With every second Kendrick Lamar holds on to the last letter of "minor" in Not Like Us, the inflammatory song about his fellow rapper Drake, his raspy vocals reverberate through hip-hop and popular culture.

The author and public intellectual contends the rap battle is really about race, identity, Black/Jewish relations, and this American moment.

For more than a decade, Drake sat on the throne, as multiple rappers tried and failed to unseat him. Damage was done by Pusha T, but the Canadian MC was able to withstand the character assassination by his longtime nemesis.