By now you’ve probably heard about the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The feud was downright inescapable this past summer, as the two hip-hop titans traded diss tracks by the hour. Among them was Lamar’s catchy single “Not Like Us.” The diss won five Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year, earlier this month. Lamar took the song all the way to the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday and smiled at the camera as he mentioned Drake directly.
We definitely have a winner, but how did we arrive here?
For many rap fans, Drake versus Kendrick Lamar was the event of a lifetime. Two rappers of this magnitude rarely ever engage in lyrical mudslinging these days, let alone with such ferocity. Lamar and Drake trading bars brought to mind the genre’s most prominent feuds of all time, namely Tupac Shakur versus the Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre versus Eazy-E, and Jay-Z versus Nas. There’s an electric feeling any time hip-hop engraves another legendary battle into its history books.
Except this time, the conflict escalated to serious allegations of domestic abuse, infidelity, pedophilia, and cultural appropriation. Recently, Drake even sued Universal Music Group for promoting the song. Let’s discuss what’s transpired so far.
Why are Drake and Kendrick Lamar beefing?
Drake, the genre-bending Canadian rapper, is arguably one of the biggest artists on the planet. His immense popularity paints a large target on his back—and he’s feuded with rappers such as Meek Mill and Pusha T in the past.
But while Drake has racked up streaming records and Billboard Hot 100 successes, he hasn’t received nearly as much critical acclaim as Lamar. The Compton-born rapper won Rap Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards three times over the past decade, performed at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show alongside Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and even won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album, DAMN.
Before Lamar’s triumphs, he challenged his peers on a 2013 Big Sean song titled “Control.” He called out Drake; J. Cole; Pusha T; Meek Mill; A$AP Rocky; Tyler, the Creator; and even Big Sean on his own song. Lamar quickly emerged at the top of his class alongside Drake and J. Cole, with the media dubbing the trio the “Big Three.” J. Cole recently noted the title on Drake’s “First Person Shooter” from October 6, 2023. He rapped, “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 right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.”
Curiously, “First Person Shooter” didn’t feature Lamar, even though it names him as one of the Big Three. He didn’t seem to enjoy the “sneak disses,” as he later called them, pointing to Drake and J. Cole’s lines as subliminal shots. On March 22, 2024, Lamar delivered a guest verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” declaring that the era of the Big Three is no more. “F–– the Big Three,” he stated. “It’s just big me.”
Drake and J. Cole responded
J. Cole responded to “Like That” with “7 Minute Drill,” the last track on the mixtape Might Delete Later, which debuted April 5. On “7 Minute Drill,” J. Cole asserted that Lamar “fell off like The Simpsons.” The response from fans was lukewarm—and many critics remarked that J. Cole’s opinions were bizarre. Why praise and criticize your opponent on the same track?
Following the tepid response, the North Carolina rapper apologized onstage at his own Dreamville Festival. Later, J. Cole fulfilled the semi-promise of Might Delete Later—deleting “7 Minute Drill” from streaming services. With how dark the beef between Drake and Lamar has gotten, J. Cole’s early exit is praised (somewhat jokingly) on social media as a sound business decision.
After Drake trolled Metro Boomin and Lamar on social media, his first response leaked online on April 13. The song, titled “Push Ups,” addressed rumors that he stole Metro Boomin’s girlfriend and jabbed at Lamar’s height and record contract. “I’m the hitmaker y’all depend on,” Drake rapped. “Backstage in my city, it was friend zone / You won’t ever take no chain off of us / How the f–– you big steppin’ with a size-seven men’s on?”
On April 19—before Lamar could respond—Drake released a second diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” featuring AI-generated verses from Tupac and Snoop Dogg. On the track, Drake claimed that Lamar’s delayed response was because he didn’t want to compete with Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. While critics praised some of Drake’s rebuttals on “Push Ups,” many viewed “Taylor Made Freestyle” as an unnecessary misstep. Snoop Dogg later posted a video to Instagram, echoing the confusion.
Lamar answered back—and so did Drake
On April 30, Lamar finally responded with “Euphoria,” named after the HBO series on which Drake is a coproducer. “You’rе not a rap artist, you a scam artist with the hopes of being accepted,” Lamar rapped, claiming that he’s uncomfortable with Drake borrowing accents and using the N-word as someone who is of mixed race. “How many more Black features ’til you finally feel that you’re Black enough?” he stated. Lamar also criticized Drake for making “Tupac turn in his grave” on “Taylor Made Freestyle.” He warned, “We ain’t gotta get personal, this a friendly fade, you should keep it that way.”
Lamar did not keep it friendly, though. He declared himself the biggest Drake hater and took shots at his rival’s parentage, as well as the fact that his last rap battle with Pusha T outed that he had a secret son named Adonis. “I got a son to raise, but I can see you know nothin’ ’bout that,” Lamar teased. He also claimed that Drake is using Ozempic. Plus, while commenting on Drake using AI voices on “Taylor Made Freestyle,” he seemingly confused A.I. actor Haley Joel Osment with televangelist Joel Osteen. Lamar continued the assault on May 3 with “6:16 in LA,” which was produced by Jack Antonoff.
On the same day that “6:16 in LA” dropped, Drake responded with a nearly eight-minute song titled “Family Matters.” The Canadian rapper alleged infidelity and domestic abuse in regard to Lamar’s relationship with his fiancée, Whitney Alford. He also claimed that Lamar’s child was fathered by his manager, Dave Free.
