Popcaan, Drake, Kendrick Lamar And Being The Greatest.

First of all, much respect and credit to Popcaan – The Unruly Boss. A certified Centerpiece of Dancehall history. That definitely did his part in making sure that the baddest crew in Dancehall history – at least in our opinion – The Gaza Empire, remained and remains relevant in Dancehall forever.

Importantly, Popcaan is the same artist that we saw with our own eyes, perform in Trinidad and show his love for Trinidad.

Performing for in excess of an hour straight. There was absolutely nothing stopping Popcaan from mailing in his performance, resting on his notable laurels and then presumably catching another flight to get to another bag somewhere else and forgetting all about the fans who crowded to see him in Port Of Spain.

However, the Unruly Boss, Popcaan is clearly cut from a different cloth. He is clearly a man of the people, as all true Kings are. Obviously, Popcaan was thinking about more than money – he’d already been paid for the show or had at least, would soon receive payment more than likely. The truth is, Popcaan cares about his fans estimation of him and was extremely motivated to give his fans all that he had to give. Again, the love and the effort Popcaan put forward that night shows that Andre Sutherland, aka Popcaan, deserves every bit of the success and acclaim he has received. Moreover, to Popcaan’s credit, none of the money, or the fame, or the power, has gone to his head or ballooned his ego. Popcaan showed himself to be a real one and we in turn will show Popcaan that same respect back as we write this article.

However, let’s respectfully put to the side questions of Popcaan’s decisions or motivations. Instead, let’s talk about what we would have wanted, or the ideal case scenario for the Caribbean or West Indies. From a selfish standpoint, we absolutely one hundred percent, undeniably would have loved to see Popcaan jump into the Rap Beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar for a whole bag of reasons!!!!Honestly speaking, we are in no position to say, whether Popcaan should have jumped into the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef because we have no idea what may have been going on in Popcaan’s private life. Possibly, the thought never even crossed Popcaan’s mind?

Maybe Popcaan believed that it would have damaged Drake’s stock even more if he joined the beef? Perhaps Popcaan is just over beef in general (especially easily avoidable beef) as some of Popcaan’s latest music (Saved By A Psalm and Nothing Without God, is clearly showing Popcaan to be in a more spiritual place at the moment.

However, let’s respectfully put to the side questions of Popcaan’s decisions or motivations. Instead, let’s talk about what we would have wanted, or the ideal case scenario for the Caribbean or West Indies. From a selfish standpoint, we absolutely one hundred percent, undeniably would have loved to see Popcaan jump into the Rap Beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar for a whole bag of reasons!!!!

First of all, to an extent, the whole reason for this article is born out of a Popcaan lyric from We Caa Done by Popcaan which features Drake.

The lyric is: “Diss the Six G*d man haffi run up and down.”

Why would we have loved to see Popcaan fulfill the energy of this lyric? Again, a whole heap of reasons. Perhaps the main reason we would have loved to see Popcaan jump in the Drizzy Drake beef with Kendrick Lamar is: we are tired of the Caribbean being portrayed as if it were an afterthought, less than, a side chick, an outside child, a supporting act!!!!

There is an African proverb which says: “Until the Lion learns to write, every story, will glorify the hunter“. There is a long (a way too long) history, of the Caribbean playing a leading, or main character role in events that shaped the world (for example, Malcolm X was a born Grenadian. Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, the Haitian revolution, and the Caribbean role in the Transatlantic slave trade all had impacts that had global ramifications) whilst the world seems to conveniently forget this and again act in a condescending way, towards the Caribbean.

Evidence of this is all too easy to find (and occurs so often) that we can point to the recent example of friction between Caribbean leaders and the US over Cuban medical workers.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the Caribbean or the West Indies may well have played a founding role in Hip Hop itself and even if this was never the case, clearly, the Caribbean contribution to Hip Hop is nevertheless staggering when you simply consider the list of Hip Hop greats with Jamaican, or Caribbean Heritage e.g. Christopher Wallace, Nicki Minaj, Wyclef Jean, Heavy D, Fabolous, Jim Jones, Trina, Big Pun, Fat Joe, B.I.A., Busta Rhymes etc etc etc.

