Last week I started getting text messages from friends and fellow rap fans who were unimpressed with Drake and Meek Mill’s then bubbling rap war. “Not impressed with this battle, not at all,” one read. “These dis records are pretty weak,” said another. This was a snapshot of the larger public sentiment at the time, which literally changed overnight. Now we're seeing statements more akin to “Drake bodied Meek Mill” and “Meek Mill’s career is over.” I knew that once my 70-year-old mother asked me about “this Drake and Meek Mill thing” that the battle had taken on a life of its own.

The beef is a complicated one with several moving parts. At the heart of it are likely the internal problems at Ca$h Money / Young Money Records, between ex-business partners Lil’ Wayne and Birdman/Baby. Despite Wayne’s desire to end his business relationship with the label, it raises questions as to where the loyalties of their flagship artists, Drake and Nicki Minaj, lie. Both artists have remained mum on the subject, with rumors naturally swirling about which side they’ve each taken. Yet Birdman insisted “Nicki [Minaj] and Drake ain’t going nowhere regardless," in a recent interview with Power 105.1's Angie Martinez.

Where this gets complicated is that Nicki Minaj is dating Philly rapper and Rick Ross affiliate Meek Mill and is also currently sharing the stage with Mill on her Pinkprint Tour. Meek fired the first shot in this contest on July 21st, randomly tweeting “Stop comparing Drake to me too…. He don’t write his own raps! That’s why he ain’t tweet my album because we found out!” Meek suggested that Quentin Miller, a collaborator from Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late album, is Drake’s ghostwriter. Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex then played a reference track for “10 Bands” by Quentin Miller to further spectators’ suspicions. That same day, Meek attempted to fan the flames by offering some semblance of an apology to Drake and Nicki on stage in Bristow, VA. “I was just upset as a fan… Shout-out to Drake. Let him be great in all the motherfuckin’ lanes he’s great in…I wanna give a special apology shout-out to Nicki Minaj for my crazy ass going crazy on Twitter.”

Meek’s quasi-apology came too late, as by July 29th Drake then followed up with a pair of diss records, “Charged Up” and “Back to Back,” neither of which name Meek Mill explicitly, sticking to Drake’s mantra of “Diss me, you’ll never hear a reply for it.” But fans all knew whom Drake was speaking to when he said “Is that a world tour or your girl’s tour?/ I know that you gotta be a thug for her/ This ain’t what she meant when she told you to open up more.”

The records were lukewarmly received, hardly of the caliber of scathing diss tracks of rap’s past, such as Nas’ “Ether” or 2Pac’s “Hit ‘Em Up.” No instant victor was declared with the release of these songs, as people were still awaiting Meek’s response before they would pass judgement. Funkmaster Flex initially promised he would debut the response on July 27th, stringing listeners along during the broadcast of his radio show, yet delivered nothing.

It was at that point that things began to spiral out of control for Meek Mill. The fans waited patiently for the promised response record that was never delivered and then the memes began. Pictures of the “Waiting Skeleton” meme sitting on a park bench began to pop up on Twitter and Instagram, captioned “I’ll just wait here for Meek Mill’s response.” Three days later on July 30th, Meek finally released the disappointing response record “Wanna Know,” seemingly ending an underwhelming rap battle, with Drake winning by default. Little did we know that the worst was yet to come.