2024 has been a monumental year for the music industry. Arguably nothing can define 2024 more than the beef between Toronto’s Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham, and Compton’s Kendrick Lamar. Despite the two’s war of words being heavily documented, there’s a lot of confusion on what happened when and who plays a part. In this article, we’re going deep into the full history of this beef. 

2012

To get the full history, we have to go all the way back to 2012. Riding the success of arguably his best album to date, Drake goes on his ‘Club Paradise’ tour, and decides to bring along a brand new up-and-comer featured on his ‘Buried Alive’ track by the name of Kendrick Lamar. 

At this time, Kendrick was a lesser known artist, with only one mixtape and one album to his entire discography. Drake bringing him along was a massive deal. 

All of this would change on October 22nd 2012, where Kendrick Lamar would drop his magnum opus; good kid m.A.A.d city. A 12 track masterpiece that outlined Kendrick’s upbringing from Compton and the struggles he had in that time. 

2013

Fast forward a year later, and Kendrick is no longer an underground artist. GKMC earned him MTV’s awards for Hottest MC, and best male hip hop Artist, as well as being hailed as the greatest album of all time. 

Drake and Kendrick’s relationship was still pretty strong at this time, with both artists supporting one another. But on August 14th of 2013, Kendrick released a song with Big Sean titled ‘Control’. 

This song became known as ‘Kendrick’s verse’ and helped shoot his career into the stratosphere for attacking artists such as Big Sean, J-Cole and of course, Drake. Yes, the song has verses like ‘I got love for you all’, but he also has bars like ‘I’m tryna murder you’ and ‘tryna make your core fans never heard of you’, Saying that Kendrick was coming for the crown, and nobody would get in his way.

Many of the artists didn’t care because they knew that this is what the rap game needed right now. Except for Drake. 

2023

Fast forwarding a decade, and the two have had very separate paths. Both guys were becoming incredibly successful and opted for ignoring the beef in favor of personal success. 

Kendrick had 5 studio albums at the time; ‘Section.80’, ‘Good Kid m.A.A.d. City’, ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’, ‘Damn’, and ‘Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers’. All of which covered themes of the struggle of duality and awakening, wickedness or weakness, and being a damaged person. 

Drake had 10 studio albums under his belt; ‘Thank my later’, ‘Take care’, ‘Nothing was the same’, ‘Views’, ‘Scorpion’, ‘certified lover boy’, ‘honestly never mind’, and ‘For all the dogs’. These focused on trying different styles of music rather than pushing a message out.

The most prominent question in all of this beef, is how did it start? For that we need to go to Drake’s most recent album ‘For all the dogs’, a record that saw him collaborate with artists such as Yeat, Bad Bunny and of course, J-Cole. 

Track 6: First Person Shooter, saw our first reference to Kendrick. Lines such as ‘Love when they argue the hardest MC, is it K-Dot, is it Aubrey or me, we the big 3 like we started the league’ grabbed the attention of many fans of hip hop, drake and kendrick alike. J-Cole is saying that in the rap game, 3 people are seen as the kings. In his case, those people are himself, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar. 

This was nothing out of the ordinary from Cole, so what happened? 

2024

March 22nd 2024. Metro Boomin and Future finally drop their most anticipated album ‘We Don’t Trust You’. This 17 track record, saw Metro lay down the beats for several other artists such as The Weekend, Playboy Carti, and in the most notable on this list, Kendrick Lamar. 

Kendrick had a lot to say on his verse on ‘Like That’, with bars such as ‘F*ck sneak dissing first person shooter’, ‘Motherf*ck the big 3, It’s just big me’ and ‘Fore all your dogs getting’ buried, that’s a k with all these nines, he gon’ see pet cemetery’ referencing back to first person shooter, where J-Cole would call them the big 3. 

Kendrick shoots back saying that there’s only one above the rest in the rap game, and it’s him. This sparked a fire in the rap community, with people throwing out questions like ‘Why is Kendrick just now revealing his vendetta against Drake?’

April 5th 

J-Cole would fire his first shot back with the release of his mixed tape ‘Might delete later’. At first glance, this seems normal, until you reach track 12: 7 minute drill. J-Cole would use this song to respond to kendrick saying stuff like ‘He still doing shows but fell off like the Simpsons, Your first sh*t was classic, Your last sh*t was tragic, Your second sh*t put people to sleep but they gassed it, Your third sh*t was massive and that was your prime’ 

Cole would throw shots at Kendrick’s discography, saying that ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ was gassed up, and ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ was not at the level it should be. Many people were not fans of this record, but we would soon find out why. 

