It's What's For Dinner: The Battle for the Crown
Everything you need to know about the biggest beef in rap - UPDATED MAY 8TH
It’s an exciting time to be a hip-hop fan.
But it’s also an incredibly confusing time — every day there’s been a new development in the most significant rap disagreement of the modern era, and it is WAY too much to keep up with. If only someone were to do something about that…
Look no further! I present to you: Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake and Drake vs. everyone else! The complete saga!
Look back here for updates as the beef continues to unfold.
UPDATE - May 8th, 2024:
What an amazing weekend for hip-hop.
Only three days after “euphoria,” Kendrick drops a second diss track titled, “6:16 in LA” with a cryptic cover of a glove (originally — the first upload is now gone from YouTube).
The title is in reference to Drake’s infamous “timestamp” songs, which fans consider to be some of his best in his discography. On the track, Kendrick alludes to the presence of a “leak” or “mole” in Drake’s camp that has been feeding information to Kendrick and that OVO works for him. Featuring a beat by Jack Antonoff (it’s literally “Taylor Made”).
That same night, Drake releases “Family Matters,” a song that by all means would end any other beef.
It’s fun, features an entertaining video, with some clever rhymes. On the track, Drake claims that Kendrick’s children are not his, but rather belong to his partner Dave Free, and that Kendrick is a “wife-beater.” The video also features the demolition of a van that appears to resemble the one on Kendrick’s good kid, m.A.A.d city album cover (it’s the wrong model, fun fact).
It did not end the beef, however. Kendrick gave “Family Matters” a whole thirty minutes to breathe before releasing one of the most devastating diss track ever, called “meet the grahams.” The original cover featured a zoomed-out version of the “6:16 in LA” cover, showcasing some personal items allegedly stolen from Drake’s dad’s suitcase, including an Ozempic prescription, a prescription for a drug commonly used on date r*pes, and a receipt for a ring (the same one modeled after Kendrick’s wife’s ring that was featured in the “Family Matters” video).
“meet the grahams” annihilates every member of Drake’s family, from Adonis to Dennis, and also reveals that Drake has a hidden daughter that is 11-years-old. Additionally, Kendrick begins stating that Drake is a pedophile that runs a sex trafficking ring out of his house. Featuring a beat by legendary producer, the Alchemist.
If that wasn’t enough, a day later, Kendrick releases the West Coast slapper, “Not Like Us.”
This is by far one of the most energetic and electrifying diss tracks of all time, quickly sweeping through LA clubs on Saturday night as well as shooting to the top of every chart in the US (and some out of the country). It broke the record for biggest streaming day ever for a rap song on Spotify, a record previously held by Drake. It’s poised to go #1 on Billboard.
Sunday night, after “Not Like Us” dominated, Drake releases “The Heart Part 6,” a title that alludes to Kendrick’s legendary “The Heart” series.
He essentially throws in the towel on the beef while claiming that he fooled Kendrick into believing that he was on Ozempic and that he had a hidden daughter. He also doubles down on abuse allegations he leveled against Kendrick, and says the beef was “good exercise.”
I would wager that Kendrick is not done with him yet. Come back here for more updates.
UPDATE - May 1st, 2024:
There’s a lot to catch up on QUICK-LIKE:
On April 20th, in the wee hours of the morning, Drake posts a new diss on Instagram called “Taylor Made Freestyle” where he uses AI to mask his own voice as 2Pac and Snoop Dogg to diss Kendrick. He basically admits to liking younger women, so… point Kendrick?
Days later, the Tupac estate issues a cease and desist to Drake’s camp claiming his use of Pac’s voice is illegal, the diss is subsequently pulled down.
On April 30th at 8:24AM PST after Jamal Murray (Canadian) beat LeBron and the Lakers, Kendrick had enough West Coast hate from our neighbors to the North and dropped the over 6-minute-long track, “euphoria,” on YouTube, which would be uploaded to streaming services hours later. Listen below (but also be real — we know you’ve heard it):
In the track, Kendrick eviscerates Drake, including some incredible pointed attacks as well as the typical but fascinating vocal switches expected of Kenny. There are three beat switches on the song, including a Teddy Pendagrass sample. Rumors say the song was originally 19 minutes long, if you thought this was all the hate Kendrick has to give.
The song has gone #1 on Apple Music and is quickly rising as the most-streamed song of 2024.
UPDATE - April 19th, 2024:
Drake has officially uploaded his response to streaming services with the title “Push Ups” and some pretty funny cover art. Listen below.
Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar
Origins
You’re no stranger to rap beef by now if you follow the blog — so you know that most of these things begin amicably.
