Druski's Videos Take Over The Internet, Lil Nas X Hospitalized For Possible Overdose, Everyone in Afrobeats is Beefing
“Don’t worry, they’ll keep coming,” a friend and more experienced colleague said to me years ago. I had just written a good feature story, one so impressive that my managing editor summoned me—barely months into my journalism career—to offer words of admiration. Now I was on the loft of the building, my friend beside me, gripped by a mild apprehension. Thoughts of how I’d produce another good story bubbled with increasing forcefulness in my mind, suffocating the euphoria I had felt just hours ago. With my hands on the railing, I looked towards the evening sky taking in Lagos’ magisterial skyline: a formation of high-rise buildings bursting from the ground and casting colorful glows on the Atlantic Ocean. “How can you be sure I’ll keep getting good story ideas,” I replied, sliding my phone from my pocket to check if the Uber guy was nearby. I felt on my face that cool, salty breeze that washes over Lagos Island every evening. Laughing hysterically at something he saw on his phone, he offered a snappy response that would stick with me for years: “It’s Pop Culture, things always happen.”
Years into my career I’m never not in awe at how well this maxim holds up. It's not just that the Pop Culture scene offers a steady stream of riveting stories every week; it's that at every point in time, there’s an excess of scintillating stories or incandescent debate to mull over. Weeks ago we bickered over Rema’s subversive take on Coupé Decale—by way of Kelebu—and the drama around Slawn’s unofficial collab with KAWS. Today those topics feel so far in the distance, rendered dated by more recent events. Afrobeats is currently steeped in something of a cold war. Artists across the spectrum have been firing subliminal shots at each other, stirring excitement for a possible diss track from at least one of the feuding parties. Another event no one had in their bingo cards but very clearly delights us is Druski’s videos taking over the internet—quite literally. In this installment of PopTakes, a column in which a writer from Deeds’ editorial team distills notable events from the past week in pop culture through their unique lens.
Lil Nas X Hospitalized For Possible Overdose
Days ago, as word made out that Lil Nas X had been spotted roaming the streets of LA, clad in just underpants, the internet split itself wrangling over whether this was indicative of psychological unraveling, a bad trip, or a publicity stunt. In one fan-made TikTok video, set against the backdrop of a near-empty road stippled with streetlights and lush palms, he poses in white underpants and a matching pair of white cowboy boots. This wouldn’t be the first time Lil Nas X has been in the news over a scandalous publicity stunt. The video of his 2024 single J Christ—in which he reenacts the Bible’s depiction of the cross and parodies the Christian heaven—roiled Christians who condemned the video as blasphemous. The incandescent condemnation of the video echoed the reaction to the video of his 2021 hit single Montero, which is set in hell and finds the singer-rapper twerking on the devil.
As the internet bickered over whether his actions on the streets of LA were benign attempts at insinuating himself into the news cycle or something more serious, news surfaced that slowly confirmed it was the latter. The Old Town Road crooner had progressed from reciting Nicki Minaj’s Monster verse clad in underwear, to roaming the streets stark naked, and finally assaulting a police officer. He is now reportedly receiving treatment for a possible drug overdose.
What’s most dispiriting about the aftermath of all of this is how certain people have pushed the narrative that his unraveling is the consequence of the life he leads: meaning his life as a gay Black man living with enough confidence in himself and his worldview to occasionally parody the Christian beliefs that stirred up in his teenage mind cascading tremors of internal conflicts.
It’s hard to divorce how people have reacted to Lil Nas X’s situation from how queer people have historically been treated. While minority groups routinely face discrimination and social exclusion, queer people have also had to contend with being perceived as deviants. In the 80s, at the height of the AIDS pandemic—which interestingly was initially christened GRID, as in, Gay-Related Immune Deficiency—many religious groups framed the epidemic as God’s punishment on gay people.
In the US, the Reagan administration did not acknowledge the epidemic until four years had passed. More time passed before the government started taking significant steps towards combating the epidemic—as it was primarily seen as an affliction of Gay men
Admittedly, issues of faith and religion are sacrosanct to most, central to their perception of the world, and essentially the sun around which the rest of their affairs orbit. Notwithstanding, wishing evil on a person or delighting in their woes departs from the teachings of Jesus whose central message was love.
Druski's Videos Take Over The Internet
If you're not so active on social media, you might take this headline to be an exaggeration. But if you take time out to peruse your Twitter or Instagram timeline, what you'll probably find is a deluge of Druski videos from across the years.
It all began on the 18th of August, when an X account @/Ar15MVP tweeted “I’m not even exaggerating, Druski videos have to be the funniest of all-time man.” Since then, the tweet, which has now garnered nearly 200 million views, has been relentlessly quoted, replied to, and referenced by inhabitants of social media, who have delighted in posting his skits. It’s one of the rare moments when inhabitants of social media stow away their predilection for divisive topics to rally behind a wholesome cause.
As a creative, the whole incident resonated strongly with me, reminding me of the maxim that holds that luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation. It has also reminded me that no one who makes it to the zenith of their field gets there by fluke. The sheer amount of quality content Druski has put out over the years is simply staggering; it’s a level of consistency we all ought to aspire to.
Everyone in Afrobeats is Beefing
We might just be in the early days of the “Great Afrobeats War.” Pardon my melodrama but everyone in Afrobeats seems to be feuding. It would take a full-length essay or perhaps a novella-length book to properly delineate all the beefs simmering in the Afrobeats scene, trace their origins, elucidate the commonalities between them and the ways they interact, and finally theorize on the possible ripple effects. But here’s a condensed overview. Davido and BurnaBoy have for a while been feuding. Davido and Wizkid also had a messy fallout last year when out of the blue, Wizkid started taking swipes at Davido. It’s important to note that these beefs are independent of each other. Last week, however, fans of Wizkid and BurnaBoy, in their typical fashion, trolled Davido on a range of issues. David in turn lashed back with a salvo of quippy insults.
Ruger and Zinoleesky are embroiled in beef. Wizkid and Burnaboy have also been lobbing subliminal shots at each other, just as fans of Tyla and Ayra Starr continue to argue over who’s copying who—because apparently the probability that the two artists just so happen to independently like crop tops, mini skirts, and the Bacardi dance is zero. To be fair a reasonable amount of rivalry between fans or artists makes for exciting pop culture conversations. I’m just bummed out that in all of this, we still don’t have even one diss record.
