Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry took sides in the heated feud between the world’s biggest rappers, Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The two have traded subtle verbal jabs over the years, but their rivalry clearly escalated this year when it turned to name-dropping.
Tensions began when Drake and J. Cole released a track titled “First Person Shooter” in October 2023 as part of Drake’s album For All The Dogs. J. Cole referred to himself, Drake and Lamar as the “Big 3” of rap. The feud intensified when Lamar responded with a surprise diss in his March 2024 track with Future and Metro Boomin, “Like That,” claiming the “Big 3” label was just “Big Me,” referring to himself.
J. Cole later released a diss track in response, but eventually removed it from streaming platforms and withdrew from the feud. From that point on, the conflict evolved into a one-on-one battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, culminating in eight full tracks of verbal disses exchanged between the two between April and May 2024.
Stephen Curry takes sides in rap dispute between Drake and Kendrick Lamar
While the feud has since cooled down and Drake is focusing on music with a pop sound, the Golden State Warriors star spoke openly about the heated rivalry when asked about it in an interview with GQ’s Joseph Bien-Kahn.
“I’m a huge Drake fan. I’ve been for a long time. I think you obviously know what it means for the rap industry to have something like that, but I still rock with Drake. Absolutely. Absolutely.”
Curry expressed his slight annoyance at one of Lamar’s diss tracks against Drake titled “Not Like Us,” apparently because he was hearing it everywhere. The song was played at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi after Team USA’s 105-79 win over Serbia in a friendly match on July 17. The 2022 NBA Finals MVP noted, “It’s not the only song in America.” On the other hand, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James responded that he loves the song.
Stephen Curry is mentioned in Kendrick Lamar’s diss track against Drake
The all-time NBA record holder for three-point shots was mentioned alongside LeBron James in Lamar’s diss track “Meet the Grahams.” The 17-time Grammy winner urged the two four-time NBA champions to stay away from the Canadian musician.
“Ayy, LeBron, keep the family away. Hey Curry, keep the family away.”
The Compton native made several unflattering allegations against Drake, particularly regarding his alleged dealings with underage girls and concealing a secret daughter.
Six-time NBA All-Star was also involved in the fight between Drake and Kendrick Lamar
James and Curry aren’t the only NBA stars mentioned in the feud. Sacramento Kings guard DeMar DeRozan’s 2019 departure from the Toronto Raptors was mentioned in “Not Like Us.” Drake, a Toronto native, has served as a global ambassador for the franchise since 2013.
“I’m glad DeRoz came home, you didn’t deserve him either.”
DeRozan, who also hails from Compton, appeared during the line in the track’s music video. He took the stage during Lamar’s Juneteenth concert alongside Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook, also from Los Angeles, to perform the song live.
