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We can be expected to ignore some of the taunts. Making fun of Drake’s faux patois accent and choice of slang is fine and dandy — we can see how he might sound a bit silly to an outsider. But, in the last verse of “Not Like Us,” Lamar takes it a few steps further.

You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars
No, you not a colleague, you a f——-’ colonizer
The family matter, and the truth of the matter
It was God’s plan to show y’all the liar

With “Not Like Us,” Lamar suggests that Drake, as a Canadian and a former child TV star, will never be truly “of the culture.” Lamar accuses Drake of appropriating Black southern culture by playing up his ties to Atlanta and his proximity to rappers from the region. By invoking Atlanta — arguably, the most important city outside of pc28����to Drake’s career — Lamar does more than paint Drake as an impostor (a familiar insult). He weaponizes the southern city’s civil rights history to call Drake a “colonizer” while simultaneously delegitimatizing Toronto’s place in pop culture. 

The song is definitely less fun when you think about it that way.

In an attempt to understand Toronto’s muted response to the feud, the Star reached out to an all-star lineup of local hip-hop pioneers, cultural critics, community builders and artists.

Why haven’t more pc28����artists defended Drake? 

Tinesha Richards, the former director of music festival Manifesto and the founder of marketing firm 925 Agency, intimately understands Toronto’s hip-hop scene and its artists. She said that coming to Drake’s defence right now is more risk than reward.

“In the court of public opinion, had Drake won (the feud), I think we’d see a bunch of people rally behind him,” said Richards. “But because people feel as though this is an ‘L’ for him, it’s like, Do I take the risk of putting my neck out for this person that doesn’t really affect my life in any way, shape or form?”

“I don’t think it’s even a Drake-specific thing. If anyone were to lose the way that (Drake did), I don’t think anyone would really back them. Right now, it’s just better to be silent.”

Elamin Abdelmahmoud, a writer and host of the CBC podcast Commotion, pointed out that Drake hasn’t tried to enlist Toronto’s help in this fight.

“Kendrick made it about the city. Drake made it about himself,” said Abdelmahmoud.

“When we think about the songs that Drake put out (during the feud), the best of which is probably ‘Family Matters,’ I’m not entirely convinced that he made it a pc28����problem.” 

“Drake is out here rapping about heading to Delilah with all of his ice on — Delilah is in L.A.,” said Abdelmahmoud, referring to Drake’s guest verse on Snowd4y’s “Wah Gwan Delilah.” “Drake isn’t trying to fight this on behalf of Toronto. He’s trying to fight this to prove that he belongs everywhere he goes.” 

Why isn’t pc28����angrier on Drake’s behalf?

David “Click” Cox said that Americans will never understand the connection that Drake, as a Torontonian, has to other cultures. 

“I laugh and flip it around and say, they’re not like us either,” said Cox, a former A&R for Universal Music Group Canada, a teacher at the Remix Project and member of the ’90s hip-hop group the Maximum Definitive. 

”(Americans) don’t really embrace other cultures the way I feel pc28����does, and I think that’s reflected in Drake’s style. Living in Toronto, we have way more cultures collide here, and there is way more appreciation — we’re connected to Caribana every year, we’re connected to Little India, Greek Town. These things bring us together to celebrate instead of separating us.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other cultures and embracing that — they’re flipping it on him in a negative way. But pc28����is not trying to be like L.A.; pc28����is Toronto.” 

Dan-e-o, a solo artist and the founding member of ’90s hip-hop group Monolith, told the Star he thinks Americans fundamentally misunderstand Toronto’s hip-hop scene. “pc28����is a multicultural and diverse city — it stands to reason that our music landscape is also multicultural and diverse.”

Dan-e-o, however, resisted the idea that the “they” in “Not Like Us” applies to him or other artists in the city “doing real dope hip-hop.” “I live and breathe hip-hop and have done so since I was 10. So not Kendrick or anyone else on earth could say they are referring to me.” Dan-e-o added that, while he “nothing but respect” for Drake and his catalogue, “If Drake is your barometer for hip-hop in Canada, and you think they’re not like us, then you’re focused on the wrong dude.”

Where do Drake and pc28����go from here? 

 “The quickest way to make all of this go away, is a hit,” said Abdelmahmoud. “It won’t be hard for Drake to get back into the people’s good graces. What he needs is another ‘God’s Plan.’ The moment he delivers a song of that magnitude, he goes back to his winning ways.”

Dan-e-o agreed, laughing. “He just has to keep going. Dude is winning — he has found a formula that the rest of us have not. He’s newsworthy even when he is not creating news.”

Richards said that Toronto’s cultural cachet as a global music incubator is safe, and that Drake can rest easy knowing he has opened doors for pc28����artists outside of Canada.

“It’s really up to the next generation of artists,” said Richards. “The next Daniel Caesar, the next Charlotte Day Wilson — how do we bring those artists together so we grow?”

Cox is optimistic about the future of Toronto’s music scene and our next generation of artists. “I’ve met artists who have moved to the city for music — that friggin’ blows my mind. People are moving to the city because the imprint that we’ve made around the world is so impactful that they feel like pc28����is the space for them. There is fire under the belly now.” 

“We don’t need to compare ourselves to L.A,” said Cox. “Their impact on culture is older, it’s bigger and it’s deeper. We’re still a little bit of a baby. We still only have one OVO.”