The ongoing feud between two of the biggest names in hip-hop, Kendrick Lamar and Drake, captured the attention of fans and the music industry alike. The beef between these two artists escalated rapidly recently, as both rappers released multiple diss tracks targeting one another’s character, personal life and professional integrity.
The feud started with the song “First Person Shooter” by Drake featuring J. Cole released on October 6, 2023. The song debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Drake’s thirteenth and J. Cole’s first number-one song. With this, Drake tied Michael Jackson for the most number-one singles by a male solo artist. In the song, J. Cole claimed that he, Kendrick, and Drake were the big three of the rap industry.
Months later on March 22, rappers Future and Metro Boomin collaborated on the song, “Like That.” However, it was soon revealed that Kendrick Lamar was a surprise feature on the song, and in it he responds to J. Cole’s claim, claiming that there is no big three, and that, “it’s just big me.” Lamar also makes several references to Drake, calling his “best work” a “light pack” and comparing their rivalry to that of Michael Jackson and Prince, saying “Prince outlived Mike Jack.”
On April 5, J. Cole dropped the song “7 Minute Drill (Kendrick Lamar Diss)” which was a part of his “Might Delete Later” series in response to Like That. In the song, Cole compares Kendrick’s career to the Simpsons in that both have been going on for a long time and both fans and critics have seen worsening quality with its recent seasons. He also takes shots at Kendrick’s small stature claiming, “Your arms might be too short to box with the god.” However, the song was soon deleted and removed from all streaming platforms. This was accompanied by an apology from Cole to Kendrick.
Drake then released “Push Ups” on April 13, responding to “Like That.” In the song, Drake disses J. Cole, The Weekend, Rick Ross, Metro Boomin, Future, and Kendrick Lamar, with the focus being on Kendrick. Drake begins the song with, “I could never be nobody number-one fan / Your first number one, I had to put it in your hand.” These lyrics are a diss at both Future and J. Cole because both of the artists’ first number-one hits were featured on Drake’s songs. This could also be a shot at Kendrick too as his first number-one album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, was heavily supported by the song “Poetic Justice” which had Drake as a feature on it.
Drake starts his major Kendrick disses off by poking fun at Lamar’s height (5′5”) saying, “…you steppin’ with a size seven men’s on?” Drake then calls Kendrick a sellout saying, “Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty / Then we need a verse for the Swifties Top say drop, you better drop and give ‘em fifty.” This refers to how Kendrick’s first number-one hit was a feature on a Taylor Swift song along with the multiple other songs he was on that year with artists like Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons, all being outside of Kendrick’s usual element.
Next, the line: “Top say drop, you better drop and give ‘em fifty” represents the reason Kendrick had to collaborate with these artists is because Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), the record label Kendrick works under, told him that he wasn’t making enough money for them and refers to how TDE will take 50% of the cut of whatever Kendrick makes.
Drake eventually address the disses directed towards him in “Like That:” “Pipsqueak, pipe down. You ain’t in no big three, SZA got you wiped down Travis got you wiped down Savage got you wiped down.” He insinuates that rappers SZA, Travis Scott, and 21 Savage are all out streaming and outselling Kendrick. He also responds to Kendrick’s comparison of their rivalry by saying, “What’s a prince to a king? He a son,” which is his way of saying that Kendrick wouldn’t exist on the rap stage without him in reference to how Drake gave Kendrick his first big tour along with multiple collaborations Drake did with Kendrick at the beginning of his career.
Following “Push Ups,” Drake releases “Taylor Made Freestyle” on April 24. The song is less relevant to the fued compared to the other ones he released, but subtly ties to Kendrick’s career. Drake uses A.I. to replicate the voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. Using Tupac’s voice is considered an act of disrespect towards the rapper, as he is one of Kendrick’s biggest heroes and a reason he pursued a singing and performing career.
Kendrick releases “Euphoria” on April 30 as a response to “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” The song starts off slow before eventually picking up a beat as a way to send a warning message to Drake: “But don’t tell no lies about me, and I won’t tell no truths ‘bout you.”
