Tom Hanks is winning over more fans for trying to remain hip to one of the biggest stories in entertainment, Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s monster of a feud.
The “Forest Gump” actor was hilariously exposed for trying to wrap his head around the spectacle in text messages shared between him and his younger son, Chet Hanks.
Chet revealed the exchange on May 20 in his Instagram Story, nearly three weeks after the rappers released their last diss tracks to each other, Drake’s “The Heart Part 6” and Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” The Academy Award winner simply wrote, “Big Main, can you explain the Drake/Kendrick Lamar feud to me?”
The 33-year-old did his best to not only highlight the nine-round lyrical battle, but he did so with terms and analogies that he thought would be best understood by his 67-year-old father.
For starters, he laid the foundation for the feud as such, “Drake and this other dude J Cole been saying they along with Kendrick are the ‘Big 3’ in rap. Then Kendrick put out a song saying, ‘F—k the Big 3, it’s just big ME.”
Chet would go on to give a synopsis of the premises for each of the tracks—including “Push Ups” to “Taylormade Freestyle,” “Euphoria” and “6:16 In LA,” “Family Matters” and “Meet the Grahams”—while weaving in details about the allegations each of the men made about their opponent.
He said that Lamar dropped a “West Coast banger where he really went in…that was pretty much the sonic equivalent of when you took me to your high school in Oakland and we walked in on the basketball game and everybody started going nuts.
“Like if you heard it you would’ve just automatically know how to Crip walk with a stank face while clutching an Oscar in each hand with Marshawn Lynch, then dap him up and tell him ‘Town Bidness’ which solidified the win not only for Kendrick but the entire West Coast,” Chet added.
The A-lister replied, “Holy cow! These are fighting words. People taking sides? Who’s winning??” To which his son comically hit back with, “Did you not just read what I said.” Reactions to the father-son duo relishing hip-hop beef spurred a flood of reactions.
🚨 UPDATE🚨 CHET HANKS has declared that #whiteboysummer is in FULL EFFECT!! and promises to have himself a "black girl summer" (even though it's "more of a year round thing for [him] really" 🥴) pic.twitter.com/LpgUHJLCWc
— Chet Hanks Updates (@upchets) March 27, 2021
“Tom hanks greeting chet with ‘big main’ and then reacting with ‘holy cow’ is so culturally dualistic and wholesome?” read one tweet. Someone else gave Tom the ultimate cultural nod of approval when they wrote, “Tom Hanks is invited to the cookout.”
Elsewhere on Instagram, a fan commented, “Say what you want about his patois but the boy gets it Sn Tom calling him Big man just sent me.. He really supports his child and his Caribbean aspirations.”
The “Empire” actor has been known for trying to gain his footing in rap under the moniker Chet Haze, with songs like “White Boy Summer.” Although he may be more known for having a long history of trying to gain “street credit” with his tattoos, gun toting, and affinity for Black women. In more recent years, he has been the topic of chatter about his adopted Jamaican accent.
He claimed that he was inspired to switch up how he talked after overhearing a girl he was dating in a heated moment with family. “For like a week like I was really on a Jamaican kick,” he explained in a video. Chet debuted it to the world while on the red carpet with his parents, Tom and Rita Wilson, at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards.
“Jamaican people showed me the most love hands down. Then you got all these social justice warriors in America saying that I’m f—king villain.” The accent was embraced, at least in jest, when he had a small role on “Atlanta” season 3 episode 7, “Trini 2 De Bone,” where his Caribbean-influenced articulation was a part of the comedic relief during a funeral scene.
The longtime “Toy Story” star, who voices Woody, is also a father to son Colin and daughter Elizabeth, whom he shares with ex-wife Samantha Lewes. Alongside Chet, he and Rita are also parents to Truman Theodore Hanks.
