Over the past months, one of the biggest rap “beefs” of all time has played out between notorious rappers Drake (Aubrey Grahm) and Kendrick Lamar (Kendrick Duckworth). Even though Drake and Kendrick have had beef for many years, there hasn’t always been tension between the two. 

Before the Recent Beef

• Drake and Lamar have collaborated on many songs together, including “Poetic Justice” by Lamar and “Buried Alive Interlude” by Drake. However, Drake and Lamar’s collaborations didn’t last long after Lamar called Drake, and multiple other rappers, out on Big Sean’s track “Control.” Drake responded with a diss to Lamar in a Billboard cover story. 
•  From then on, the rappers had only been dissing each other intermittently until Drake’s album “For All the Dogs” came out in October 2023. 
• The Drake album includes a song called “First Person Shooter Mode,” which features famous artist J. Cole. In the song, J. Cole attempted to squash the Drake vs. Kendrick beef by rapping, “Love when they argue the hardest MC. Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? We the big three like we started a league,” but his attempt was shut down almost a year later in the hit single “Like That” by Metro Boomin, Lamar, and Future on March 22, 2024. 

“Like That” “7 Minute Drill” “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” 

• In the single Lamar raps, “Motherf*** the big three, n****, it’s just big me,” and references Drake and J.Cole’s song “First Person Shooter Mode,” comparing himself to Prince and Drake to Micheal Jackson: “Prince outlived Mike Jack.” J. Cole quickly released a response called “7 Minute Drill,” but soon after apologized onstage to Lamar, removing himself from the beef.
• On April 19, Drake finally released his leaked diss “Push Ups,” where he responds to Lamar, saying, “Pipsqueak, pipe down. You ain’t in no big three, SZA got you wiped down. Travis got you wiped down, Savage got you wiped down.” Drake then doubled down with another diss and released “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which was quickly removed from streaming services because of its use of AI to include verses from the late Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dog. In this diss track, Drake also accuses Lamar of responding late because of the release of Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“euphoria” “6:16 in LA” “Family Matters” and “Meet the Grahams” 

• After a few weeks passed, Lamar’s long-awaited response dropped on April 30. The song was named “euphoria,” after the HBO show Euphoria which Drake executive produces. The track consisted of over six minutes of pure insults, as Lamar continuously attacks Drake’s racial identity and parenting skills.  Lamar references Drakes’ racial identity multiple times throughout the song, like in lines, “How many more black features ’til you finally feel that you’re black enough?” and the repetition of the phrase, “We don’t wanna hear you say n**** no more.” One of the most iconic lines from “euphoria” is Lamar’s comment on Drake’s parenting skills to his son Adonis, as he mocks Drake’s Canadian accent: “I got a son to raise, but I can see you don’t know nothin’ ’bout that. Wakin’ him up, know nothin’ ’bout that. Then tell him to pray, know nothin’ ’bout that. Then givin’ him tools to walk through life like day by day, know nothin’ ’bout that.” 
• On May 3, Lamar doubled down and released another diss called “6:16 in LA” where Kendrick reveals that there are people in Drake’s record label, OvO, who are secretly working for him. That same day, Drake released the almost 8-minute track, “Family Matters,” in which he accuses Lamar of cheating and hitting his fiance.
• Lamar quickly replied a day later with the most controversial song of the whole battle: “Meet the Grahams.” The song starts with the sound of a daunting piano with the first line addressing Drake’s son Adonis apologizing, “That man is your father, let me be honest. It takes a man to be a man, your dad is not responsive.” Lamar also addresses Drake’s mom, Sandra, and reveals to the world that Drake has an alleged secret daughter. He tells her, “Dear baby girl, I’m sorry that your father is not active inside your world.” Lamar also accuses Drake of being a predator but doesn’t elaborate any further. 

“Not Like Us”  and “The Heart Part 6”

• Lamar released again less than 24 hours later with “Not Like Us,” which is now the #2 single on the Billboard Hot 100; the song’s cover is an overhead view of Drake’s house. In the single, Lamar accuses Drake multiple times of being a pedophile with lines like: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young,” “Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him,” “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles,” and lastly, “Why you trollin’ like a b****? Ain’t you tired? Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”
• The latest song of the battle was Drake’s “The Heart Part 6” on May 5, which references Lamar’s “The Heart” series. In the song, Drake denies all accusations of being a predator and having a secret daughter while taking more shots at Lamar.

“BBL Drizzy” and “You My Everything”

• On the same day, Metro Boomin released the instrumental beat named “BBL Drizzy” mocking Drake in response to the Kendrick beef, reinforcing rumors of Drake getting a Brazilian butt lift. The track quickly blew up on social media apps like TikTok and Instagram and received over 3 million streams on Soundcloud within a week.
• Because Metro Boomin did not copyright the beat, Drake rapped over the beat mocking him in the song “You My Everything” in SexxyRed’s newest mixtape “In Sexxy we Trust.” Drake acknowledged the beat while rapping saying, “BBL Drizzy, they want a new body, they ask me for it”. Since then, no response has been heard from either side.