Around the turn of the last century, there was a cold war of sorts between so-called real hip-hop lyricists who put effort into mind-blowing metaphors, similes and rhyme schemes and the commercial hip-hop of Puff Daddys post-Biggie Bad Boy Records, along with No Limit Records and Cash Money Records Pen and Pixel cover takeover .

Hip-hop fans who rejected the genres commercialism at the time adored Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey), Black Star and its Rawkus Records ilk. In the 2002 film Brown Sugar, Beys character, Cavi, is the hero of hip-hop, while the Puffy-esque villain, Simon (played by Wendell Pierce), peddled the hip-hop dalmatians .

Bey brought every drop of Cavis energy to his recent interview on the fashion podcast The Cutting Room Floor, where he went viral for throwing sincere yet incisive shade at Drake (and maybe Houston). Needless to say, it surprised all of us who wouldnt expect the Umi Says dude to be trending for any reason in 2024 outside of an early death.

Drake is pop to me in the sense like, if I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song, it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping ... shopping with an edge in certain instances, Bey said before jokingly offering his idea of a mall-frequenting Drake fan. So many products, I love this mall. Look at this place, they have everything. Everythings here. They have everything here. This is great. This is the new Drake, you hear it? Its great.

If this interview happened in the 2000s and Bey was still Mos Def talking about a Drake equivalent, early 20-something me wouldve been on the Okayplayer message boards, clacking away in agreement with him and using that silly old chestnut: Its not hip-hop its rap!

But now, as a dude who wouldnt mind hearing a little Drake when running into Target to drop $180 when he only meant to spend $15.89, I recognize Beys comments as those of a 50-year-old codger whos willingly out of touch.

Time and maturity have helped me realize how ridiculous the real hip-hop conversation is and how ridiculous its always been. Still, Drakes probably the best artist to frame it. Hes considered one of the holy trinity (alongside J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar) not because of his strained-cat-in-distress R&B ballads, but because he can genuinely rap when he wants to. (Just listen to any of his timestamp tracks .)