Ice-T Says He’s More “Focused On His Bag” Than The Rap Beef Between Drake And Kendrick Lamar
Music fans have been enamored by the ongoing rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, but Ice-T is apparently unimpressed by the lyrical shenanigans between the two Hip-Hop titans.
On Friday (May 3), the legendary actor and rapper took to X to express his disinterst in the rhyme war, as his focus is on increasing his wealth, rather than entertaining debates concerning the two stars’ exchange of diss records.
“I’m sorry if I’m not interested in current Rap Beef or random Male Gossip…I’m a HUSTLER,” the West Coast rep wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I’m only focused on the bag.”
The discord between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has been simmering for more than a decade, but boiled over earlier this year with Lamar’s appearance on Metro Boomin and Future’s chart-topping single “Like That,” on which the former TDE artist responded to perceived shots aimed his way by Drake and J. Cole on their For All the Dogs collaboration “First Person Shooter” in 2023.
Drake returned fire with the track “Push Ups” and later on “Taylor Made,” the latter of which was pulled due to a cease and desist from late rap icon Tupac Shakur’s estate in response to the Toronto native using A.I.-generated vocals resembling Shakur’s voice.
K.Dot then clapped back with “Euphoria,” a nearly 7-minute diss track disparaging his hit-making counterpart, before unleashing “6:16 in LA,” adopting Dizzy’s “Back to Back” approach, as foreshadowed on “Euphoria.”
These drops would spur a succession of scathing verbal attacks from both sides, with Drake releasing “Family Matters,” “Buried Alive Pt. 2,” and “The Heart Part 6,” and Lamar retorting with “Meet The Grahams” and “Not Like Us.”
This is far from the first time the 66-year-old has given his take regarding ongoing cultural matters, as he recently weighed in on the risk of artists appearing on certain podcasts and media platforms.
“Artist Public Service: Doing Interviews can be risky if you Don’t know what you’re doing,” Ice-T wrote at the time. “They will talk to you for hours hoping you say one thing they can TWIST and hype up for clicks. Unfortunately, most podcasts have now DEVOLVED to this BS. Just saying.”
The Law & Order SVU star previously warned of the dangers of rappers and other entertainers wearing large amounts of jewelry in Los Angeles in reaction to the rash of Hip-Hop artists being slain during robberies. “I’m done explaining LA Gang culture,” he lamented on X following the murder of Philly rap crooner PnB Rock. “MFs will not listen. It’s not a game.. At all.”
“People are still hitting me up about my comments about LA Gang culture,” the legend added. “If you NOTICE, LA rappers don’t wear a lotta Jewelry… Me, Snoop, Cube, Dre, Game, Kendrick. The list goes on… It’s not cause we’re broke. LA is just a Dangerous place, rapper or not. Why test the streets.”
“I have Big Jewelry too… But you don’t wake up EVERYDAY and put it on to go down the block. As I said before… Challenge the hood, somebody’s gonna catch that Fade.”
See Ice-T’s X post below.
I’m sorry if I’m not interested in current Rap Beef or random Male Gossip… I’m a HUSTLER. I’m only focused on the Bag ?.
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) May 3, 2024
More from VIBE.com