J-Cole would remove the track off the face of the earth, has nothing but love for his brothers, and essentially recuse himself from the beef. 

Let’s turn our focus back to Drake.

April 13th

Drake’s response ‘Push Ups’ originally got leaked, and it sent twitter into a frenzy. 

The main focus of this track was height jokes, containing lines such as ‘How the f*ck you big stepping with a size 7 men’s on’, and “pipsqueak pipe down, you ain’t in no big 3′. Drake would go even further, making the cover to the song the shoe label for size 7 shoes, and for Kendrick following his labels orders, with Kendrick having to give them 50% of his earnings. 

People fell in love with this track and people started to say that Kendrick needed to release a track levels above the energy and work that Drake put into ‘Push-Ups’. 

April 19th 

After the success of ‘Push-Ups’ Many people thought that Drake would wait. But after a lack of responses from Kendrick, Drake would release a track called ‘TaylorMade Freestyle’ on April 19th. The name of the record being a direct diss again, on how he’s at the mercy of his label and is forced to make music for people like Taylor Swift. 

Drake would use AI Replica of Kendrick’s biggest role models and mentor from the west coast in Tupac and Snoop Dogg. He would use these as a way to get inside Kendrick’s head saying ‘Kendrick we need ya, the west coast savior, f*ck this Canadian light skin dot, we need a no debated westcoast victory man, call him a b*tch for me’

These records would hold their weight for a decent amount of time, even swaying people to favor Drake in the beef. 

April 30th 

After 17 days, we would finally get Kendrick’s response. The 6 minute, 3 beat track known as ‘Euphoria’, the ultimate response to everything Drake said about him. Kendrick would play the role of a therapist in this song, directing all of his personas, his radio friendly songs, and the fact that he’s a huge liar. 

‘You’re not a rap artist, you’re a scam artist, with the hopes of being accepted’, explaining that Drake doesn’t belong in the rap culture, saying that he’s more of an actor than anything. Also adding how he’s a bad influence to his child and the people that look up to him by saying ‘I make music that electrify them you make music that pacify them’ and ‘Know you a master manipulator and a habitual liar too, but don’t tell no lie about me and I won’t tell no truths about you’ 

He also adds that his raps are the only thing he’s got going for him, and neglects all other aspects of his life saying ‘That’s h*e sh*t I got a son to raise, but I can see you don’t know nothing about that. Waking him up, know nothing about that, tell him to pray, know nothing about that’ 

We also hear him mention how Kendrick is bothered that Drake kept using a look on how he came up from a tough upbringing, where Kendrick actually lived through it. Also how he’s infatuated with rapping hard, instead of singing his radio hits by saying ‘How many black features ’till you finally feel that you’re black enough. I like drake with the melodies I don’t like drake when he acts tough’ 

To top it all off, he flat out explains why he doesn’t like drake saying ‘I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress, I hate the way that you sneak diss’

Both guys had finally dropped songs and people were beginning to dissect them and finally starting to determine the victor in the beef. That was until the next one was released. 

May 3rd

3 days after Kendrick dropped the hit of Euphoria, he dropped ‘6:16 in LA’. This title has a lot of meaning. For one, it takes a shot at his pattern of music, Tupac’s birthday, Fathers day in Canada, and an indirect bible verse from the book of Proverbs that speaks on hate. 

The song begins by having Kendrick say ‘It’s survival, I think someone’s lying’. A direct reference to Drake’s song ‘Survival’ where he talks about having a near death experience from being in the streets, Kendrick going on to mock him even further for this fake lifestyle. Throughout the song, Kendrick raps about having a beautiful life filled with money, morals and culture, while Drake is fishing for the check and only wants money.

More importantly, Kendrick points out the fact that he has moles in OVO, Drake’s brand, and what really goes on in there by saying ‘Have you ever thought that OVO was working for me?’ and ‘You must be a terrible person, everyone on your team is whispering that you deserve it. If you were street smart you would’ve caught that your entourage is only to hustle you. 100 people that you got on salary and 20 of them want you as a casualty’. Adding how these moles would rather see him dead, and how his moles are feeding Kendrick fake information. 

‘6:16 in LA ‘ was released in the early hours of the morning of the day, but by the end of the day, Drake was ready to end it. 

May 3rd, 8pm PST 

Drake drops arguably his best song of the beef in ‘Family Matters’, paired with a near-7 minute music video, where Drake is seen crushing the van on the cover of GKMC. Similar to Euphoria, Family matters is broken up into 3 beats that sees a rise in aggression as the song goes on. 

