The beef between Kendrick and Drake
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Kendrick and Drake beef. From Kendrick’s initial feature on Future and Metro Bommin’s Song “Like That”, to “The Heart Part 6”, this beef had plentiful diss tracks for us to all enjoy, 10 to be exact. But what sparked this initial controversy?
Disclaimer: For more detailed analysis, please check out Genius. This is just an overview and brief analysis of the diss tracks released.
The Collabs (2011-2013)
Long before the beef, Kendrick Lamar and Drake had actually collaborated on a few songs together.
Buried Alive Interlude
The two first collaborated on Drake’s 2011 album “Take Care” on the song “Buried Alive Interlude”, which gained over 65 million streams on Spotify. Given the feature and their beef, this seems ironic in hindsight, but I digress.
In 2012 , they collaborated a second time on Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” in the hit song “Poetic Justice”, which garnered over 520 million streams on Spotify and 160 million views on YouTube.
On October 24, 2012, they collaborated for a third time. Both featured on A$AP ROCKY’s debut studio album “Long. Live. A$AP” on the song “F**kin' Problems”, which would prove to be the biggest song in which both Kendrick and Drake appear. It has received around 804 million streams as of 2024 and 328 million YouTube views.
However, as far as collaborations go, 2013 would go on to be the last ever song Kendrick and Drake hop on together.
Subliminal Disses (2013-2023)
Despite their past collaborations, their friendly relationship ultimately ended. From late 2013 onwards, subtle shots have been fired from Kendrick Lamar.
In 2013, Kendrick Lamar was featured on Big Sean’s “Control” where he took shots at many rappers, Drake included.
“I got love for you all, but I’m trying to murder you ni**as. Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you ni**as. They don’t want to hear not one more noun or verb from you ni**as.” Seemingly trying to murder their rap careers.
TDE Cypher at the BET Hip Hop Awards
In the 2013 TDE Cypher at the BET Hip Hop Awards, Kendrick doubled down on Drake with sneak disses.
"Nothing's been the same since they dropped 'Control'. And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes." The famous rap verse, uses Drake’s album, “Nothing Was the Same”. By referencing Drake’s album, he is flipping it back on him as a further diss.
In 2015, Kendrick Lamar released “To Pimp A Butterfly”, which many consider being his greatest album of all time.
“King Kunta”, the third single in the album had the lyrics “I can dig rapping, but a rapper with a ghostwriter, what the f**k happened? I swore I wouldn’t tell, but most of y’all sharing bars like you got the bottom bunk in a two-man cell”.
Initially, these lines were not seen as anything special, until Meek Mill, a rapper, openly accused Drake of having ghostwriters on Twitter.
After this tweet, people started to take notice of Kendrick’s bars about rappers having ghostwriters, which was interpreted as a sneak diss. As it seems Kendrick knows about Drake’s ghostwriters, but he swore he “wouldn’t tell”.
Then in 2017, Kendrick Lamar released part 4 of his 5-part The Heart series.
In the second verse of the song, he explicitly said that he was gonna “punk” a “scared little bitch”. This was interpreted as either a Drake diss or a Big Sean diss.
“My fans can't wait for me to son ya punk ass and crush your whole lil shit. I'll Big Pun ya punk ass, you a scared little bitch. Tiptoein' around my name, ni**a, ya lame. And when I get at you, homie, don't you just tell me you was just playin'. Oh I was just playin' with you K-Dot, c'mon. You know a ni**a rock with you, bro. Shut the fuck up, you sound like the last ni**a I know. Might end up like the last ni**a I know. Oh, you don't wanna clash? Ni**a, I know”
But now we know it is a Drake diss as in Kendrick’s Euphoria diss track, he referenced a line from this exact song. “But don’t tell no lie ‘bout me, and I won’t tell truths ‘bout you” which referenced “Don't tell a lie on me, I won't tell the truth 'bout you” in The Heart Part 4.
Father Time
In 2022, on Kendrick’s latest album, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”, the song “Father Time” had an interesting line. Kendrick rapped “When Kanye got back with Drake, I was slightly confused. Guess I’m not mature as I think, got some healing to do”, which hinted to the fact that Kendrick was not mature enough to get back with Drake.
On 16 Nov 2023, J. Cole released First Person Shooter with Drake. And boy, this song lit the fuse to the whole beef between Drake and Kendrick.
