| BEEF ALERT: Common vs. Drake |
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| Written by Jamal Bell |
 Simply put, beef is all part of the game when it comes to Hip Hop. In an arena where everyone is competing to be the best, battles are bound to come around. The high-profile beef going on at the moment involves two artists that I assumed would get along. This time around, veteran rapper Common and newcomer Drake are on opposite sides of the ring. I'm sure the two rappers have had previous beefs with other artists but I never expected the two to be beefing with each other. I say this because Common is tagged as a "conscious" rapper who raps about politics and empowering the people and Drake is relatively new to the game and doesn't exactly fit the mold of a hardcore or gangster rapper.
I first noticed that something was up late last year when Common dropped "Sweet" as the feature track of his new album "The Dreamer/ The Believer." When I watched the video, it was obvious that Common tapped into his more aggressive side. He basically claimed to be the greatest and attacked some other rappers' masculinity. In between verses he did what rappers do, talk trash that they don't necessarily have to back up. What caught my attention was that he said "Some hoe a** n****s... Singing all around here, man... 'La la la' and all that... you aint no mothaf***in Frank Sinatra! Lil b***."  Once he said that, a light bulb went off in my head saying he MUST be talking about Drake. Personally I liked "Thank Me Later" and "Take Care," but many think he's doing too much singing and not enough rapping. On a radio show, Common was asked who he was talking about and he basically said he was talking to whoever his statements applied to. Naturally, people begin talking and Drake gets word of "Sweet" and takes a look. He obviously took it personally. Drake is one of the most popular names in Hip Hop right now if not THE most popular rapper out. Who else out there is talented enough to incorporate singing into his raps. Rappers such as Eminem, 50 cent, and Nelly have songs with hooks that they sing rather than rap. The major difference is that they are simply carrying a tune while an artist like Drake has the versatility to sing with R&B quality and then drop some bars on the same track. In time, Drake responded to Common in concert welcoming the beef by basically telling Common to say it to his face, if the disses were indeed directed at him. So another rapper in the spotlight, Rick Ross, drops a new mixtape "Rich Forever" that features the standout track "Stay Schemin'" featuring Drake and newcomer French Montana. It is apparent that Drake subliminally fired shots back at Common on his verse: “Don’t be ducking like you never wanted nothing/ It’s feeling like rap changed, there was a time it was rugged/ Back when if a n**** reached it was for the weapon/ Nowadays n****s reach just to sell they record” When I heard that I knew it was official. It was obviously a shot at Common for the original diss. I figured things would die down since no names were said and the disses were pretty much disguised but before I knew it, Common fired back with another diss track, his own remix to Ross' "Stay Schemin'." If people were nonbelievers before, Common made them believe the beef was legit because he spent his whole verse taking clear and specific shots at Drake. Common ended his rant by saying: "Can't say my name but rap about a nigga's wife/ You so black and white, trying to live a n****s life I'm taking too long with this amateur guy/ You ain't wet nobody, n**** you Canada Dry." At that point, Common was taking the beef to a whole other level. After he ended his verse he openly claimed that he's talking about Drake and wants him to fight like a man. He clearly violated Drake on this track. Now everybody is sitting back waiting for Drake's next move. Is this beef for real or do you think COmmon seriously did it for publicity to publicize his new album? I think it's a little bit of both. The question now is, will Drake respond? Or will he act like he was never disrespected? Stay tuned and see. COMMON SWEET VIDEO
RICK ROSS - STAY SCHEMIN , feat DRAKE, FRENCH MONTANA
COMMON STAY SCHEMIN REMIX VERSE
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