Inside the Drake vs. Meek Factory rap beef, brought to you by Whataburger

It all started on July 21 when rapper Meek Manufacturing plant sent out a tweet, stamped with a smile emoji, stating Degrassi star-turned-artist Drake doesn't write his own rhymes.

In the days following, the Meek Manufactory vs. Drake feud has dragged into a dull back-and-forth, most notably resulting in 2 new freestyle singles from Drake and a crunch PR professional's offering of online communication to Meek Manufactory. (Paper mag has a complete timeline of the events hither.)

And then, here we are, at the tail-end of a rap feud in 2015. What have we learned? For one, when two rappers get at information technology by mode of open platforms similar Twitter and Instagram, it gives any quondam brand with a Twitter account — and the right amount of diligence and savvy — a starring role in the action. That'southward where Whataburger comes in. The burger chain, which has 434,000 Twitter followers, saw an opportunity — Whataburger literally sells beef, become it? — and seized it. Whether it should have is another matter entirely.

"The reality is brands aren't your friends, and in social that'due south actually what virtually people are focused on: What can I post to go my friends and peers to think I'm absurd?" said Brendan Gahan, founder and evp at social store Epic Signal. "To exist able to cut through that, as a brand, is a struggle because information technology's a bit risky politically and bureaucratically for companies."

Much similar Drake in this situation, Whataburger's social media director (who doesn't do interviews; enough accept asked) didn't back downward, and as a outcome, one of Whataburger's related tweets landed a spot on the large screen during Drake's operation at OVO Festival on Monday.

That tweet, pictured during the festival beneath, got 110,000 retweets and fourscore,000 favorites since it was posted on July 30. To put information technology in perspective, Meek Mill's tweet, which started everything, got 140,000 retweets and 110,000 favorites.

Brands are always throwing their often-promotional, and often-milquetoast, thoughts into the Twitter ring when a hashtag is trending or something is happening on social media. But most come off as trying too hard. Whataburger's tweets — there were 7 in all, which got a total of 165,000 retweets — contained meat-riddled sense of humor and hip-hop savvy, while strongly siding with Drake.

Drake'due south second song in response to Meek Mill, for example, is chosen "Back to Back," a fact Whataburger glommed onto instantly:

One of Drake'southward lines on "Back to Back" was "Trigger fingers plough to Twitter fingers."

In the days of Biggie and Tupac, genuine rap beefs could prove fatal. Today, you'll get memes created at your expense — like one reading "Meek Mill checking out of his hotel room this morning" paired with a photo of a bury being carried during a funeral procession. But does anyone recollect Drake is actually dangerous? His very mainstream marketability lies in the fact that he's squeaky clean. Enter: Whataburger's chicken fingers.

The appeal of feuding for the sake of Internet attention isn't lost on other stars either. Aging rappers Ja Rule and fifty Cent have benefited from a chip of publicity during their own recent public smack talk, a revival of an ancient spat. Ja Rule posted the below to Instagram in response to comparisons, somewhere, of Drake and Meek Mill'southward feud to his years-long beef with 50 Cent.

It is no doubt a pure coincidence that Ja Rule's taunt comes as he is promoting a new collaboration with Steve Madden (and 50 is busy declaring bankruptcy). Times they are a changin'.

Brandwatch CMO Volition McInnes said that while brands are ever trying to "wedge into a viral topic," Whataburger successfully "put their stake in a popular, yet unrelated conversation."

"Recognizing the scale and impressions this spat has accumulated, Whataburger's social media-savvy squad jumped in with the correct tone that e'er captures the Twitterverse's attention — humor," he said.

The burger concatenation might be the most respectable figure in this rap beef.

Banner epitome via Andrew Stephen/The Come Up Show

https://digiday.com/?p=129846