In news that likely has Ryan Murphy drafting the next season of Feud, the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake continues to reach new heights, or perhaps stoop to new lows.
Much to our collective entertainment, the feud — which has been raging since at least 2013 — reached its climax on April 30, when Lamar released a scathing, no-holds-barred diss track aimed squarely at his now-nemesis Drake. That song, however, is only the latest development in a years-long relationship between two of the world’s biggest rappers, which actually began as friendly competition before things turned sour.
Littered with public traded barbs, public denouncements, diss tracks (and then more diss tracks), Drake and Lamar’s beef is about as eventful as David and Goliath’s, except with far less stonings and beheadings.
Below, we’re taking a deep dive into the origins and escalation of the biggest hip-hop feud in recent memory. Ryan, are you taking notes?
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s feud, explained
While it’s somewhat unimaginable today, there was a time when Drake and Lamar were friends and collaborators. In 2011, Lamar lent a guest verse to the song “Buried Alive Interlude”, which appeared on Drake’s debut album Take Care. The track sees Lamar go as far as saying Drake is the “reason I’m breathing,” showcasing for the first time their friendship and shared artistic vision.
After enlisting Lamar as his opening act for his Club Paradise Tour in 2012, Drake again appeared alongside his then-collaborator on the A$AP Rocky song “F–kin’ Problems”, also released in 2012. The pair’s final collaboration, and perhaps the end of their companionship, arrived in October 2012, when Lamar lent a verse to Drake’s song “Poetic Justice”.
It was after the critical and commercial success of Lamar’s 2013 debut album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” that things turned sour. During a verse on Big Sean’s track “Control”, Lamar took aim not just at Drake, but at a swathe of his rap peers, including A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator and Mac Miller, among others. “I got love for you all, but I’m trying to murder you,” he quipped on the song — the first diss track in what would become a long lineage of scathing verses. “Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you.”
Drake responded to the call-out as a Billboard cover star that same year, saying he “didn’t really have anything to say about it” and that the pair might someday “revisit the topic.” Drake would again reference the simmering tensions in a separate cover story for VIBE Magazine in 2013, describing Lamar as a “genius” and saying he had “never once” spoken badly of him.”I also stood my ground as I should,” Drake added, “I’m not gonna give you the chance to shake me.”
The pair’s feud remained largely inactive between 2015 to 2016, though they did trade some minor barbs at each other. On Lamar’s 2015 song “King Kunta”, he leveled ghostwriting accusations against Drake which persist to this day, quipping that he “can dig rapping, but a rapper with a ghost writer? What the f–k happened?”. Drake responded on The Game’s 2015 track “100”, penning that he “could have all” of Lamar’s fans.
A more sinister verse arrived on Dr. Dre’s “Deep Water”, when Lamar wrote that “they liable to bury [Drake]” and that the “beef is on his breath.” After years of being idle, the feud heated up again in October 2023, when Drake appeared on a collaborative song with fellow rapper J. Cole titled “First Person Shooter”. During that track, which went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Cole described himself, Drake, and Lamar as “the big three” of hip-hop.
That line, and the title of the song, were referenced when Lamar was given the baton on the song “Like That”, which arrived in March 2024 and featured Future and Metro Boomin. “F–k sneak dissin’, first-person shooter,” Lamar snarled, “f–k” the big three, it’s just big me.” After responding during a concert that same month — telling his audience he had his “head up high” and that no one “could ever f–k with me” — Drake released two diss tracks of his own.
The first, titled “Push Ups”, saw Drake mock Lamar’s small stature, while the second track “Taylor Made Freestyle” taunted Lamar to respond, included AI renderings of 2Pac’s voice, and was later removed after catching the ire of 2Pac’s estate. This leads us to “Euphoria”, one of the latest diss tracks and, given its sheer savagery, perhaps one of the the most scathing songs to ever be released.
Dropping on April 30, Lamar’s “Euphoria” is a six-minute, scathing takedown of Drake, referencing, among other things, Drake’s skills as a father, his racial identity, accusations of ghostwriting and cultural appropriation, and his supposed dislike of women. Words like “degenerate”, “distasteful”, “b***h”, “liar” and a “master manipulator” were among the laundry list of insults hurled by Lamar at Drake on “Euphoria”, whose title is seemingly in reference to the HBO show which Drake co-produces.
Less than 72 hours later, Lamar seemingly had more to say, dropping the diss track “6:16 in LA” and describing Drake as a “bully” and “terrible person.” Since that song, Lamar has released an additional two songs aimed at Drake, titled “Meet The Grahams” and “Not Like Us” and both arriving on May 4. Much of the same anti-Drake sentiment appears on all of these diss tracks, with the added accusation that Drake has a secret daughter and has people in his camp spilling his secrets.
Drake added to the tit-for-tat with the May 3 song “Family Matters”, in which he claims Lamar’s relationship with his fiance, Whitney Alford, is fractured and filled with infidelity. Lamar was one of multiple hip-hop artists called out by Drake in “Family Matters”, with A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Future and Metro Boomin also subject to snipes in the lyrics.
The latest development in Drake and Lamar’s feud arrived with Lamar’s May 4 song “Not Like Us”, which leveled perhaps the biggest accusation of the pair’s long-running feud. The song claims Drake and his team are pedophiles, while the single artwork is an aerial image of Drake’s mansion with a red sex offender symbol superimposed on top of it.
So it’s safe to say things have escalated considerably. All eyes are now on Drake for his response.
