A long-simmering rivalry between the two top rappers in the world has recently rekindled due to a number of unexpected songs.
With multiple Grammy awards and a Pulitzer Prize to his credit, one musician dominates the charts and releases streaming records almost as frequently as he pops champagne bottles; the other is arguably the greatest rapper of all time.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake, in the opinion of many fans, are in completely different leagues. Drake dabbles in trap, dancehall, and R&B while entertaining with breezy rap-pop hits like “One Dance” and “Hotline Bling.” Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar has established himself as a skilled writer who can meld street smarts with literary wit. However, their formerly cordial relationship has soured over the years due to fan feuds over who is a superior artist, characterized by years of backstabbing and blatant disrespect.
With his most recent rap feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s new song “Like That,” which he did in response to a verse by fellow rapper J Cole on Drake’s 2023 song “First Person Shooter,” Lamar has managed to incite a frenzy among fans in the last month.
Cole then rapped, saying, “It’s love when they fight the most, MC.” / Is it K-Dot? Is that Aubrey? or myself? I feel like Muhammad Ali right now, but we the main three are like we formed a league. (Lamar goes by the pseudonym K-Dot, although Drake is actually Aubrey Drake Graham.)
Lamar seemed to downplay Cole’s insinuation that they are equals in the music industry on “Like That,” rapping, “Motherf*** the big three, n***a, it’s just big me.” “N***a, what’s up, dude? That truly appeals to me, and your finest effort is a light pack.
Drake was comparing his own commercial success to Michael Jackson’s when Lamar brought up the famous feud between Prince and the King of Pop in the 1980s, saying, “N***a, Prince outlived Mike Jack.”
The release of two diss singles by Kendrick Lamar in a week—”euphoria” and “6:16 in LA”—marks the latest development in the long-simmering rivalry between the two legendary hip-hop artists, who had initially gotten along.
This is an overview of their relationship through the years.
2011: Kendrick Lamar’s early relationship and professional beginnings
Drake and Kendrick Lamar used to get along really well; in fact, the Canadian musician invited Lamar to join him on his Club Paradise headline tour.
Drake and Lamar “clicked immediately,” according to Lamar in a pre-career interview, when he called the fellow rapper a “genuine soul” and disclosed that Drake was the first person outside of his personal team to hear his debut album, Section 80. Afterwards, Drake asked K-Dot to appear on his upcoming second album, Take Care.
Tension between the two seemed to be building around the release of Kendrick Lamar’s highly regarded second album, Good Kid, MAAD City, which featured Drake. This seemed to be partly because of their different perspectives on fame and fortune.
Where Lamar tends to avoid sharing details of his personal life on social media, Drake is known for sharing frequent posts about his lavish lifestyle to his millions of Instagram followers, from private jets to couture and luxury cars. Lamar discussed this openly in interviews, hinting that he believed bragging about money and fame was superficial, and his own music tackled deeper matters.
The two also seemed to grow colder towards one another as Lamar began to experience commercial and critical success, scooping major awards and receiving universal praise for Good Kid, MAAD City and being invited to star on tracks by other major artists.
In public, Drake continued to congratulate Lamar for a number of his successes, until 2013, when Lamar dropped a verse on Big Sean’s track “Control” that made it clear he considered himself above other rappers… including Drake.
Kendrick Lamar performing at the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2012 (Getty Images for BET)Drake was less enamored, while rappers like A$AP Rocky—who was also name-checked—seemed happy to be namechecked by Lamar at all, considering his competitive mentality to be beneficial for hip-hop.Following the release of Kendrick Lamar’s guest verse, he questioned in an interview on Hot 97, “Was that real or was that just for the people?” “You realize those were harsh words? You can’t just say that, look at me, and say, “Yeah man,” acting as though nothing had happened. Man, that’s not real.In a subsequent interview, Drake reinforced this position by implying that Lamar was more interested in having a “moment” than putting out whole bodies of work and by raising the question of whether he would make a song that could top Good Kid, MAAD City.Then, on 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, his third album, he seemed to criticize Lamar, rapping, “F*** any n***a that’s talking that s*** just to get a reaction,” on the song “The Language.”He described himself as “the kid with the motormouth / I am the one you should worry about” in the same song. While rapping, “N***as downplaying the money but that’s what you do when the money down,” he appeared to be making fun of Lamar’s attitude toward wealth as well.
Artwork for Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 album, ‘Good Kid, MAAD City’ (Kendrick Lamar)
In a recent episode of the YouTube series What’s the Dirt, where host Matt explores feuds among well-known hip-hop artists, it was implied that Drake disapproved of Kendrick Lamar’s quick-witted delivery and thought his own music had more depth.
“It’s obviously about Kendrick,” he declared, bringing up incidents in which Lamar seemed to make fun of Drake in interviews and implying that K-Dot may have said something behind the “Hold On” singer’s back that eventually found its way to him.
Drake’s anger may have increased after Kendrick Lamar appeared to make fun of him for being “sensitive during a freestyle with Isaiah Rashad, Jay Rock, Ab Soul, and ScHoolboy Q: “Since they released “Control” and put a sensitive rapper back in his pajamas, nothing has been the same.”