Metro Boomin discussed Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud at the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. The acclaimed producer, who’s worked with both men but aligned with Lamar in the beef, thought the battle was good for Hip-Hop.
“I feel like the competition is great for the game,” Metro said. “Hip-Hop has always been more of a competitive genre. Even if just keeping it on music and it’s like not serious how everybody tries to make it. It’s just about — with Hip-Hop, there’s a lot of ego involved. You know so it’s really like you’re supposed to feel like you’re the best. Everybody from the highest to the lowest guy is supposed to at least feel like you’re the best.”
He added, “When two of the top dogs in the game … both feel like you’re the best, it’s like, ‘OK, now we gotta have a showdown.’ We saw it with Jay-Z and Nas before.”
"The competition is great for the game. Hip-hop has always been a little bit more of a competitive genre."@MetroBoomin, Grammy Award-nominated diamond-certified producer, DJ and artist, spoke about industry feuds at the #Under30Summit in Cincinnati. https://t.co/M6ou4tzZ7A pic.twitter.com/psjNwUSiX3
— Forbes (@Forbes) September 23, 2024
Metro viewed the battle positively, but he disliked one aspect of it. He criticized “Stan culture” for its role in Drake and Lamar’s feud.
“I just feel like more today it’s more like Stan culture is—it makes it kind of weird,” he said. “Back in the day, Jay-Z and Nas went at it, but I was a fan of both of them. And most people were. It was like, ‘OK, it’s OK.’ It’s not like, ‘I hate this side. I hate this side.’ The internet makes it a little too wild now. But I feel like [the battle was] good for the game.”
Metro suggested he harbored no ill for Drake despite the two dissing each other during the high-profile battle.
“As far as me being diplomatic, I mean, it’s just entertainment at the end of the day,” the producer said. “And I have love and respect for all my collaborators. I just want to see everyone do the best and help push this forward. ‘Cause we’re all here to deposit in and uplift this genre and push it forward. This is our era, so it’s really our responsibility to keep pushing it forward for the next one and so forth.”
Drake and Lamar’s 2024 battle began when the K. Dot dissed the OVO star on Future and Metro’s “Like That.” Drake took shots at Metro on the diss tracks “Push Ups” and “Family Matters.” Metro responded with an instrumental diss titled “BBL Drizzy.”