Drake and Kendrick are no stranger to each other, but in recent months, their partnership has turned into a feud.
The Timeline
In 2011, we saw Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Drake Aubrey Graham work together on the ‘Take Care’ album by Drake where Kendrick was featured on the ‘Buried Alive Interlude.’
January 15, 2013, Drake features on the single Poetic Justice by Kendrick Lamar. This is their last, and arguably greatest feature with one another.
The infamous control verse came out on August 14, 2013. Kendrick disrespected practically the entire rap game, coming for rappers like Jermaine Cole (J. Cole), Pusha T, Meek Millz, Drake, A$AP Rocky, and Mac Miller. Kendrick rapped, “I heard the barbershops be in great debates all the time ‘Bout who’s the best MC: Kendrick, Jigga, and Nas,” which was the inspiration for J. Cole’s verse in First Person Shooter. Nobody took insult to this verse, other than Drake.
On October 6, 2023, ‘First Person Shooter’ (feat. J.Cole) was dropped on the album ‘For all the Dogs’. In the song, J.Cole said the line, “Love when they argue the hardest MC. Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? We the big three, like we started a league.” This reignited the feud between J.Cole, Aubrey Graham(Drake), and Kendrick Lamar(K. Dot).
Kendrick Lamar directly responded to this insult with his feature on Metro Boomin and Futures song ‘Like That,’ released on March 22, 2024, saying he hates “sneak dissin’,” and mentioned how there is no big three, and that Kendrick is the only one at the top of the rap game.
Kendrick’s whole feature was viewed as a problem as in 2015, Producer Metro Boomin, Future, and Drake all collabed on the ‘What A Time To Be Alive’ album. When Metro and Future released the new album, “We don’t trust you” this year, Drake was left out. Additionally, they included features from artists who disrespected Drake in their verses.
April 5, 2024, J. Cole released ‘7 Minute Drill.’ In the song, J. Cole comes after Kendrick’s albums, calling them tragic and boring. The song was up for less than 24 hours before it was taken down, and J. Cole publicly apologized during a show to Kendrick, essentially saying that he wants no beef. Many argue that this was the smartest and most logical move that he could’ve made to peacefully remove himself from the growing conflict.
On April 13, ‘Push Ups’ by Drake was leaked, where he shames Kendrick for his height and size, mentioning how he cannot big-step(hustle) with a “size-seven men’s on.” He also mentions how Kendrick’s old record label, Top Dog, took 50% of all his profits for themselves. The rapper then tells Kendrick, “You ain’t in no big three, SZA got you wiped down.”
Drake dropped another diss track entitled “Taylor Made Freestyle” less than a week later on April 19. The song included AI-generated voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakurr. This is major because on the album ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ by Kendrick, a Tupac interview that had never been aired was sampled, with permission from the Tupac estate. Drake used the AI voice with no prior permission. The song was basically made to say, we’re waiting on you to respond.
On April 30, Kendrick dropped a 6 minute long diss track titled ‘Euphoria.’ Kendrick came for Drake’s racial identity, use of AI, and parenting, commenting on how he doesn’t know much about raising a son.
Kendrick dropped again on May 3 with ‘6:16 in LA.’ This number has a significant meaning in Drake’s life for several reasons: June 16th is Fathers day in the USA and Canada, Tupac’s Birthday, and the premier date of the show ‘Euphoria,’ which Drake executively produced. In the song, Kendrick attacks Drake’s race again, saying that he doesn’t want to hear him say the n-word.
Later that same day, Drake dropped ‘Family Matters.’ Drake begins the song with the n-word, and later alleges that Kendrick domestically abuses his wife, saying her captions scream “Save me.”
Less than one hour after that drop, ‘Meet the Grahams’ was released by Kendrick. Graham is Drake’s last name and each verse is directed towards a specific member of Drake’s family, including his Mother, Father, and son(Adonis). Kendrick continues on to make claims that Drake has a secret daughter that he is not recognizing.
The photo for this single had secret messages behind it as well. The photo had Drake’s personal medication and items in it, so Kendrick is telling Drake that he has people inside Drake’s close circle that will snitch on him. Drake claims that the medication is his fathers and was stolen from his suitcase.
On May 4, ‘Not like Us’ was released where Kendrick accuses Drake of being a pedophile in the line, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minorrrr.” This line went viral over the social media platform ‘Tik Tok’ for its creative play on words. The A Minor chord on the piano is the only chord with no black keys and a minor is also used to reference the rumors that Drake is a pedophile.
Kendrick also references John Stockton, who was famously Karl Malone’s running mate and Karl Malone was believed to have had sexual relations with a 12-year old. The line says, “I’m finna pass on this body, I’m John Stockton.” essentially saying that he’s going to let somebody else take care of him.
On May 5, the most recent diss track ‘My Heart Pt. 6’ came out. This song denied every claim that Kendrick made and then proceeded to comment on Kendrick supposedly being molested as a child. He stated, “My mom came over today, and I was like, ‘Mother, I-, Mother, I-, mother-,’ahh, wait a second, That’s that one record where you say you got molested.”
He also mentions Millie Bobbie Brown, saying that he never touched her, increasing suspicion around the rumors that Drake is a pedophile because Kendrick never explicitly name dropped Brown in any of his songs.
Despite the release of Drake’s latest diss, Kendrick has not reacted or released more music as a response. Who do you think will win this epic rap battle?
