Earlier than we get into this, let’s make one factor clear: Drake’s Nokia is a slapper. Beef apart, an excellent report is an efficient report, and the identical goes for an amazing visible. Nokia is one in every of them. Relating to streamer DJ Akademiks, he steered that Drake could have included some refined references or jabs in the direction of Kendrick Lamar in that very “NOKIA” music video.
Throughout a latest stream, Akademiks identified a number of moments within the visible that he believes may very well be interpreted as oblique responses to Lamar’s “Not Like Us” or perhaps the opposite one, “Squabble Up.”
One notable second options Drake performing a dance transfer resembling one seen in Lamar’s video. Moreover, an owl seems towards the top of “NOKIA”—this time uncaged, contrasting the caged owl imagery in Lamar’s challenge. Akademiks scrolled by way of social media reactions, highlighting how followers have been dissecting potential connections between the 2 artists’ work.
Akademiks emphasised that each rappers appear unable to maneuver previous their rivalry, playfully evaluating their ongoing exchanges to being “tied collectively like Siamese twins.” He clarified that neither artist is solely accountable, stating: “Each of them. Like Dot can’t recover from it, Drake can’t recover from it neither. They will’t recover from one another. It’s not one sided.”
Some viewers have taken the hypothesis additional, theorizing that Drake’s inclusion of NBA participant Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might counter Lamar’s characteristic of DeMar DeRozan in “Not Like Us.” Whether or not intentional or coincidental, the comparisons proceed to gasoline discussions amongst followers analyzing the most recent chapter in hip-hop’s most talked-about artistic rivalry.