When Drake went on tour in 2012, he decided to pass up an R&B support act for two of his peers, Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky. Kendrick toured with Drake all of 2012, and the two featured on each other’s incredible albums that released the same year, Take Care and good kid m.A.A.d city.
Things Go Sour
In 2013, Kendrick shook up the game with his legendary “Control” feature. If you want to know more about Kendrick’s earth-shattering verse where he called out J. Cole, Mac Miller, Big Sean, Drake, Jay Electronica, Big K.R.I.T. and Wale (plus plenty more) by name, trying to reignite the competitive spirit of rap… click this link! Lots of rappers took this challenge to heart and shot back with their own response.
For the sake of this beef, all you need to know is that Drake really didn’t like how much attention it gave Kendrick and what he thought Kendrick was trying to do with it. He essentially went on a press tour slamming Kendrick for being fake on the track and showing Drake love when they saw each other in person. See the interview above for more (For a man that was “unbothered” by the verse, he sure brought it up a lot).
That same year in a BET cypher (above), Kendrick raps about “tucking a sensitive rapper back into his pajama clothes” that many have interpreted as a diss to Drake and his reaction to “Control,” but has never been confirmed. This maybe points to the fact that everything between the two was not sunshine and rainbows behind closed doors.
As the two grew in fame, more and more fans clamored for collaborations and features that never materialized, OR for them to start laying their discontent down on some tracks. The two never seemed to mention each other, despite a few subliminal disses in their own tracks like “King Kunta,” where Kendrick says the following:
“I can dig rappin’, but a rapper with a ghostwriter?
I swore I wouldn’t tell, but most of y’all share bars
Like you got the bottom bunk in a two-man cell”
This is an allusion to Drake’s use of ghostwriters in his songs, a fact that led to Drake’s feud with Meek Mill, and possibly the source of Kendrick’s problems with Drake. At the heart of what follows is a weighing of what matters in discussing “the best rapper”: is it popularity and sales? Or is it artistic integrity and how well you write (your own) raps?
Escalation
In 2017, things started heating up. Drake drops More Life with the song “Gyalchester” that has more subliminal disses at Kendrick. And two weeks later, Kendrick releases “The Heart Part IV,” promising to “son” an unnamed rappers’ “punk ass” if the sneak dissing continues. Two weeks after that, Kendrick releases DAMN. which may have included more subliminals on tracks like “ELEMENT."
For years it seemed like things were cool. Drake showed up out of the blue to a show on Kendrick’s “The Big Steppers” tour, maybe alluding to their having settled a feud. But that same year, Drake drops Honestly Nevermind on Kendrick’s birthday and says some weird stuff on Instagram that seemed to coincide with his opinion of Kendrick (and has since been deleted).
Kendrick then appeared on Beyoncé’s remix of “AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM” where he promises that a rapper’s career is ending soon. But most importantly, Drake and J. Cole teamed up for the massive hit song, “First Person Shooter,“ where the two rappers once again alluded to the “Big 3” in hip-hop, including Kendrick in the three.
Today
When Metro Boomin and Future announced their two albums would be out in March and April, no one expected a Kendrick feature to be in the same conversation. Much less a verse that would serve as a successor to “Control” and would upset the rap game yet again. His feature on “Like That” contained the following lines:
“Motherf*ck the big three, it’s just big me…”
“And your best work is a light pack
Prince outlived Mike Jack'
'Fore all your dogs gettin' buried
That's a K with all these nines, he gon' see Pet Sematary”
It’s clear that Kendrick is explicitly claiming the throne as his own, and he’s ready to prove that he’s the greatest rapper alive once and for all. Many wondered if Drake and J. Cole would say anything or even acknowledge the diss, and it seemed that nothing would come of it (despite Drake being cryptic in Instagram captions).
Cole released his mixtape Might Delete Later with the final track, “7 Minute Drill,” containing some lines that were aimed at Kendrick. Cole let the song sit for two days, then took to the Dreamville stage (his own label’s festival) to apologize for the diss, saying he couldn’t sleep because of it. Was there an ulterior motive for Cole dropping out of the fight? Is it about to get messy? We’ll see…
Three weeks later, however, and after the release of Future and Metro’s second album, a leak surfaces online of a supposed Drake diss. After some initial suspicion of A.I. involvement, it was confirmed real and “debuted” on DJ Akademiks’ podcast (all you need to know about Akademiks is that he sucks as a person and Freddie Gibbs once rightfully compared him to a Teletubby). Here’s that Drake diss:
It’s been copyrighted by Drake’s label on Youtube and Instagram, meaning that it is indeed real. As far as disses go, it’s pretty good. Drake came with some zingers and clever lines, but overall just calls Kendrick short in various ways and claims that Kendrick had to pay $50 million to leave his contract with TDE (which makes him look like a baller, in all honesty). It’s certainly not a “nuclear” diss as many in Drake’s camp claimed, and not career- or beef-ending.