This song was originally supposed to be a Drake, J. Cole, and Kendrick song. However, when Drake asked Kendrick to hop on the track, he outright refused to. Perhaps, this is why there were many sneak disses toward Kendrick in the song.
For instance, Drake rapped “Who the G.O.A.T.? Who the G.O.A.T.? Who the G.O.A.T.? It’s just you and Cole.” And J. Cole rapped “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.”
They seemingly disregard Kendrick as the G.O.A.T. and only see them two as the best rappers in the rap game.
For a more extensive analysis of this song, you can check out this Reddit post by Coco-machin.
The Diss Tracks
From now on, all diss tracks are direct shots Kendrick and Drake fired at each other. Brace yourselves.
On March 22, 2024, with the release of Future and Metro Boomin’s joint album “WE DON’T TRUST YOU”, Kendrick was featured in the song “Like That”.
Kendrick was notoriously known for really disliking sneak disses, therefore he directly calls out J. Cole and Drake. “Fuck sneak dissin’, First Person Shooter I hope they came with 3 switches.” and “Motherfuck the big 3, ni**a it’s just big me”. He is asserting himself as the real G.O.A.T. of the rap game, and they shouldn’t be messing with him.
“Prince Outlived Mike Jack”, taking shots at Drake because of him imitating Michael Jackson. Kendrick was saying he was Prince outliving Drake.
“‘fore all your dogs getting buried, that's a K with all these nines. He gon’ see Pet Sematary.” Not only does Kendrick reference Drake’s album “For All The Dogs”.
“He gon’ see Pet Sematary” is another reference to the 2019 movie Pet Sematary where the “sematary” (cemetery) behind the protagonists’ home has the power to bring those who have been buried there back to life, but those who are brought back often become messed up. This bar “That's a K with all these nines” also mentions K9 (police dog), canine (dog), and the gun AK.
On April 19, 2024, Drake retaliated by officially releasing his diss track Push Ups, taking numerous shots at Kendrick. However, an unfinished sample was leaked on 13 April 2024.
“What’s a prince to a king? He a son, ni**a”, responding to Kendrick’s bar about Prince outliving Michael Jackson, saying
“How the fuck you big-steppin' with a size 7 men’s on,” calling him short with a hilarious bar, referencing Kendrick’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers album and also laughing at his short height. However, it should be noted that although Kendrick is 5’ 5”, his shoe size is 8.5 to 9.
And a very clever bar mentioning the labels Kendrick is signed to, “Like your label boy you in a scope right now, and you gon’ feel the aftermath of what I write down” referencing to Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment Kendrick is signed to and saying that his diss tracks are going to hurt Kendrick.
On the same day, Drake released Taylor Made Freestyle. This diss track featured an AI voice from 2pac and Snoop Dogg, causing much controversy due to the use of artificial intelligence.
The public heavily criticized this, and 2pac’s estate threatened to take legal action against Drake, which prompted Drake to remove this diss track from his social media. Kendrick later capitalized on this part in numerous of his diss tracks.
Drake seemed to be trying to bait Kendrick into releasing a diss track, and he has mocked Kendrick multiple times for the late response.
Then came April 30, 2024. This was the first full diss track from Kendrick Lamar.
“Somebody had told me that you got a ring, on god, I’m ready to double the wage. I’d rather do that than let a Canadian ni**a make Pac turn in his grave.” He targeted Drake’s use of AI to replicate 2pac.
“You know I got language barriers, huh. It’s no accent you can sell me” also dissed Drake on cultural appropriation.
“Don't speak on the family, crodie. It can get deep in the family, crodie. Talk about me and my family, crodie? Someone gon' bleed in your family, crodie. I be at New Ho King eatin' fried rice with a dip sauce and blammy, crodie. Tell me you're cheesin', fam. We can do this right now on the camera, crodie” Using Canadian slang (crodie) and British slang (fam) repeatedly, implicitly saying that he is representing cultures he is not part of and mocking him about it.
He then dissed Drake about not knowing anything about raising a kid. “Why would I call around tryna get dirt on niggas y'all thinkin' my life is rap? That's ho shit, I got a son to raise, but I can see you don't know nothin' 'bout that. Wakin' him up, know nothin' 'bout that. Then tell him to pray, know nothin' 'bout that. Then givin' him tools to walk through life like day by day, know nothin' 'bout that. Teachin' him morals, integrity, discipline, listen man, you don't know nothin' 'bout that” Kendrick is saying that although Drake has a child, Adonis, he is running around constantly trying to bait Kendrick into releasing a diss track when he should be taking care of his kid.
