An incredibly long winded (& relatively unbiased) review of the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef.
This blog contains explicit language. If that doesn’t bother you, continue on, but if it does, brookeaden.com has other content that you may find more suitable. If you are under the age of 18 and still continue to read this, please don’t tell your parents where you read it. Thank you! :D
I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now that our favorite rappers are in a major cat fight. If you’re confused, or maybe aren’t fully informed on the issue and want to learn more, you’re in the right place. This beef has consumed me for the better part of a month & I did graduate from college, so you can 100% trust what I have to say. & since graduating, I’ve decided that my learning journey is FAR from over.
In this real adult life I’m living, my new major is critical analysis with a minor in being a hater.
The tea is HOT and I am here for it.
disclaimer:
I’d like to start this tea party off with a DISCLAIMER: I am a 21 year old white female who probably doesn’t have ANY business talking about this subject matter; however, as someone who grew up on rap & rock and roll, I feel quite passionate about this issue.
my younger years:
One of the first songs on my silver iPod shuffle was “Low” by Flo Rida. I would plug in my little headphones and run around daycare with that song on repeat (explicit version of course). I also was responsible for putting other kindergarteners on to that song (apologies to their parents). Shit goes kind of hard for a kindergartener. So there’s my street cred anyways…I digress.
So yeah. I’m a white girl who grew up in the South Dakota suburbs, a place where you probably don’t need to lock your doors at night & the only popping sounds I heard after dark were fireworks on the Fourth of July. I’ll be the first one to say, I know absolutely NOTHING about what life would be like in Compton. With that being said, I’m recognizing my white privilege now, I’m grateful for it, and I truly just want to use my white powers for good as I write this.
This will be an educational and relatively unbiased report on what is truly going on between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. (Sources included at the bottom).
Meet: High school Brooke
jump scare!
A little bit of Brooke Aden lore to begin this novel because you must understand me as the writer before you can understand the words that I’ve written.
I loved rap before anything else. In high school, it’s all I listened to. Some old favorites include: Big Sean, Eminem, 50 Cent, T-Pain, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Migos, Kodak Black, Childish Gambino, Lil Wayne, Chance the Rapper, J. Cole, Drake, and of course, Kendrick Lamar (just to name a few). I was hormonal, angsty, and loved to bump gangsta rap in my car (sue me!)
If you want to know what high school Brooke was bumping to, you can stalk me here:
I add to it whenever I hear a song that shoots me back to those days.
drizzy was my first love…
I remember the first time I heard Views by Drake. I was in my middle school gym with my corded headphones turned up all the way. Ahhh summer sixteen.
My personal fav off of Views is “Feel No Ways”
high school.
I went to a public high school that may have been full of caucasians and country folk, but at least the white kids were cultured in the rap game.
Our school was obsessed with the “Big 3” (Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole, and Drake), but we were a Kendrick school by a mile. All of my friends were obsessed with him. Guys AND girls. My high school put me ON Kendrick. “Swimming Pools (Drank)” was actually a class of 2020 anthem.
You would hear Kendrick in the hallway, in the classroom, at the tailgate, at the football games, in the locker room, in the car, he was everywhere. He was ours.
when DAMN. came out in 2017, shit changed.
Everyone loved “HUMBLE.” of course. So much so, that two young fellas rapped it for our talent show (they didn’t do it justice).
but I loved “XXX.” (feat U2.)
“ELEMENT.” is a VERY close second favorite of mine off this album.
I remember I was in the car with an old friend when I heard “XXX” for the first time and I secretly shazammed it because I NEVER wanted to be the girl who didn’t know the song. I think I clocked back into reality when she played it for me, I may have levitated too, I’m not totally sure. Whatever tingly feeling you get when you hear a really f*cking good song for the first time, is what I felt then.
**I learned years later that Johnny (who wants to be a rapper like his big cousin) was Baby Keem. Talk about foreshadowing!
DAMN. did something to my soul, man.
Maybe I’ll write another blog about the incredible storytelling within it, and how if you play it backwards you get a completely different narrative than when you play it forwards, which is why Kendrick released DAMN. COLLECTORS EDITION. where the tracks are put in reverse, but that’s a story for another day.
If you’re interested to learn more about what DAMN. ACTUALLY means, I recommend this video essay.
alright. enough about me! let’s get to the beef! mwahahahahhaha!
Beefers started off as buddies…
let’s rewind to the 2010’s.
2011: Drake’s Take Care drops and Kendrick Lamar is featured on “Buried Alive Interlude” all is well!
2012: Drake brings Kendrick and A$AP Rocky on tour with him despite his label urging him to pick an R&B singer on with him instead.
Plus 1 point for Drake. I gotta give it to him. The dude KNOWS when he sees talent and for him to give these guys a platform to shine is admirable. He went against his label for them, and look where they are now, they might not have the careers they have without Drake.
HOWEVER.
I’d like to provide some insight on this situation. Some may argue that Drake is the reason why these two rappers are so successful. SURE! Maybe Drake gave them the platform, but that’s not to say Drake is responsible for ALL of the work Kendrick did for black and rap culture. Drake giving Kendrick a spot on tour DOES NOT undermine Kendrick's lyricism and other talents.
let me paint a little picture for you.
