The Kendrick Lamar vs Drake Beef Defined – Mic Cheque

In March 2012, it was introduced that Kendrick Lamar signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath and Interscope Data. His second album and main label debut was launched in October, titled Good Child, M.A.A.D Metropolis. Drake returns the visitor look favour by that includes on the tune “Poetic Justice”, and is granted a launched as a single in early 2013 outfitted with a music video.

Across the launch of Good Child M.A.A.D Metropolis, Drake and Kendrick collaborated on one other tune, “Fuckin’ Issues” by ASAP Rocky. The tune was initially a collaboration between Drake and a couple of Chainz, with the previous passing on the monitor and handing it to ASAP Rocky for his debut album, Lengthy Reside ASAP.

As of April 2024, this was the final time Drake and Lamar collaborated on a tune collectively.

At this level to date, Kendrick and Drake have had loads of mainstream success each with and with out one another. However one verse modified their total dynamic.

In August 2013, Large Sean releases the tune “Management” that includes Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica. The 7-minute monitor was meant for Large Sean’s second album, Corridor of Fame, however left off the tracklist as a result of “pattern clearance points”. On the monitor’s second verse, Kendrick namedrops a number of fellow rappers, together with Drake, stating he goals to be one of the best rapper amongst all his friends.

I’m often homeboys with the identical n****s I’m rhymin’ with
However that is hip-hop, and them n****s ought to know what time it’s
And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Large Ok.R.I.T., Wale
Pusha T, Meek Millz, ASAP Rocky, Drake
Large Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller
I received love for you all, however I’m tryna homicide you n****s
Tryna be certain that your core followers by no means heard of you n****s
They don’t wanna hear not yet another noun or verb from you n****s
What’s competitors? I’m tryna increase the bar excessive
Who tryna leap and get it?

In an interview with Angie Martinez, Drake responded to the “Management” verse, commenting: “It simply wasn’t actual to me […] Let or not it’s actual, trigger these had been harsh phrases.” He responded additional in separate interviews with Billboard and Elliot Wilson, stating: “I do know good and effectively that Kendrick’s not murdering me, in any respect, in any platform. In a chat with the latter, Drake categorises the verse as “shock worth”, saying: “He’s giving individuals moments. Are you listening to it now, at this cut-off date? It was actual cool for a pair weeks. If I requested you, for instance, how does that verse begin?”, whereas clarifying he felt “No malice” by it.

A month later, Drake launched his third album, Nothing Was the Similar. The tune “The Language” comprises traces directed in the direction of Lamar and the drama surrounding “Management”, most notably: “I don’t know why they been mendacity however your shit isn’t that inspiring”, discrediting Lamar’s try and encourage fellow rappers to get aggressive. An additional bar included is: “I received to kill off the weak shit that’s received all you n****s excited”, a reference to the “Management” verse being the subject of dialogue by rappers on social media, interviews and songs. Final however not least, Drake raps: “I’m the child with the motormouth / I’m the one it’s best to fear ’bout”.

In October, Kendrick Lamar joined fellow Black Hippy rappers Schoolboy Q, Jay, Rock, Ab-Soul and Isaiah Rashad on the BET Hip Hop Awards to characterize their label Prime Dawg Leisure within the present’s annual cyphers. Over a basic Mobb Deep beat, Lamar responds to Drake’s “The Language” in the course of the cypher, namedropping Drake’s recently-released album in the course of the traces:

And nothing been the identical since they dropped “Management”
And tucked a delicate rapper again in his pyjama garments
Ha ha, joke’s on you
Excessive-five… I’m bulletproof
Your photographs’ll by no means penetrate
Pin a tail on the donkey, boy, you been a faux

Shortly after, Kendrick featured on the remix to Jay Rock’s “Pay for It” and responded to Drake’s “motormouth” bar off “The Language”, rapping: “Been dissectin’ your motormouth, ’til I break down the engine”.