The song starts as a direct sequel to push ups, picking up where it left off saying ‘I was really tryna keep it PG’

Family matters focus’ heavy on Kendrick’s love life, saying how he’s a “Wannabe Saint” for all of his people, but is married to Whitney Alford a mixed woman by saying ‘You the black messiah wifing up a mixed queen, than hit vanilla cream to help out with your self esteem. I wanna know what Whitney need, all that Puppy love was over in y’all late teens’. 

Drake levels one of the heaviest accusations of the whole beef by saying that Kendrick physically assaults Whitney and how she’s cheating on him with Dave Free, Kendrick’s longtime friend by saying ‘When you put your hands on your girl is it self defense ’cause she bigger than you’ and ‘I heard one of them kids might be Dave Free’s’ 

Drake thought this song would be the end of Kendrick, as people praised it, earning bar after bar. In all respects, it was the end. For about 30 minutes. 

May 3rd, 9pm PST

Less than an hour after Drake released, Kendrick dropped the bomb to end all bombs in the form of the 6.5 minute track ‘Meet the Grahams’. The song is split up into 5 parts, each in the form of a letter as Kendrick reads to arguably the 5 most important people in Drake’s life. 

He starts off with Drake’s newly exposed child (thank you Pusha T) Adonis. Kendrick straight up apologizes to him for having such a bad man as his father and that he doesn’t have to follow in his footsteps by saying ‘Dear Adonis, Im sorry that that man is your father let me be honest’, ‘I’m sorry that you gotta grow up and stand behind them’, and ‘Let me be your mentor, because your daddy don’t teach you sh*t’ 

The next part addresses Drake’s parents Sandra and Dennis, who Drake speaks about heavily in his song “Sandra’s rose” and Dennis being featured on his album ‘More Life’. Kendrick has them both sat down to have a conversation about how they’re to blame for drake being the way that he is saying ‘You raised a horrible f*cking person the nerve of you Dennis, Sandra sit down what i’m about to say is heavy now listen. Your son’s a sick man with sick thoughts I think people like him should die’.

Also telling them what’s really going on in OVO saying ‘He’s got s*x offenders on OVO that he keep on a monthly allowance’ and ‘We gotta raise our daughters knowing there’s predators like him working’ 

The next part addresses Drake’s alleged daughter and apologizes to her for similar reasons to Adonis, such as being an absentee father and only focus’ on his music and other women saying ‘Dear Baby Girl, I’m sorry that your father ain’t active inside your world. He don’t commit to much but his music yeah that’s for sure’ and ‘Yeah he’s a hitmaker, songwriter, superstar right? and a f*cking deadbeat that should never say more life’ 

Finally, Kendrick disses Drake directly, but not in the form of a diss, but in a position of help. He says that Drake can do better and shines light on some issues with lines like ‘You got gambling problems drinking problems, pill popping & spendin’ problems, bad with money, whore house. Soliciting women problems, therapy is a lovely start’ 

This next part is scary. Flat out scary. Kendrick flat out says everything that drake lied about and explains that this song isn’t about drake the rapper, but drake the person by saying. ‘Take that mask off, I wanna see what’s under them achievements’ 

Also with the line ‘Cause you lied about religious views, you lied about your surgery, You lied about your accent and your past tense, all is perjury, You lied about your ghostwriters, you lied about your crew members, They all p*ssy, you lied on ’em, I know they all got you in ’em, You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh, You lied about them other kids that’s out there hopin’ that you come, You lied about the only artist that can offer you some help, F*ck a rap battle, this a long life battle with yourself’

With Kendrick having 4 disses, and Drake having 3, we could now make a fair assumption. Drake leaned heavily on catchy one liners while Kendrick embodied more of ‘Lyrical Embodiment’. 

May 4th 

Kendrick surprise dropped ‘Not Like Us’ a day after meet the grahams. The album cover has 16 sex offender pins over Drake’s mansion, a diss in and of itself. 