SURE! Hugh Hefner gave Holly Madison and all of the Playboy bunnies their start, but that’s not to say Hefner wasn’t allegedly abusing them and exploiting them each and every day. Let’s think twice & do our research before we glorify creepy old white men, I mean seriously…
If you aren’t familiar with the horrors of the Playboy Mansion, check out this article from The Cut.
Bottom line, people who have power get lost in the sauce (success, money, drugs, sex, etc.) just because someone in power gives someone else a platform, doesn’t mean they’re a good person. (I’ll get into this later).
back to the timeline.
2012: Kendrick drops good kid, m.A.A.d city and Drake is featured on the track “Poetic Justice” YES! It may have been a killer collab, but at the time these two guys were releasing completely different kinds of music.
2012: A$AP Rocky drops “F**kin’ Problems” FEATURING: (drumroll please…) 2 Chainz, Drake, & Kendrick Lamar. This would be the LAST TIME Drake and Kendrick EVER collabed on the same song. (DUN DUN DUNNNNN).
“F**kin’ Problems” is one of my FAVORITE songs in the ENTIRE WORLD.
AUGUST 12, 2013: Kendrick is featured on Big Sean’s song “Control” where he disses A TON of rappers. I won’t say it word for word because I’m a white girl from the suburbs, but essentially he calls out J.Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, DRAKE, Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler The Creator, and even Mac Miller. He says he has love for all of them, but he wants to MURDER all of them in the rap game, tells them to shut up, & claims to be the best rapper in all of the land.
You can read the full verse here.
SHEEEEESH! This verse shook up the rap community! Most of the rappers mentioned weren’t offended by the lyrics, some ran to Twitter, some made their own responses, but for the most part, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Some of the rappers mentioned even said Hip Hop NEEDED something like this.
Here’s what Mac Miller had to say on Twitter:
@macmiller : "if i can't do no more nouns or verbs ima start comin with the wildest adjective bars that anyone has ever heard".
Overall, it was a pretty light hearted ‘diss’ despite the use of the word “murder” and again, Kendrick even said he has love for them all. He wasn’t coming at them with disrespect, but rather, urged them to compete. No one else had a serious issue with the verse, except for our boyyy Drake!
Here’s what Drake had to say about it on a Hot 97 Radio interview:
“… yeah but, at the same time it’s like, you know, just let it be real then you know what i mean cuz those were harsh words right so it’s like you can’t just say that and then see me and be like ‘yeah man what’s up’ pretending like nothing ever happened. that’s not real."
But…Kendrick said…in the verse…that has love…for you all… (minus one point for Drake for being the only one who is soft about this).
Drake claps back on Nothing Was The Same calling Kendrick a ‘motormouth’ (someone who talks (raps) quickly without thinking about what they’re actually saying). Which, anyone with half a brain cell knows that this just simply is not true.
the competition
heats up in 2013.
Kendrick isn’t just some guy Drake dragged on tour anymore, he’s becoming THAT GUY. Kendrick walked into the 2013 BET Hip Hop awards with the most nominations—fourteen—and Drake was right behind him at thirteen.
Kendrick was crowned:
MTV's 2013 Hottest MC in hip-hop
Lyricist of the Year
MVP of the Year
Album of the Year
Feature of the Year
& beat out Drake for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist.
BUT let’s not forget about Drake’s accomplishments around this time as well. At the BET awards, Drake took home:
Best Hip Hop Video
Track of the Year
& People’s Champ Award.
I cannot lie. Nothing Was The Same is fire. I love “Hold On, We’re Going Home” “Started From the Bottom” and, of course, “All Me”.
FEBRUARY 13, 2015: Drake drops If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late by surprise.
Straight up, this was the first mixtape I added to my Spotify, I won’t lie.
here we have one of my favorite Drake albums.
My personal favorite is “Know Yourself”, but I also love “Legend”, “Energy”, “10 Bands”, “6 God”, “Preach”, “6 Man”, and obviously “Jungle”
This album did a lot for me and lowkey kickstarted my love for rap music.
Plus 2 points for Drake.
MARCH 15, 2015: Exactly one month later, Kendrick Lamar drops To Pimp a Butterfly (also by surprise). YIKES!
I wrote an ESSAY about this album cover & it’s SYMBOLISM for my COLLEGE DEGREE. (Maybe I will post the essay but tbd). This blog is already too long and I haven’t even gotten to the 2020’s yet.
what a body of work we have here.
My favorites? “Wesley’s Theory” ,“King Kunta”, “u”, “Alright”, “For Sale? - Interlude”, “Complexion (A Zulu Love)”, “Mortal Men” and my favorite favorite FAVORITE (maybe my favorite Kendrick song ever), “i”.
UH OH! the war is on for who’s album is better!!!!!!!
I’m aware that my opinion doesn’t matter because this is all personal preference here, but to understand Drake is to understand cool beats and radio hits. To understand Kendrick Lamar is to understand poetry. Although fans compare these two albums, to me, they’re playing two completely different sports.