Lamar dropped a prerecorded track within the hour. On “Meet the Grahams”—Drake’s full name is Aubrey Drake Graham—Lamar attacked Drake’s family, writing verses as letters to the rapper, Drake’s mother, and a mysterious third person whom he alleges is Drake’s secret daughter. On the song, Lamar referenced Drake’s controversial history with younger women.
Their feud became incredibly personal
Many critics grew not only worried for Drake and Lamar’s safety but also deeply concerned about the allegations in their respective diss tracks. Just a day after “Meet the Grahams” came out, Lamar debuted “Not Like Us,” doubling down on his claims about Drake’s relationships with young women. He called Drake a “certified pedophile” and said he was “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.” Drake hasn’t faced any formal accusations of such crimes, nor has he been convicted.
Meanwhile, Drake’s rebuttals continued to allege domestic abuse and speculate on the parentage of Lamar’s child. On “The Heart Part 6,” released on May 5, Drake claimed that he conceived fake information about his secret daughter and shared it with members of Lamar’s team as part of a false-flag operation. “You gotta learn to fact-check things and be less impatient,” Drake rapped. He spent the rest of the five-minute track defending himself against claims of underage relationships, which many critics viewed as cringeworthy. Although critics continue to claim winners and losers, many listeners were left with an unflattering portrait of both artists.
A more scrutinous spotlight enveloped the feud when, according to the Toronto Police Operations Center, an unnamed member of Drake’s security team was struck in a drive-by shooting on May 7, 2024, outside the rapper’s Toronto mansion. The security guard was rushed to the nearby Sunnybrook Hospital in the city’s Bridle Path district, where he received surgery for “serious injuries.” Drake was unharmed.
Inspectors on the scene stated that was no apparent motive for the shooting, according to The Hollywood Reporter. There is no known connection between the shooting and spat between the two musicians. Still, it didn’t help that the cover artwork for Lamar’s “Not Like Us” publicized the location of Drake’s mansion.
“Not Like Us” swept the Grammys
Thankfully, the battle de-escalated after the incident outside Drake’s home. “Not Like Us” hit the airwaves, and Lamar earned another No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. He performed “Not Like Us” five times at a home show in Los Angeles. Then, Lamar was named as the next Super Bowl halftime-show performer.
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, “Not Like Us” swept the rap category, winning the awards for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video. Lamar also took home two coveted awards in the major categories, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Drake sued over “Not Like Us”
Following the success of “Not Like Us,” Drake took legal action against Universal Music Group (UMG). The rapper claimed the label—which represents Lamar as well as Drake, himself—inflated streams for the song and promoted defamatory material. The November court petition pointed to the song as “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender.”
“UMG… could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” Drake’s lawyers wrote in a motion filed against the company. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
Drake officially sued the record company for defamation in January 2024, notably leaving Lamar off his complaint. The lawsuit was likely just an attempt to stop Lamar from performing “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl, but Vulture reported that the complaint is unlikely to even go to trial.
Recently, Drake opened his new tour in Australia wearing a hoodie tattered with bullet holes. Smoke billowed off of his back as “Over My Dead Body” played in the background. “I love you dearly,” he reportedly told his fans. “The year is now 2025, and no matter what, Drizzy Drake is very much alive.”
Lamar called out Drake at Super Bowl LIX
On February 9, Kendrick Lamar headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans. He was joined by R&B singer SZA, who is accompanying him on an upcoming joint world tour. “Not Like Us” producer DJ Mustard also made an appearance, as well as actor Samuel L. Jackson and tennis legend Serena Williams.
“Being in the now and being just locked into how I feel and the energy I have now, that’s the L.A. energy for me,” Lamar said during a news conference ahead of the big game. “That’s something that I want to carry over to New Orleans and for the world to see. This is me, this is Kendrick Lamar, 37 years old and I still feel like I’m elevated. I’m still on the journey, though. I want [to bring] that energy to the television and to the people that‘s in that building.”
The rapper didn’t hold back during his victory lap. Lamar looked directly into the camera and smiled when he rapped the “Not Like Us” line “Say Drake, I heard you like ’em young.” However, he removed the line directing referring to Drake as a “pedophile.”
Many fans were worried that Drake’s lawsuit might have blocked Lamar from performing the song, but it seems that nothing could stopping the rapper from featuring his latest hit. “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” Lamar said during the performance. When Lamar’s set ended, the stands illuminated with the words “GAME OVER.”
As an assistant editor at Esquire, Rosenberg covers film, TV, sports, anime, music, and video games. When he’s not trying to remember character names from House of the Dragon, you can find him theorizing about the future of Yellowstone, or putting another hundred hours into The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Rosenberg's standout stories include an interview with Olympic breakdancing athlete Victor Montalvo, a pitch to the Oscars to add a Best Animal Actor category, and a plea for Hollywood to fix bad movie titles. His past work can be found at Spin, Insider, and his personal blog at Roseandblog.com. What’s one piece of life advice that Josh can give? A movie a day keeps the doctor away.
Follow Rosenberg on Twitter/X @Roseandblog and check out his “Good Movie List” on Letterboxd: @Movies4MePlease
