Kendrick Lamar and Drake's rap beef is big business for content creators

Cultural events in the digital age take a familiar shape. There is the central story — in this case, the truly vicious beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake — and then a whole array of tendrils stemming from that core event. The main thing feeds, for better or worse, a content ecosystem.

The Kendrick vs. Drake fracas has birthed a cottage industry of reactions online. Sure, the beef is ruthless. Families are involved, alleged secrets are out, potential false flag operations are at play...