RZA Weighs in on Kendrick Lamar-Drake Feud & Calls One a ‘Natural’ Lyricist, the Other ‘Trained’

Just about every aspect of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s artistry has been picked apart over the course of the months since their explosive feud in the second quarter of the year. As a hip-hop savant, RZA stopped by Complex, where he talked about the battle and whether he could see a possible reconciliation down the line between Kendrick and Drizzy, with the 55-year-old comparing the foes lyrically.

“Yeah, it just takes time,” he said. “First of all, Kendrick is the natural lyricist, and Drake is a trained lyricist. You could train a fighter and he could be good. Then you got those natural fighters who also then go through training. So that’s a different chamber there. And while Drake got bars forever, Kendrick’s bars’ potency was stronger.”

The Wu-Tang Clan frontman believes Drake may have underrated K. Dot’s rapping ability coming into the battle.

“The battle bar-for-bar was something that was just not good advising on Drake’s camp in the sense of just getting in that fight without really taking some more training for that,” he added. “When Kendrick wrote the letter to his son or his daughter and to his [mother], Kendrick is going to come like that. Nas, Kendrick, Eminem, Raekwon, certain people are going to break your s–t down to the element.”

However, RZA made sure to give Drake his flowers as one of hip-hop’s trailblazers in the 21st century, crediting him with pushing the genre melodically and raising the next generation.

“[Drake] expanded it with his melodies and he raised a generation too, and you can’t take that away from him. And these two were at the top of the pinnacle at the end of the day. Nas and Jay-Z, that’s another good example, but it was tough,” RZA continued. “It took years for them to swallow that pill and then come and shake hands on it. So hopefully it is not the same. Hopefully this generation can take it as fun like how the beginning generation took it more for fun.”

As far as RZA’s music goes in his own decorated career, he returned in August to release his classical collaborative project called A Ballet Through Mud, which he crafted alongside Australian conductor Christopher Dragon and the Colorado Symphony.