welcom to America today with a new article about Kendrick Lamar and Drake rap beef: What makes this music feud so significant?
In either case, it has begged the question: What makes this beef so culturally significant and impactful? History of Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef As USA Today’s Taijuan Moorman laid out in her recent detailed blow-by-blow account, the roots of Lamar and Drake’s feud go back more than a decade to 2013, though things quickly intensified this past spring.
The first shot fired came from Lamar when he appeared on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” song, released March 22, where he rejected the idea of a a “Big three” in rap, declaring on the track, “It’s just big me.” The lyric was a response to J. Cole referring to himself, Drake and Lamar as the “Big three” on Drake’s October 2023 track “First Person Shooter.” Drake officially entered the ring with a full diss track against Lamar in “Push Ups” on April 19, where offered bars about Lamar’s small shoe size, record deal contract and collaborations with Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift.
Drake fired back again with “Taylor Made Freestyle” on the same day, which featured artificial intelligence impersonations of Snoop Dogg and Tupac which got the Toronto-born rapper in hot water with Tupac’s estate Lamar responded with his first full diss track, “Euphoria,” just over a week later on April 30, where he called Drake – who is a producer on the HBO series “Euphoria – a”pathetic master manipulator” and a “habitual liar” who is “not a rap artist” but “a scam artist.
Wider implications of Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar disses
” A few days later, Lamar then released “6:16 in LA” taking further shots at Drake’s label and team, and calling Drake a “fake bully.
Almost immediately after Drake’s “Family Matters” dropped, Lamar laid out his own series of allegations about Drake’s abuse, addictions and a second hidden child in “Meet the Grahams.
” Lamar’s allegations went even further and he seemingly alluded to previous allegations of grooming against Drake on follow-up track, “Not Like Us.” On May 5, Drake shot back releasing the somber diss “The Heart Part 6,” a reference to Lamar’s track series, including 2022’s “The Heart Part 5.” In it, Drake alludes to familial accusations of sexual assault against Lamar.
Wider implications of Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar disses The hip-hop scene is no stranger to music rivalries, but Carson says the Drake-Kendrick Lamar beef seems to be larger in scale.