What the Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud tells us about celebrity masculinities in online popular culture after #MeToo
What the Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud tells us about celebrity masculinities in online popular culture after #MeToo
In the context of this Forum on internet-mediated masculinities, this contribution examines the 2024 Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud for its reflections on contemporary standards of authenticity, respectability, and male celebrity behaviour in public life. Two of the most commercially and critically successful North American rappers trading barbs in such a widely mediated spectacle has generated a variety of online discourses about appropriate masculine gender performance–a crucial facet of hip hop authenticity–and contested feminist ideas. The piece argues that the individualistic culture of competition normalised on social media platforms and the perceived competition for attention in the digital media economy means that the feud has benefitted both artists, regardless of any lost credibility. Although misogyny and actual harm to women and girls are raised as pertinent issues during the rap feud, allegations are weaponised as aspects of improper male behaviour rather than actual problems that need addressing. Nonetheless, there are grounds for a feminist reading of how audiences celebrated Kendrick Lamar’s win, aligned with popular conceptions of social justice, gender equality, and a desire to see male abuses of power confronted in the public sphere.
Rap feud, attention economy, authenticity, popular feminism, social media discourse
Gamble, Steven
5c087d9b-e9b4-4a31-ae97-b25da3defb90
30 October 2025
Gamble, Steven
5c087d9b-e9b4-4a31-ae97-b25da3defb90
Gamble, Steven
(2025)
What the Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud tells us about celebrity masculinities in online popular culture after #MeToo.
Celebrity Studies.
(doi:10.1080/19392397.2025.2575687).
Abstract
In the context of this Forum on internet-mediated masculinities, this contribution examines the 2024 Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud for its reflections on contemporary standards of authenticity, respectability, and male celebrity behaviour in public life. Two of the most commercially and critically successful North American rappers trading barbs in such a widely mediated spectacle has generated a variety of online discourses about appropriate masculine gender performance–a crucial facet of hip hop authenticity–and contested feminist ideas. The piece argues that the individualistic culture of competition normalised on social media platforms and the perceived competition for attention in the digital media economy means that the feud has benefitted both artists, regardless of any lost credibility. Although misogyny and actual harm to women and girls are raised as pertinent issues during the rap feud, allegations are weaponised as aspects of improper male behaviour rather than actual problems that need addressing. Nonetheless, there are grounds for a feminist reading of how audiences celebrated Kendrick Lamar’s win, aligned with popular conceptions of social justice, gender equality, and a desire to see male abuses of power confronted in the public sphere.
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What the Kendrick Lamar Drake feud tells us about celebrity masculinities in online popular culture after MeToo
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Accepted/In Press date: 15 October 2025
Published date: 30 October 2025
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© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords:
Rap feud, attention economy, authenticity, popular feminism, social media discourse
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Local EPrints ID: 506822
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/506822
ISSN: 1939-2397
PURE UUID: a755a9d5-3528-480a-8ad4-12637b80d34c
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Date deposited: 18 Nov 2025 18:10
Last modified: 22 Nov 2025 03:16
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Steven Gamble
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