Drake and Kendrick Lamar. It can be easy to forget that these two spent most of their legendary careers independent of each other. Now, one can't seem to mention one without mentioning the other. If Drake or Dot do something impressive, fans and commentators invariably compare it to the other rapper. Look no further than the release of Drizzy's "NOKIA" music video. The rapper delivered a fun video for one of his biggest singles in a long time. Even then, supporters like DJ Akademiks felt the need to bring Lamar into the conversation.
Akademiks theorized that Drake snuck in subliminal digs against Dot during the "NOKIA" video. He noted that the 6 God is surrounded by dancers at one point, and does a dance very similar to the one Dot does in "Not Like Us." There's also the inclusion of an owl toward the end of the "NOKIA" video. The owl is free as opposed to the caged animal at the end of "Not Like Us." Akademiks was not alone in drawing the Dot and Drake parallels. He scrolled through Twitter, reading off some of the additional theories people put forth in the hours since the video's release.
Drake NOKIA Diss
DJ Akademiks has been one of Drake's most vocal supporters throughout the battle. Interestingly, he felt that the Drake and Kendrick Lamar association is the fault of the rappers and not fans. He thinks Dot and Drake cannot stop taking swipes at each other in their art. "Yo, these two are gonna be tied together like Siamese twins," he told the chat. Ak didn't scapegoat Kendrick, he made it clear he felt Drake was doing the same thing. "Both of them," he asserted. "Like Dot can't get over it, Drake can't get over it neither. They can't get over each other. It's not one sided."
Some fans have taken the "NOKIA" theories a step further. They believe Drake included NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the video as a riposte to Lamar's inclusion of DeMar DeRozan in the "Not Like Us" video. Regardless of whether these parallels are intentional are not, fans are going to continue to see them.
