The Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef is the most exciting moment in music right now: On Saturday, K. Dot once again dragged Drake for utter filth with his latest diss track “Not Like Us.”
The battle has led to a nonstop flow of social media commentary, including by culture vulture DJ Vlad, who was better off keeping his opinion to himself.
On “Not Like Us” – which is an absolute club banger – Kendrick calls Drizzy a pedophile and an outsider to Black culture. “You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars/No, you not a colleague, you f**kin’ colonizer,” Kendrick ruthlessly rapped.
Though DJ Mustard’s production was impeccable on “Not Like Us,” DJ Vlad, a white man who has profited from Black culture for years, chimed in to give his unwanted view on it. “Kendrick’s ‘Not Like Us’ needed a better mix. It takes away from the song,” he wrote on X.
Many responded to Vlad’s asinine tweet, including author and Princeton University professor Morgan Jerkins. “You are WHITE. This is a BLACK FOLK AFFAIR,” she wrote in a reply that went viral on X.
It took no time for DJ Vlad to channel his inner Karen and tag Jerkins’ university to snitch on her for hurting his feelings. “Wait, so a professor at @Princeton is telling me that a white person shouldn’t be allowed to voice their opinion about Hip-Hop? Is that how you interact with your students,” Vlad wrote.
Jerkins quickly responded: “What I’m saying is that you put your opinion in a discussion that’s not needed. This conversation is and should center Black people, not you.”
Of course, Vlad refused to take the hint or the L: He threatened to contact Jerkins’ place of employment.
“Don’t try to change your words now. I’ll be reaching out to @princeton about this on Monday.” Jerkins – who is the niece of music titan Rodney Jerkins –clarified that her semester was over and that her contract had been completed, prompting Vlad to say his complaint would be placed on “her permanent record” and that Jerkins had a “typical victim mentality.”
Vlad was immediately called out for threatening a Black woman for no reason other than telling him to mind his business. Ultimately, the Kendrick-Drake feud has sparked a larger conversation on Black culture and who authentically represents it.
On Monday, Vlad—who created VladTV to use Hip-Hop and Black culture to line his pockets for almost two decades—tried to backtrack. “I never had any intention of filing a complaint to Princeton for former professor Morgan Jerkins saying that white people aren’t allowed to comment on Kendrick Lamar’s music,” he wrote on X.
“She trolled me and I trolled back. At the end of the day, it created an interesting discussion about race relations in America. I will be discussing it further in my future interviews.” Obviously, this is a lie as he tagged Princeton in his replies to Jerkins.
Also, he has continuously misconstrued her words to make himself look like the victim—in typical Karen fashion. It’s not shocking for him to center himself in this complex topic in order to stay relevant, but going after a Black woman who rightfully embarrassed you is just embarrassing.
Hopefully, Vlad will one day understand that he is a guest of the culture and not a fixture – that man has gotten way too comfortable in his position.
