What is the world of rap without feuds? Well, the music world is on fire as of late, as Drake and Kendrick Lamar have spent the better part of the last month and a half throwing diss tracks at one another in a constant stream. That’s right, we now have a Pulitzer Prize winner in a rap war…Damn.
Drake and Kendrick Lamar have been going at it for over a decade at this point. Even though they formerly collaborated on a number of projects in the early 2010s, their partnership, like so many in the rap world, fell apart. While the first diss track came sometime back in 2013, the clash between Drake and Kendrick Lamar is at an all-time high. The trigger for this thread goes back to March’s “Like That”, in which Lamar distanced himself from his former friend. Drake hit back the following month on “Push Ups”, doubling down less than a week later with “Taylor Made Freestyle”, which actually resulted in a cease and desist after he used the AI-generated voice of Tupac Shakur.
We really haven’t gone more than a week without a response diss track from either Drake or Kendrick Lamar. This month alone has seen four tracks – and it’s only May 6th! Let’s check these out: after somehow confusing Haley Joel Osment and Joel Osteen on “Euphoria”, Lamar himself dropped another song, “6:16 in LA” in which he rapped, Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it.
As has become habit and proving to be possible in the digital age, Drake responded to this Kendrick Lamar track with “Family Matters” that same day, taking personal shots at Lamar’s family. Lamar fired back over the weekend with the double shot of “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us” almost immediately after, both personal attacks. In “Not Like Us”, Lamar ramped up the hate, rapping, Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young / You better not ever go to cell block one. With all that is going on with Sean Combs, no doubt people will draw links whether Lamar intended them or not.
That about takes us up to speed with the drama around Drake and Kendrick Lamar, although I have a feeling this article will be outdated the minute it gets published…
Who do you pick in the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar? What has been the most damning line so far?