After a longstanding drama between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the two popular artists have finally indulged in a rap battle that has captivated all audiences involved in pop culture. Drake and Kendrick have a long history rooting back to 2011 when Kendrick was featured on Drake’s album Take Care, and they worked together multiple times subsequently. In 2012 Kendrick opened for Drake on his Club Paradise tour. His appearance on the tour was beneficial for both of the artists, creating tons of public attention and advancing Kendrick’s career. They also collaborated on a song with A$AP Rocky in October of 2012.
The conflict began soon after Kendrick’s success in 2013, when he dissed multiple artists including Drake, J Cole, Mac Miller and Pusha T on a verse in one of Big Sean’s songs saying “I got love for you all, but I’m trying to murder you.” Small digs on other artists are a massive aspect of the rap industry, so a line like this was not alarming to Drake who didn’t take much offense. The two continued, integrating small jabs at each other into their music, not necessarily with malicious intent but rather for entertainment. In October of 2023, In Drake’s “For All The Dogs” album, he mentioned that he, Kendrick and J Cole were the “big three” of the industry. The conflict really grew this March after the release of Metro Boomin’s album “WE DON’T TRUST YOU,” where Kendrick clapped back at Drake’s comment saying there is “no big three – it’s just big me,” along with many other aggressive jabs on Drake’s character.
In response to the verse, Drake released a single called “Push Ups” (Drop and Give me 50), a fiery diss track explosively commenting on Kendrick’s size. The song consists of a confident tone with a blunt and rapid tempo and base. He attacks the appearance as well as musical and lyrical choices in his songs, while emphasizing his own ego with cocky remarks. While Drake went for the physical flaws of his opposition, Kendrick immediately came back and released three singles aiming at Drake’s throat.
The first release was “euphoria,” a six and a half minute diss with three tone shifts, packed metaphors and double entendres. The first beat is a reverse sample originally from “The Wiz,” a song that Drake’s idol Michael Jackson was featured in. He mentions Drake’s past in acting, saying that Drake’s drugs are an attempt to stay relevant in the hiphop industry. The line “I make music that electrify em, you make music that pacify em” is a double entendre that comments on his tired music, and also uses the word “pacify” to allude to the accusation that Drake has had romantic relationships with underage women. The phrase that blew up most in the diss was when he said “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk / I hate the way that you dress / I hate the way that you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon be direct,” the line going viral on TikTok and other social media platforms.
“Euphoria” could be deemed more unserious and more for entertainment, but soon after the release, Kendrick dropped a new song, “Meet The Grahams,” which was filled with many serious accusations. The first line of the song is addressed to Drake’s son, Adonis Graham, where he apologizes that he has to grow up with a dad who is a bad influence. In the song he accuses Drake of letting a man pee on his leg without doing anything, and says that as a father, Kendrick would never allow such a thing to happen with no consequences. He also accuses Drake of hiding a kid from the public eye, saying “baby girl, I’m sorry that your father is not active inside your world,” and says that Drake cares for nothing but his music career calling him a narcissistic misogynist. Kendrick also addresses certain lyrics to both of Drake’s parents, saying that he wished a man like him had never been born to corrupt the world with his sick moral compass. He also makes accusations of a possible gambling addiction, having a nympho fetish and being a sexual predator. He advises Adonis (Drake’s son) to look up to him (Kendrick) and listen to his music as he is a positive example, saying that people like his (Adonis’s) dad are the reason he made “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers,” an album dissecting his childhood traumas and family issues, specifically issues with his dad.
He then released another song, called “Not Like Us.” The cover picture of the song is a mansion with a bunch of red markers on it. The house is Drake’s mansion, and the red markers are marked houses owned by registered sex offenders, further commenting on Kendrick’s accusations of him being a sexual predator. The song is the most upbeat of the three and consists of Kendrick’s “Compton flow” style that he often employed in his older songs in albums such as “Section.80” and “good kid, m.A.A.d city.” “Say, Drake, I hear you like (them) young. You better not ever go to cell block one,” Kendrick raps. “To any (girl) that talks to him and they in love, just make sure you hide your (little) sister from him,” referring to his inappropriate relationship with Millie Bobby Brown which was often considered grooming by the media. The part of the song that went the most viral on social media was another double entendre saying “Tryna strike a chord but it’s probably A- minor,” bashing his music abilities as well as his interest in underage girls.
While Drake went to attack Kendrick’s height and looks, Kendrick came back and told the world the real reason many of the rappers in the industry “don’t trust” him, hence the Metros album name “WE DON’T TRUST YOU”. Supporting Drake after all this is supporting someone that the majority of the industry dislikes. There is a reason that many artists have a collective hatred towards Drake.
