The “beef” battle between these two male rappers is being watched by a huge number of rap fans.
The global rap fan community is paying special attention to the “big war” between the two male rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar . In just the past 3 days, both male rappers have released a total of 5-6 diss tracks aimed at each other, dragging many rappers into the fray, with increasingly harsh language attacking each other. What happened? What “hatred” from the past happened to lead to this brutal war?
From colleagues to sworn enemies
Going back many years, from 2011, Drake and Kendrick Lamar were already two extremely famous male rappers. Drake was Kendrick Lamar’s senior at that time and the two had a good relationship when Drake always appreciated and sought to combine with Kendrick in his products. One of the most notable collaborations was the highly acclaimed album by Drake – Take Care. In 2012, Drake continued to invite Kendrick Lamar to be the opening artist for the Club Paradise Tour, which caused a stir.
In October 2012, Drake and Kendrick Lamar appeared together on A$AP Rocky’s album – F*****n’ Problems. Kendrick even invited Drake to collaborate on the track Poetic Justice from his masterpiece album: goodkid, mAAd city. However, that was also the last product that Drake and Kendrick Lamar worked on together.
From a potential name, the album goodkid, mAAd city has brought Kendrick to the top of the world rap scene thanks to the depth, exploitation of reality and high artistry of this album. This gives Kendrick confidence and an extremely “aggressive” spirit in the revival of competition in the rap scene. The turning point happened when Kendrick Lamar called out Drake and 11 other rappers (J. Cole, Meek Mill, Drake, Big KRIT, Wale, Pusha T, ASAP Rocky, Tyler, the Creator, Mac Miller, Big Sean and Jay Electronica) in the track Control with Big Sean. Kendrick’s strong attitude shook the rap scene: “I love you all, but I’m trying to kill you!…” – Kendrick’s arrogant statement shows his competitive spirit when he wants to become the king of New York rap, and at the same time shows his desire to promote competition between top rappers that is gradually fading.
And this is where the war began, Drake responded to Kendrick’s “provocation” when appearing on the cover of Billboard that same month, telling the publication: “I really don’t have anything to say about it. To me, it’s just like a wishful thinking. That’s all. I know for a fact that Lamar can’t kill me, on any platform!” Since then, throughout the period of 2013 – 2016, for 3 years, both still released a few tracks aimed at the opponent, but did not flare up into a big fight. The tension between the two also gradually faded into oblivion, it seemed like it could be forgotten, but no!
The most exciting “battle” in contemporary rap
Everything changed in 2023, in October 2023, Drake collaborated with J.Cole – who is also considered one of the top lyrical rappers – to release the track First Person Shooter, which immediately rose to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Notably, J.Cole’s verse evoked the name Kendrick Lamar, mentioning the “grudge” of the past, when asking whether J.Cole, Drake or Kendrick is the greatest rapper today?
In March 2024, Kendrick Lamar collaborated on the track Like That with Future and Metro Boomin. Kendrick used rap lyrics to directly attack Drake and J. Cole and claimed that there are no “top 3, only him the greatest”, in order to affirm his number 1 position in the rap industry. Drake is currently focusing on the It’s All A Blur Big tour, in many statements during the tour, he also implicitly criticized Kendrick Lamar, confident that his position has never been shaken.
In early April, J. Cole released the album Might Delete Later, in which netizens paid special attention to the track “7 Minutes Drill” – a diss track for Kendrick. However, just a few short days later, J. Cole appeared at a show and apologized to Kendrick, sharing that the song made him feel extremely regretful for what he had done, it was not true to who he was. He even admitted that Kendrick was one of the greatest artists of all time. After that, J. Cole deleted this diss track on all his platforms.
Entering April 2024, Drake released a diss track directly at Kendrick called Push Ups. But that was just the “opening”, most notably on April 24, Drake released the track Taylor Made Freestyle. Drake used AI to rap in the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg, two male rappers who have a big influence on Drake. In the rap, Drake expressed his disappointment with Kendrick because he had not responded to Push Ups. Drake even cited the release of Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, as the reason why Kendrick did not dare to release a response track.
On April 30, 2024, Kendrick Lamar officially responded to Drake with a 6-minute diss track called “euphoria”. The diss rap has harsh lyrics, showing a “bloodthirsty” Kendrick who hates Drake, mocking Drake for hanging out with much younger women, even implying that Drake is gay, trying to act like a gangsta and not “black” enough to play hip hop. Kendrick even exaggerated to the point of faking a Canadian accent to mock Drake and belittle the rapper for not being worthy of being a father.
On May 3, 2024, Kendrick continued to release a second response track in less than 72 hours after Euphoria – a track called 6:16 in LA. In this track, Kendrick called Drake’s brothers “backstabbers” and claimed that he had an insider at Drake’s record label to send him messages. In this track, Kendrick also “smartly” invited Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift’s “favorite” music producer, closest to him) to be the producer, as a deep response to Drake’s track Taylor Made Freestyle.
Fourteen hours after Kendrick’s track hit the airwaves, Drake responded with Family Matters. This time, Drake took a more personal approach to Kendrick, alluding to his troubled relationship with his fiancée Whitney Alford, accusing Kendrick of cheating and physically assaulting her, even continuing to bodyshame Kendrick for his short stature.
Just 19 minutes into Drake’s Family Matters, Kendrick fired back at Drake with the track “meet the grahams.” This time, Kendrick sent a letter to Drake’s family, including his son, parents, and grandfather. In addition to attacking Drake’s paternity, Kendrick claimed that Drake has a child, a girl, is very promiscuous, and has many other children outside, hiding them from the mothers of his children. Kendrick continued to warn Drake, accusing him of having problems with alcohol, gambling, and suspicions that Drake harbors pedophiles.
Kendrick also targeted Drake’s son, about using a “ghost writer” (asking someone else to write the lyrics but buying them, taking credit for themselves), about the suspicion of plastic surgery. However, Drake also posted a sarcastic story about Kendrick’s “fact” about having a child, challenging anyone to find the daughter he was hiding as in Kendrick’s rap. There are many sources that Drake intentionally released false information to trick Kendrick into using this information.
And most recently, Kendrick has just released Not Like Us, this time calling Drake out as a pedophile who likes to date young girls. Kendrick also posted a picture of Drake’s house with the symbol of sexual predators. Currently, Drake has yet to respond after 3 consecutive extremely harsh response tracks from Kendrick Lamar!
Kendrick Lamar Photos Drake’s House With Sexual Assault Symbols.
