To borrow a phrase from our foremost cultural observer, Azealia Banks, the boys are preventing.
For nearly a 12 months now, Drake and Kendrick Lamar have been embroiled in one among rap’s most public and memorable beefs. It began again in March of 2024 when Future and Metro Boomin’ dropped the joint album, We Don’t Belief You, virtually devoted to sneak-dissing Drake. Essentially the most notable diss on the document, although, got here from Lamar who’s featured on the track “Like That.” His “f— the massive 3” line, referring to Drake and J.Cole, ignited a weeks-long back-and-forth between Drake, Lamar, and finally a handful of different rappers.
Many of the drama remained between Drake and Lamar, as they launched a number of explosive songs accusing each other of some fairly heinous crimes, together with Lamar calling Drake a “pedophile.” It was Lamar, who in the end got here out on prime because of the Mustard-produced “Not Like Us.” The monitor grew to become 2024’s track of the summer time and a licensed West Coast anthem. It additionally gained 5 Grammys final month, together with Document and Tune of the Yr. Lamar’s success additionally seemingly earned him the coveted gig of headlining the Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present final month, making him the primary solo rap act to take action.
Virtually a 12 months for the reason that launch of “Like That,“ Drake and Lamar aren’t actually at battle. Drake, at the least, has ostensibly waved the white flag, directing his ire at his and Lamar’s document label as a substitute. On January 15, Drake filed a lawsuit towards Common Music Group for defamation relating to the lyrics in “Not Like Us.” (He initially filed a petition final November accusing UMG and Spotify of “artificially inflating” the recognition of the diss monitor and collaborating in a pay-for-play scheme with iHeartRadio, earlier than withdrawing it.) The present defamation go well with claims that the allegations in “Not Like Us” particularly, the “licensed pedophile” lyric, endangered Drake and his household. The go well with references a capturing outdoors of Drake’s Toronto mansion just a few days after the track’s launch and two different break-in makes an attempt at Drake’s house over the next two days. On March 17, UMG filed a movement to dismiss, stating that their signee “misplaced a rap battle that he provoked” and calling the go well with “a misguided try and salve his wounds.”
After almost 15 tumultuous years within the sport, Drake is hardly a stranger to mess and beefing with different rappers. At first, it appeared like this newest feud was precisely what rap’s delicate king wanted in a moderately uninspired period in his profession, outlined by boring musical output and gross jabs at ladies. Nevertheless, following Lamar’s verbal lashings and his closely mocked choice to pursue authorized motion as a response, it’s arduous to see how Drake’s profession utterly overcomes this second.
Who’s beefing with who?
On March 22, Future and Metro basically launched a breakup album from their frequent collaborator and former comrade, Drake. (Drake and Future have almost 30 collaborations mixed, and Metro executive-produced their 2015 mixtape What A Time to Be Alive.) We Don’t Belief You is filled with subliminal messages seemingly directed at Drake, relating to his shady maneuvers. Nevertheless, it was Kendrick’s comparatively mild prodding on the monitor “Like That” that was in the end essentially the most incendiary.
On the monitor — which has sat at No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100 for 3 weeks in a row now — he raps “Motherfuck the massive three, it’s simply massive me,” renouncing his casual affiliation with rap friends Drake and Cole. On the current Drake track “First Individual Shooter,” off his newest album For All of the Canines, Cole claimed on his visitor verse that he, Drake, and Lamar are the “Huge 3” of the present period of hip-hop. However, Lamar’s ire on “Like That” is usually pointed at his famous frenemy Drake, disregarding his purportedly unstoppable industrial success. “Your greatest work is a light-weight pack,” he asserts. “N—, Prince outlived Mike Jack.”
Cole responded first on April 5 with the monitor “7-Minute Drill,” featured on his aptly titled mixtape May Delete Later. Cole throws pictures at Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning discography, calling his newest album Mr. Morale and The Huge Steppers “tragic” and claiming his Grammy-winning sophomore album Good Child, Maad Metropolis “put [listeners] to sleep.” He additionally guarantees to “humble” Lamar if “push involves shove.”
