The war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar is in full swing after both men gave fans one of the most historic days in hip-hop on Friday (May 3). The “Poetic Justice” collaborators delivered vicious diss tracks aimed at each other in what can be considered the second round of their heavyweight bout.
In round one, Drake stood tall against Kendrick, mocking his small stature and questionable label deals on “Push Ups.” The song served as a response to Kendrick’s verse on “Like That,” where he denounced all chatter surrounding hip-hop’s “Big 3.” Fans were impressed by Drake’s showing, while Kendrick took his time and dropped “Euphoria,” a surgical display of bars that criticized Drake’s alleged cultural appropriation and more.
K. Dot kicked off round two with “6:16 in LA,” where he made claims such as OVO having a mole and more. Drizzy responded with “Family Matters,” where he alleged K. Dot abused his wife, cheated on her, and claimed his longtime manager, Dave Free, fathered one of his two children.
Just as fans were reeling over what was happening, hip-hop’s boogeyman dropped another diss track titled “Meet the Grahams,” in which he spoke to various members of the 6 God’s family, including an alleged secret 11-year-old daughter.
All of this happened in less than a month, as both rappers are willing to pull out all the stops to secure the victory in this legendary battle. We’ve been waiting over a decade for these two to go at it with all the subliminals and sneak disses they’ve hurled at each other in the past and now we’re finally here with a total of six tracks across two rounds to dive into.
Check out Billboard‘s rankings of the diss tracks released by Drake and Kendrick Lamar below.
-
Drake – “Taylor Made Freestyle”
Drake was using this record to bait Kendrick Lamar into responding to “Push Ups.” Following the release of that record, Lamar would take three weeks to release his next diss track, and Drake tried to used that to his advantage. He ridiculed Kendrick for going radio silent and claimed Taylor Swift was his boss and forced him not to drop anything since she was releasing her new album, The Tormented Poets Department.
However, Drake pulled a risky move using artificial intelligence to craft fictional bars from Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur to get at Kendrick. The idea was extremely clever given that Snoop passed the West Coast torch to K. Dot at a show a few years ago, and Pac is one of his biggest inspirations. However, it’s hard to give Drake a pass on this one as AI is still a red flag for many, especially in hip-hop culture when fans turn a side-eye to anything that’s deemed fake.
“Taylor Made Freestyle” was eventually pulled from streaming services after Shakur’s estate threatened to sue Drake. He later used that as ammo on “Family Matters” to claim Kendrick was the one who told the estate to get the song taken down.
-
Kendrick Lamar – “6:16 in LA”
On “Euphoria,” Kendrick Lamar hinted at dropping a second diss track and kept that promise when he unleashed “6:16 in LA” early May. 3. The track is a masterful chess move as Kendrick references Drake’s beloved timestamp series in the title and samples Al Green, whose guitarist was Drake’s uncle Teenie Hodges. Kendrick added more fuel to the fire by stating there was a mole in the OVO camp that was feeding him information that would lay the foundation of what was to come following the release of this track.
The references on “6:16 in LA” continue with all the possible hidden meanings behind the “6:16” title that fans conjured up on social media, such as the number being the series premiere date of Drake’s HBO show Euphoria, the date of Canadian Father’s Day and more. As tactical as this song was, Kendrick is playing on information that we’ve already heard someone use against Drake.
It’s a rap battle and anything is fair game, but Pusha T already told us someone in OVO has loose lips. In an interview with The Joe Budden Podcast, Pusha T said Drake’s longtime producer Noah “40” Shebib leaked the information about Adonis that led to the earth-shattering “The Story of Adidon.”
-
Drake – “Push Ups”
Drake did exactly what he was supposed to do when Kendrick Lamar, Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, and so many others dissed him once “Like That” was unleashed to the masses. He had bars ready for everyone who needed them on “Push Ups,” especially Kendrick, who got dissed for his small frame and his label deals with Top Dawg Entertainment.
From the DJ Whoo Kid “Whooooo Kid” tag in the intro to The Notorious B.I.G. “What’s Beef?” sample, The Boy was ready to take this beef head-on. It was the first time he also mentioned Kendrick directly after years of dishing out subliminals. But even though he clapped back at his opponents, Drizzy could’ve had a better rollout for the record.
