Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud
Ongoing hip hop feud / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Canadian rapper Drake and the American rapper Kendrick Lamar have been involved in a rap feud since the early 2010s. The feud escalated in March 2024 after the release of "Like That" by Future, Metro Boomin, and Lamar.
Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud | |||
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Date | March 22, 2024[1][2][note 1] – present (2 months, 4 weeks and 2 days) | ||
Medium | Diss tracks | ||
Status | Ongoing | ||
Parties | |||
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Drake and Lamar's relationship started with a collaboration in 2011 on Drake's album Take Care, followed by another on Lamar's album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City in 2012. Lamar also accompanied Drake as an opening act on his 2012 Club Paradise Tour. In 2013, Lamar dissed Drake and several other rappers on the song "Control" by Big Sean, later clarifying that his verse was intended to be seen as "friendly competition". In the ensuing years, Drake and Lamar both publicly dismissed speculations of a conflict between them. However, media outlets identified numerous potential disses by both parties in the years leading up to the escalation in 2024.
In March 2024, Lamar dissed J. Cole and Drake on "Like That" after J. Cole proposed on "First Person Shooter" that he, Drake, and Lamar were the "Big Three" of hip hop. In early April, Cole responded to Lamar on the diss track "7 Minute Drill", but in the week following its release, Cole apologized for the song and removed it from streaming services.
Drake then released the songs "Push Ups" and "Taylor Made Freestyle" in April. "Taylor Made Freestyle" was later deleted from social media after Tupac Shakur's estate threatened Drake with legal action for the use of AI-generated vocals resembling Shakur. In response, Lamar released "Euphoria" on April 30 and "6:16 in LA" on May 3. Drake responded with "Family Matters" later that day, accusing Lamar of being a domestic abuser and alleging that one of Lamar's children was fathered by Dave Free. Less than an hour later, Lamar released "Meet the Grahams", accusing Drake of sex trafficking, being a sexual predator, and fathering a secret child. Lamar then released "Not Like Us" the following day, further accusing Drake of pedophilia and of lying about Lamar's family. On May 5, Drake responded with "The Heart Part 6", denying Lamar's accusations and claiming that his team gave Lamar false information about the secret child.
Critics have generally described Lamar as the winner of the feud, including those at Pitchfork, The Ringer, and Rolling Stone. An Insider article described other music critics and social media users also considering Lamar the winner of the feud.