6 Ways Drake Probably Shouldn't Respond To Kendrick Lamar

What's beef? Hopefully, it involves none of these tactics.

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Complex Original

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Don't miss this article's counterpart, 6 Ways Drake Could Respond to Kendrick Lamar (And Win).

Thus far, Drake has scoffed, brushed the dirt off his shoulders, and rolled his eyes at the Kendrick Lamar's provocations on "Control."

His quotes were telling: 


"It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me. That's all it was. I know good and well that Kendrick's not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic."


"That ['Control'] verse was a moment to talk about. Are you listening to it now, though? He didn’t come in there on some wild, 'I'm in New York, fuck everybody.' I almost wish he had come in there on that shit because I kind of lost a little bit of respect for the sentiment of the verse. If it’s really 'fuck everybody' then it needs to be ‘fuck everybody’. It can’t just be halfway."


"It just wasn't real to me. I saw him after that and it was just like love, so it's like was that real or was that for the people? Those were harsh words, you can't just say that and see me like, 'Yeah, man, what's up,' pretending like nothing ever happened. That's not real."

Then, of course, came the BET cyphers. Although they haven't yet been broadcast, a snippet of Lamar's latest provocation leaked to the world. A hi-five, a reference to a "sensitive rapper" "tucked into his pajama clothes." It still feels like some particularly mild needling—not exactly an outright conflict.

But with pressure coming in on all sides—most notably, from Complex writer Angel Diaz and R&B superstar Erykah Badu—Drake is, no doubt, approaching "when that day presents itself" and the rapper is going to have to respond. 

There are about a hundred approaches Drake could take to respond to Kendrick—the good kid may seem bulletproof so far, but he's got some weaknesses—but although Drake is on top now, he seems slightly more vulnerable. So to help him out, here are 6 ways Drake probably shouldn't respond to Kendrick Lamar.

RELATED: Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and the Battle for Rap Supremacy 
RELATED: Poetic Justice? Kendrick Lamar's "Control" vs. Drake's "The Language" 
RELATED: The Ballad of Kendrick Lamar: Why Kendrick's Risk Could Be Our Reward 

With an R&B diss song.

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Ignore it.

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Anything involving the words "catch a body like that."

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Negotiate a truce.

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Anything subliminal.

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Using children as a human shield.

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