Hip-hop heavyweights Drake and Kendrick Lamar are exchanging diss tracks that have sparked heated debates among music fans on social media.
A number of hip-hop stars are involved in the dispute, almost all of whom seem to have their sights set on Toronto-born Drake.
“There hasn’t been a fight like this in hip-hop since the Nas-Jay-Z fight (in 2001),” Brooklyn-based music journalist and content creator Jacques Morel told CBC.
“I really have a hard time remembering a time when the two biggest artists on the planet competed against each other in a way that captivated not just hip-hop, but… music in general.”
Beef simmers
Morel says the feud between Drake and Lamar, who previously worked together, has been simmering for a decade, and the two have exchanged “subliminal” insults over the years.
The current dispute seems to have been sparked by First Person Shootera seemingly harmless track from Drake’s October 2023 album For all dogsin which he and J. Cole boast about being among the three best rappers in the business – the third being Lamar.
But in late March, Lamar took a clear shot at Drake, with a guest appearance on Metro Boomin and Future’s track Sowhere he rapped: “Fuck the big three… I’m just the big man.”
According to Morel, “It was Kendrick’s verse that really set off the fire alarm.”
J. Cole first responded with a diss track aimed at Lamar and titled 7-minute exercisewith lines like “Your first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic.” Cole later pulled the track from music streaming services. During an April 7 headlining performance at his own Dreamville Festival, he apologized – a rare move in a rap dispute – and praised Lamar, saying 7-minute exercise a “misstep” and said he had had sleepless nights because of it.
Future and Metro Boomin released a new album on April 12, featuring guest stars attacking Drake. A$AP Rocky boasts Hand signals Fans speculate that the incident involves Sophie Brussaux, the mother of Drake’s son Adonis.
Meanwhile on the track All for me aloneToronto artist The Weeknd sings, “I thank God I never gave my life away,” which many have interpreted as a reference to his decision not to sign with Drake’s label OVO.
Drake responds, Kendrick hits back
Drake, accustomed to arguing with his contemporaries, countered the next day.
Excerpts from a track called Push-ups leaked on April 13, and the caption makes fun of Lamar for posting videos of himself doing push-ups on Instagram.
The song also pokes fun at Lamar’s height and supposedly small feet, as well as his past pop collaborations: “Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it funny / Then we need a verse for the Swifties.” The track also pokes fun at Future, Metro Boomin, rapper Rick Ross, The Weeknd, and others.
Within 24 hours, Ross responded with a scathing reply called Champagne momentsin which he accuses Drake of having had a nose job – a claim Drake refutes by releasing a text message conversation with his mother – and says the Toronto artist copied his flow from American rapper Lil Wayne (among some meaner, unprintable insults).
The feud became confusing when an alleged response from Lamar was: One shot appeared online but turned out to be a fake with AI-generated vocals.
On April 19, Drake released TaylorMade Freestylein which he suggests that Lamar bowed to big business and waited for Taylor Swift’s latest album to come out before releasing his own diss track. Ironically, the song saw Drake use AI to imitate the late Tupac Shakur as well as Snoop Dogg – invoking two of Lamar’s rap heroes in an apparent attempt to provoke a reaction from him.
Snoop seemed amused, but Drake took the track back after Shakur’s estate issued him with a cease-and-desist order, calling the use of the legendary rapper’s voice “insulting.”
This Tuesday, Lamar struck back with euphoriaa scathing track that questions Drake’s attitude towards women (“I think you don’t like women”) and calls him a “cheater”, a “master manipulator and a notorious liar”.
The song also takes aim at Drake’s parenting methods (“I have a son to raise, but I see you don’t know about it”), a sore spot for the Canadian after rapper Pusha T ended a 2018 argument by revealing that Drake secretly has a son.
The response was a rare foray for Lamar, who is revered as a top lyricist and not someone other rappers want to compete with. Morel said Lamar lived up to that reputation with euphoria.
“Drake’s stabs against Push-ups and further TaylorMade Freestyle were a little childish – calling Kendrick Lamar small, you know what I mean. But Kendrick’s response was actually laced with venom and bile,” Morel said.
“Kendrick Lamar takes Drake, his personality and his authenticity apart piece by piece.”
euphoria also seems to make fun of the Toronto accent and refers to New Ho King, a downtown Chinese nightlife restaurant.
Lamar releases his second diss track on Friday
While the internet was still reeling over Lamar’s response, he released another song on Friday called 6:16 in LAThis time, Lamar goes hard on his claims that Drake is hated even by those in his inner circle.
“Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a horrible person / Everyone on your team whispers that you deserve it,” raps Lamar.
Toronto hip-hop DJ Paul Parhar, also known as Mastermind, says it’s hard to say which allegations are true, but he suspects Drake has become a target because of his dominance in the industry.
“Listen, he’s helped everyone who’s fighting him right now in one way or another,” Parhar said. “People want him to fall. He’s been at the top for more than a decade. He’s a superstar. He’s Canadian, he doesn’t fit into their American hip-hop mold, so to speak.”
Morel and Parhar await a response from Drake to euphoria And 6:16 in LA, and are eagerly awaiting an escalation of the war of words, but at the same time hope that the feud remains in the studios.
“It reignited the excitement in hip-hop… that feeling hasn’t been there in ages,” Parhar said.
“As long as it stays in the music space, it’s all good. We obviously don’t need to change it… We don’t need to go the way of Tupac and Biggie.”