On May 3 of the same year, Kendrick uploaded “6:16 in LA” to his Instagram, continuing to pressure Drake into releasing a diss track.
“Have you ever thought that OVO is workin' for me? Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person. Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it” The main takeaway is that Kendrick alleges he has moles in OVO Sound, a Canadian independent record label founded by Drake This diss track acts as a foreshadowing of the following diss track, Meet The Grahams.
But before that, Drake released Family Matters on May 4, 2024.
“Your baby mama captions always screamin', "Save me". You did her dirty all your life, you tryna make peace. I heard that one of 'em little kids might be Dave Free.” Drake first disses Kendrick by alleging he was abusive to his wife, Whitney Alford. He also alleges that one of his kids might not be his, but instead his childhood friend and music executive Dave Free.
He then goes on to say that Kendrick’s raps always sound like he’s trying to be an activist when he isn’t, “Always rappin' like you 'bout to get the slaves freed. You just actin' like an activist, it's make-believe.” This, however, was heavily criticized by the public, as Drake hasn’t been through much adversity in his life. Drake does not understand that Kendrick’s music is to uplift his own community and culture, and not trying to be an activist to seek attention.
He also responds to Kendrick’s diss about a cease-and-desist for the Like That record. “A cease-and-desist is for hoes. Can't listen to lies that come out of your mouth.”
He then goes on to allege that Kendrick called Tupac’s estate to sue him so he would take down his Taylor Made Freestyle “You called the Tupac estate. And begged 'em to sue me and get that shit down”
About an hour later, Kendrick immediately responded with “Meet the Grahams”. This was seen as a dispatching of Drake by many, as it was Kendrick’s most brutal diss track so far, as a form of writing letters; to the Grahams, or in other words, Drake and his family.
He starts with his son Adonis. He teaches Adonis how to be a man as he believes Drake “doesn’t teach” him shit.
He then writes a letter to Drake’s mum and dad, Sandra and Dennis Graham. He “sits them down” and states Drake is abusive towards women and is a pedophile. “He hates Black women, hypersexualizes 'em with kinks of a nympho fetish Grew facial hair because he understood bein' a beard just fit him better. He got sex offenders on hoe-VO that he keep on a monthly allowance. A child should never be compromised and he keepin' his child around them. And we gotta raise our daughters knowin' there's predators like him lurkin'. Fuck a rap battle, he should die so all of these women can live with a purpose”
After, he alleges Drake has a hidden daughter. He tells that hidden daughter how Drake is not responsive and ignores her, and tells her that she is brave and strong.
Finally, he directly talks with Aubrey (Drake Graham). He accuses Drake of being a liar/master manipulator. “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. They all pussy, you lied on 'em, I know they all got you in 'em. You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh. You lied about them other kids that's out there hopin' that you come. You lied about the only artist that can offer you some help” And said he that this rap battle is not a rap battle, but a “long life battle” with himself.
After Meeting the Grahams, Kendrick once again released another banger Not Like Us just a few hours later. It became one of the most successful songs ever released, breaking numerous Spotify records, including ones Drake held before, which was an insult to injury. And even hitting a home run in clubs and pubs, being one of the straight fires out there.
The cover photo shows Drake’s house, with numerous pedophile pins on his house, insinuating that Drake and everyone around him are pedophiles.
This song trolled Drake to the max, with iconic bars such as
“Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles”
“Tryna strike a chord, and it’s prolly A-Minorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”
“What OVO for, The ‘Other Vaginal Option’?”
“Fucked on Wayne girl while he was in jail, that’s conniving. Then get his face tatted like a bitch apologizing.”
The list goes on forever
In the end, Kendrick even rapped “The family matter, and the truth of the matter it was God’s plan to show y’all the liar.” This alluded to the fact that Kendrick made this diss track only hours after Family Matters and also referenced Drake’s song “God’s Plan” to flip the diss on Drake.
The final track of this whole beef, continuing on the Kendrick’s The Heart series. And I’ve got to say, this one is… SH*T. Drake has disappointed us with the final track.
With responses such as “I never been with no one underage but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with. Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I'm too respected. If I was fucking young girls, I promise I'd have been arrested. I'm way too famous for this shit you just suggested”
Yeah… it’s sh*t
And his tweet is ironic too. As Kendrick believed the diss track was so trash, he didn’t bother to release another diss track.
This is the full timeline of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef.
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