Two of the biggest stars in rap are beefing. They’re going bar for bar, both of them out for blood, it’s been fascinating to watch. I saw a tweet saying it feels like a presidential election for hip hop and I agree with that. I think up to this point, hip hop reached a plateau of sorts; no projects have dropped that have really shook up the culture in a while. But Future’s album, more specifically, Kendrick’s verse on Future’s album has ignited a fire in the hip hop community that feels exciting and a bit dangerous. A lot has been said, some of it funny, some of it very serious. As the days pass, this beef appears to be heading in a very grim and dour direction. According to Drake, Kendrick is a woman beater with an illegitimate child. According to Kendrick, Drake is an anti black, sexual deviant who is an absentee father, among other things. These are obviously very serious accusations, and I don’t want to take away from the levity of the situation, but if I’m being honest, I’m still stuck on the revelation of Drake having fake abs.
You’re probably wondering why I’m stuck on something as trivial as a minor cosmetic surgery, but hear me out. Most of the other things being thrown out there right now are things that we are unlikely to ever know the truth about. All things considered, this thing about him using Ozempic to lose weight and getting surgery on his abs seems to be the most likely rumor to actually be true.
Before I get into this, let me just say I’m not some Drake hater that has been waiting to shit on him, I like a lot of his music. However, a grown man getting fake abs is shameful and a little bit pathetic in my opinion. Like…a grown man getting a tummy tuck? Come on man. I’m extremely into fitness, I workout basically everyday, and I at one point lost over a hundred pounds, so I’m a bit biased in this regard, but I understand the thought process behind what Drake did. A big part of the reason I initially started going to therapy was because I deal with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder. I can tell you from experience that changing how you look physically won’t change how you feel about yourself mentally. Years of self hate is more than just skin deep, it lingers like a cancer or a virus in your mind that you can’t shake. There are no shortcuts to overcoming that. Go to therapy, go to the gym, but don’t go to a damn surgeon. I understand that a lot of celebrities get that kind of work done, but there’s a big difference between someone like The Rock getting work done, someone who literally makes his money based on his physique and Drake getting it done to look a little better on his yacht or whatever.
That brings me to my next point, which is that these celebrities are ruining the regular person’s body image, especially younger people who are on social media more and more susceptible to that kind of influence. I mentioned The Rock earlier, as an example of an actor modifying his body to try to be more palatable for Hollywood. While I understand that example more than Drake, it’s equally damaging to society. People watch these movies and compare their bodies to the actors and wonder why they can’t look like that. This is also the issue that I have with fitness influencers, specifically those that hide the fact that they’ve had enhancements. I despise people that deceive the public, selling dreams that don’t even really exist. I understand that women face a different kind of pressure from society to look a certain way, so I’m talking almost exclusively about men (the exception being women who lie about the work they’ve had done, and are fitness influencers). Drake is not facing any financial or societal pressure though which makes his decision that much worse.
I work at a school. The kids there look up to me, I have a great deal of influence over them and that’s not something that I take lightly. There are certain things I can’t do and say because of the role I have in their lives, and it’s the same for Drake on a wider scale. He has a tremendous influence over the culture. He’s been at the top of the industry for well over a decade, and in the public eye for even longer than that, so I find it hard to believe that he doesn’t understand the effect that even his minor decisions have on broader society. Responsibility is as much a part of fame as anything else. I know some celebrities like to say that they never asked to be a role model, but unfortunately that is not something that a person can ask for.
While on the surface, getting fake abs is a trivial matter, it has deeper implications. When you’re as famous as Drake, it can help perpetuate body image issues in the masses, and ultimately, painting on abs simply will not help you love yourself more. Celebrities will likely always be around, but we need the celebrities we have to be ones with integrity that won’t misuse their influence.
Just some guy on the internet 