“drake’s album hits if you’re bumping in the locker room, sweating in a frat basement, or scrolling on vine.”
— a quote by Brooke Aden
Kendricks album was about his REAL experience as a black man in the REAL world. Kendrick Lamar was raised in Compton, California. He saw his first murder at age 5. Let that sink in. I was catching fireflies at age 5. And you probably were too. (privilege check).
I’ll be the first one to say, To Pimp a Butterfly is not for everyone. It’s not for the people who want to listen to a funky lil beat and sing catchy lyrics. It’s not for the people who don’t understand or value powerful lyrics.
it’s not for the faint of heart.
But it IS for the real ones. For the ones who appreciate when an album demands to be listened to in order, as intended. For the ones who think there might be a deeper meaning to this silly little life.
With this album, Kendrick painted a picture about what it means to be black in America.
2015. cleveland state university.
Protestors chant “We gon’ be alright!” at police officers after they pepper sprayed the crowd. You can watch the video here. They sing Kendrick, not Drake. Because Kendrick made a body of work that resonated with a lot of Black Americans, and that work reflected their experience just as much as it did his.
Kendrick ends the album with a poem written by a friend.
I don’t care if you’re black, white, brown, green, blue, purple, or anything in between.
everyone can relate to this.
"The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it
Its only job is to eat or consume everything
around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment the
caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the
world shuns him, but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent,
the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life the caterpillar sees the
butterfly as weak and figures out
a way to pimp it to his own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar
goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts
He's trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas take roots,
such as going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result?
Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that
the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are
completely different, they are one and the same."
*mic drop.
Plus 5 points for Kendrick because of the cultural impact.
back to the timeline.
JULY 22, 2015: Meek Mill tweets that Drake has ghostwriters (which is the truth) OOF.
JULY 29, 2015: Drake responds with…(drumroll pls) my favorite drake song, “Back to Back”. This diss track was so good I had it on repeat for probably a month. I can rap every word to it actually (minus the slurs, of course).
2015: If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late breaks Spotify records, “Hotline Bling” was plastered all over social media and rising to the top of the charts, & he collaborated with Future on their album What A Time To Be Alive
2016: To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar wins Best Rap Album at the 58th Grammy Awards.
some people say drake was the king of 2016
(some people is me).
2016: ahhhh summer sixteen. If I could take a time machine back to summer sixteen, I would. Drake drops Views in April, with bangers like “One Dance”, “Childs Play”, “Pop Style”, “Controlla”, & “Too Good” with Rihanna. What a time. To be alive. He also is featured on “Work” with Rihanna, which dominated the charts for weeks. At the 2016 BET awards, Drake was nominated for nine awards & took home three.
JULY 2016: Drake goes on the “Summer Sixteen Tour” with Future.
SEPTEMBER 2016: DDD D D D DJ KHALED drops “For Free” Feat. Drake. Drake disses Kendrick on this song, he said:
“and like your boy from compton said
you know this dick ain't free”
**This is a reference to “For Free - Interlude” on Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly.
OCTOBER 2016: “One Dance” is the most streamed song in Spotify history. Hundreds of those streams were from yours truly. Drake also reveals in October that he’s planning on dropping ANOTHER project called More Life. To maintain his momentum, he drops “Fake Love”, & “Sneakin,” feat. 21 Savage.
NOVEMBER 2016: Drake breaks Michael Jackson’s record for the most nominations (thirteen) at the American Music Awards and comes home with four. Winning in major categories, BBL Drizzy won:
Favorite Rap Hip-Hop Album
Favorite Rap Hip-Hop Artist.
DECEMBER 1, 2016: Spotify crowns Drake the most streamed artist of 2016 (well deserved).
DECEMBER 5, 2016: Views goes quadruple platinum.
DECEMBER 6, 2016: Drake is nominated for eight Grammy’s.
without a doubt,
drake OWNED 2016.
Plus 5 points for Drake.
APRIL 14, 2017: Kendrick Lamar drops DAMN.
On my second favorite song, “ELEMENT.” Kendrick responds to the “For Free” verse by saying:
“most of y'all throw rocks and try to hide your hand
just say his name and I promise that you'll see candyman”
let me make it make sense.
By referring to the 90’s movie Candyman, Kendrick is just begging for Drake to say his name. (If you haven’t seen Candyman, if you say his name five times he comes and kills you). YIKES. Meaning, if Drake calls Kendrick out by name at all, Kendrick will MURDER Drake’s career. DOUBLE YIKES!
Plus 6 points for Kendrick for the art that is DAMN.
APRIL 18, 2017: Future flipped. “Mask Off (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” drops. On this remix, Kendrick’s verse calls out Drake, yet again.
By now, Kendrick has proven that he can be woke & top the charts at the same time. He doesn’t have to pick one or the other. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kendrick addresses the ghostwriter situation by saying:
“i called myself the best rapper. i cannot call myself the best rapper if i have a ghostwriter. if you’re saying you’re a different type of artist and you don’t really care about the art form of being the best rapper, then so be it. make great music. but the title, it won’t be there.”
