Why is beloved Brooklyn pizzeria Lucali suddenly all over Yelp?
Restaurants as popular and as hard to get into as Lucali are always all over social media, but Internet users may have noticed a recent surge in Yelp reviews and comments surrounding the Brooklyn pizza joint. You can thank celebrity rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar for that.
Let’s back it up: this past April, Drake released his track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” in which he mentions (read: disses) Lamar’s New York apartment—a duplex penthouse near the water at 90 Furman in Brooklyn Heights—about 15 minutes from Lucali via car.
Lamar’s response, which is part of a larger feud between the superstar artists, is included in his new song, “6:16 in LA.”
Lamar raps: “My visa, passport tatted, I show up in Ibiza/Lucali’s dwellings in Brooklyn just to book me some pizza.”
As the Internet is wont to do, fans of the artists and mere spectators of the pretty amusing battle quickly headed to Yelp to post reviews of the 18-year-old New York business that, let’s be honest, is already pretty freaking popular.
“Woke up at 6:16 craving a Lucali Plain Pie. Had to Fly From LA to Grab a slice. Worth it!” one commenter wrote.
“Kendrick sent me here, hoping this place gets the ’New Ho King’ attention it deserves,” reads another review.
Do the reviews actually tell us something about Lamar’s and Drake’s beef? Not really. Do they help one rapper gain points over the other? We can’t see how. Are the comments entertaining? Absolutely.
For what it’s worth, Lucali’s owner Mark Iacono told Eater that it’s been “business as usual” since the new songs were released. That comes as no surprise whatsoever. We’re here for the laughs and the good raps, though.