The song takes a steep left turn from Kendrick’s other tracks, with the song taking a more upbeat approach, the shots being less understandable to the public eye, and being a love-letter to Compton, Kendricks hometown. Hence the name, ‘Not Like Us’

‘Not Like Us’ Does continue a trend of metaphors and accusations that paint drake in a weak and untrustworthy light, while also accusing him of being a pedophile saying ‘Say drake, I hear you like ’em young, you better not ever go to cellblock one’, ‘To any b*tch that talk to him and they in love, just make sure you hide your little sister from ’em’ and ‘Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minoooooorrrrrrr’ 

The predator accusations continue to not stop at Drake, as Kendrick levels more and more accusations against OVO as a whole saying ‘They saying chubs aint the only one to get your hand me downs’ 

Kendrick then goes on to question his authenticity, name dropping other artists and accusing drake of getting his name through them saying ‘You called future when you didn’t see the club, Lil Baby helped you get your lingo up, 21 gave you false street credit, thug make you feel like you a slime in your head, quavo said you could be from north side, 2 chainz said you good but he lied’ 

This song was an emphatic yes from fans all over the world, as the song was able to sustain a catchy flow while still being a strong diss track. What did Drake do after being attacked so violently 

May 5th. 

Drake dropped ‘The Heart Part 6’, a clear reference to Kendrick’s ‘The Heart’ series teasing future albums, and the song cover being a instagram comment left by Dave Free, who drake again raps on with lines like ‘Why isn’t Whitney denying the allegations, why is she following Dave free and not Mr. Morale, you haven’t seen the kids in six months, the distance is wild, Dave leaving heart emoji’s under pics of the child’ 

Drake then goes onto say that OVO was feeding him fake information by saying ‘We plotted for a week and then fed him the information, a daughter that’s eleven years old I bet he takes it, we thought about giving a fake name or a destination, but you so thirsty you not concerned with investigation.’ 

He then goes onto dissect the cover for ‘Meet the Grahams’ and ‘6:16 In LA’ by saying ‘Even the picture you use, the jokes and the medication, the Maybach glove and the drug he use for less inflation, master manipulator you bit on the speculation’ 

Drake then shifts to Kendrick’s accusation of being with younger girls saying ‘Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, i’m too respected, If I was f*cking young girls I promise I would’ve been arrested, I’m way to famous for this sh*t you just suggested, but that’s not the lesson, clearly there’s a deeper message’ and ‘Only f*cking with Whitney’s and not Millie Bobby Browns, I’d never look twice at no teenager’ 

People looked at this as one of the weaker disses as it seems more like a plea for innocence rather than a diss. 

Drake also seemingly raised the white flag on dissing Kendrick saying ‘Not gonna lie, this sh*t was some good exercise, like It’s good to get out and get the pen working. You’d be a worthy competitor if I wasn’t a predator and you weren’t f*cking lying to every blogger and editor’ 

We’ve now reached the point where all disses are out. 9 tracks dating from March 22nd to May 5th 2024. How did Kendrick respond? 

June 19th 

Kendrick had been quiet since Drake’s most recent diss, but on June 19th he didn’t release another diss, but held a concert. “The Pop Out: Ken and Friends” In Los Angeles. This served not only as an opportunity to perform, but a way to bring together the community as a whole of Los Angeles to show how strong the city is, not just as a hip hop culture but as a city 

Here, Kendrick submits his place as the king of the west coast, and brings together some of the biggest west coast rappers in one place such as Mustard, Dr. Dre, Steve Lacy, Tyler the Creator, as well as members of the black hippy.

Healing and Unity were the main objectives of the show, overshadowing any disses. Drake being the common “Opp” helped make this possible. From singing each song from his side of the beef, to singing not like us 3 times, left most people thinking that the beef has been settled. That the concert was an emphatic exclamation point on an all time rap beef. 

July 4th 

Kendrick Lamar drops the final bomb of the beef in the form of a music video to ‘Not Like Us’. 

The video begins with a snippet of an unreleased track, saying that Drake appeared to have killed Kendrick, but here he stands; Reincarnated. The music video is a love letter to the city of Compton and the city of Los Angeles as a whole, being filled with his people and proof that his culture will never die. 

Cameos of legends are featured as well such as Tommy the Clown, Mustard, Demar Derozan, and so many others. But what would be 2024 Kendrick without taking a shot at Drake. 

We have Kendrick and drakes look from a past mixtape, before being pulled away because of his Aura, Kendrick doing pushups in reference to the the song that kicked off the beef, Kendrick beating up a Piñata of an owl (OVO’s Mascot), and locking up an Owl in a cage towards the end of the video. We also get Dave Free and Whitney being featured, clearing both claims that the two of them haven’t been with Kendrick before. 

To cap it off, the video shows the people of LA singing the song, showing that they have been united under one front; Hating drake. 

Each guy had their moments, but when it comes to balancing song quality vs diss quality, Kendrick knocked it out of the park and in my opinion, he won the beef.