I will NEVER sit here and claim Drake makes bad music, because that simply just isn’t true. But you have to agree with Kendrick, you can’t claim to be the best rapper, if you don’t even write your own raps. I’m sure there are songs that Drake has written solo, but the damage is already done. There’s still that nagging feeling that yeah Drake’s songs and lyrics are good & catchy, but did he even write it?
BOTTOM LINE:
There’s a fundamental difference between their lyricism. Kendrick is writing lyrics Drake can’t even begin to comprehend, & Drake is making dancey hits that can top the charts. Kendrick is producing a cohesive body of work with substance & meaning about his experience through trauma, and Drake is having his albums written for him.
IT’S DIFFERENT.
don’t believe me? let the numbers talk.
DAMN. outsold More Life in just one week. Not only that, but DAMN. outsold More Life by more than 100,000 copies (that’s a lot of zero’s)!
I’m gonna give Drake 1 point for trying to squash the beef on social media. He commented on an instagram post claiming that DAMN. outsold More Life and said:
“Amazing to see our music moving!!!”
2018: Kendrick responds to Drake’s praise on “All the Stars (with SZA)”
“f*ck you and all your expectations
i don't even want your congratulations”
so clearly, reconciliation is not an option here.
2018: Kendrick wins six Billboard music awards, including Top Rap Artist. Drake only took home one.
and then…shit gets quiet.
Kendrick goes on a musical hiatus (which I don’t really wanna talk about) and Drake rises to the top once again. Some notable projects include “Nonstop”, “Toosie Slide” (yuck), “God’s Plan”, “Nice for What” (one of my favorites), “In My Feelings”, “POPSTAR”, “Laugh Now Cry Later”, & let’s just throw the kitchen sink in there too. I have to give it to him, he kinda popped off, again.
Plus 3 points to Drake for releasing music.
until…the boogeyman wakes up.
2021: Remember Johnny? From earlier? Who wanted to be a big rapper like his big cousin? Johnny’s grown now. And he goes by Baby Keem. Also known as Two Phone Baby Keem. Whichever you prefer. Kendrick Lamar is featured on Baby Keem’s “Family Ties”.
You ever have those moments where you wish you could hear a song for the first time again? I had that with “Family Ties”. It’s almost like the Frank Ocean effect. It’s like…your favorite artist doesn’t release music for a while and when they finally do you’re like holy f*cking shit. IT’S THIS. THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT!!!!!!
This song is filled with Drake disses. My favorite, though, is at the end when Baby Keem calls Drizzy out for DM’ing his girl:
“number two dm'ing my bitch
that's cool, i don't ask why”
While Drake kept dropping album after album, Kendrick just…didn’t. It’s been four years since Kendrick put out an album, so the fans started thinking Drake was the ‘best rapper’ because he was smashing it on a commercial scale. Drake’s success is not to be dismissed, he did put out a significant amount of music, & good music at that. In fact, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy broke another Spotify record for most-streamed album in a day.
but did he even write it thoooo?
“i’ve been goin’ through somethin’
one thousand,
eight hundred,
and 55 days
i’ve been goin’ through somethin’
be afraid”
MAY 13, 2022: After five long years, Kendrick drops another album. Mr. Morale the Big Steppers. I f*cking love this album. Everything about it. I love it so much that I even bought the merch for it. And I wear it. Often.
Ahhheemmmmm. My favorites…in order…are:
“Rich Spirit”, “N95”, “Silent Hill”, “United In Grief”, “Die Hard”, & “The Heart Part 5”. But, for the record, they’re all good.
This album was worth the wait for me, & I understand that not a lot of people had the same experience. I remember the backlash being harsh after this album dropped but I connected with this project from the jump for a lot of different reasons that I won’t get into because this blog is about the beef god dammit!
One thing I will say before I get back to our timeline is that I’ve heard people claim that Kendrick “fell off” because he didn’t drop an album for five years.
this is a lame argument.
Would you say Travis Scott fell off because he took four years to drop Utopia? Would you say Beyoncé (the most decorated grammy artist) fell off because it took her six years to drop a full album after Lemonade? Would you say this about Frank Ocean? He took four years off after channel ORANGE. How about Billy Joel? Before 2024, Billy Joel hadn’t released a song in seventeen years, yet he’s one of the most iconic musicians to ever do it.
Does the amount of time between drops determine how great of an artist someone is? I don’t think so.
Icons are icons. Legends are legends.
It doesn’t matter how much time has passed, the project is done when the artist says it’s done. But you can decide how you feel about this for yourself.
Plus 4 points to Kendrick for returning to the scene.
back to the timeline.
JUNE 17, 2022: Drake drops his dancey album, Honestly Nevermind, on Kendrick Lamar’s birthday (petty).
2022: BET Awards. Drake was nominated fourteen times…
but Kendrick mopped the floor.
kendrick won:
Best Hip Hop Video
Best Live Performer
Lyricist of the Year
Video Director of the Year
Album of the Year
& Artist of the Year.
Too much of anything is never good. When you don’t come around as much, your presence is always appreciated and valued more. I’m not saying Drake released too much music, or bad music even, but when you put in the work, the time, the effort, into whatever you’re really passionate about, you’re more likely to come out on top.
