The current beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake is a heated and complicated series of events. So let’s break it down. The heat rose earlier this year when Metro Boomin and Kendrick made the song “Like That” in response to Drake’s sneak diss in “First-Person Shooter.” The lyrics that dissed Kendrick essentially claimed Drake himself, Jcole, and Kendrick are the big three and on the same level, which Kendrick took with great offense. “Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD/ Motherf–k the Big Three, n—a, it’s just big me.” Though the beef reached a new high this year, it had been brewing for over ten years when Drake went from a rookie musician to a total superstar. The Canadian rapper went on to publish his debut studio album, Thank Me Later. He has since gone on to win five Grammys. Kendrick, on the other hand, is also a 17 Grammy award-winning artist who won many for his famous album “Damn.” Kendrick and Drake began as friends, and in 2012, Drake opened for Kendrick on the Club Paradise Tour. Quickly, their friendship began to fall apart. In 2013, Lamar was featured on Big Sean’s “Hall of Fame” album. In his verse, he proclaimed that Jay-Z, Nas, Eminem, and André 3000 are the greatest MCs. He then dissed many other artists, including Drake. In an interview, Drake soon responded to the verse, saying, “It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me. That’s all it was. I know good and well that Kendrick’s not murdering me, at all, in any platform”. The two feuded through the next few years until April 5th of this year, when J Cole released an album called Might Delete Later. One of the songs, “7 Minute Drill,” is a diss directed at Lamar.
Cole then said publicly that he didn’t want to get involved with the beef and drew out. After Cole’s withdrawal, Kendrick publicly came out calling Drake a pedophile, and Drake responded angrily, denying all claims. CBS News stated, “Rap fans waited with bated breath for Drake’s response, and he returned to the beef with not one song, but two, “Push Ups,” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” released on April 19th. The Toronto rapper attempts to put Lamar in his place, calling him a “pipsqueak” and rapping, “How the f–k you big steppin’ with a size-seven man’s on?” Lamar quickly responded on April 30th with his song “euphoria” where he extensively attacked Drake on multiple fronts. Next, on May 3rd, Drake released “Family Matters,” in one of his verses, he went straight for Kendrick’s family and claimed Kendrick is a domestic abuser. Lamar angrily responded on May 4th with tracks “Not Like Us” and “meet the Grahams.” Lamar stated on the former, “I hear you like ’em young” and “Certified Lover Boy? Certified Pedophiles.” Once again, Kendrick references Drake’s rumored inappropriate relationships with minors. The latter claimed that Drake isn’t a present father figure in his son’s life and that he has an unnamed daughter that he’s hiding. The most recent event was Drake publishing a new song the day following Lamar’s diss called “The Heart Part 6”, directly referring to Lamar’s song “The Heart Part 5.” Drake responded to many of Lamar’s claims, in addition to attacking Lamar and calling him a domestic abuser once again. The two and their feud have captured the audiences of both. Now, fans can only watch and see what will happen next.
