The beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake has been a nonstop back and forth that has now erupted into a serious battle. Multiple accusations and facts that have surfaced are making this a fight to remember. But how did it start?
Over the past couple of years, the top three current rap artists on everyone’s G.O.A.T list were J. Cole, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.
However, Kendrick believed that he was the best out of all three of them and even despised Drake as we would later see. He joined Metro Boomin and Future who released the album We Don’t Trust You taking multiple shots at Drake due to Metro’s hatred towards Drake and past issues. He had a secret verse and feature on the song “Like that” which sparked this rivalry between the three saying “It’s just big [him].”
After that, Metro made the sequel to that album naming it We Still Don’t Trust You, shooting disrespectful messages to Drake while getting the likes of A$AP Rocky, Rick Ross, and even The Weeknd on the album.
J.Cole dropped his album Might Delete Later which seemed like a normal release drop. After all, Cole has been working on that album for an entire year. However, the last song, 7 Minute Drill, is clearly meant to address everything Kendrick said. However, J. Cole later apologized for it and took the song down on every music streaming service, officially removing him from this Civil War.
With it now being essentially a 1v20, Drake dropped “Push-Ups,” dissing and addressing every person who was opposing him. However, he mainly focused on Kendrick saying things like “What’s a prince to a king, he a son.”
After some time, Drake dropped another diss track named “Taylor Made Freestyle” specifically made for Kendrick. In this song Drake asks what is taking so long for Kendrick to make a diss track. The most interesting part of this song is how Drake used AI generated voices of both Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.
On April 30, 2024, Kendrick released “Euphoria,” a 6-minute and 24-second diss, if you could even call it that. “Euphoria” essentially escalated the beef and revealed personal information about Drake. And much like Drake did earlier, Kendrick released a second diss track “6.16 in LA” talking about how Drake was a bully.
Drake countered with “Family Matters,” a track that has three songs in one. “Family Matters” touches on the multiple family issues that Kendrick has had such as domestic abuse and assault. But to the surprise of everyone, 30 minutes after “Family Matters,” Kendrick released “Meet the Grahams” which completely shut down Drake, making multiple allegations about how Drake had a secret daughter and how he was involved in illegal activities. He then goes on to say sorry to Drake’s mother, father, and even his own son that Drake was ever alive.
After “Meet the Grahams,” I thought the beef was over; Drake couldn’t retaliate. That was half true because a couple days later, Kendrick dropped “Not Like Us,” reinforcing the allegations he made in “Meet the Grahams” and even adding new evidence to prove it.
In the final song, “THE HEART PART 6,” Drake only shuts down those allegations made against him and then raises the white flag by putting on his Instagram story “Only Summer Vibe Now.”
Although it’s over now, true fans will never forget the beef between these two. It was an amazing journey causing hundreds of conversations with fans and non-fans alike. Fans were excited to hear every new song that dropped. They felt like they were a part of the beef at times and even made their own diss tracks towards one of the two. It was essentially a turf war and you had to pick either Kendrick’s side or Drake’s side, with no in between. Looking back at this beef 20 or 30 years later, people will be able to smile saying “I was there.”
If you want to listen to all the diss tracks chronologically:
“Like That” by Metro Boomin, Future, and Kendrick Lamar
“7 Minute Drill” by J. Cole
“Push-Ups” by Drake
“Taylor Made Freestyle” by Drake
“Euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar
“6.16 In LA” by Kendrick Lamar
“Family Matters” by Drake
“Meet The Grahams” by Kendrick Lamar
“Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar
“THE HEART PART 6” by Drake
