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Look, as an artist, especially a rapper, I love the competitive edge that exists in hip hop.  Beef has been the source of some of the greatest hip hop songs of all time: “Hit Em Up”, “No Vaseline”, “Ether”, “Piggy Bank”, just to name a few. It’s entertaining and adds a sort of edge that forces listeners to read deeper into the music than sometimes intended. Which, is kiiiind of a good thing because it’s making average listeners tune in a little deeper to the levels of lyricism and structure that exists in rap music. But I digress, I feel Kendrick took those jabs to separate himself from the ‘tripod’ that Drake and J Cole are embracing.  Though they may indeed be the ‘BIG 3′ of active living legends in modern hip hop, that competitive edge has officially kicked in for the enigmatic Kendrick Lamar.  I don’t see this as a diss, but more as a direct,’Im am THE rap God’ type of situation. The only thing I hate is that he initiated it, which gives Drake and J Cole time to strategize a freggin’ Kahmehameha. But Kung Fu Kenny and TDE with Metro Boomin is a left-field collab we didn’t know we needed. And I hate to be a plebian, but I feel lyrically Kendrick will dominate both Cole and Drake. They are masters of wordplay, punchlines, flows but in a smooth punchy way.  Kendrick is relentless lyrically-the delivery, vocal flucuations, manipulation of the english language..likes that can only be toppled by the GOAT WeezyF Baby.  But thats a discussion for another day

Nobody can top Kendrick lyrically. I’d love to see him battle it out with Wayne.

Kendrick rips it here. I think he’s got a lot of integrity, if he’s initiating a beef he’s definitely feeling confident about it.

Future’s verse at the beginning is pretty rough.. he sounds way too high..

 

I was never a fan of Drake. Would probably be a good move for him to ignore it. ‘Like That’ absolutely slaps.

J Cole’s response dropped today. Haven’t listened yet but wanted to share.

and….. J. Cole apologized 😭

“Kendrick Lamar is the Boogieman”

Drake responds … goes hard tbh … Kendrick, your move

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gZ_dJEDJbI

Stay tuned for my overall thoughts on this whole ‘rap beef” situation. It truly is deeper than rap.

But a few things:

1. Yes, Kendrick went crazy. He’s a different beast: pen game, vocal fluctuations, and a history of not being f**ed with.
2. J. Cole was FORCED to respond and his apology and the public response to it, says alot about how we treat the art
3. Competition is cool, but public opinion being the catalyst for two of the greatest in our area to diss each other before they collab is just crazy
4. leaving Drake out of this lol no disrespect but im tired of drake beefs

 

Agreed. The diss came out of nowhere, collab would’ve been great.

Here’s the piece that @indigxld did on the history of the rap beef, from the 1980s all the way to the latest media controversy. It’s a really great read that touches upon all this.. which has continued to unfold even further since we started this discussion.

Rap Beef: The Big Picture
https://extrachill.com/2024/04/rap-beef-the-big-picture-cole-vs-kendrick-vs-drake

And then… another diss from Drake that features AI Snoop Dogg and Tupac verses…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhEiduBxX4c

And… Kanye West got involved

Even Rick Ross…

This is getting pretty wild. I’m sure someone with more knowledge about the subject can drop an assessment, im just gathering the data…

Kendrick dropping another diss, being much more direct and even name dropping sort of seals the deal. No gossip bars. Just his honest opinion, which is much more damaging because he’s saying what we are thinking. IMO Drake has been a bit of a culture vulture and has shapeshifted from ‘pretty boy’ to ‘certified gangsta’. For Kendrick to have his actual CERTIFIED background and affiliations, it means alot for him to pull that card-amongst the several others he dropped throughout the diss track. It takes a certain level of UMPH to name drop and speak on things highly specific to a single person. He exposed the things that we see and ignore because he is ‘Drake’.

HOWEVER, it sucks that this whole ‘legendary (imaginary) beefs’ thing is spreading into country music, afrobeats, etc.  Even Kim K and Taylor swift are beefing. Though I love that Kendrick is proving that its ACTUALLY ‘just big Me’- I hate the domino effect coming with it.

In Summary, Kendrick 21-0

Kendrick Lamar – “Euphoria”

I just had the chance to listen to this. Man, Kendrick Lamar is incredibly talented, and sounds super genuine in this. He sounds like a real ass motherfucker with principles. The attitude is like “bro, fuck off, you aren’t on my level, leave me alone, and here is why.” Then he proceeds to not just say it, but display it.

I hear you about the beef being disappointing. But it’s still pretty fascinating to watch and hear this go down.

And yeah, I mean Drake has always been a “pop-rapper.” The music is catchy and “good” but it also doesn’t have too much lasting value, the songs get old as soon as he has a new hit. It’s just not unique or groundbreaking to me anymore. I was really into Thank Me Later back in high school, I think I found out about him from Lil Wayne in the first place. But I still listen to Lil Wayne. Drake lost me years ago.

Kendrick is a true artist and one of the best that has ever done it.

@indigxld all I can say is holy shit … this goes beyond “rap beef” honestly. This is next level change the world type shit, Kendrick using his platform to speak about things that he’s seen. Comparing Drake to Weinstein and all that… and mentioning Katt Williams seems to suggest that Kendrick has seen the same shit…

We’ve all heard the conspiracy theories …

Okay just to keep things straight, the order of releases is as follows. “Euphoria” followed by “616 in LA”

Then Drake’s “Family Matters” … released on May 4th

“Meet the grahams” dropped 30 minutes after Family Matters.

