Plugged In

I’m starting to believe that Stan culture is destroying the Hip-Hop community. The terms “Being a Stan” or “Stan Culture” comes from a Eminem song called Stan where he raps from the perspective of an extreme fan. The fan has dyed and cut his hair to look like Eminem and taken on an unhealthy, to say the least, obsession with Eminem. He has center him in his life and is threatening to take extreme action on behalf of man he has never met.

I always looked at this as an extreme depiction of one in million fans, but after recent events I’m starting to see it as a mirror image of fans. The Drake and Kendrick Lamar is one that shook not only the music world, but the internet and regular news cycle as well. Initially I must admit, I was a fan of the beef and battle to come. I stand equally as a fan of both Kendrick Lamar and Drake fan. Drake is one of my favorite artists because I value diversity highly. He has given us several different sounds over the years and some would even argue that he has jumped genres sometimes, but the constant fact remains that a lot of the music is undeniable. He’s successful as both a rapper and singer, while maintaining the ability to make universal hits.

Kendrick Lamar on the other hand I love for entirely different reasons. Kendrick is one of the greatest rappers I’ve heard on skill alone. He manages to tell stories and deliver large concepts all while delivering bars simultaneously in an age where that is scarce. He’s time and time again tried to separate himself from the heard as a purist of Hip-Hop, and this fact coupled with his aggressive tone toward other rappers over the years led me to believe he was not the person to rap battle with in any circumstance.

Although, I clearly chose a side in the the battle, and aside from whoever you may think won or loss..Can We Give It A Rest! I’m personally fed up with the ‘Stans’ of both artists. I originally thought the battle would be good for the Hip-Hop world allowing us to see two artists of elite talent and different ideology go head to head, but fans have ruined it. People these days want to deal in absolutes that don’t really exist. Instead of looking at it as an exhibition between two artists as battles have always been, fans have opted to exaggerate the entire situation. Kendrick Stans believe he destroyed Drake’s career and exposed him as an artist. Drake fans feel he won and Kendrick is used unethical tactics and receives unwarranted praise. Everything each artist has released since the battle has been examined and twisted by fans to be about the other believe that every song being considered a diss is an insult to the diversity of both artists.

Every single day on Twitter cults are forming on these opposing sides. They spend all day taking deep dives into each artists history and trying to discredit both, spreading misinformation to further points that are irrelevant. At some stage fans became more like Stans. We have involved ourselves in the lives of these celebrities and artists we enjoy so much that the lines are blurred. I believe if both sides step back from the situation we can get back to a place of “two things being true” and “agreeing to disagree” without destroying an artist.

I find it hard to believe so many people that call themselves ‘True Hip-Hop fans’ could truly beileve that either between Drake and Kendrick only one of them are acceptable rather than acknowledging the talent of both. I think every artist serves a purpose in the world of hip-hop. I gravitate to different artists for different things. The variety of the art speaks to evolution of hip-hop not to its decline.