Black Barbie writes at The Rap Up about Alfamega's recent public denials regarding his well-documented snitchery.

It's a solid critical recap of a series of missteps though links out to some key pieces of the puzzle might help those who haven't been following recent developments in Alfamega's world.

BB also points to Drake & Co.'s cluelessness regarding the effects of the video for Best I Ever Had:

"Somehow, Drake and Kanye (the video’s director) managed to turn a cute love ode into a boob-filled, soft porn mini-movie. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against boobs…But the entire video took away from the song’s intended meaning. Instead of making women feel special and loved, which is why 99.9% of us loved the song in the first place, it made us feel objectified. And how could it not?"

For his part, Drake claims he learned a lesson from the negative reactions and admits he didn't really take into account the response of the women he had been winning over:

"I guess one thing I didn't consider is what the song personally means to a lot of women…To those women, I apologize. I do apologize. My intention wasn't to put anyone down. It was to make them laugh. I wanted people to see something visually different."

Given the focus of the video, I'm not sure what the visually different part was but it's a good look to apologize, despite what some folks in the rap game on and offline seem to feel.

Though Black Barbie doesn't explicitly frame her posts in terms of branding, I think they're useful discussions to consider regarding these artists' brands as well as the ongoing issues in hip hop business regarding lying about one's past and treating women as objects.