Drake rounded off this back-and-forth with a verse on the remix to Future’s “Sh!t”, opening up with the traces:

Took n****s out the hood like I’m from there
So you recognize it’s all good after I come there
I hear you speak about your metropolis such as you run that
And I introduced my tour to your metropolis, you my son there

So far as peaks go, 2013 was essentially the most heated the rift can be for the foreseeable future.

The subsequent ten years noticed a sequence of subliminal lyrics exchanged from monitor to trace. We embrace essentially the most notable and clear-cut examples.

After a quiet 2014 for the meat, 2015 started with Drake releasing the mixtape If You’re Studying This It’s Too Late in February. The Lil Wayne collaboration “Used 2” opens up with the traces: “They gon say your identify on them airwaves / They gon’ hit you up proper after like ‘it’s solely rap’.” Drake refers to radio interviews the place Kendrick downplayed his lyrics being jabs in the direction of Drake.

The identical mixtape’s closing monitor is “6PM in New York”, with a number of extra traces aimed in the direction of Kendrick:

Oh please, take it ease, the place’s the love and the peace?
Why you rapping such as you come from the streets?
I received a yard the place cash appears to come back from the timber

Drake is rebuking the declare that Kendrick has gang affiliations, a subject that has cropped up throughout a majority of his albums. He additionally refers to Lamar’s tune “Cash Timber” off of Good Child, M.A.A.D Metropolis.

The next month, Kendrick Lamar releases his third album To Pimp a Butterfly to important acclaim. On the tune “King Kunta”, Kendrick dropped the cryptic traces: “However a rapper with a ghostwriter? What the fuck occurred? I swore I wouldn’t inform.” On the identical album, Kendrick refers again to his “Management” verse on the tune “Hood Politics” by utilizing a well-known Jay-Z line (“It’s humorous how one rap verse can fuck up the sport”).

Unbeknown to the general public on the time, Kendrick was referring to Drake utilizing ghostwriters in his music. A couple of months later, Meek Mill fell out with Drake and tweeted that Drake makes use of ghostwriters. This additional unravelled by DJ and radio host Funkmaster Flex leaking reference tracks recorded by the “ghostwriter” Quentin Miller, a lot of which had been songs from Drake’s mixtape If You’re Studying This It’s Too Late which dropped a number of months prior. All of the sudden, the Kendrick Lamar line made far more sense.

In June 2015, Drake returns jabs in his verse on The Recreation’s “100”, rapping: “I’d have your entire followers / If I didn’t go pop and I stayed on some aware shit”, making gentle of the actual fact Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly was growing a fame of being socially-conscious. The tune’s music video was additionally shot in Compton, California—The Recreation and Kendrick’s hometown.

In August, Dr. Dre launched his first album in fifteen years, Compton, loaded with three Kendrick Lamar appearances. On the tune “Darkside / Gone”, Kendrick rapped: “However nonetheless, I received enemies giving me vitality, I wanna combat now / Subliminal, sending me all of this hate”, referencing Drake’s tune “Power” and the subliminal bars on his latest songs. Off the identical album, Kendrick raps on “Deep Water” that “They liable to bury him, they nominated six to hold him”, referencing Drake’s nickname for Toronto (“the 6ix”). The verse ends with the next: “The meat is on his breath, inheriting the drama higher than a fantastic white, n***a, that is life in my aquarium”.

In March 2017, Kendrick launched the fourth instalment to his “The Coronary heart” sequence, together with traces concentrating on Drake and Large Sean. Whereas a number of traces might be interpreted at both rapper, the Drake-centric traces are inclined to be as follows:

Tables turned, lesson discovered, my finest look
You jumped sides on me, now you ’bout to satisfy Westbrook
Go rejoice witcha group and let victory vouch you
Simply know, the subsequent recreation performed I’d slap the shit out you

Kendrick paraphrases a line from Drake’s “Pound Cake” to notice his disloyalty (“Tables flip, bridges burn, you reside and study”).