Secondly, the social media location bias. We live in a world run by capitalism (thankfully). However, when it comes to social media (and social media accounts from the Caribbean would know) there is a bias towards US content, and/or content from the “developed world”. It is understandable to a degree, as the biggest markets should have a bigger influence. However, one of the most easily identifiable aspects of this going too far though, is the verified tick, certain accounts get. It seems like you can get a verified tick for just being good at your job in the US.

Whilst, whole, entire Caribbean/West Indian legends (e.g. Destra, Alison Hinds etc etc) have to make do with unverified accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Popcaan joining Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s rap beef would have been a timely wake up call to the inaccurate portrayal of the Caribbean as, merely a sideshow. If Popcaan cooked up enough fire and then took aim and lyrically (only lyrically, we would never wish harm on Kendrick Lamar or any other legendary rapper) wounded Kendrick Lamar, it would have a simultaneously put the whole world on notice that: the reality is that anybody can get got or get it at anytime and secondly, that the Caribbean is capable of making global waves and always has been!!!!

The best and most recent point we can use to back this up is: nothing less than the most recent Olympic Games in Paris where both St. Lucia and Dominica took home their very first gold medals, thanks to Julian Alfred in the 100 Metres and Thea LaFond-Gadson in the Triple Jump!!!! St. Lucia’s population is currently approximately, 180,000. Dominica’s population is currently approximately 65,900. It makes these islands sound really, really small right? Well, that’s because they are in (certain ways). Yet and still, women like Julian, Thea and of course, Rihanna, have shown a propensity for taking their small island strength and shaking up the entire world with it!!!!

As many Caribbean people know, what Caribbean people may lack in (population) size, we make up for in power. Or as Jamaicans would say, we small, but we Tallawah!!!! Popcaan had an opportunity to powerfully drive this point home, to the globe, whilst all (or at least most) of the world’s eyeball’s were glued to the screens of their televisions or devices, as they watched the historic Rap Battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake take place!!!!

Let’s give Kendrick Lamar his credit, bro did the unprecedented in Hip Hop, getting a Grammy off of the back of a Diss song??? Even Tupac’s Hit Em Up never accomplished that!!!! (Fun fact, Drake’s toilet reportedly plays Tupac’s Hit Em Up every time his toilet flushes). To keep it all the way real, Kendrick Lamar pulled a Usain Bolt by making history, whilst making history look easy!!!! Drake has been successful forever. With a run so long, (Nipsey Hussle – who is famous for saying: “The Marathon Continues”) Nipsey Hussle would approve of it – (as far as the longevity of Drake’s  success). Now, here comes Kendrick Lamar and overnight, he drastically changes the landscape of Hip Hop by dethroning Drake whilst firmly placing himself in his place. Who, would, have, foreseen all this???

To be fair, that was/is a lot of greatness to be associated with. Arguably too much for Popcaan or any Caribbean, West Indian, or Dancehall artist to turn down! Assuming Popcaan was able to make one fire diss song to come back at Kendrick Lamar with, the results and recognition that Popcaan could have accrued from doing so, would potentially have catapulted Popcaan to a level even he, had never seen yet.

Lastly, as a product of the ghetto. Food haffi eat. As we recently wrote, clashing or beef, is a fundamental part of Dancehall’s history and identity. Like Hip Hop, Dancehall music’s birthplace is the ghetto. Life in the ghetto is all about survival, risk, hunger, “trying a ting” and basically “going for the food”. It would have been nice to see Popcaan throw all caution to the wind and go after, the baddest battle rapper alive right now but then again, Popcaan has clearly made it out of the ghetto and the Caribbean, (like the Caribbean Sun) will shine regardless.

Things probably went the way they were supposed to and life goes on. Plus, if this article does gets a lot of views, maybe there will be a next time, where things happen differently. Maybe, only time will tell.

Thank you for reading this article.