Ebro Darden does not agree with the idea that people were trying to “tear down” Drake during his beef with Kendrick Lamar.
On the latest episode of The Ebro Laura Rosenberg Show, the three hosts responded to J. Cole’s recent suggestion that it was “disgusting” seeing people rooting for Drake to fail amid his K Dot beef. Peter Rosenberg said that it was an “interesting” point Cole made, while Laura Stylez said that it was inevitable for people to take sides when there’s a high-profile rivalry going on. “But it removes some responsibility from how Drake comported himself that led to people going, ‘Yo, what the eff are you doing, bro?” she said.
“I think Cole is talking about maybe industry folks,” said Ebro, to which Rosenberg suggested he was talking about him, among other people.
“I was critical about Drake before the beef,” Ebro continued. “I like all these guys musically, artistically. Some I like more than others. I’m really loving what Cole’s doing right now, but I don’t give a goddamn. We respond to things on the fly, bro. Like, it’s happening right now. You did X-Y-Z. What are we supposed to do? And, if we’re keeping it a bean, the only person that supported my show and me is Kendrick Lamar. So like, if we talking about how we pay our bills, y’all ain’t been up here supporting me. None of y’all. Kendrick has.”
He shot down the idea that radio hosts, streamers, and podcasters should be objective in their reporting of music and musicians, but maintained that he made a “concerted effort” to talk about what each rapper was saying on their respective records.
“What Kendrick was saying, What Drake was saying, who I liked creatively, who I thought made missteps… It never got personal for me during the battle,” said Ebro. “The reason it got personal in the commentary was because their commentary got personal. So you’re forced to talk about what they’re talking about because they got personal.”
He reiterated his criticism for some of the moves that Drake made during the beef, such as his line about K Dot rapping as if he’s “trying to free the slaves,” and putting out a song that used a 2Pac AI filter. “But the entire time, what are we saying? ‘Nah, Drake makes hits, bro got hits,’” he added. “‘It’s a battle. He’ll be fine after this is over.’ And then he didn’t want to let it end.” Ebro also said that when Drake’s long-awaited Iceman album finally drops, they’ll listen to the record, enjoy it, and critique it.
“If you don’t unequivocally call it a classic within 24 hours of it dropping, the OVO cancer fans are going to be after you,” he said. “They’re going to be on your heels if you don’t line up.”
When Hot 97 canceled Ebro in the Morning, Drake made it clear how he felt about Ebro with a sassy axe emoji. Rosenberg accused Drake of “celebrating” what he believed was the “demise” of Ebro, Rosenberg, and Laura Stylez. Ebro added that he also got a wild DM from Drake that simply read, “Die slower pussy.”
