What the Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud tells us about celebrity masculinities in online popular culture after #MeToo

In the context of this Forum on internet-mediated masculinities, this contribution examines the 2024 Kendrick Lamar–Drake feud for its reflections on contemporary standards of authenticity, respectability, and male celebrity behaviour in public life. Two of the most commercially and critically successful North American rappers trading barbs in such a widely mediated spectacle has generated a variety of online discourses about appropriate masculine gender performance–a crucial facet of hip hop authenticity–and contested feminist ideas. The piece argues that the individualistic culture of competition normalised on social media platforms and the perceived competition for attention in the digital media economy means that the feud has benefitted both artists, regardless of any lost credibility. Although misogyny and actual harm to women and girls are raised as pertinent issues during the rap feud, allegations are weaponised as aspects of improper male behaviour rather than actual problems that need addressing. Nonetheless, there are grounds for a feminist reading of how audiences celebrated Kendrick Lamar’s win, aligned with popular conceptions of social justice, gender equality, and a desire to see male abuses of power confronted in the public sphere.