If you haven’t had the chance to scroll through your timelines over the last few days, rap titans Drake and Kendrick Lamar continue to be in a full-blown feud, and it’s getting personal. A war is underway, with both parties dropping diss tracks and calling out each other. Are you confused by it all? Here’s a breakdown of Drake and Lamar’s epic beef.
It all started with “Euphoria” (kind of)
Lamar and Drake’s contentious relationship is nothing new. The duo have been adversaries for the last decade, starting in 2013 when the California native appeared on Big Sean’s “Control.” His feature on the track saw him go after several rappers, including Drake, who he said he wanted to “murder,” USA Today reported.
Fast-forward to earlier this year, and Lamar was featured on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” in which he spoke out against the idea that there’s a “big three” in rap in response to J. Cole referring to him, Drake and Lamar as the genre’s “big three” on the “Nice for What” MC’s 2023 song “First Person Shooter.”
“It’s just big me,” Lamar asserts in “Like That.”
Drake responded to Lamar’s claims in two subsequent diss tracks in April: “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” In the former, he goes after Lamar’s work with pop artists like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift, Vulture reported.
“I might take your latest girl and cuff her like I’m Ricky/ Can’t believe he jumpin’ in, this n***a turnin’ 50/ Every song that made it on the chart, he got from Drizzy,” he raps.
“Taylor Made Freestyle” sees the 37-year-old accuse Lamar of not responding to his original diss because he didn’t want to be out-shined by the release of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
“Now we gotta wait a f**king week ’cause Taylor Swift is your new top, and if you boutta drop, she gotta approve,” he raps.
Drake later pulled the song from streaming platforms after Tupac Shakur’s estate threatened to sue because the song included computer-generated verses from the late rapper, Variety reported.
Lamar clapped back with “Euphoria,” which quickly went viral after its release on April 30. In the song, the Compton rapper doesn’t hold back on the track, now famously listing off all the things he dislikes about Drake.
“I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress/ I hate the way that you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct/ We hate the bitches you f**k ’cause they confuse themself with real women,” he raps.
Lamar also calls out Drake’s parenting, rumored plastic surgery and rap abilities in the song.
Lamar doubles down
Lamar got ahead of Drake’s response to “Euphoria,” dropping “6:16 in LA” on Instagram within 72 hours of the former, Blavity reported. He questions Drake’s label and team in it and calls the Canadian rapper a “fake bully.” The song’s title pokes fun at the Canadian rapper’s affinity for naming tracks after certain times and locations. Jack Antonoff, who often works with Swift, produced the track.
“Have you ever thought that OVO was working for me?/ Fake bully, I hate bullies/ You must be a terrible person/ Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it,” Lamar raps.
Both drop responses: ‘Family Matters’ and ‘Meet the Grahams’
Following “6:16 in LA,” both Lamar and Drake dropped responses: “Family Matters” and “Meet the Grahams,” respectively. According to Variety, the former, which Drake released ahead of “Meet the Grahams,” saw the Degrassi alum address several of Lamar’s claims and his alleged violent relationship with fiancee Whitney Alford.
“Don’t even go back to your hood and plant no money trees,” he raps, referencing “Money Trees,” Lamar’s 2012 hit. “Say you hate the girls I f**k but what you really mean/ I been with Black and white and everything in between/ You the Black messiah wifing up a mixed queen/ And hit vanilla cream to help out with your self-esteem.”
Drake also suggests that Lamar’s longtime creative partner, Dave Free, fathered his two children. Later, he references Shakur’s estate’s cease and desist letter over “Taylor Made Freestyle,” arguing that Lamar encouraged the estate to slam the track.
“A cease and desist is for hoes/ Can’t listen to lies that come out of your mouth/ You called the Tupac estate and begged them to sue me and take that s**t down,” he raps.
Lamar was just as ruthless on “Meet the Grahams,” in which he dedicated a verse to each member of the Canadian rapper’s family.
“Dear Adonis, I’m sorry that that man is your father, let me be honest/ It takes a man to be a man, your dad is not responsive,” he kicks off the track. “I look at him and wish your grandpa woulda wore a condom/ I’m sorry that you gotta grow up and then stand behind him.”
Later, he claims Drake has a “baby girl” he’s keeping secret from the world.
“Should be teachin’ you timetables or watchin’ ‘Frozen’ with you/ Or at your eleventh birthday, singin’ poems with you/ Instead, he be in Turks, payin’ for sex and poppin’ Percs,” he sneers.
“Not Like Us” and “The Heart Part 6”
Things have only escalated, with Lamar putting out “Not Like Us” and Drake dropping “The Heart Part 6,” per Vulture. The California MC dropped the former less than 24 hours after “Meet the Grahams.” In the song, he takes it to a new level by accusing Drake of being a “pedophile.”
“Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young/ You better not ever go to cell block one,” he raps, adding, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-minor.”
He also goes back to “Taylor Made Freestyle” and his use of an AI version of Shakur’s voice.
“You think the Bay gon’ let you disrespect Pac, n***a? I think that Oakland show gon’ be your last stop, n***a,” he raps.
Pitchfork reported that “The Heart Part 6” (the title is dig at Lamar’s “The Heart” series throughout his discography) sees Drake claim that Lamar’s accusations came directly from fake information he spread in hopes the Californian would catch the bait. He goes on to describe the rapper’s songs as “trauma for your own confessions,” and also makes it clear that “I never been with no one under age.”
Lamar has yet to respond.
