This summer the world was captivated by the rap beef between Drake and Meek Mill. On July 21, 2015 Meek Mill called out Drake for using a ghost writer to help him write his songs. Meek Mill started this battle, but Drake added fuel to the fire by responding with several diss tracks and by mocking him at concerts. Although Meek Mill has beefed with other rappers in the past, this attack on Drake seemed to happen out of the blue. Why would two rappers who seemed to get along start fighting randomly?

Weekly Album Sales - Album's Released in 2015

As one can see in this graph, Meek Mill's sales numbers of his 2015 album "Dreams Worth More Than Money" took a significant dip in its third week on the market. It was after Week 3 that he made his remarks about Drake. Perhaps after seeing this decrease, Meek Mill tried to stimulate sales by calling out Drake and in turn putting himself and the name of his album in headlines and news stories across the country.

Critics Views of 2015 Rap Albums

Another factor that may have contributed to the start of the beef may have something to do with the actual abilities of the two rappers. Compared to other well-known rappers that released new albums in 2015, Drake and Meek Mill have two of the lowest scores as determined by critics. By making people focus on the battle and not on their actual rapping ability, Drake and Meek Mill may have been distracting the public.

Increase in Instagram Followers

Other people who have questioned the authenticity of this beef have thought the whole thing was just a publicity stunt. The amount of Instagram followers that both rappers gained in the time period of their beef was almost the same gain in the six month period prior. Also Drake, who is viewed by most to have "won" the beef, saw a huge increase in followers during September. In this month he released a collaborative mixtape with fellow rapper Future. It appears the attention he gained from the battle has propelled his popularity to another level. On the other hand, Meek Mill's gain in followers did not increase as dramatically in September after he was viewed to have "lost." It will be interesting to see if the results of this beef will continue as these rappers release another solo album for sale.