Later within the verse, Kendrick raps: “Ho, JAY-Z Corridor of Fame, sit yo’ punk-ass down”. Whereas that is straight referencing Large Sean’s album Corridor of Fame, it is also referencing Drake’s “Corridor of fame, corridor of fame” line from his 2016 tune “Grammys”. On his 2016 single “Summer time Sixteen”, he states that “I become Jay”. Kendrick refutes Drake’s evaluating himself to Jay-Z, who notably options on the aforementioned “Pound Cake” that Kendrick references.

In Could 2017, Kendrick Lamar featured on the remix to Future’s “Masks Off”, responding to Drake’s “aware” line from 2015: “How y’all let a aware n***a go business whereas solely making aware albums?”

On his 2018 tune “Diplomatic Immunity”, Drake raps: “They attempt to examine us, however like a job straight outta highschool there’s no you and I / I taught you every thing you recognize, now you bought pupil delight.” Drake references two songs from Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, “U” and “I”, whereas downplaying the notion that Kendrick is similar to himself.

Drake’s 2018 album Scorpion additionally comprises the next shot on “Sandra’s Rose”: “I stroll in godly kind amongst the mortal males”. Right here, Drake references Kendrick Lamar’s tune “Mortal Man”, the ultimate monitor on To Pimp a Butterfly.

Kendrick Lamar returned from a five-year solo hiatus in 2022, dropping the album Mr. Morale & the Large Steppers. On the tune “Father Time”, Kendrick references the Drake-Kanye beef:

When Kanye received again with Drake, I used to be barely confused
Guess I’m not mature as I believe, received some healin’ to do

Because the album is concentrated on remedy, Lamar is questioning whether or not he is ready to drop his grudges. The road additionally implies he isn’t keen to finish the feud.

In April 2023, Drake previewed an unreleased tune with Lil Uzi Vert on his Sound42 radio station. His verse included the traces:

Pretend woke, n****s faux deep
You ain’t know fame earlier than me
Gave yo’ ass a lil’ sneak peek, yeah
Now you gotta take a again seat

In these bars, Drake accuses Kendrick Lamar’s aware persona of being a facade and takes credit score for propelling Kendrick to the mainstream. He additionally performs with the identify of Kendrick’s 2012 tune, “Backseat Freestyle”.

After a number of quiet years on the subliminal aspect, that is arguably essentially the most direct Drake has been.

In October 2023, Drake launched his highly-teased album, For All of the Canines. It featured album spotlight “First Particular person Shooter” with J. Cole, the pair’s first tune collectively since 2013. On the tune, J. Cole mentions the well-known “Large Three” label that has encapsulated Drake, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar for over a decade.

Love after they argue the toughest MC
Is it Ok-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?
We the Large Three like we began a league
However proper now I really feel like Muhammad Ali

A month after the discharge of For All of the Canines, Drake launched a trailer for his Scary Hours 3 EP, that includes a monologue that started with: “I do know I may go and disappear for six months, a 12 months, two years. Regardless that I’m not likely into the super-lengthy disappearances for the sake of thriller.” Kendrick Lamar is famously identified for his lack of public appearances and going years with out releasing materials.

5 months after “First Particular person Shooter”, Future and Metro Boomin launch their first of two collaborative albums, We Don’t Belief You on 22 March 2024, initially hiding the album options. It is usually value mentioning that Future and Metro Boomin are additionally at odds with Drake, having fallen out with the rapper throughout 2023. A shock Kendrick Lamar verse appeared on monitor 6, “Like That”, after the tune was previewed at Rolling Loud earlier than the verse may play. Kendrick straight responds to “First Particular person Shooter”, straight dissing Drake whereas slighting J. Cole’s “Large Three” reference.

Fuck sneak dissing, first-person shooter
I hope they got here with three switches

The ultimate bars of the tune reference Drake’s album For All of the Canines and his self-comparison to Michael Jackson, whereas Kendrick refers to his personal likeness to Prince, one thing he has talked about earlier in his profession on songs resembling “Masks Off (Remix)”.

