The evening of bumping basslines kicked a brick right through Toronto after Rick Ross’s show ended with some serious trouble. This has been the subject of controversy since an influencer recorded Ross playing Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”
A scorching, shit-talking diss-song aimed at Drake and OVO with allegations aplenty. The cover is pretty much how it sounds disgusting, pedophilia and drug abuse are the heavyweights that “Not Like Us” throws up in your face. Designed to look like a sex offender residence mark, the artwork is an eerie rendering of Drake’s mansion under red light. Drake drives his point home on the lyrics and they are much less ambiguous, as he goes for the friends of Drake himself with hearty barbs.
Rick Ross and his crew were reportedly assaulted after his show in Canada after they played Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ at the end of his set 😳 PIC.TWITTER.COM/EGCWNPSTEX
— Hip Hop All Day (@HipHopAllDayy) JULY 1, 2024
As the diss track echoed throughout the venue in Toronto, a city already brimming with tension due to previous Lamar-Drake beefs, partisans were heard approaching hostile. The simmering pot boiled over, and it became a full-blown attack on Rick Ross by this dude once he got within reach of him. The incident was some real time footage that this rap beef means more than just similar named tracks as mentioned and also shows how such a rivalry can lead to true life violence.
And the Lamar-Drake beef is nothing novel. Them grammatic beef sparked by a string of diss tracks, each a verbal Molotov cocktail thrown across the industry’s bow. This is only the latest chapter in this series of events with “Not Like Us” being a fresh layer that adds gasoline to an already burning, uncontrollable fire. In short order, both sides have engaged in this tit-for-tat war which has consumed the world of fans and blurred any line between creativity and personal assault. The tragedy of the Rick Ross attempt perfectly underscores this point the music is bleeding out through headphones and onto our streets.
The ripple effects from this bitter beef are wide ranging. Fans get involved and pick sides, only angrier. The Toronto episode provides a clear-cut example of the perils of such grit as rabid fans caught in counter attack arc.
With the Lamar-Drake beef still bubbling under in a dark corner of the music industry, all waits Ideally. Each new track, each interview conducted is another fuel to the fire that threatens a conflagration of conflict. What is without question, however, is the impact this rivalry has had on inspiring voices and breaking friendships as well and most recently it seems physical violence. However, resolution is nowhere in sight now and where this war of words go from here only time will tell us. The one thing that can be said: the hip-hop world will watch eagerly but with baited breath.
