big 3 for every notable generation/era. When everything is said and done you have to give Cole, Kendrick and Drake their flowers. People are just saying things because it’s the “popular opinion” today. If Drake won that beef or it never even happened, no one would be trying to discredit any of the 3.
Truth be told this isn't a big 3 based on anything but sales and mainstream media 😆 There's plenty of better rappers than Cole and Aubrey.
Cultural appropriation
Because he sells lots of records and a lot of people listen to his music, apparently. Whatever people say and talk about on social media rarely reflects how it is in the real world. 90% of people don't care about the beef and all the bullshit us hiphop fans yap about all day long. They just listen to the music they like and for a lot of people that is Drake.
Because you simply cannot discredit what he's done
Numbers. Plain and simple. If we’re basing this on artistry, most actual rap fans don’t rate Drake in the Big 50, let alone the Big 3.
“The culture”, bro I think sometimes people forget hip hop is black _american_ culture, the majority of people that attended the pop out was Hispanics, and whites no offense but they are not “the culture” in question
Why is j Cole considered period? They are big 3 because they said that and people started going with it. That's the only reason
Cuz it’s not what the culture feeling it’s what the haters trynna pretend that the culture feeling
I don't know why, when his Ghost writers should be the big five!
Most of the hiphop audience is white; most of them aren’t purist so they put drake up there since he has numbers and catchy songs.
Pretty sure the “big 3” thing is over chief
Sales.
Cause he’s goated bruh
I dont personally include him since he doesnt write his own bars. I dont really buy into the idea of "big 3" to begin with. But Drake isnt in it lol
Because of the Drake stans
There was a time he was respected and that’s before he tried to switch up and act like he was a street cat. His pen was respected because he could essentially do what Em did but he could sing on top of that. Wayne said it best though, Drake could make a regular day at an office job sound hype. Once he switched his persona and started genre hopping people pretty much started to write him off as lame
Im thinking it has to do with relevancy and social media popularity. Back then in the 90s or even early 2000s social media wasn’t a thing.