Sipping on Haterade🥤

rap beef, kill bill and the boundless productivity of hate

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Image: The Kill Bill Death List Five.

The movie that I love the most is corroded by hate. In the film, we follow a bride’s journey for vengeance as she kills those who betrayed her and left her for dead. The central pulse of the film is The Bride’s hatred, brought to life by the merciless Uma Thurman. For the film to function, we must believe that the pain inflicted on The Bride warrants her wrath. She literally wakes up (from a coma) mad as hell and stays pissed for the entire film, like damn, did you even try to be happy today?!? Final Boss after Final Boss, she survives off of her hate. It drives her to achieve the unimaginable, and eventually, as the title suggests, propels her to kill Bill. When her hate object ceases to exist, the film ends. After hate, her story isn’t worth telling¹.

Since Kill Bill the years have zoomed by like end credits and, with it, hate continues to occupy headlines. We aren’t even halfway through 2024 and it already feels like this year will be one marked by hatred. The devastation of the Middle East continues while Taylor Swift trademarks the words “Female Rage: The Musical.” One of these things is not like the other. 

Persephone Rising, Julie Hendrick (2018).

Disputes in hip hop, popularly known as “rap beef,” have kept me fed. At the end of January, Megan the Stallion released HISS, a sharp-tongued missive that, in retrospect, was targeted at Drake but hit a stray as it barrelled to the top of the charts. A hit dog gone holler and Nicki Minaj responded with Big Foot, lodged with its own slate of venomous quips aimed at the Houston rapper and her deceased mother. Perhaps, there are no rules in love hate and hip hop. 

Hate begets hate but it can also lead to really great art. The latest serving of rap beef has resulted in some of the best music we’ve heard from Kendrick and Drake in years. As an admirer of both, I can admit that the recent projects of each titan lacked what the other excels at. Drake’s latest music has prioritized accessibility over substantive content, resulting in an overserved buffet of reactionary rap that sounds more like sassy Instagram clapbacks than the precise and emotive songwriting that made him the biggest star in the game. Correspondingly, the Pulitzer-winning and perennially lyrical Kendrick, at times, can create songs that are overstylized and verbose, leaving fans to debate its meaning as the content washes over the masses for its lack of legibility. One is vibes, the other is storytelling. One is music while one is lyrics. But, to win a rap beef, you need both: a song that moves the majority and the ability to construct lyrical prose that injures and defiles the image of your opponent.

Hatred has quaked through rap music over the last few weeks. If I wanted to see a Gemini and Scorpio go at it, I’d just let my Sun and Rising² duke it out but what we got was somehow more chaotic than my inner thoughts. I would say that the battle between Drake and Kendrick is reminiscent of two prominent families combating in Game of Thrones but when I play back the major plot points – the planted evidence, the fabricated baby reveals, the plastic surgery allegations, the gunfire – my mind takes me to a place lodged in between Passions and something off of the Bravo network (complimentary). 

It's always been about love and hate, now let me say I'm the biggest hater

I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress

I hate the way that you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it's gon' be direct

We hate the bitches you fuck 'cause they confuse themself with real women

Just like in Kill Bill, the biggest hater wins. Kendrick says the word ‘hate’ ten times on euphoria. His perfectly sequenced attack not only reminds us that Kendrick is capable of crafting accessible music that can reach number one, go viral on TikTok, and turn up the clubs (Not Like Us may be out for blood in the Song of The Summer category, sorry Espresso!), be meme’d on social media – all Drake tactics, by the way! – it cements his strength in songwriting. He won because he simply out-rapped Drake. 

SWV, Gabriel Moses (2022).

Although Drake lost this battle, I don’t believe the war will have an official loser. Whatever each musician releases next will be monumental, bring in new listeners, and regain the attention of those who have written them off. For a while, it appeared that Kendrick and Drake, both approaching their late thirties, were dragging their feet as they drifted to the Old Legends Table of Rap Music while younger rappers gained relevance. With the electricity of this beef creating such palpable excitement, their hatred has further developed their lore and added a few more years of relevancy. Hate will do that for ya.

