Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar: the juiciest moments in their beef
CBC Music | Posted: May 3, 2024 6:52 PM | Last Updated: May 6
Here is everything you need to know about their ongoing feud
Once upon a time, Drake and Kendrick Lamar were collaborators: Lamar was an opening act for Drake's Club Paradise Tour in 2012 and Drake appeared on Lamar's song "Poetic Justice" the same year. But things began to sour in 2013, after Lamar rapped on Big Sean's track "Control" and called out Drake and several other rappers by name before adding: "I got love for you all but I'm trying to murder you n---s / trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you n---s."
WATCH | The official video for 'Poetic Justice':
While Drake didn't officially respond — his 2013 song "The Language" was rumoured to be a diss, but Birdman, the CEO of Drake's then-label, denied it was targeting Lamar — things between them seemed stable, as Drake praised Lamar at his OVO Festival the following year.
On March 22, the feud officially started again after Lamar appeared on "Like That," a diss track from Metro Boomin and Future, and declared himself a better rapper than J. Cole and Drake. The fiery verse prompted retaliative tracks from J. Cole, who released — then retracted — "7 Minute Drill" on Apr. 5 and Drake, who dropped "Push Ups" on Apr. 19.
Lamar responded to "Push Ups" on Apr. 30 with "Euphoria" and dropped another diss track, "6:16 in LA," on May 3. We've broken down some of the key moments from their disses so far, below.
Lamar's loaded 'Like That' references
There are a number of highlights in Lamar's "Like That" feature that take shots at Drake such as, "Motherf--k the big three, n---a, it's just big me" and "'Fore all your dogs gettin' buried/ that's a K with all these nines, he gon' see Pet Sematary" (Drake's most recent album is titled For All the Dogs.)
But it's when Lamar raps, "Your best work is a light pack/ n---a, Prince outlived Mike Jack," that he draws an interesting comparison between two iconic artists. Drake is a longtime fan of Michael Jackson: he's referenced Jackson in several songs, tied some of his Billboard records, and included a posthumous Jackson feature on his track "Don't Matter to Me."
Michael Jackson and Prince famously feuded for decades, so by Lamar comparing himself to Prince and likening Drake to Jackson, he positioned himself not only as Drake's artistic rival, but also a personal one.
Drake hits back with funny bars on 'Push Ups'
On Apr. 19, Drake fired back with "Push Ups," responding to several artists including Rick Ross, the Weeknd and Metro Boomin. However, he saved his funniest lyrical barbs for Lamar:
- He mocks Lamar's pop collaborations with Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift: "Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty/ then we need a verse for the Swifties"
- He calls out Lamar's alleged shoe size: "How the f--k you big steppin' with a size-seven men's on?"
- He hits back at Lamar's comparison to Prince on "Like That": "What's a prince to a king? He a son, n---a"
- While referencing The Bodyguard film, he also name-drops Lamar's wife, Whitney Alford: "I be with some bodyguards like Whitney/ top say drop, your little midget ass better f--kin"
Drake baits Lamar on 'Taylor Made Freestyle'
Hours after releasing "Push Ups," Drake dropped another diss track. On "Taylor Made Freestyle," he used AI voices of West Coast hip-hop titans Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur to rap lyrics encouraging Lamar to fight back. Some of the lyrics spotlight Lamar's Compton, Calif., heritage while calling him out: "Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast saviour/ engraving your name in some hip-hop history."
After receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Shakur's estate, the song was removed from Drake's social media channels.
Lamar delivers scathing call-outs on 'Euphoria'
The entirety of Lamar's Apr. 30 response track, "Euphoria" was directed at Drake, with Lamar mocking everything from Drake's lack of parenting skills to his fashion sense. While there are numerous cutthroat lines, some of the most memorable moments on the song are:
- The much-memed lyric about Drake's affinity for braided hairstyles: "Cutthroat business, you got shit twisted/ What is it? The braids?"
- The loud reminder about Drake losing his beef with Pusha T: "Yeah, f--k all that pushin' P, let me see you push a T"
- His pointed diss of Drake's faux persona: "I like Drake with the melodies, I don't like Drake when he act tough"
- His hint at Drake getting plastic surgery: "Yeah, my first one like my last one, it's a classic, you don't have one/ let your core audience stomach that, then tell 'em where you get your abs from"
- His incorporation of Toronto slang while rapping in a Toronto accent and also shouting out a local Chinese restaurant: "I be at New Ho King eatin' fried rice with a dip sauce and a blammy, crodie"
Lamar claps back again with '6:16 in LA'
Drake responded to "Euphoria" by making fun of it on Instagram, but before he had a chance to reply in song, Lamar released a follow-up diss track on May 3. The song's title "6:16 in LA" is a play on Drake's many timestamp diss tracks such as "7am on Bridle Path" and "4PM in Calabasas." Fans have also theorized that the title is also stands for Jun. 16, which is Tupac Shakur's birthday, and Father's Day.