Quality over quantity.
let’s fast forward.
MARCH 2024: Kendrick Lamar is featured on “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin’.
Some context: Long ago, in a land far away, Jermaine Lamarr Cole referred to himself, (J. Cole), Kendrick, and Drake as the “Big 3” of rap. Meaning they are the top three rappers in the game.
Kendrick comes back swinging. He’s angry!!!!!!!!!! This song rocks, & Kendrick says:
“motherf*ck the big three, *****, it’s just big me”
BANG!
APRIL 2024: J. Cole releases his response in a diss track called “7 Minute Drill” but then removes it from streaming services and apologizes. This was a smart move on his part, considering how ugly this shit got.
Plus 2 points for J. Cole because we love positive vibes!
APRIL 13, 2024: Drake releases “Pushups” & from a lyrical perspective, this song doesn’t have much depth. He calls Kendrick short (he’s 5’5) (but for the record, so is Lil Wayne, who discovered Drake & mentored him) and that he has little feet, no talent, Drake is the reason for Kendrick’s career, & even dogs on him for being featured on a Taylor Swift song (careful around the swifties Drake, they crazy).
Minus 2 points for Drake. 1. there’s multiple songwriters credited, 2. dissing someone for something they CAN’T control is a lame way to admit you have no dirt on him. The way Kendrick looks has nothing to do with his character.
The way that YOU look has NOTHING to do with YOUR character.
Hello Matthew Samuels & Noel Cadastre! How are you guys doing today?! :D
APRIL 19, 2024: Drake drops “Taylor Made” which is another diss track with the same old shit, dogging on Kendricks height, saying he has no talent, and saying Taylor Swift has some weird hold on him because he was featured on ONE song with her.
Oh. And that’s isn’t even the worst part. On this song, Drake used AI to recreate Tupac Shakur’s voice, which is wildly disrespectful considering Tupac can’t speak from beyond the grave, and who’s to say he would even be Team Drake? (I’d bet he would’ve been Team Kendrick).
When Tupac’s estate sent Drake a cease-and-desist letter, Drizzy tucked his tail between his legs and removed the song from all platforms. Absolutely feral behavior from Drake here, & he’s a scumbag for this.
Minus 10 points for Drake because never disrespect someone from the dead.
Especially Tupac.
what is it?
the braids?!1!?
i hurt your feelings?
you don't wanna work with me no more?
OKAY.
APRIL 30,2024: Kendrick responds with a six minute warzone of a diss track, “Euphoria”. The title refers to the popular HBO series, which Drake happens to be a producer of. Before I dive into the lyrics on this track — I must offer a gift to those of you who love to crunch numbers — let me slap you with a completely factual mathematical statistic.
“Euphoria” was streamed 9.2 million times on its first day on Spotify. (biggest streaming day for any rap song in 2024).
lyrical analysis:
**small disclaimer: I’m aware this blog is far too long. This and the following deep dives intio the lyrics will not be referencing EVERY single bar, because that would take eons. I will be taking the hardest lines and my most favorite disses & explain them. You can read the full lyrics of “Euphoria” here.
We all know Kendrick Lamar can speak in quadruple entendre’s, but in this song he just was straight up mean lmao. This song made me realize that I have not yet unlocked my full hater potential; hence, my newly declared minor in haterology. & when I’m hungover, my drink of choice is haterade.
okay, carry on.
A reversed audio sample from Micheal Jackson in “The Wiz” (great movie) plays at the beginning. Kendrick probably included this because Drake often compares himself to Jackson (& also used AI to put Michael Jackson on one of Drake’s songs. & IDK if MJ would have consented to being featured on a Drake song tbh).
Kendrick says that he makes music for the culture, to make an impact on the listener, & Drake makes lullabies that are catchy yes, but have no meaning.
“but don’t tell no lie about me and I won’t tell truths ‘bout you”
— one of my favorite lines in the song. **This references Kendrick’s “The Heart Part 4” in 2017.
“somebody had told me that you got a ring, on god, i’m ready to double the wage, i’d rather do that than let a canadian ***** make Pac turn in his grave”
At Sothby’s Auction, Drake bought Tupac Shakur’s ring for $1 million. Designed by Shakur himself, this gold, ruby, and diamond crown ring was worn by late rapper in his final public appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996. After the sale, this ring became the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold at an auction.
"yeah, f*ck all that pushin’ P, let me see you push a T
you better off spinnin’ again on him, you think about pushin’ me”
Pusha T & Drake also had beef back in the day. Pusha T made a diss track about Drake called “Story of Adidon” 6 years ago, in the song, Pusha T calls Drake a deadbeat, & Drake never bothered to respond.
Maybe he didn’t respond because he was the bigger person, maybe he didn’t respond because he knew he was right, (who’s to say)!
“i hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress”
In an interview by the late & iconic DMX, he says this about Drake: “I don’t like the people he talks about, I don’t like the way he walks” It could also reference the Migos song “Walk It Talk It” (feat. Drake).
