Snoop Dogg is staying neutral when it comes to the ongoing rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar — but he does think the feud is doing good things for the genre.
“The only thing I want to say about that whole scenario is that I want to give both of them a shoutout for raising the bar as far as lyrics, as far as song-making and writing because the writing has been upped since the confrontation or whatever you call it, whatever they went through,” Snoop, 52, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Tuesday, May 28. “Those are my nephews. I’m not in the middle of it. I support both of them and that’s personal business, not my business.”
The rapper praised both Drake, 37, and Lamar, 36, for what they’ve done for the industry. “They made you rap again,” he said. “You can’t mumble your way and gimmick your way to a song no more, buddy. So, thank y’all.”
Drake and Lamar have been at odds since 2013 when Lamar took shots at the Degrassi alum on Big Sean’s “Control.” The two have continued to throw subtle shade at each other ever since, but things hit a fever pitch in March when the duo began to release multiple diss tracks, accusing one another of various allegations like domestic abuse and sexual assault.
Despite Snoop’s persistence in staying neutral amid the music battle, Drake released the song “Taylor Made Freestyle” in April, which once again took aim at Lamar — and featured AI verses from Snoop and the late Tupac Shakur.
“But still, you gotta show this f—king owl who’s boss on the West / Now’s a time to really make a power move,” fake Snoop rapped on the song. “‘Cause right now it’s looking like you writing out the game plan on how to lose / How to bark up the wrong tree and then get your head popped in a crowded room.”
Fake Snoop added, “World is watching this chess game, but are you out of moves? / Dot, you know that the D-O-G never f—king doubted you /But right now it seem like you posted up without a clue of what the f—k you ’bout to do.”
Snoop, for his part, took to social media to share his confusion over the verses after the song hit the airwaves.
“They did what? When? How? Are you sure?” he joked in an Instagram video as he appeared on screen. “Y’all have a good night and to all … Why everybody calling my phone, blowing me up? What the f—k? What happened? What’s going on?”
“I’m going back to bed. Good night,” he added, captioning the post, “🤷🏾♂️🎤👀🤣⏰ 🤖.”
Snoop isn’t the only musician to weigh in on the drama, and not everyone agrees it’s been good for music. Stevie Wonder reflected on the feud on earlier this month, telling TMZ that “any kind of war is bad for the world.” Wonder also said that he has “no bad feelings” toward either of the rappers and thinks this hip-hop tiff is taking attention from more important issues.
“I just think that the world needs to focus on what’s going on, because those things are just distractions,” he said. “Do you know the wars that are going on right now? Do you know the homelessness that’s going on right now? TMZ, can’t you see?”
Questlove, meanwhile, declared that “nobody won the war” at the end of the day.
“This wasn’t about skill. This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary — women & children (& actual facts) be damned,” he wrote via Instagram on May 7. “Same audience wanting blood will soon put up ‘RIP’ posts like they weren’t part of the problem. Hip-hip is truly dead.”
