This weekend, Kendrick Lamar’s and SZA’s concert in Toronto was the cause for a mini-feud between former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Drake, the famous Canadian rapper.
Drake and Lamar had gotten into a very public and notable rap beef last year, so Drake did not take kindly to Singh attending Lamar’s concert, taking to social media to share a screenshot in which he messaged Singh, calling him a “goof” on Instagram.
The feud between Lamar and Drake was largely based on identity, with Lamar dropping lines poking fun at Drake for being Canadian a few times throughout the beef, from teasing the Toronto accent to claiming that Drake is soft. With this in mind, some have noted that such public support of Lamar in these times should be frowned upon.
Perhaps because of this, Singh eventually took to Instagram on Sunday, apologizing to Drake for attending the concert, claiming that he only went to support SZA, the artist that Lamar is on tour with. Singh went on to express his love for Toronto as a city, as well as saying that for him, “it’ll always be Drake over Kendrick.”
Jagmeet Singh and Drake do not necessarily have a history together, but it is important to note that the rapper was at least briefly following Singh on Instagram at some point, and that the NDP likely shares a lot of the inner-Toronto youth support that Drake enjoys. Still, Kendrick is not exactly tragically unpopular in Toronto, with the crowd of his Toronto show chanting “encore” at the end of his performance of his diss track towards Drake, ‘Not Like Us.‘
This situation is likely all just unimportant drama, especially now that Singh is no longer the face of his New Democratic Party, but only time will tell if this is indicative of a larger trend of Canada’s pop-culture scene turning on the NDP.
