March 02, 2025
Ahead of the 97th annual Academy Awards, many industry giants were invited. But there was a time when a similar top player, Kendrick Lamar, declined the invitation.
It happened at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019. The Grammy winner was asked to perform his All the Stars from Black Panther. The track was also nominated in the Best Original Song category.
But the performance never took place. Sources at the time told Variety that the Compton rap star's absence was due to “logistics and timing.”
Regarding Kendrick's beef with Drake, RZA said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, "Hip-hop is a sport. It's a sport where we challenge emcees, we challenge the deejays, we challenge the breakdancers, we challenge who can make the best graffiti tag."
"It's good for the sport when there's confrontation. It's healthy, as long as it stays on the record and stays in the music, and it doesn't spill over to the streets where somebody gets hurt," he concluded.