Nevertheless, by April 10, Cole had rescinded his warning shot, together with eradicating “7-Minute Drill” from streaming platforms. At his annual Dreamville Pageant, he issued a closely mocked quasi-apology to Lamar. “I attempted to jab [Lamar] again, and I attempt to preserve it pleasant,” he informed the group in North Carolina. “However on the finish of the day once I take heed to it, and when it comes out and I see the speak, that don’t sit proper with my spirit.”
Earlier than Drake may unleash his personal diss, Future and Metro launched the follow-up, We Nonetheless Don’t Belief You, on April 12. This time, A$AP Rocky acquired some punches in. On the track “Present of Arms,” he rapped “N—s in they emotions over ladies. What, you damage or one thing? I smash earlier than you birthed, son. Flacko hit it first, son.” That is presumably a response to Drake apparently dissing A$AP and his accomplice Rihanna, whom Drake beforehand dated, on his track “Concern of Heights.” (Followers have additionally speculated that A$AP means he beforehand slept with the mom of Drake’s son.)
One other one among Drake’s most well-known trade mates, The Weeknd, seems on each Future and Metro albums. Nevertheless, on We Nonetheless Don’t Belief You’s eighth monitor, “All to Myself,” he sings, “I thank God that I by no means signed my life away.” Followers interpreted that as a jab about Drake’s label OVO Sound, which, regardless of his heavy affiliation with the label, The Weeknd in the end by no means signed to.
Who’s Drake dissing on “Push Ups”?
On Saturday, April 13, Drake’s long-awaited response titled “Push Ups (Drop & Give Me Fifty)” mysteriously made its approach to the web. The seemingly unmixed demo made many social media customers speculate whether or not the track was AI-generated earlier than famous hip-hop commentator DJ Akademiks finally performed it — noticeably with some tweaks, just like the omission of a line about P. Diddy and a unique beat — on his livestream. Hip-hop radio station Energy 105 additionally streamed a high-quality model of the track. Given Drake’s feedback on Instagram over the weekend, together with a picture of Uma Thurman single-handedly taking over a bunch of fighters within the 2003 movie Kill Invoice, all indicators level to the monitor being reputable.
That mentioned, “Push Ups” is a hefty (and expectedly humorous) diss document, taking purpose at Drake’s aforementioned opps whereas pulling another events into the crossfire. One in all them is the Weeknd’s supervisor, CashXO, who he accuses of “blowing Abel’s bread trickin.” He additionally takes pictures at Memphis Grizzlies participant Ja Morant, who followers are speculating he was beforehand in a love triangle with.
In most likely the silliest improvement of this multi-pronged feud, he throws some digs at rapper Rick Ross, one other frequent collaborator of his. “This n— turning 50,” Drake raps. “Each track that made it on the chart he acquired it from Drizzy.” Ross swiftly adopted up together with his personal diss referred to as “Champagne Moments,” which shortly went viral. Amongst different insults and accusations, he calls Drake, who’s blended, “white boy” and claims he acquired a nostril job.
As for Lamar, Drake gives a fairly complete rebuttal, poking enjoyable at Lamar for apparently sporting a “measurement 7 shoe” and his collaborations with pop acts like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift’s “Dangerous Blood.” (Lest we neglect, Drake has additionally linked up with Swift for a verify.) He additionally names some artists who he feels have surpassed Lamar’s stardom, together with SZA, who’s signed to Lamar’s personal High Dawg Leisure label. (She apparently doesn’t need to be concerned.) There’s additionally a bar that many listeners, together with DJ Akademiks, interpreted as an audacious point out of Lamar’s fiancé, Whitney Alford (“I be with some bodyguards like Whitney”). Nevertheless, this is also a misreading of a extra apparent reference to the Whitney Houston movie, The Bodyguard.
