Metro Boomin may not be as big of a name as Drake or Kendrick Lamar, but the producer is arguably responsible for the biggest hip-hop beef of all time. Metro featured Lamar on his number one single, “Like That,” in which the rapper initially dissed Drake and has since been staunch in his support of Lamar, which is another way of saying that he’s anti-Drake in every regard.
He even trolled the Toronto star by putting out an instrumental titled “BBL Drizzy” and vowing to give $10K to whoever recorded the best Drake diss over it.
Some might assume that Kendrick Lamar’s victory over Drake in the battle (which now has its own Wikipedia page) would mean that Metro Boomin was a victor as well. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The producer who supported Lamar’s claims that Drake groomed young women was found to have questionable tweets dating back over a decade. Let’s unpack these tweets and the impact they’ve had on Metro’s public perception.
Metro Boomin’s old tweets were dug up by fans
Metro Boomin effectively launched a smear campaign against Drake with his two albums: We Don’t Like You and We Still Don’t Like You. He solicited features from artists who also hated Drake, including Lamar, A$AP Rocky, and The Weeknd, and they all proceeded to diss the Toronto star on the record (Future, who co-headlined these albums, also has a problem with Drake). Despite being the instigator, Metro had the public on his side.
Metro’s goodwill evaporated, however, when fans began to look closely at his Twitter presence. The producer was an active user between 2011 and 2014, which predates his ascension to A-list status. Many of the tweets that fans dug up were shocking, not only in their callousness but in their similarity to the very tendencies that Metro built his anti-Drake campaign on.
Metro Boomin made several inappropriate jokes about pedophilia, including instances in which he likened himself to one because of his attraction to young women at a grocery store. “Walking through the grocery store with both hands in my khakis like a true pedophile though,” he wrote in 2011. “She might be young but she ready,” read another from 2014.
There are over a dozen tweets that adopt a similar tone and topic, but perhaps the most unnerving is the one in which Metro tries to convince one of his followers that an age gap isn’t a problem. “I’m tryna tell oomf that age ain’t nothing but a number lol,” he wrote out.
Metro Boomin’s tweets sparked the hashtag #MetroGroomin
Metro Boomin’s old tweets led many fans to turn against him. Not only that, but it prompted users to comb through his account and expose even more examples of him saying disturbing things on the platform. “#MetroGroomin” was a hashtag that trended within 24 hours of these tweets, but the damage didn’t stop there.
In addition to Metro’s comments about underage women, the producer made light of domestic abuse. In particular, the domestic abuse case involving Chris Brown and Rihanna. He reposted a 2009 tweet that read: “Chris Brown’s album Graffiti is already outselling Rihanna’s album… he just can’t stop beating her.” He also disparaged people who liked Rihanna’s music. This is an especially awkward revelation for Metro, because the producer enlisted the help of father of Rihanna’s kids, A$AP Rocky, on his latest album.
The willingness to make fun of domestic abuse also looks bad in light of the accusations that have been made towards Kendrick Lamar. In the diss track “Family Matters,” Drake claimed the rapper beat his wife on multiple occasions. He also referenced a 2014 incident in which Lamar allegedly attacked a female fan at the Hard Rock Hotel.
What started out an affiliation between morally upstanding artists has devolved, and it looks as though Metro Boomin’s career is going to be permanently affected as a result. Nobody seems to have won this rap battle.
