My Take on the Drake/Common Beef

This post is going to come off a little gossipy because a lot of what I'm going to say below is based on presumptions and unconfirmed rumors. With that being said, there is a beef between @common and @drake going on right now, so I'd be remiss to not mention it. From my perspective, here's the chronology of events that seem to have triggered this new beef. First, Common and @serenawilliams were dating pretty seriously for over two years.

But like all good things, the relationship came to an end in 2010 when they broke up for lots of reasons, including what Serena called "him not taking responsibility." Maybe it had to do with Common wanting to settle down and have kids and a family? Either way, it ended and there was clearly a lot of emotion involved, so there was potential for future spite and grudges.

Enter Drake, who in the past year has started to become really good friends with Serena. So much so that he's been spotted at her tennis matches supporting her and even been seen playing tennis with her (below). Not gonna lie, dude's got some decent ground strokes and it looks like he was holding his own for a bit...(even though she was playing left handed and clearly taking it easy on him).

Serena Williams and Drake Playing Tennis

Fast forward to last week, where rumors began circulating that @drake and @serenawilliams are engaged as of last week. No confirmation on those rumors, but still, where there's smoke...

So even before all the engagement rumors started surfacing, Common took to wax to not-so-subtly call out Drake in a very public, aggravated way on his track Sweet. On the track, Common attacked Drake for singing on his songs and that women think he's Sweet, which makes him soft in Hip Hop terms. Now you may think it's out of the ordinary for him to do that, but evidently calling out other rappers is an old trick he has implemented in the past around the same time a new album of his is coming out. Adding fuel to the fire was his interview with @realsway two days ago where he confirmed the obvious that the No I.D. produced track was in fact calling out Drake.

"In Hip Hop, it’s like stepping in the ring. Rap is a contact sport. So I talked about this cat that’s soft and sweet. Drake felt offended and felt it was directed towards him, so he said, “Man, say it to my face.” My thing is, I’ma keep it Hip Hop. Stay on that tip, but if he falls in that category, then so be it. I’m not going to hold my tongue.”
- Common"

Common Talks to Sway About His Shots at Drake

Early sales predictions are putting Common's new album The Dreamer, The Believer (out December 20th) at 55,000-65,000 in first week sales compared to the 631,000 that Take Care sold in it's first week for Drizzy. So it wasn't too surprising to see the way Drake responded to Common, albeit for one minute before he deleted the Tweet (below)...#Scoreboard

We'll see how all this ends, but for the time being, it's an interesting spat in a Hip Hop game that has lacked anything remotely beef related for a while now. It's borderline yawn worthy, but both are successful at what they do and they'll continue to be regardless how their beef ends up. For my money, I was a little surprised and taken aback that Common had such a mean streak in him. 99% of his music is all about unity and being happy and he even plays soft characters in romantic comedies, so to hear him call out Drake for that was interesting. Is the pot calling the kettle black? Maybe a little, but I'll give it to Common, he went in hard on the track and took no prisoners on his lyrical melee. That being said, he's never going to reach the ceiling Drake hasn't even hit yet, so I'm not sure if it'll end up being seen as much more than jealousy because Drake can always say I got your girl and my records are more successful than yours, stick to movies...#DoubleScoreboard