How Toronto felt about Drake in 2014 How Toronto feels about Drake in 2024

When Kendrick Lamar dissed Drake, he dissed Toronto too. Why aren't we angrier?

- VERNON AYIKU

Just checking, Toronto: do we understand that the "they" Kendrick Lamar is referring to in the chorus of "Not Like Us" includes you and me?

Look, I get it: we're all tired of the hip-hop feud that exploded into the mainstream in May - the biggest since Tupac vs. Biggie with Lamar and Drake trading diss tracks until Lamar delivered a knockout punch with the chart-topping, culture-dominating "Not Like Us."

No doubt, Drake would love nothing more than to move on and drink passion fruit tequila out of a fishbowl by the lake for the rest of the summer. But damn it, Lamar dropped the music video on the 4th of July, he turned DeMar DeRozan against us, Team USA is playing the track to troll Team Canada heading into the Olympics, and we're all just sitting around screaming along to, "Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, dot f--k them up."

It's a bit peculiar. Why aren't we angrier? Why haven't more Toronto artists responded? Why have we, as a city, not collectively mounted a more spirited defence of the 6 God, given all that Drake has done for us?

We can be expected to ignore some of the taunts. Making fun of Drake's faux patois accent and choice of slang is fine and dandywe can see how he might sound a bit silly to an outsider. But, in the last verse of "Not Like Us," Lamar takes it a few steps further.

You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars

No, you not a colleague, you a f-colonizer

The family matter, and the truth of the matter

It was God's plan to show y'all the liar

With "Not Like Us," Lamar suggests that Drake, as a Canadian and a former child TV star, will never be truly "of the culture." Lamar accuses Drake of appropriating Black southern culture by playing up his ties to Atlanta and his proximity to rappers from the region.