News
The Strange Relationship of Drake and Kendrick Lamar
Max Ching
Volume 4 Issue 5
June 26, 2024
Image Provided by Max Ching
You’ve probably heard of Drake and Kendrick Lamar, who is also known as K. Dot. If you haven’t, then they are known for being some of the biggest rap artists of all time and have won multiple Grammys, Brit Awards, American Music Awards, and many more. They’ve even worked together in the past, and their piece, Poetic Justice, became the 26th highest song on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2012. However, their relationship has sparked a giant feud over the past few months, becoming one of the biggest rap beefs of all time. So, how did this start? Well, let’s go to the beginning of their relationship, and see what went wrong.
So, like I’ve said before, Drake and Lamar haven’t always had a bad relationship. During Drake’s early days, according to Billboard, Kendrick featured on Drake’s Take Care album. He also appeared with A$AP Rocky during Drake’s Club Paradise Tour. Later, Drake even rapped about fighting for Rocky and Lamar to appear during his tours. Also, like I’ve said before, their song, Poetic Justice, even became the 26th highest song on the Billboard Hot 100 during 2012. However, this is the last time these artists ever friendly collaborated.
During August of 2013, Lamar took shots at Drake and the rap game during his feature on Big Sean’s, Control. According to Billboard, Kendrick took shots at J. Cole, Drake, Meek Mill, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, Mac Miller, Big Sean, Wale, Big K.R.I.T., and Jay Electronica. He said that, although he loves and respects them, he is going to try and wipe away their reputation, and make sure that their core fans even forget who they are. Drake eventually responded to this diss by stating, “I didn’t really have anything to say about it. It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me. That’s all it was. I know good and well that Lamar’s not murdering me, at all, on any platform. So, when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic.”
Over the next few years, although the two artists threw a few jabs at each other over the years, nothing groundbreaking happened until October of 2023, when Drake and J. Cole made history. According to Billboard, the two made their first ever Hot 100 No. 1 song, First Person Shooter. Drake and Cole share the spotlight as they boast about being stadium status MCs. “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.”. This one quote by Cole sparked Lamar’s inspiration to start one of the biggest forms of beef in rap history.
During March of 2024, Kendrick went full attack mode on Drake and Cole, during his feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s, Like That. He threw shots at Cole and Drake, denouncing their big three claim by saying, “It’s just big me.”. He also punctuated his verse by rapping about Drake’s album, For All the Dogs. “For your dog’s getting buried/ That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary.” Drake later responded by releasing his diss-track on Lamar named Push Ups. He made fun of Kendrick’s foot size, along with the cover art being a small shoe size. Drake also pointed shots at Kendrick’s deal with Top Dawg Entertainment. He also dissed Rick Ross, The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, Future, and many more on this piece. A little bit later, Drake even released a second diss track named, Taylor Made Freestyle. However, according to Billboard, Drake used A.I., to simulate the voices of Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. Tupac’s estate threatened to sue him, if the piece wasn’t removed from all of Drake’s social media accounts. He later obliged and scrubbed away the track from his history.
Six days later, Lamar released his new bloodthirsty piece, Euphoria, where he calls Drake out by admitting to being his biggest hater and hating the way he walks, talks, and dresses. Also, not even seventy-two hours later, Kendrick created a new piece, named 6:16 in LA. According to Billboard, Lamar claims that Drake’s team is even working against him and that they have a mole that’s finding dirt on him. However, the next day, Drake made his third diss track, Family Matters, public. He also accompanied this with a music video. In this track, Drake snipes at Lamar and his alleged ruined relationship with his fiancée, Whitney Alford, which Drake claimed was filled with infidelity. Drake also made fun of A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, Future, and Rick Ross. However, Kendrick made sure that the public wouldn’t switch over to Drake’s side, as he released two new pieces, mere minutes after Drake published Family Matters. His new pieces, Meet the Grahams, and Not Like Us, where Kendrick goes all out. According to Billboard, Kendrick accuses Drake of being a bad father, having a second hidden child, and an alcohol and gambling addiction. Although Drake tried to make a rebuttal with his latest diss track, The Heart Pt.6, it was too late, as Kendrick’s pieces have created a huge spark in the public, gaining lots of attention around the world, and even has his latest piece, Not Like Us, on the No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Even Euphoria reached the No. 3 spot during its second week.
So, as you can see, this bad relationship has turned two of the biggest artists of the generation into two of the biggest celebrities of our time, creating a huge world-wide spark, and while we don’t know when this will end, we do know that this has become one of the biggest events of hatred and music of all time.
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