What’s Next?
It is far too soon to declare a winner. We’re only in the first round, folks, and this could be a long summer of beef.
The really scary thing is that Kendrick has said nothing since dropping his verse on “Like That.” Not a tweet. Not a press release. No promotion. Not anything. It’s safe to say he’s locked in and cooking up something special. West Coast DJs with ties to Kendrick claim they have heard the diss, and say that Aubrey is in for a rude awakening. We shall see.
Drake vs. Everyone?
Origins
Drake has been tied into the industry and his fellow rappers for years, making music with Rick Ross for over a decade, bringing A$AP Rocky on tour in 2012, using a couple Metro Boomin beats, and claiming he and The Weeknd were close in their career starts.
Future has been like a brother to Drake for years, and the two famously released their collab album, What A Time To Be Alive, almost ten years ago to critical acclaim. But…
Things Go Sour
I honestly can’t point to where Drake fell out with a lot of these guys, so there’s a lot of conjecture below.
The Weeknd and Drake have had an on-and-off tenuous relationship that is difficult to trace, but seemed to be all good a couple years ago. They once advertised their labels as “OVOXO,” claiming they were brothers, but have never gotten around to collaborating.
Rocky and Drake have not seemed to get along since Rihanna began dating and then birthed Rocky’s kids, as Drake once dated and publicly declared his love for the singer. That’s a whole ‘nother story, but since then, Drake has been not kind to Rihanna in several of his songs.
Rick Ross claims (in the track below) that Drake called the police on rapper French Montana and sent a cease-and-desist to ensure that he couldn’t use a pre-recorded feature, claiming that Drake has changed up on his day-ones. It’s a fair statement, seeing how much Drake’s public personality has changed just in the past few years.
On For All the Dogs, Drake included a song called “What Would Pluto Do?,” alluding to Future’s nickname, Pluto. There may be a larger story behind this song, indicating that Drake once stole Future’s girl.
Escalation
Supposedly, Future and Metro Boomin’s 2024 albums, WE DON’T TRUST YOU and WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, are all about Drake and their failed friendship with him. Obviously having these anti-Drake lines on the album via Kendrick say a lot about their feelings towards him. It’s pretty taboo to endorse a diss towards your “brother” on your own album.
In addition to Kendrick’s feature, Rick Ross threw a few subliminals at Drake, and the Weeknd and A$AP Rocky were pretty explicit on their features that they don’t like the Canadian rapper. So, essentially, Future’s albums became a free-for-all in attacking Drake.
See above for Drake’s response to these guys calling him out in addition to Kendrick. Things to look out for:
Drake address Future:
“I could never be nobody number-one fan
Your first number one, I had to put it in your hand”
Drake addresses Metro Boomin:
“Metro, shut your ho-ass up and make some drums”
Drake address the Weeknd:
“And when you boys got rich, you had to run from it
Cash blowin' Abel bread, out here trickin'
Shit we do for b*tches he doin' for n****s”
Drake addresses Rick Ross:
“I might take your latest girl and cuff her like I'm Ricky
Can't believe he jumpin' in, this n**** turnin' fifty
Every song that made it on the chart, he got from Drizzy
Spend that lil' check you got and stay up out my business”
Today
After Drake “dropped” his diss track calling these guys out, some notable things happened:
The Weeknd posted a laughing meme to Instagram
Metro Boomin has leaked two demo tracks from the recording of For All the Dogs (Drake’s latest album) that show Drake still uses ghostwriters
AND Rick Ross dropped a banging response to the diss, called “Champagne Moments.” It is absolutely disrespectful and great, listen below:
Ross and Drake have gone back and forth over Instagram, which has been pretty funny. I hope this keeps up, “BBLDrizzy” is too funny for the meme to just die.
What’s Next?
A lot of people speculate that Rick Ross and Drake will amend their relationship soon and get back to making music (it’s mostly jokes anyway). But who knows if we’ll see any responses from Drake’s many other aggressors…
What’s important to note is that many industry insiders have alluded to some problem that has arisen between Drake and these camps, but it’s uncertain if that info will ever come to light.
If you want my opinion, I think these fellas shoulda stayed out of it until Kendrick and Drake settle their score… the “20 v 1” approach is giving Drake too much fuel and ammo. There’s something bigger going on between the two.
Who do you have winning the battle of the century? Sound off in the comments below, and don’t forget to check back frequently for updates!