“why would i call around tryna get dirt on these ******? y’all think all my life is rap? that’s ho shit, i got a son to raise, but i can see you don’ t know nothin’ ‘bout that”
YIKES! Also referring back to Pusha T’s diss track, but I don’t think this one needs much more explaining.
“ain’t twenty-v-one, it’s one-v-twenty if i gotta smack ****** that write with you”
Here, Kendrick twists Drake’s lyric “wtf is this a 20v1?” and it also refers to the MANY ghostwriters that work for Drake.
“we don’t wanna hear you say ***** no more”
Interpolation of Kanye West’s “Get em High” where Kanye says “cause we don’t wanna hear that weak shit no mo’” and Kendrick says it in the same exact tone, and that he isn’t black enough to be saying black slurs.
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH!
PHEW! Everyone take a deep breath. Take a moment to stretch, grab some water, & maybe a snack before we get into the next bit here.
KENDRICK DROPS 6:16 IN LA: Produced by Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift’s producer buddy), and poking fun at a variety of Drake songs named in a similar fashion like “6PM in Dallas” or “4 PM in Calabasas”. By using Antonoff on this song, he responds to the “Taylor Made” claims without even saying a word yet. TBH I don’t know much about this song (I don’t think anyone else does either) but it was kind of just to say double F*ck you to Drake. Let’s just move on for the sake of time.
MAY 3, 2024: Drake drops “Family Matters” an almost eight minute song filled with low blows & ignorance.
lyrical analysis:
You can read the full lyrics here.
“you just actin' like an activist, it's make-believe
don't even go back to your hood and plant no money trees”
Please refer back to the part of this blog where actual protestors were singing Kendrick Lamar and not Drake and then come back and try to tell me that Kendrick isn’t an activist.
“you did her dirty all your life, you tryna make peace
i heard that one of 'em little kids might be Dave Free”
Talking about Kendrick’s long term fiancée, Whitney Alford, Drake claims that one of Kendrick’s children is NOT his, but that the kid is actually Dave Free’s (Kendrick Lamar’s long time friend and manager). Redditors say that Dave Free and Whitney may have been together long before Kendrick even met Dave, but who’s to say? This rumor seems flimsy to me.
“k.dot shit is only hittin' hard when
baby keem put his pen to it”
This is just simply not true. Please refer back to the part of this blog where I list all of the awards Kendrick won (more than Drake but I wasn’t gonna go there earlier) (Kendrick Lamar has seventeen Grammys. Drake has five) and then come back.
“where is your uncle at?
'cause I wanna talk to the man of the house”
This line sucks. Unlike a lot of Kendrick’s friends in Compton growing up, Kendrick actually had a father figure that not only stuck around and provided for the family, but actually wanted the best for him. You can read about Kendricks father (and family life) here. Kendrick has said in interviews that not having a father figure really messed up his friends in Compton, which led them to participate in gang violence and other illegal activity, he expresses his gratitude that his dad stuck around.
“you called the Tupac estate
and begged 'em to sue me and get that shit down”
This line also sucks. Even IF Kendrick was the one that called his ass into Tupac’s estate, you were gonna get sued anyway because you can’t use dead people’s voices on songs without proper permission! Christ!
“you right about "f*ck the big three"
it's only big d, and there's video proof”
Hi. Me again. This line made me LOL. Refers to the recent Drake leaks on Twitter (X). Honestly, this one is funny. I like it.
(but did he even write it though)? I’ll give him a point anyway.
“when you put your hands on your girl
is it self-defense 'cause she bigger than you?”
If you can find credible news sources that say Kendrick Lamar abused Whitney, PLEASE, send them my way, but until then, this lyric is based off of allegations that have been debunked. Kendrick has never been afraid to talk about his demons in the music, and this just doesn’t sit right with me.
MAY 3, 2024 (WITHIN AN HOUR AFTER “FAMILY MATTERS” DROPPED): Kendrick Lamar drops a song called “meet the grahams” YIKES! This song gives me the heebie jeebies man. “meet the grahams” is played on the piano in A-Minor, and, stay with me here, I don’t know MUCH about music theory and how things are played…
but…what I DO know, is that in A-Minor chord, there’s no black keys…meaning…kendrick is calling drake white without even saying a word.
AND THAT, my beloved tea party readers, is art .
There is a reason why Kendrick Lamar’s music is archived at Harvard Library. Don’t believe me?
Read about it here.
A-Minor is also a chord historically used in horror films. The chord is inherently creepy sounding. In music, artists often consider the type of key to evoke certain emotions on their listeners. To my limited understanding of music, the major keys are used to create happy and positive emotions, while the minor keys are strategically used to make listeners feel sad or uneasy.
lyrical analysis (brief):
“meet the grahams” really freaks me out. Certified boogeyman vibes. I can’t listen to it very much because it actually sounds like a horror movie. But the premise of the song (let’s not forget Kendrick dropped this one business hour after “Family Matters”) is that Kendrick is writing a letter to each and every member of Drakes family.
