Kendrick Lamar appears to declare victory in rap feud with Drake. Lamar grinned into the camera as he exited the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Stage in New Orleans while hundreds of drones spelled out GAME OVER in white sparkling lights. For the last ten months, Drake, a Canadian rapper and actor, has been engaged in a heated and contentious verbal brawl with Kendrick Lamar, aka KDOT. Lamar, a Compton, California native, is a Pulitzer Prize winner, an acclaimed actor, writer, and rapper.
The Four Words That Changed Hip-Hop, “It’s Just Big Me.”
Relations between the two rap artists have been strained for quite some time. However, the two remained civil and cordial until Kendrick Lamar released “Like That” in March 2024. in collaboration with Hip-Hop artists Metro Booming and Future. “It’s just Big Me,” those 4 Little words uttered by Kendrick re-ignited a feud that would make the Hatfields and McCoys’ bitter dispute seem endearing. In a verse of Like That,” Lamar claims he and Drake are the Prince and Michael Jackson of rap. The seemingly harmless lyric tagged Drake as Michael Jackson and Lamar as Prince in this scenario.
Fans of both rappers point to lyrics and songs released between March 2024 and November 2024 as defining moments. Looking back, even a casual Hip Hop fan can see that Lamar and Drake are not peers or equals when it comes to skill. That seemingly harmless lyric comparing two R&B legends ended the battle long before Kendrick declared himself the winner while standing on the Super Bowl Stage under a sea of drones spelling out Game Over.
Rappers frequently sling insults at each other via ‘Diss Tracks‘ all the time. Diss tracks are often harmless. Drake has had to defend himself in several rap battles with other artists. The format of trading insults to prove a point, discredit, or boost streams is not foreign to Drake. The difference between this ongoing feud between Drake and Kendrick versus other issues Drake had in the past is the depth of ill will and bad blood between the two men.
Family Allegations and Slights Lead to Grammys
Drake responded to the perceived insult Lamar lobbed in ‘Like That’ in two separate songs, ‘Push Ups,’ and ‘Taylor Made Freestyle.’ For a moment, rap fans thought Lamar would behave like an adult. Things started to calm down until Lamar responded to Drake in Euphoria. From the opening notes to the last lyric, Euphoria was a warning shot. Lamar’s second song in the rap battle opened with, “Don’t tell no lies about me, I won’t tell no truths about you.” Theoretically, if Drake had heeded Lamar’s warning, he could’ve said himself a summer-riddled humiliation. Instead, the Canadian responded with Family Matters, making allegations about Kendrick’s wife and children.
Kendrick annihilated Drake when he returned fire. In Meet The Grahams, he spoke to Drake’s parents, his son, and his son’s mother and apologized to a daughter that he alleges Drake was keeping secret and not taking care of.
The songs that fueled them
Not Like Us was the follow-up to “Meet the Grahams.” “The final song in the rap saga brought the fans full circle, to the beginning of the feud. When Kendrick said Drake was Michael Jackson back in March of 2024, he was planting the seed for people to ask why he would say that. The answer was crystal clear when Not Like Us dropped mere minutes after Drake’s failed attempt to reclaim the narrative. Kendrick states matter-of-factly that Drake surrounds himself with pedophiles. He doesn’t stop there. He drives the point home by saying Say, Drake, I hear you like them, you like them young. You better not ever go to Cell Block 1… Trying to strike a chord, and it’s probably A Minor. That was arguably the fatal blow in the beef between these former friends and collaborators.