Due to the fact that Drake uses times and locations in his projects (one example is Drake’s “5AM in Toronto), Kendrick released a second diss to accompany Euphoria, “6:16 in LA” on May 3. Kendrick claims that October’s Very Own (OVO), the record label Drake works for Kendrick and is relaying information about Drake to him. This can also be supported by the cover image of the song which is one of Drake’s belongings, a glove. The main takeaway from this song comes from the verse “Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person. Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it.”
Drake dropped his third diss, “Family Matters” on May 3, the same day Kendrick released “6:16 in LA.” He claimed that Kendrick is only an activist if it gets him attention, and references one of his biggest hits, “Money Trees.” “You just actin’ like an activist, it’s make-believe / Don’t even go back to your hood and plant no money trees.” Drake also accuses Kendrick of being a deadbeat father in reference to how Kendrick had said the same thing in his previous disses to Drake, “Why you never hold your son and tell him, “Say cheese?” We could’ve left the kids out of this, don’t blame me.” The beat switches up and Drake makes a multitude of claims against Kendrick including alleging his music is bad unless rapper Baby Keem “put his pen to it.”
After another beat switch, Drake insults Kendrick’s home life. “Where is your uncle at? ‘Cause I want to talk to the man of the house.” In doing so, he hints that Kendrick isn’t “man enough” to be the man of the house and his father isn’t either so Kendrick’s uncle is the next best thing.”
Kendrick responds with, “meet the grahams” on May 4. The song starts off with the line, “Dear Adonis, I’m sorry that man is your father let me be honest / It takes a man to be a man, your dad is not responsive.” Kendrick is referring to Drake’s son, Adonis Graham, and responds to Drake’s claim that he is not man enough or present in his kids life by accusing Drake of the same thing. He continues this theme with: “And you’re a good kid that need good leadership. Let me be your mentor since your daddy don’t teach you,” implying that Drake is not fit to be a father or mentor to Adonis. After addressing Drake’s son, Kendrick addresses Drake’s mother and father saying that Drake has “some habits, I hope you don’t undermine them. Especially with all the girls that’s hurt inside this climate,” as well as labeling Drake as a “master manipulator.”
The song then takes an unexpected turn with Kendrick saying, “Dear, baby girl I’m sorry your father not active inside your world / He don’t commit to much but his music, yeah, that’s for sure.” The baby girl that Kendrick is referring to is a “secret daughter” that Drake has. Kendrick tells her that, “He a narcissist, misogynist, livin’ inside his songs / Try destroy families rather than takin’ care of his own.” Eventually Kendrick address Drake’s real name, “Dear, Aubrey I know you probably thinkin’ I wanted to crash your party / But truthfully, I don’t have a hatin’ bone in my body / This supposed to be a good exhibition within the game.”
Kendrick claims that this entire beef was supposed to be an exhibition within the rap stage for both their fans but Drake turned it personal. Kendrick also says, “37 but you showin’ up as a seven-year-old” which is a reference to Drake’s childish and goofy antics and a claim that he is immature. Kendrick addresses Drake’s claims of a lack of proof to end the diss track saying, “Why believe you? You never gave us nothin’ to believe in ‘Cause you lied about religious views, you lied about your surgery You lied about your accent and your past tense, all is perjury.”
In a gag move responding to Drake’s line in “Push Ups,” Metro Boomin released a beat titled “BBL Drizzy.” Along with the beat itself, Metro uploaded the beat onto the app Soundcloud and accompanied it with a Tweet stating, ‘best verse over this gets a free beat just upload your song and hashtag #bbldrizzybeatgiveaway.” Essentially, Metro opened the floor up to the entire rap community to diss Drake, and many participated in response to his call. All over Soundcloud, TikTok, and YouTube are the freestyles over this beat. Rapper Yuno Miles released a verse of his own, which many claim “won the beef.” However, some tweets and accusations garnered critcism of Metro Boomin, threatening his standing and career.
Drake responds to these disses against him on May 5, by releasing “THE HEART PART 6.” The title of the song puts a pause in one of Kendrick’s album series “THE HEART,” which was last left on “THE HEART PART 5.” He claimed again that everything Kendrick has said about him has been a lie and that the information he has been getting from OVO was planted by Drake.
These two influential rappers continue to utilize their platforms to escalate a beef that started as a simple diss. By addressing issues related to family members, their feud continues to reference both rappers’ personal and professional lives.
