Okay, I’m taking a leap into NOT my area of specialty, so forgive any mistakes I make in descriptions and correct me! But I find these two stories really interesting.
Blake and Friends
The Blake Lively story is really interesting in general for the way it breaks the 4th wall. She not only filed a sexual harrassment case, she timed a media blitz to go with it highlighting the PR campaign that was already planned AGAINST her. I didn’t say this quite right, basically it sounds like a standard workplace harassment situation, she complained, they had mediation, he broke the terms of the mediation, now she’s suing and has receipts. But what makes it different is that they are famous people and have to deal with not only the actual case, but how the case effects their public personas. Which is why Blake released and made sure everyone saw communications planning to paint her as “difficult” and “unreasonable” and all those other things people say about powerful women.
What I find interesting in terms of Indian film is that it is one of the few times I can remember personal connections being brought into a professional dispute in Hollywood. I don’t think Hollywood is any more or less “nepotistic” than India, it’s just that the coverage isn’t as good. Sooooooooooooooooooo many movie stars are children of producers or cinematographers or friends of producers or cinematographers, or went to a Hollywood high school where they were friends with children of producers and so on and so forth. And then there’s the “nepotism” that I do NOT agree is bad, the “nepotism” that is just being easy to get along with in the work place. If there’s two actors and one is more talented than the other, but also causes a lot of problems on set and no one likes him, hire the one everyone likes who is easy to work with. It’s part of making professional decisions.
Bringing it back to Blake, it’s also a known thing in Hollywood that if an ACTRESS throws fits and is difficult on sets, she is being a diva and difficult and thrown out of the industry. But if an ACTOR does that, it’s a sign of his sensitivity and talent and blah blah. That is very present in this conflict, on the one side Blake is being accused of being temperamental and difficult and so on, but on the other side she’s being accused of using her “unfair” connections to support her professional dispute.
Costars going back almost twenty years, and her husband, and one of her best friends Taylor Swift, are all supporting her. And this is being twisted to be a “bad” thing. That she’s cheating or something by having friends? Or that no one in this industry, or any other industry, ever dares to ask for advice and support from friends and family?
On the other hand, it is 100% possible that I am missing a subtlety here and I have totally the wrong take and this is actually more of a Kangana situation. What do you think?
Kendrick and Drake
Okay, I am REALLY out of my depth with this story, and I hadn’t even heard of these people before it became a huge story. But now it IS a huge story, so I was able to find a summary for dumb dumbs like me. And here’s what I got: Kendrick Lamar is very talented and famous. Drake is less talented and famous. Drake tried to get more famous by mentioning Kendrick in a song. Kendrick was offended just because Drake was clearly using him to get famous and said a little thing back. Drake then went really REALLY hard on trying to get more famous by saying lots and lots and lots of things back. And then Kendrick came out with a massive hit song that was entirely about how Drake was not a good person.
What I get from this is that, ultimately, it’s about using Kendrick. What got him mad wasn’t the whateverness of a song insult, it was the transparent way Drake was trying to climb up the fame ladder by stealing some of Kendrick’s earned fame. This is sooooooooooooooooooooo Indian film! Doing a song “tribute” in a movie to a bigger star that seems like a complement but is really just making you famous, giving an insulting quote about a bigger star just to get your name out there, whatever. And then usually you “win” by making the star actually take notice of you which REALLY inflates your fame. Unless the star manages to do it in a way that just absolute destroys you. I should actually listen to that Kendrick song everyone loves, shouldn’t I?
dontcallitbollywood 
My 20 something son has been trying to explain these diss tracks to me for months. I figure my next step is re-watch the Super Bowl halftime show again this time with the CC on. Somehow I highly doubt that this will help me. However as a fan of great choreography with singing (rapping), music, and staging, the production is totally worth checking out multiple times. A song sequence of national proportions if you will.
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I didn’t know anything about them until reading this!
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Re: Nepotism
If a plumber’s daughter or son joins the family business, I’d tend to think it’s a nice stable company and that the son/daughter is probably a good plumber since their whole life they’ve been hearing plumber stuff around the dinner table. Of course, it’s not guaranteed. The daughter/son may be an incompetent goof. But probably not if they chose to follow the family trade.
Same for lawyers and doctors and . . . actors!
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If it’s fine I’ll try to explain Kendrick V Drake and why it’s so important, at least to hip hop culture in particular. For the lack of better terms it’s Prince V Michael Jackson. Artistry vs the hits. This is Kendricks biggest year of his career numbers wise. And the reason why it meant so much that he won this was cause true hip hop- lyrics and the work was dying off cause of Drake who was more focused on making club music and stuff. Artists like a Kendrick with geniune storytelling was becoming a rare breed. Kendrick was the smaller artist when he and Drake went at it. He had the culture on his side though. Drake did not.
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Thank you lol the description of Kendrick v Drake in the original blog post is extremely wrong (which is very understandable! this whole saga has been brewing for like a decade and understanding it requires understanding both of their careers + their influence on the cultural zeitgeist)
The other thing is SO MUCH of the beef was about being “black enough”? Kendrick is clowning on Drake for being a jewish boy from the suburbs of Canada while rapping like he’s from the streets (which Kendrick actually is).
Drake has also just been an absolute legend for god knows how long, because his songs are catchy and he allegedly uses an army of ghostwriters, and his brand is tied up in being a pop star who is mean to women and has a lot of feelings. Kendrick got his start opening for Drake, but is now bigger than him because his lyrics are incredible and he’s won a Pulitzer. They also clearly have personal beef because they’re both a little crazy.
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