Dissing someone in rap music is not a new phenomenon.
Songs like The Warning by Eminem, where Eminem disses Mariah Carey, or Back to Back by Drake, where Drake continues his feud with rapper Meek Mill, are considered to be a part of hip-hop culture. Artists are expected to just “put it all in the music” and express their feelings or problems through lyrics. Anything and anyone is considered fair game, and if you consider yourself to be a real rapper, you should be able to handle it and respond to the diss with a track of your own.
So, why is everyone so mad at Drake for his diss at rapper Megan Thee Stallion in his newest song, Circo Loco?
To understand this, you need to know a bit about what happened between rapper Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez.
After attending a party together in July 2020, Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez left together in a car. As they were driving, the two got into an argument, leading to Megan demanding to be let out of the car. Allegedly, Tory refused and tensions escalated, eventually leading to Tory shooting Megan in the foot. Since that night, there has been back and forth between the two on social media and in the news, with Megan maintaining her claim that Tory shot her, and Tory refuting these claims.
Over the course of two years, various high-profile men have given Tory Lanez direct and implied support, including LeBron James and now Drake. Megan has been fighting off claims that she lied about getting shot, reminding people that the trial has not happened yet, and that the truth will come out when it does.
Now, what does this all have to do with Circo Loco?
In the song, Drake raps the following lyrics:
This b- lie bout gettin shots / but she still a Stallion
Drake is known for his word play, and this line is no different. It seems to be a double entendre, referencing a woman getting cosmetic work done to her butt and Megan Thee Stallion lying about getting shot by Tory Lanez.
On the surface, this lyric does not seem to be a big deal. Drake disses other people throughout his new album Her Loss (including Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian and rapper Ice Spice) and in the larger context of hip-hop, this seems to just be a classic example of one rapper dissing another.
But Drake’s lyrics speak to the greater problem of not believing victims when they say that something happened to them, especially when a woman is the one making the claim.
For Drake, one of the biggest and most influential artists in the world, to hear Megan’s story, side with her attacker, and then tell the world that he thinks that she is lying, sends a message.
If Drake doesn’t believe Megan despite hearing her story and all the evidence she has released so far, why should his fans believe her? Why should anyone else?
The problem with Drake is that he is unaware of, or does not care about, the power that he wields in this situation as a celebrity and as a man. He is unaware of, or does not care about, the level of hate and accusations of being a liar that Megan already received before he made this song, and how that has surely increased now that he has released it.
And the problem with men like Drake, is that they are unaware of, or do not care to find out, how to use their privileged positions in society to stand with victims of all types of violence, be it physical, sexual, mental, or otherwise. It takes courage to be able to look at your friends and tell them that their behavior is wrong. It takes empathy to hear a victim’s story and not see it as an opportunity to go trending on Twitter, but rather an opportunity to send kindness and support. And it takes basic human decency to not side with an abuser, but with the abused.
Like Megan said in her Twitter rant, when the trial finally happens and the facts come out, we’ll remember who decided to believe the victim, and who decided to make songs claiming the victim lied.