The track was also co-produced by Jack Antonoff, who is one of Taylor Swift's most frequent collaborators, signaling that Antonoff may not have appreciated Drake namedropping Swift on "Taylor Made Freestyle" or dissing Lamar on "Push Ups" for collaborating with Swift. The result is a 'Taylor-made' diss and the standout moments are below:
- Lamar doubles down on his hatred of Drake while claiming he has sources at Drake's label who are giving him information: "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"
- He pokes fun at Drake's single "Toosie Slide": "Can't Toosie Slide up outta this one"
- He hits at Drake for reacting to the diss online: "Your lil memes is losing steam, they figured you out"
- The song ends with a nod to Michael Jackson: "Before you figure that you're not alone/ ask what Mike would do?"
Drake releases the shocking 'Family Matters'
Hours after the release of "6:16 in LA," Drake responded with "Family Matters," an explosive diss track with an accompanying music video. In the video, a van similar to the one on the cover of Lamar's album good kid, m.A.A.d city is crushed, and the final moments show Drake at New Ho King, the Toronto restaurant Lamar referenced on "Euphoria."
Drake had blistering words for the Weeknd, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky, Metro Boomin and Future on the song, but he makes numerous shocking allegations about Lamar specifically, including:
- Claiming that Lamar abuses his wife, Whitney Alford, by comparing Lamar to Bobby Brown and Alford to Whitney Houston: "On some Bobby shit, I wanna know what Whitney need"
- Claiming that Alford is cheating on Lamar with the co-founder of his pgLang label, Dave Free: "I heard that one of 'em little kids might be Dave Free"
- Doubling down on Lamar being supposedly violent: "They hired a crisis management team to clean up the fact that you beat up your queen/ the picture you painted ain't what it seems"
- Insinuating that Lamar was the reason for the cease-and-desist letter he received for "Taylor Made Freestyle": "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 'em to sue me and get that shit down"
Lamar immediately responds with the explosive 'Meet the Grahams'
Lamar wasted no time in responding to "Family Matters" and dropped the incendiary "Meet the Grahams" (Drake's legal last name is Graham) only minutes later. The artwork for "6:16 in LA" was a cropped image of a pair of gloves — a sliver of the full cover art for "Meet the Grahams," which is a photo of a shirt, the gloves, prescriptions, receipts and other items that supposedly belong to Drake.
But it's not just the photo that's startling: Lamar uses the song to address each of Drake's family members in a gruesome fashion. The wildest moments are below:
- The song begins with Lamar speaking directly to Drake's son, Adonis Graham, then Lamar explains that he can be a better father figure to him than Drake is: "And you're a good kid that need good leadership/ let me be your mentor since your daddy don't teach you shit"
- He compares Drake to convicted sex offender, Harvey Weinstein: "Mm-mm, your son's a sick man with sick thoughts, I think n---s like him should die/ him and Weinstein should get f--ked up in a cell for the rest they life"
- He alleges that Drake has a secret daughter: "Dear babygirl, I'm sorry that your father not active inside your world"
- Lamar states that Drake has "got gamblin' problems, drinkin' problems, pill-poppin' and spendin' problems"
- He calls Drake an all-around liar: "'Cause you lied about religious views, you lied about your surgery/ you lied about your accent and your past tense, all is perjury/ you lied about your ghostwriters, you lied about your crew members"
Lamar follows up with 'Not Like Us' the following day
On the evening of May 4, Lamar continued his claims about Drake's personal life on the searing track, "Not Like Us," calling out Drake and several of his OVO signees. The art for the track is an image of Drake's Toronto home, and the shocking lyrics describe:
- The unsavoury rumours surrounding Drake's love life: "Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young/ you better not ever go to cell block one"
- The criminal history of Baka Not Nice, a rapper signed to OVO who was charged with assaulting a woman in 2015: "And Baka got a weird case, why is he around? Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles"
- A rumour that Drake slept with the girlfriend of his mentor, Lil Wayne, while Wayne served time in prison in 2010: "F--ked on Wayne girl while he was in jail, that's connivin'/ then get his face tatted like a bitch apologizin'"
- A warning from Lamar telling Drake to stop dissing his rumoured ex, Serena Williams: "From Alondra down to Central, n---a better not speak on Serena"
Drake counters with 'The Heart Part 6'
Drake released "The Heart Part 6," which is a play on the title of Lamar's heart tracks, such as "The Heart Part 4" and "The Heart Part 5," on May 5. He refutes some of Lamar's previous claims, while doubling down on some of his allegations about Lamar from "Family Matters," as detailed below:
- Drake claims he played Lamar by giving him false information, such as Lamar's claim that Drake has a secret daughter: "We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information/ a daughter that's 11 years old, I bet he takes it/ we thought about giving a fake name or a destination"
- He denies being a predator: "I never been with no one under age but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with/ just for clarity, I feel disgusted"
- He claims again that Lamar abuses his wife and references the time Lamar rapped about people listening to convicted sex trafficker, R. Kelly: "I don't wanna fight with a woman beater, it feeds your nature/ if you still bumping R. Kelly, you can thank the saviour"
- He defends his supposed friendship with actress Millie Bobby Brown: "Only f--kin' with Whitney's, not Millie Bobby Brown's, I'd never look twice at no teenager"
On the song's outro, Drake raps that Lamar has "ten more records to drop," hinting that more diss tracks from Lamar are on the way.