All the rumors that the song was an AI track or that Drake purposely leaked it six days before its official release dulled the excitement, as many felt he did that to test the waters. We’ve seen what Drake can do with diss track rollouts (“Charged Up,” “Back to Back”), and “Push Ups” could’ve benefited immensely from a proper one.
-
Kendrick Lamar – “Not Like Us”
Kendrick Lamar doesn’t want to give Drake any breathers as he showed with his latest diss track titled “Not Like Us.” The song arrived less than 24 hours after he unleashed “Meet the Grahams” and finds the rapper giving listeners a potential club banger produced by Mustard where he claims Drake and his “OV Hoe” team are pedophiles. K Dot is showing how crafty he is compared to his rival with the cover art showing Drake’s home with sexual predator markers placed on the mansion.
Every record Kendrick has put out prior to “Not Like Us” has been hard-hitting lyrical assemblies, but this new track is the first that finds the pgLang rapper getting busy over a record that has a West Coast bounce. Drake is known for making records like these but Kendrick is letting his rival know he’s capable of making potential hit record diss tracks as well. The record is so good that DJ Hed, Rick Ross and Mustard have been running it up at parties out while folks on social media are posting dance videos with the infectious track.
-
Kendrick Lamar – “Euphoria”
For years, fans thought Drake and Kendrick Lamar had a competitive rivalry, but they would soon find out their feud is much deeper than that. After a three-week wait, Kendrick dropped a bomb with “Euphoria” where he claimed he was taking this feud lightly while explaining how much he hates the 6 God and everything he stands for. Kendrick uses references close to Drake to get his point across, from the song title sharing the name of his HBO show to mentioning a Toronto eatery where the OVO leader was once robbed at gunpoint.
The pgLang rapper stole the show that Drake put on weeks prior by eviscerating him through three different beat switches, a possible callback to his line on “Like That” about the “First Person Shooter” duo showing up with “three switches.” On the other hand, though, Kendrick once again mentioned things about Drake that have already been discussed in the past, from his struggles with his blackness, being an alleged deadbeat dad to Adonis and more.
Most of Drake’s personal life is public knowledge, so using something he’s either taken responsibility for already or mentioned something someone already said against him won’t secure an easy victory. The people want to hear something we haven’t heard already about The Boy.
-
Drake – “Family Matters”
Drake once again showed he was not going to take Kendrick Lamar’s attacks lying down. On “Family Matters,” The Boy took off his gloves and gave Kendrick several deep body blows, starting with the music video, which shows several references to the Compton rapper, such as the van on the cover of good kid, m.A.A.d city getting destroyed in a junkyard.
Drake continued to go for the kill in his rhymes where he claimed Kendrick abused and cheated on his fiancee, Whitney, with white women, and claimed Dave Free fathered one of his children. There hasn’t been anyone who’s gone at Kendrick this hard with serious allegations like these, and at the time, felt like Drake was really holding his own with his longtime rival.
However, if the rumors are true about someone in Drake’s camp leaking information, the 6 God needs to tighten up his team. This was an excellent response to “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA,” but Kendrick dropped his next song, “Meet the Grahams,” immediately after “Family Matters,” as if he knew Drake would mention his family.
-
Kendrick Lamar – “Meet the Grahams”
The hip-hop community spent less than 30 minutes with Drake’s “Family Matters” when Kendrick Lamar ruined the moment with the shocking diss track “Meet the Grahams.” K. Dot pulled another chess move where it seems he knew that Drake would speak about his family life and returned the favor on his response where he spoke to various members of the Graham clan.
Drake’s son Adonis, his mother Sandra, and his father Dennis each get words from Kendrick about their loved one being one of the worst human beings on the planet. But the most astonishing tidbit from the song comes when Kendrick begins speaking to “baby girl,” who he claims is Drake’s secret 11-year-old daughter.
Kendrick also claimed Drake was a predator and has committed crimes comparable to convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, who’s currently serving a 23-year prison sentence on several rape charges.
As explosive as this song was, K. Dot is again relying on a tactic that has already been done by Pusha T. In 2018, Pusha shocked the world when he revealed Drizzy had a son. It would be mind-boggling if Drake had another child that he’d been hiding, but without proof like Pusha had, this one can’t hold much weight. There’s also rumors circulating on social media that Drake’s team fed K. Dot’s mole false information regarding his child.