And now… the next one from Kendrick… “Not Like Us”

He directly calls Drake a pedo in this one. I honestly think that this could be the end of Drake’s career.

Kendrick Lamar is also positioning himself as the best rapper of all time, in my opinion. He is setting himself up as a role model, cultural icon, and voice of a generation. He could be inspiring changes across the entirety of hip-hop as a genre if this continues along this path.

It went from being a beef to being much more than a beef.

Drake’s response to Kendrick’s two disses

It’s interesting to see the differing viewpoints in each artist’s subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Drizzy/comments/1cl6xig/the_heart_part_6_drake/

https://www.reddit.com/r/KendrickLamar/comments/1cl6xlm/drake_dropped/

Drake is weak. Kendrick Lamar has this in the bag. How do you come back from being called a pedo and a colonizer by Kendrick Lamar, with such velocity and directness? And when you respond with some weak stuff like this, all it does it make Kendrick’s argument stronger.

No wonder Kendrick has kept quiet and not dropped another yet. Drake writhing in pain over there. Especially because Drake has had plenty of rumors circling about him that many choose to ignore because they like his music and it’s hard to believe that an “artist” you like could be a bad person.

People are saying that “The Heart Part 6” is the first one to drop where Drake didn’t use his ghostwriters. I’d have to agree with that one.

Kendrick Lamar the GOAT. Drake is a bitch!

The song releasing part of the beef appears to be over (possibly?), and Kendrick Lamar has been declared the winner. But now there is some stuff going on in the aftermath. Some of it is amusing, some of it is kind of scary.

For the amusing part, here is something I found on Reddit. People were accusing Kendrick of farming lines from “Not Like Us” from Tweets. Corn on Twitter points out that this is pretty ironic:

Drake Security Guard Shot

In more concerning news, Drake’s security guard was shot outside of his home in Toronto. It’s not clear whether or not this is related to the beef. Here is the news, from Stereogum (my favorite independent music blog):

https://www.stereogum.com/2262527/man-injured-in-shooting-outside-drakes-toronto-mansion/news/

EbonyPrince2k24 Tweets

There is also a Twitter account called EbonyPrince2k24 that claims to be a Hotel employee who found some items that Drake left behind in the hotel one night in the lost and found… his Tweets are pretty cryptic and I won’t try to make sense of them… see it for yourself here.

Overall there seems to be a lot stemming from this beef and I don’t believe it’s fully over yet… I don’t know if this EbonyPrince person has anything real or if they are just looking to stir up controversy … I’m just watching and sharing my findings for anyone who is curious about the Kendrick vs Drake beef

Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track “Not Like Us” debuts at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The number one song in America.

https://www.stereogum.com/2263317/kendrick-lamars-drake-diss-not-like-us-debuts-at-1/news/#:~:text=Today%2C%20Billboard%20reports%20that%20%E2%80%9CNot,second%20as%20a%20solo%20artist.

Streaming Kendrick Lamar’s “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends” at the Forum in LA right now. Free on Amazon Prime. He just brought out Dr. Dre and did “Still D.R.E.” and 2pac’s “California Love” and then Dr. Dre said “I see dead people” to introduce “Not Like Us.” Kendrick did the “certified lover boy — certified pedophile” / “tryina strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor” verse three times and then did the full song.

What a wild experience it must be to be at this show. He’s also brought out tons of other special guests including Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, J. Rock, and more.

This is really sick. And all these rappers are co-signing “Not Like Us” indirectly by being part of this event.

Kendrick Lamar is in my opinion cementing himself as one of the greatest rappers of all time, if not the single greatest.

Update: He did “Not Like Us” a fourth time

Update 2: Five times

Here is the setlist (from Reddit):

1. euphoria
2. DNA
3. ELEMENT
4. Alright
5. Swimming Pools (Drank)
6. Money Trees (ft. Jay Rock)
7. WIN – Jay Rock
8. King’s Dead
9. 6:16 in LA
10. Collard Greens – ScHoolboy Q
11. That Part – ScHoolboy Q
12. King Kunta
13. m.A.A.d city
14. HUMBLE
15. Like That
16. Still D.R.E. – Dr. Dre
17. California Love
18. Not Like Usx5

Here’s a theory: Tyler, The Creator dropped off Lollapalooza (8/1 to 8/3) and Outside Lands (8/9 to 8/11) the morning after this show.

Given the success of Kendrick’s show last night, I would not be surprised to see an announcement from the Kendrick Lamar camp that includes Tyler around that time.

Here’s an article from ABC documenting the whole thing: https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/after-drake-battle-kendrick-lamar-turns-victory-lap-111267244

And a quote from the article: 

“Let the world see this,” he said. “You ain’t seen this many sections on one stage keeping it together and having peace. … For all of us to be on this stage together, unity, from East side … LA, Crips, Bloods, Piru — this … is special, man. We put this … together just for ya’ll.

“This … ain’t got nothing to do with no song at this point, ain’t got nothing to do with no back and forth records, it’s got everything to do with this moment right here. That’s what this … was about, to bring all of us together.”

After the final song, Lamar exited, saying “I promise you this won’t be the last of us.” The stabbing horns of the “Not Like Us” instrumental kicked in once again and the crowd rapped the lyrics without Lamar as they filed through hallways out to the parking lot. The Twitch and Prime Video livestream concluded.