Drake and Kendrick: The Rap Feud That Broke the Internet

Madeleine Wu

May 27, 2024

In this unparalleled generation of rappers, two names typically stand out the most—Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The path of these two esteemed artists first publicly converged in 2011, when Drake featured Lamar on his Take Care album. After their collaboration, they remained on amicable terms, Drake even inviting Lamar to open for him on his “Club Paradise” Tour. However, in 2013, this seemingly powerful friendship took its turn for the worst. In collaboration with Big Sean on his song “Control,” Lamar, referencing Drake and a host of other rappers, says, "I got love for you all, but I'm trying to murder you," marking the first of his many blows to Drake, and igniting their decade long feud. 

In more recent years, Drake released a joint song with J. Cole in which Cole raps, "Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K. Dot [Kendrick]? Is it Aubrey [Drake]? Or me? / We the big three, like we started a league." His bars essentially state that Cole believes himself, Drake, and Lamar to be the three most legendary rappers. Cole creates unity claiming that they “started a league.” Lamar, however, did not see it as such. Lamar wreaked chaos in his uncredited verse featured in Metro Boomin’ and Future’s album called We Don’t Trust You. He reacts saying, "big three - it's just big me." He then continues claiming that he will throw all of Drake and J. Cole’s dogs in the “pet cemetery,” alluding to Drake’s album entitled For All the Dogs.

This beyond-humiliating blow conjured up an equally explosive response from Drake. On April 13, Drake released a song titled “Push Ups” where he slandered Lamar’s height and claimed that he was forced to work with pop artists. Lamar retaliated with a six-minute-long diss track called “Euphoria” and then a second song called “6:16 in LA.” In both, he expresses the extent to which he feels disdain towards Drake, labeling him as "predictable," a "master manipulator," and a "habitual liar," highlighting how deep his hatred goes, and his willingness to blatantly insult Drake. Lamar had even gone as far as to insult Drake’s parenting, prompting Drake to release “Family Matters” where he not only defended himself but also accused Lamar of being a perpetrator of domestic abuse. Within 20 minutes, Lamar released “Meet the Grahams” where he individually listed all of Drake’s closest family members and aired Drake’s supposed failures and faults with them. 

This feud gripped the attention of not only the rap community but also the country. While it’s ambiguous who actually won, Billboard magazine empirically shows that streams of Lamar's back catalog have increased by 49% since the weekend, while Drake's have dropped by 5%. Regardless of who won, both Drake and Kendrick have benefited from their feud. Both of their diss tracks have settled into high spots on the U.S. and UK charts. Although it’s unclear whether they can move on from this or if more diss tracks are in the making, it’s undeniable that their conflicts have prompted some excellent creative material and brought attention to both of their platforms.