Motherfuck the massive three, n***a, it’s simply huge me
N***a, bum
What? I’m actually like that
And your finest work is a lightweight pack
N***a, Prince outlived Mike Jack
N***a, bum
‘Fore all of your canines gettin’ buried
That’s a Ok with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary
N***a, bum

On the time of launch, Drake was ending the ultimate dates of his It’s All a Blur tour. He addressed the drama on stage a number of days after the tune debuted, in addition to referencing it on social media posts. “Like That” went on to debut at primary on the Billboard Scorching 100.

Three weeks in a while 13 April, a leaked appeared on-line dubbed as a Drake diss monitor in the direction of Kendrick Lamar. As a result of low high quality and unofficial nature of the monitor, many speculated it was AI impersonating drake. It was shortly later confirmed to be genuine by DJ Akademiks, who premiered the official model. The monitor sends photographs in the direction of Future, Metro Boomin, J. Cole, The Weeknd Rick Ross and Ja Morant, whereas Kendrick Lamar is accused of getting a 50-50 royalties break up with Prime Dawg founder, Anthony “Prime Dawg” Tiffith. Additional disses embrace Kendrick showing on pop data and discrediting his placement within the “Large Three”. Drake put the tune on streaming companies on 19 April, titled “Push Ups”.

Extortion child, entire profession, you been shook up
Trigger Prime advised you, “Drop and provides me fifty,” like some push-ups
[…]
Your final one bricked, you actually not on shit
They make excuses for you trigger they hate to see me lit
Pull your contract trigger we gotta see the break up
The way in which you doing splits, bitch, your pants would possibly rip

On the identical day, Drake uploaded a second diss monitor titled “Taylor Made Freestyle”, utilizing his personal voice to generate AI verses within the voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg; two of Kendrick’s West Coast idols and inspiration. The third verse accuses Kendrick Lamar of getting his upcoming album delayed as a result of Taylor Swift’s album being launched in April, with rumours current that Kendrick is gearing as much as drop an album exterior of the monitor as effectively. Per week later, Drake eliminated “Taylor Made Freestyle” from his social media after the Tupac Shakur Property threatened to sue Drake for his utilization of Tupac’s voice within the tune.

On 30 April, Kendrick Lamar responded to the Drake disses with a 6-minute diss titled “Euphoria” through YouTube, earlier than distributing it to streaming companies hours after. Within the diss, he takes digs at Drake’s fatherhood, racial identification, ghostwriting allegations, contractual obligations and lack of response to Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon” diss, whereas hinting that he may take the meat additional primarily based on info that he is aware of. Kendrick takes a number of comical angles, together with cultural references to the late DMX’s iconic anti-Drake Breakfast Membership rant, and Kanye West’s line “We don’t wanna hear that weak shit no extra” from 2004’s “Get Em Excessive”.

Yeah, my first one like my final one
It’s a basic, you don’t have one
Let your core viewers abdomen that
Then inform ’em the place you get your abs from
[…]
Ain’t twenty-v-one, it’s one-v-twenty if I gotta smack n****s that write with you
Yeah, carry ’em out too, I’ll clear ’em out too
Inform BEAM that he higher keep proper with you
Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?

The tune’s art work depicts a dictionary definition of the tune title. When peering intently, the second instance of the definition reads as follows: “They’d nearly every week to get better from the euphoria of Tuesday’s series-winning victory.” With “Euphoria” dropping on a Tuesday, Kendrick is hinting at one other diss monitor incoming, giving Drake ‘beneath every week’ to ‘get better’ from “Euphoria” within the meantime. Kendrick additionally references Drake’s “Again to Again” diss monitor in the direction of Meek Mill within the tune, additional hinting he goals to launch two disses in succession similar to Drake did with “Charged Up” and “Again to Again” in 2015.