Drake kicked off the It’s All A Blur Tour with 21 Savage earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, he’s making headlines for his performance, onstage banter and his growing collection of fans’ bras. As the run continues, Drake is currently a trending Twitter topic—but for different reasons.
During the Chicago stop on July 5, a series of headlines scrolled across the screen as Drake performed “Headlines” from 2011’s Take Care. One of them read: “The overrated and over awarded hit song ‘This Is America’ was originally a Drake diss record.” The claim stemmed from an interview Childish Gambino—who wrote “This Is America”—did in April in which he confessed to his initial intentions.
“I had the idea three years before,” Gambino told GQ at the time. “I told [director] Hiro [Murai] the idea, and he’s like, ‘I really want to do that.’ The idea for the song started as a joke. To be completely honest, ‘This is America’ — that was all we had was that line. It started as a Drake diss, to be honest, as like a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, this s### sounds kind of hard though. So I was like, let me play with it.”
Childish Gambino is trending because he said, “This is America” was originally supposed to be a Drake diss song. Once Drake found out. His light-skinned feelings took over, & called it "overrated and over-awarded" while on tour.
pic.twitter.com/j5mX7YytGBhttps://t.co/3VUYWsTn4j
— Kevin Father of Babi™ (@RealKevinNoel) July 7, 2023
The ensuing social media debate pitted Drake against Childish Gambino in terms of their singing prowesses. And, frankly, it’s not looking good for Drake. People are overwhelmingly Team Gambino.
“Childish Gambino washes Drake let’s be real,” one person wrote, while another said, “Drake clears Childish Gambino in every single way, please don’t feed this debate.” But people couldn’t help it. As one person pointed out, “Drake can’t do what Gambino can do. Gambino can do everything Drake does.”
While Drake is often credited for helping to integrate singing with rap, Childish Gambino’s talent is almost otherworldly, evidenced by his versatility. From songs such as “.IV Sweatpants” to “Redbone,” Gambino flexes his range on multiple projects. Nonetheless, the debate wages on. Check out some of the reactions below.
https://twitter.com/dantesplaylist/status/1677543774556401664?s=20
Drake trying to beef with Childish Gambino is so funny because Gambino is just a better version of him in every way.
Better rapper, better singer, better actor.— Big L (@LouisNevers) July 6, 2023
https://twitter.com/SteveRogers1943/status/1677121869462249472?s=20
College Freshman: Gambino clears Drake every time. He’s like the Stanley Kubrick of hip-hop. He’s one of the last real rappers left besides Kendrick. Drake way too commercial
High school freshman: I’m going with drake because he’s my boyfriend https://t.co/ZCea9EDL9L
— screenplay understander (@asinglefather) July 7, 2023
Drake would have a brain aneurysm trying to make redbone or me and your mama https://t.co/O6hhv4Ec9M
— NO$ (@turnthenotison) July 8, 2023
Love drake a lot. Thats my guy. He’s from Toronto so “This Is America” could never resonate with him. A lot of the tough topics that happen to black america has rarely appeared in his music. Idk his issues with Childish. But that song, was right time and place.
— IG: Mickey.Factz (@MickeyFactz) July 8, 2023