“dear, adonis…”
Starts off with a bang! The song starts with Kendrick apologizing to Adonis (Drakes son that he tried to hide from the public) basically saying that his father is a terrible person and a bad leader, and that Kendrick will be his mentor since Drake will never be. He also says that Adonis will never be like Drake and that even if he doesn’t understand this song now, he will when he turns eighteen.
“dear, sandra…”
Switching up to talk to Drake’s mother Sandra, Kendrick doesn’t say much other than Drake’s got some bad habits that he hopes Drake didn’t get from her.
“dear, dennis…”
Like father, like son. Kendrick says Drake gets a lot of his habits from Dennis, including the manipulation, the gambling, the psychopath intuition, playing the victim, & much more. Kendrick is absolutely roasting Dennis’ and Sandra’s parenting abilities, calling Drake “a sick man with sick thoughts” and compares him to the known sexual abuser, Harvey Weinstein.
“dear, baby girl…”
YIKES! Does Drake have ANOTHER secret kid??? IF this is true, I hope she at least has an adequate mother figure. I’ll let the verse speak for itself.
“I'm sorry that your father not active inside your world
He don't commit to much but his music, yeah, that's for sure
He a narcissist, misogynist, livin' inside his songs
Try destroy families rather than takin' care of his own
Should be teachin' you timetables or watchin' Frozen with you
Or at your eleventh birthday singin' poems with you
Instead, he be in Turks payin' for sex and poppin' Percs, examples that you don't deserve.”
“dear, aubrey”
Kendrick didn’t want to take it this far, but Drake pushed him when he called out Kendrick’s family. In this verse, he calls Drake a child, lists his problems, calls him a narcissist, says he’s never been through real shit, tries to hide his baby mama(s), and lastly, tells him his pants are on fire because he a liarrrrrr.
“psst, i see dead people”
MAY 4, 2024 (THE DAY I GRADUATED COLLEGE): Kendrick Lamar drops “Not Like Us”
Cover art features Drake’s home, and while the meaning is up for debate, could the 13 marks symbolize the 6 god and his 12 pedophilic apostles? IDK!! You decide!
Let’s jump right in, shall we?
lyrical analysis (not brief):
“say drake, i hear you like ‘em young
you better not ever go to cell block one”
Ahhh, the classic sexual predator diss. Never gets old, truly! For the fans who aren’t aware what goes on in prison (i am also fans) apparently pedophiles can’t go to cell block one (general population) because they will be killed. Usually, the pedophiles have to be placed in a separate area in prison to avoid them being murdered on the inside. Basically, pedophiles are treated very poorly in prison…because…sexual crimes against children…are among the worst crimes of all.
“and baka got a weird case, why is he around?
certified loverboy? certified pedophiles”
Let’s begin with Baka. Baka Not Nice is a former security guard & Canadian rapper who signed to OVO (Drake’s record label) in 2017. He’s featured on some intro’s and outro’s many Drake songs as well. They hang out. In 2014 (before Drake signed him) Baka Not Nice was arrested for forcing a 22 year old woman into prostitution. He plead guilty the following year. Unfortunately, the charges were dropped because the victim refused to testify. Baka still spent ten months in custody following his arrest, and after he was released, Drake ran to Instagram to celebrate. He said in the now-deleted post:
"Something in the air today ... a lot of good things happening at once. But this one means the MOST!!! Been waiting for 11 months!! Baka finally home!!!!!"
IDK about you, but that is wack as hell. Drake’s proven predatory behavior is a problem within itself, but the fact that he also surrounds and supports other known predators, is even worse.
Redditors explain Drakes predatory behavior in this thread.
“why you trollin’ like a bitch? ain’t you tired?
tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor”
Another reference to A-Minor. Here is the quadruple entendre I was yearning for earlier.
A-Minor (the chord on the piano)
A-Minor (the chord on the piano with no black keys, calling Drake white)
A-Minor (the chord “meet the grahams” is played in, spooky horror vibes)
A-Minor (direct reference to the underage women that Drake is so fond of)
“f*cked on wayne’s girl while he was in jail, that’s connivin’ then get his face tatted like a bitch apologizin’, ”
How you gonna do that when Lil Wayne discovered you AND mentored you AND signed you to his label?!! That is certified crazy! Wayne confirmed this rumor in his 2016 memoir titled Gone Til November. A year later, Drake gets Lil Wayne’s face tattooed on his arm (perhaps as an lame way to apologize).
“once upon a time, all of us was in chains
homie still doubled down callin’ us some slaves
atlanta was the mecca, buildin' railroads and trains bear with me for a second, let me put y'all on game the settlers was usin' town folk to make 'em richer fast-forward, 2024, you got the same agenda”
This line is responding to the “Family Matters” line where Drake says “You always rapping like you tryna get the slaves free”. So Kendrick says, BBL Drizzy baby, you don’t know nothing about slavery, and you a fool for even mentioning it. Following this line, Kendrick The Historian Lamar, explains the truth about Atlanta and how the city was built on the backs of slaves. Then Kendrick calls Drake a colonizer, BURNNNN.
“he a fan, he a fan, he a fan ”
Trueeee.
“freaky ass ***** he a 69 god ”
I loled at this line first time I heard it.
