At the time of writing, we are currently in the midst of a ceasefire between Canadian megastar Drake and Compton-born rap legend Kendrick Lamar. The collaborators-turned-enemies sent their hatred for each other into the mainstream after over a decade of simmering animosity, with a slew of diss tracks released by the pair over the past week.
Aubrey Drake Graham made his start acting on the teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation before reaching commercial success as a rapper. He has since become one of the best-selling music artists in the world, with a joint record for the most Number 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 - tying with Michael Jackson. Drake is no stranger to drama, with physical altercations with Chris Brown and P. Diddy, a feud with Pusha T that led to the leaking of his secret child, 6-year-old Adonis Graham, and beef with long-time collaborator Kanye West to his name.
Compare this with the introverted Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. Frequently named the greatest rapper of all time, he shot to fame with the release of his second album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2011), which spent over a decade in the Billboard 200. Raised in poverty and exposed first hand to gang crime from a young age, Lamar is praised for his witty and structurally complex lyrics, winning the first Pulitzer Prize for Music in a genre outside of classical and jazz. Until recently, the rapper had maintained a low-drama, private life, raising his two children with childhood sweetheart Whitney Alford in Los Angeles. The now infamous rift between the two rappers was spurred on by thinly veiled jabs dating as far back as 2013, in which Lamar name-checked Drake on his feature in
Big Sean’s “Control” (2013): “I’m usually homeboys with the same n***s I’m rhymin’ with / But this is hip-hop, and them ns should know what time it is / And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale / Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake”. While many of the rappers mentioned in this verse, including A$AP Rocky, seemed pleased to be mentioned on the verse, Drake did not appear to take the bar kindly, rapping in his 2013 song “The Language”: “F* any n*a that’s talking that s* just to get a reaction”.
Fast-forward to 2023, the pair’s beef was brought to the forefront by fellow rapper J-Cole, who performed a verse on Drake’s 2023 track “First Person Shooter” that, in hindsight, should have probably stayed in his notes: “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot [Kendrick Lamar]? Is it Aubrey [Drake]? Or me? / We the big three,”. Lamar snapped back on a feature in Future & Metro Boomin’s track “Like That” (2024): “Motherf* the big three, n*a, it’s just big me”. Several weeks later, Drake spontaneously released the first of his Kendrick-centric diss tracks, “Push Ups”, in which he takes a stab at Lamar’s “big three” remark: “You ain’t in no Big Three, SZA got you wiped down, Travis [Scott] got you wiped down, [21] Savage got you wiped down”, as well as hitting the rapper with more personal attacks, such as the fact he wears a Size US 7 men’s shoe (since debunked by sneaker boutique RIF LA, who confirmed Lamar wears a size US 8.5-9), and his features on songs by more conventional pop artists, such as Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” (2014) and Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (2017). Drake refused to wait for a response from Kendrick, instead releasing a second diss track six days later entitled “Taylor Made Freestyle” - another attack on Lamar’s collaboration with Swift. In the now-deleted song, Drake uses AI to imitate the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg to insult Lamar about his height and lack of releases, whilst also implying that the Compton native exaggerated his childhood experiences of gang violence: “Never shot nobody, never stabbed nobody / Never did nothing violent to no one, it's the homies that empower you”. Surprisingly, Kendrick remained silent throughout the release of “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle”, leaving Drake to become embroiled witheven more drama - this time from the Tupac estate, who quickly fired offa cease and desist for the use of Shakur’s voice without their consent. Drake countered that Lamar’s silence was due to him not wanting to compete with Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department’s current domination of the Billboard charts: “Now we gotta wait a f***ing week ‘cause Taylor Swift is your new top”. And in Drake’s defence, he was right: Kendrick released his response 11 days later, changing the game entirely.
The 6-minute epic “Euphoria” was the first of four responses. It is made clear from the get-go that Lamar is not taking this feud seriously, as he dons a variety of voices from an almost hyperventilating whine to a devastating mockery of the Toronto accent. Compared to Drake’s playground insults, Lamar goes straight for the jugular, best summed up with the bar “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress”. No stone is left unturned as Lamar picks apart Drake’s parenting, rumoured plastic surgery, appropriation of black culture and general rapping ability with a barrage of memorable insults. “Don’t tell no lie about me and I won't tell truths 'bout you”, Lamar warns, signalling the beginning of a serious war between the two. Three days later, “6:16 in LA” was unexpectedly released to the delight of fans everywhere. Lamar continues his tirade against Drake, this time with allegations of corruption within his record label, OVO Records: “A hundred n****s that you got on salary / And twenty of 'em want you as a casualty”. Drake responded the same day with the 8-minute “Family Matters”, in which he accuses Lamar of domestic abuse and infidelity against his fiancée, whilst also suggesting that his children were fathered by his manager Dave Free. “When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defence ’cause she’s bigger than you?”, muses Drake. It seems that the inclusion of family into the mix sparked a frenzy within Lamar, who released his third diss track “Meet the Grahams” within hours of Drake’s response. In the song, Lamar speaks directly to Drake’s son, Adonis, apologising that Drake is his father, before turning his attention to an alleged hidden daughter: “[Drake] Should be teachin' you time tables or watchin' Frozen with you / Or at your eleventh birthday singin' poems with you”. This allegation spread like wildfire on social media, with the consensus being that Lamar was telling the truth - after all, Drake had hidden a child from public view before. Other allegations included Drake’s addiction to sex, drugs, and weight-loss aid Ozempic.
Lamar’s most damning track came hours after the former. “Not Like Us” features brutal accusations against Drake behind a club-worthy beat. It is the first time Lamar comments on Drake’s controversial relationships with underage women, with the now infamous bar “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor”. He also alleges child abuse within OVO Records, referring to the team as “Certified Lover Boy, certified pedophiles”, a reference to Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. From there, it was almost impossible for Drake to save face - but not for lack of trying. The rapper released his final diss track “The Heart Part 6” the next day, but instead of being an attack against Lamar, felt more like self-defence. Drake brushes offLamar’s remarks about his alleged pedophilia, quipping “I'm way too famous for this s*** you just suggested”. He also implies Lamar was molested as a child, citing his track “Mother I Sober” as evidence. The track, however, explicitly states that Lamar was not molested, and fans quickly turned against Drake due to his attempted weaponisation of a traumatic event. He closes offwith an unnecessary bar about actress Millie Bobby Brown, who was known to have a questionable relationship with Drake from the age of 14 in which he gave her “advice about boys”, despite Lamar never even mentioning the controversy. In short, this track has done considerably more harm than good in the hopes of preserving Drake’s oncegolden reputation.
It seems that the battle has died down now between the two megastars, with Lamar seemingly ignoring Drake’s latest track. In many ways, Lamar’s silence is arguably the most damning retort he could give, as it has allowed for Drake’s ill-timed response to become the subject of intense online scrutiny. By continuing to push back against Lamar, Drake has appeared to damage his own career in the process. Only time can tell as to whether this has been the final nail in the coffin for Aubrey Drake Graham.