Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake Feud

Overview

Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake Feud, also known as Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J. Cole Beef, refers to the rap beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar, Drake and, briefly, J. Cole, resulting in numerous widely discussed diss tracks from the rappers, notably "7 Minute Drill" by Cole, "Push Ups" from Drake and "Euphoria" from Kendrick Lamar. The diss tracks, released between October 2023 and May 2024, led to numerous discussions, memes and jokes about who is "winning" the feud on social media.

Background

On October 19th, 2023, Drake and J.Cole released the song "First Person Shooter" (shown below) in which Cole rapped that he, Drake and Kendrick Lamar constituted the "Big 3" in hip hop,^[1] rapping:

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, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali
Huh, yeah, yeah, huh-huh, yeah, Muhammad Ali

On March 22nd, 2024, Kendrick Lamar responded to the lyrics on the Metro Boomin song "Like That."^[2] Lamar rapped, "Fuck sneak dissin', first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches" and "Motherfuck the big three, nigga, it's just big me" (seen below).

Developments

Following Kendrick Lamar's lyric in "Like That," J. Cole was the first to respond with the track "7 Minute Drill," which he released on April 7th, 2024, as part of his mixtape Might Delete Later.^[3] The track was mostly saying that Lamar's recent music wasn't very good (shown below). However, two days afterward, Cole disavowed the track and pulled it from streaming services,^[4] calling it "lame" and "goofy" during a concert.

On April 13th, Drake's diss track to Kendrick, "Push Ups," leaked online (shown below, left). The key disses included that Lamar was short and sold out with collaborations with artists like Taylor Swift. On April 21st, Drake released a second diss called "Taylor Made Freestyle," which utilized AI to mimic the voices of hip-hop artists Snoop Dogg and Tupac (shown below, right).

On April 30th, 2024, Kendrick Lamar responded with the track "Euphoria," a six-minute diss track of Drake, saying Drake's use of the "N-word" is corny, chided him for being a bad father, referenced Drake's use of ghostwriters, mocked his Toronto accent and implied he likes underage girls (a reference to his grooming controversies).^[9]

On May 2nd, Lamar then released a second diss track, called "6:16 In LA," to his Instagram account, suggesting Drake's entourage isn't loyal to him. The post included a photo of a Maybach driving glove.

On May 3rd, Drake released "Family Matters," a seven-and-a-half minute diss track alleging Kendrick Lamar abuses his wife and may not be the father of his child.^[10] The video for the song gained over 14 million views on YouTube in three days (shown below).

Kendrick Lamar responded within the hour with the song "Meet the Grahams" (shown below, left). In the song, Lamar addresses Drake's family members individually. Kendrick's key allegations from the track include the implication that Drake sexually preys on young girls and that his crew, OVO, are sex offenders. He also directs a verse towards a hitherto unknown secret daughter Lamar alleges Drake has been hiding from the world, as he had previously with his son Adonis.

Also of note, the image that accompanies the YouTube upload of the song allegedly contains Drake's personal belongings, including a prescription for the diet drug Ozempic and the sedative Zolpidem (sometimes used SA cases^[14]). It was theorized on social media that the image proved somebody close to Drake was leaking information to Lamar. The track gained over 16 million views in three days.

Drake denied the "secret daughter" part of the allegation in an Instagram Story, writing, "Hold on can someone find my hidden daughter pls and send her to me…these guys are in shambles."

On May 4th, 2024, Kendrick released yet another diss track called "Not Like Us," in which he doubled down on his allegations that Drake is sexually attracted to young women, at one point saying to Drake, "[you're] tryna strike a chord, but it's probably A Minor." The track gained over 1.6 million views on YouTube in two days (shown below).

On May 5th, Drake responded with "The Heart Part 6." In the song, Drake alleges he and his crew had tricked Kendrick Lamar by feeding him information about a secret daughter. He also denied being a sexual predator, saying that if he was, he would have been caught.

He reiterates some points from "Family Matters" about Lamar allegedly beating his wife. He also implied Kendrick Lamar was abused as a child and theorizes that's why Lamar is taking that angle in his beef. The song gained over 9.4 million views on YouTube in one day.

BBL Drizzy

On May 5th, 2024, Metro Boomin released a beat called "BBL Drizzy," inviting fans to rap their own Drake diss tracks over it, promising that the person who posted the one he liked the most would get a free beat.^[12] The song samples "BBL Drizzy," an AI creation by comedian Kingwillonius.^[13]

As a result, a myriad of Drake diss tracks from fans appeared on social media over the following day using the beat. For example, on May 5th, Twitter user @traphousesports posted a rap over the beat that gained over 11,000 retweets and 74,000 likes in one day, as well as public praise from Metro Boomin (shown below, top).

The same day, user @prod_by_bank released a rap in Japanese that gained over 15,000 retweets and 75,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, bottom).

Shooting At Drake's Home

At 2 AM on May 7th, 2024, a drive-by shooting occurred at Drake's Toronto mansion, the same one featured on the album cover of "Not Like Us." The victim was a security guard who was rushed to the hospital. The motives and perpetrators of the attack are unknown. Three hypotheses were debated on social media: That Kendrick's crew or fans could have been behind the shooting; that Drake staged the shooting; that it had nothing to do with Kendrick Lamar and was instead connected to a shooting at the co-manager of The Weeknd's house that had taken place a week earlier.

Online Reactions

As the diss tracks continued appearing online, social media users debated who was winning the feud, particularly in April and May 2024. Kendrick's "Euphoria" inspired a significant amount of attention, as many viewed it as comparatively vicious next to Drake's diss.

For example, on May 1st, 2024, Twitter / X user @rsvptemple^[7] commented that "Euphoria" was "an actual beef track" and celebrated that "real hate is back," gaining over 920 retweets and 4,700 likes in two days (shown below).

On April 30th, Twitter user and No Jumper podcast host @Adam22^[8] voiced he was less enamored with Kendrick's diss, saying it didn't do enough to "alter Drake's career," gaining over 700 retweets and 3,000 likes in three days, though it received pushback from many commenters (shown below).

The beef also inspired memes as it went viral. For example, on April 30th, 2024, Redditor Diaper_Joy posted a meme about Kendrick taking away Drake's "N-word Pass," gaining over 16,000 points in three days in /r/dankmemes^[5] (shown below, left). On May 1st, Redditor Typo_Ned posted a meme about the entire feud in /r/dogelore,^[6] gaining over 1,500 points in two days (shown below, right).

Post-"Meet the Grahams" Reactions

After Lamar released "Meet the Grahams" a half hour after Drake released "Family Matters," many online were stunned at the quickness with which Lamar responded and believed the track was devastating to Drake. On May 4th, 2024, YouTube comedy channel RDCWorld1 posted a skit joking about the situation, gaining over 3.1 million views in two days (shown below, left).

On May 5th, YouTuber Cr1TiKaL weighed in with his view in a commentary video that gained over 2 million views in one day (shown below, right).

Additionally, Drake received mixed reactions for "The Heart Part 6." Some felt he was brilliant for apparently baiting Lamar with false information, but others felt his response and defenses to Kendrick's allegations were weak. For example, on May 5th, Twitter user @jackfrank_jjf^[11] joked that Drake's defense was the equivalent of the Answered by the Shirt meme, gaining over 30 retweets and 420 likes in a matter of hours (shown below, top).

On May 6th, comedian Demi Adejuyigbe posted a skit about Drake following up to the diss by admitting to everything he was accused of, gaining over 500 retweets and 3,100 likes in one hour (shown below, bottom).

Search Interest

External References