“hey, hey, hey, hey, run for your life”
Yes Drake. Run. Run farrrrr into the sunset. Please! For the sake of underage women everywhere!
let me hear you say, “OV-hoe”
OV-HOEEEE
say, “OV-hoe”
OV-HOEEEE
Pretty self explanatory.
“now step this way, step that way”
“Toosie Slide” diss. Finally! Someone clowns this song publicly!
Before we get into Drake’s sad excuse of a response, let me slap you with some facts.
“Not Like Us” gets 15 million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours.
“Not Like Us” breaks a US Spotify record for most singled day streams for a hip-hop song, passing Drake & Lil Baby’s “Girls Want Girls” (6.593 million).
“Not Like Us” breaks record for most single day streams for a solo rap song (11.85 million) surpassing Drakes OLD record for “Champagne Poetry”.
“Not Like Us” shoots to No. 1 on Toroto’s Apple Music Charts.
“Not Like Us” stays No. 1 on global Spotify Charts with a daily high of 12.228 million streams (the biggest streaming day for a hip-hop song in 2024 and increasing in number of streams each day since it’s release).
“Not Like Us” sold 500,000 units in the United States, the fastest any song has achieved this milestone, dethrones Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)” and is now eligible for gold.
3 out of 10 songs on the Billboard charts the week of May 13 are Drake diss tracks
Plus 2 points to Kendrick for breaking records and shattering dreams!
MAY 5, 2024: Drake responds with “The Heart Part 6” and responds to the pedophile allegations. This song is a sad excuse of a diss track. In it, Drake says something about the mole on Drake’s team that gave Kendrick the dirt was actually FAKE news in hopes that Kendrick would rap about it. If this is true, that’s unfortunate for Kendrick, but, even though Kendrick’s rap might be about false narratives, his ‘fake’ lyrics still outshine Drake's real ones.
Drake says
“I never been with no one underage but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with
Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I'm too respected
If I was fucking young girls, I promise I'd have been arrested”
and
”Only f*ckin' with Whitneys, not Millie Bobby Browns, I'd never look twice at no teenager”
Drizzy, Kendrick never even said Millie’s name! Why are you bringing this up!
MAY 5, 2024: Metro Boomin’ drops “BBL Drizzy” beat and encourages his fans to write their own verses to the song.
Plus 7 points to Metro Boomin’. IDC if you a Drizzy fan after all this or not, you’re still vibing to “BBL Drizzy”
rapping it up:
Some say that it’s not about who’s a better rapper in general, it’s about who won the diss.
I disagree. It’s about everything. It’s about everything each rapper has been through to get to this point. It’s about how they were raised. It’s about how they got on the scene. It’s about what they’ve rapped about up until this point. It’s ABOUT the music. It’s about it all. It’s about the awards. It’s even about the snubs. It’s about cohesiveness. It’s about storytelling. It’s about everything. It’s about who wrote the rap. It’s about who hates who and why they hate them. It’s about who they associate with. It’s about each of their mistakes and the severity of them. It’s about EVERYTHING.
final scoreboard:
1st Place: Kendrick Lamar with 17 points
2nd Place: Metro Boomin’ with 7 points
3rd Place: J. Cole with 2 points
4th place (dead last): BBL Drizzy with 0 points
you’ve finally reached the end. if you made it this far, i’m proud of your resilience and willingness to learn the truth despite whatever the internet has fed you about this beef.
and if you don’t want to take my word for it…take theirs.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1lBxu4VlNo
https://www.complex.com/music/a/peter-a-berry/kendrick-lamar-beat-drake-by-being-drake-beef
https://genius.com/Big-sean-control-lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjA_L7yjfY
https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/drake-2016-highlights-7640479/
https://www.complex.com/music/a/brendan-klinkenberg/why-more-life-sold-less-than-damn
https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/billboard-music-awards-2018-winners-list-bbmas-8456842/
https://genius.com/Baby-keem-and-kendrick-lamar-family-ties-lyrics
https://www.billboard.com/pro/tupac-shakur-estate-drake-diss-track-ai-generated-voice/
https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/796118-kendrick-lamar-euphoria-spotify-streaming-record-hip-hop-news
https://x.com/jahtalksmusic/status/1785770291374772559?s=46&t=-1iAW9H9Gofw9dV_B9s_aA
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/hip-hop/tupac-shakur
https://shutterture.com/did-kendricks-beat-his-wife/
https://www.reddit.com/r/KendrickLamar/comments/1ckek73/heres_what_the_cover_art_for_not_like_us_is/
https://www.reddit.com/r/KendrickLamar/comments/1ckf2vj/whats_cell_block_1/
https://foxy99.com/2024/01/24/lil-wayne-reveals-why-drake-gets-hated-on/
https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/798807-kendrick-lamar-not-like-us-drake-lyrics
https://x.com/chartdata/status/1787789176282161219
https://x.com/nfr_podcast/status/1788236301000384714
https://x.com/DailyRapFacts/status/1788298589891908064
https://x.com/chartdata/status/1788569533109919992
https://x.com/HipHopAllDayy/status/1789385324441088481
