Kendrick Lamar is a student of West Coast rap. The obvious influence stems from g-funk greats and rappers like DJ Quik. However, he’s also dipped his toes into newer lanes out in the West. Take his expansion into the Bay Area when he tapped the rising group SOB x RBE for the Black Panther soundtrack. Additionally, The Pop Out lent a spotlight to the various rappers representing LA. However, someone that went almost completely unspoken was the late Drakeo the Ruler, someone Kendrick Lamar has definitely curbed from on past albums. Consequently, Drakeo’s father is letting it be known.
Recently, Drakeo’s dad spoke on No Jumper with Adam22, where he recalls hearing Kendrick’s last album GNX. At the time, he recalls hearing one of the songs and feeling like it felt like one of his son’s old songs, in spirit and flow. “I’m not a big Kendrick Lamar person listening to his music, I’m really picky with music just being a musician and all that. But I heard this one song of his, and I’m like ‘Wait.’ I didn’t know if I was listening to a Drakeo song that I just didn’t hear yet. I’m like, ‘oh, this is one of my son’s songs that I haven’t heard yet,’” he says.
Drakeo The Ruler’s Dad Says Kendrick Lamar Took His Son’s Style
So what exactly did Kendrick cite? There are a couple of obvious records from GNX like “hey now” and “peekaboo” that matches some of Drakeo’s inflections. Ultimately, the late California great’s father understands why Kendrick Lamar decided against it. Still, he wishes that there was some credit to someone so important to hip-hop in Los Angeles.
“The rhyme pattern, the syncopation, all of that was the same; the flow, everything was the same. Now, as far as him giving him the props, maybe it was a politics thing,” Drakeo’s dad says of Kendrick Lamar. “You know what I’m saying? ‘I can’t be trying to go on that bandwagon right now with what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make this positive movement, you know, right now with these rappers and this rap stuff. And if I, you know, shout out Drakeo, you know, and just let people know I’m using this flow, that might be bad for what I’m trying to do.’ So, I can understand it on that level, but at some point, you got to keep it real.”
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