Hate is, like, so powerful you guys. But gossip is good, too. Read more about it here.

Gossip is Good

I find it more revealing for you to tell me who you hate than who you love. But why is that? To me, having a healthy level of distaste for something or someone signifies discernment, something we need more of. Whenever I glance through those

Dream Baby Press

LOVE / HATE lists, I quickly toggle to the HATE side as I find it more informative. I can much more easily perceive the outlines of a person from what they disdain than what they enjoy. In a strange way, I feel more united by what someone dislikes (preferably something hyper-specific and polarizing) than what they like (usually something obvious and general like golden retrievers and Brie cheese). As a result, it’s no surprise that my best friends and I hate the same people. 

Image: Hating for Dummies

But there’s levels to this shit. Hating is such a specific act. For example, someone who hates karaoke is very different from someone who hates musicals. One might have a preference for live music performed by professionals of a certain calibre while the other might not have a taste for live music at all. The same way someone who doesn’t like sushi is different from someone who doesn’t like fish. One is regarded as uncultured while the other may be viewed as childish and picky. Knowing what kind of hater you are is intrinsic to the hate object itself. You cannot separate the hate from the hater. It’s a signal of taste.

The internet moves in a similar vibration with ‘de-influencing,’ a phenomenon where TikTok creators tell you things you shouldn’t buy. In a world where ‘likes’ and ‘hearts’ lead to social capital, it’s refreshing to see the opposite — hate — lead to more mindful consumption.

The oracle Rayne Fisher-Quann on Ottessa Moshfegh who I would never ever ever hate in my lyfeee.

Can it ever be good to be the subject of hate? Although being universally loved would be nice, there is no way a person can be authentic without having traits for someone else to accept or reject. Ideally, the ratio between acceptance and rejection tilts favorably to the positive but the need for a small reservoir of haters is necessary if only to indicate that you are doing your job right, your job being: existing as a realized person. 

Brenda Weischer, a fashion editor and content creator agrees. Recently, she discovered a Reddit thread that featured a few hateful comments about her. Rather than shudder, she became excitable and read them proudly on her podcast.

“I am a lover of hate… Hate is a buzz. Hate can be a commodity. As a creative, if you have no hate you are doing something wrong. You need at least one hater.”

Whether or not her remark is genuine or not isn’t important. What’s important is that hate is an energy and a savvy hate object can channel that energy into making themselves greater than before. We got COWBOY CARTER after Beyoncé was a hate object at the Country Music Awards. We got Reputation from Taylor Swift being the hate object of Kim Kardashian. We got Rumours when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were at each other’s throats³ and we got “Rumors” when Lindsay Lohan was being dogged by the media. When hate is harnessed, like the natural resource it is, great things happen.

In The Kitchen, With The Knife, Sarah Hunter (2023).

The soft-rock band Infinity Song satirizes the position of being a hater to give power to those being hated on. “Hater’s Anthem” presents like sitcom theme music, with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that suggest that those hating are risk-averse losers who secretly wish that they can achieve what their hate objects have:

Cause I know no matter what you do or what I don't do

My pride will always comfort me telling me that I'm better than you

I love the way it feels to be a hater

It’s a fun provocation, although I would argue that the song is more about jealousy than hate. Still, its message poses an important question: Who do you hate? And more importantly, what does your hatred reveal about yourself? Beyond a source of productivity, hate is a mirror too.

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1.  It was once heavily rumoured that an early career Zendaya was campaigning to produce and star in Kill Bill Vol. 3, as Vernita Green’s daughter as she tracks down The Bride for revenge of killing her mother (Vivica A. Fox). In the words of Mo’Nique, “I would like to see it.”

2.  I know: Red flag soup.

3. Okay, I know I said “Not Like Us” is in contention for the Song of the Summer but I am campaigning for “Masquerade” on the Stereophonic original cast recording. This play is a thesis on why it’s important to have a couple haters in your midst!!!