Authenticity, Identity, and Boundary-Making in Hip Hop: The Case of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake “Beef”

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Abstract

This paper examines the ongoing public rivalry between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake as a case study in boundary-making within hip hop culture. Hip hop has long been a site for negotiating racial, gendered, and cultural identities, with questions of authenticity playing a central role in these debates. While Lamar is often regarded as the embodiment of “authentic” hip hop, known for his politically charged commentary and engagement with racial consciousness, Drake is critiqued for his mainstream appeal and hybrid musical style, blending hip hop with pop and R&B elements. This paper argues that their rivalry reflects how hip hop culture actively produces and circulates boundaries, as fans, critics, and the artists themselves negotiate what it means to be “real” within a globalized, neoliberal music industry.

Drawing on Du Gay et al.’s “circuit of culture,” the study explores how cultural objects, particularly music, are not only produced and consumed but also subject to regulation and representation in a broader socio-political and economic context. The paper uses a mixed-methods approach, analyzing podcasts with large followings to identify recurring themes about the authenticity of both artists, and supplementing this with semi-structured interviews with hip hop fans. The findings show how the Kendrick-Drake feud serves as a microcosm of broader debates within hip hop about authenticity, race, and identity, shaped by market forces and cultural negotiations.

This paper contributes to the sociology of culture by demonstrating how music, particularly hip hop, serves as both a product and a tool for boundary-making, with significant implications for understanding the intersections of identity, race, and commercialism in a globalized cultural economy.

Author

• Shirin Purkayastha, Yale University