Drake’s newest spherical with Kendrick took a very darkish flip
Forward of Lamar dropping his response, “Euphoria,” Drake launched one other diss monitor for Lamar on April 19 referred to as “Taylor Made Freestyle” utilizing AI-generated vocals from 2Pac and Snoop Dogg to “spit” on his behalf. Drake’s weaponization of synthetic intelligence, particularly relating to the deceased Tupac Shakur, generated blended responses on-line. Some followers have been amused by his “innovation,” whereas others, together with Snoop, appeared downright confused. Nevertheless, after his and Lamar’s most up-to-date spherical of disses, these criticisms can be the least of his issues.
On April 30, Lamar lastly dropped his rebuttal titled “Euphoria” on streaming platforms. He spends many of the 6-minute monitor poking holes in Drake’s public persona. Amongst different digs, he questions the Canadian rapper’s proximity to Black American tradition and his relationships with ladies. A number of days later, Lamar adopted up with “6:16 in LA,” claiming that Drake has a “leak” in his camp.
Presumably, Drake needed to get forward of any grime Lamar may probably expose by dropping the monitor “Household Issues” this previous Friday, together with a music video. Along with Lamar, Drake has some extra phrases for Ross, The Weeknd, and even Pharrell Williams. Nevertheless, it’s Lamar’s fiancée, Whitney Alford, who’s the first goal of Drake’s claims.
First, he means that one among Lamar’s kids is definitely fathered by his basic supervisor, Dave Free, who’s additionally the previous president of Lamar’s former label, High Dawg Leisure. Then he makes the extra troubling allegation that Lamar “places his arms on” Alford. “They employed a disaster administration crew to wash up the truth that you beat in your queen,” he says on the finish of the monitor.
Seemingly tipped off by a mole, Lamar adopted up only a few minutes later with “Meet the Grahams,” with cowl artwork that includes a field of the weight-loss drug Ozempic supposedly prescribed to Drake. In that track, Lamar addresses his verses to Drake’s son, Adonis, and Drake’s mother and father. “Pricey Adonis, I’m sorry that man is your father,” he bluntly opens the monitor. He additionally devoted a verse to Drake’s alleged 11-year-old daughter, who can be the second baby the rapper has stored hidden from the general public. Drake, nevertheless, was fast to leap on Instagram and shut down the declare that he had a secret daughter.
Extra strikingly, although, Lamar refers to Drake as a “predator” and even likens him to Harvey Weinstein. Later that night, Lamar dropped one more monitor — this time, produced by DJ Mustard, who seemingly additionally has beef with Drake — “Not Like Us,” the place he outright calls Drake a “pedophile.” Specifically, social media misplaced it over the triple entendre, “tryna ring a bell, and it’s most likely A-minor.”
On Might 5, it appeared like Drake was able to bow out after releasing the monitor “The Coronary heart Half 6.” Along with the curious declare that he purposely planted false data for Lamar to make use of, he spends many of the track denying that he sleeps with underage women. He even addresses a controversial incident from 2018, when Stranger Issues actor Millie Bobby Brown, who was then 14 years outdated, said in an interview that she texted the rapper about boys.
In a haphazard transfer, Drake makes an attempt to attach these claims to Lamar’s personal trauma, referencing the “one document the place [Lamar] mentioned [he] acquired molested” titled “Mom I Sober” — solely Lamar doesn’t state that he was sexually abused on the track. In rapping about his cousin who was accused of sexual assault, he claims twice on the monitor that his cousin didn’t contact him, regardless of his household not believing him.
Drake ends the track with a rambling spoken outro, just like Nicki Minaj’s Megan Thee Stallion diss “Huge Foot” earlier this 12 months. “I’m not going to lie,” he says. “This shit was some good train.” In a noticeably exhausted tone, he says “it’s what it’s,” seemingly waving a white flag.
Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped Lamar from publicly reveling within the chart success of “Not Like Us” and the assist of his trade allies. On June 19, in any other case referred to as Juneteenth, Lamar held “The Pop Out: Ken & Mates” on the Kia Discussion board to have fun Los Angeles rap and, as soon as once more, broadcast his hatred for Drake. On the live performance, which was streamed on Amazon and Twitch, Lamar carried out “Not Like Us” six occasions. With every replay, a rising variety of musicians, athletes, and different massive West Coast names — together with YG, Steve Lacy, Russell Westbrook, Black Hippy, and Mustard — joined him onstage, in what regarded like an Avengers ensemble of Drake haters.
Drake has beforehand thrived in beefs — however can he win when the entire trade is towards him?
For essentially the most half, Drake has dealt with his public gang-up with an anticipated humorousness and irreverence. Nevertheless, with the newest releases, he appears to be preventing a battle he can’t win, utilizing wishy-washy bars to try to toss off some critical allegations. It’s value noting that Drake’s home abuse claims towards Lamar are simply as critical. However, rap followers on social media appear extra invested within the seedy gossip that’s surrounded Drake’s largely personal romantic life, together with these unsettling accusations about underage women. Plus, after years of dominating the rap scene and making enemies out of a number of rappers, it appears social media customers are able to see the rapper taken down just a few pegs.
As anybody who’s even barely adopted rap over the previous decade and a half can attest, this isn’t Drake’s first time participating in warfare together with his friends. Most famously, his profession has seen headline-generating battles with Meek Mill, Pusha T, Joe Budden, and Kanye West. Arguably, his most notorious tiff was the fruits of a long-brewing beef with Pusha T in 2018, the place the Virginia rapper uncovered Drake’s previously hidden son, Adonis, to the world.
Regardless of the temporary second of humiliation, Drake in the end emerged the victor — that’s, for those who’re utilizing chart numbers and basic reputation as a figuring out metric. After his reasonably obtained victory lap of an album, Views, he was given a extra gripping narrative to gas his blockbuster 2018 album Scorpion. On the identical time, he was as soon as once more proving his mass enchantment outdoors of the rap audiences with social gathering bangers like “God’s Plan,” “Good For What,” and “In My Emotions,” all of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100.
Extra just lately, nevertheless, Drake has been concerned in a number of seemingly one-sided beefs with well-known ladies. On his 2023 track with 21 Savage, “Circo Loco,” he threw out a not-so-subtle diss at rapper Megan Thee Stallion (“This bitch lie ’bout getting pictures however she nonetheless a stallion”), becoming a member of a refrain of well-known males disputing her now-proven claims that singer Tory Lanez shot her within the foot in 2020.
Through the rollout of For All of the Canines, he vexed actor Halle Berry, who claimed he used a photograph of her for the paintings for his single “Slime You Out” with out her permission. Moreover, he’s tried to reignite drama together with his former fling Rihanna. Other than his digs on “Concern of Heights,” he performed their collaboration “Work” at one among his live shows simply to say that he “doesn’t sing [the] track anymore.”
Drake’s songwriting is usually propelled by a sweeping sense of grievance and an obsession with the previous and his haters (he’s not that completely different from Taylor Swift in any case!). Nevertheless, his fixed emotions of victimhood inside his relationships with ladies — and the next, extra blatant misogyny that’s grown out of that — has begun to put on on critics and components of his feminine fanbase. It’s an statement that Lamar has sharply utilized in his diss tracks over the weekend.
Whereas this newest beef initially appeared like an in the end invigorating expertise for Drake in a snoozy a part of his profession, Lamar’s accusations of Drake being a “pedophile” and different predatory habits have left a robust stench on Drake’s public picture. It’ll be fascinating to see whether or not the seemingly invincible rapper can rebuild followers’ respect after such darkish claims. Nevertheless, historical past has confirmed that male rappers can nonetheless thrive regardless of essentially the most sordid allegations.
Replace, March 17, 5:30 pm ET: This story was initially printed on April 17, 2024, and has been up to date a number of occasions, most just lately to UMG’s movement to dismiss Drake’s lawsuit.
