The long-simmering rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has exploded in recent days as the rappers repeatedly traded insults and allegations about one another’s families and personal lives in a series of escalating diss tracks that has also involved other hip-hop greats, including Metro Boomin and DJ Mustard.
The feud, in which each rapper has made numerous unverified claims, prompted Drake to respond in a song on Sunday that he’s “disgusted” by Lamar’s assertions about him, including that he has a secret child and engages in sex with underage girls, which he denies.
In “The Heart Part 6”—a title that references Lamar’s “The Heart” song series—Drake said he would have “been arrested” were there any truth to the allegations about him having inappropriate relationships with underage girls. The 37-year-old Canadian rapper, who has a 6-year-old son, also suggested that he leaked false information about having a daughter to Lamar, singing: “We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information/ A daughter that’s eleven years old, I bet he takes it.”
The fight between the two men reached its climax (at least, to date) over the weekend, resulting in the release of multiple songs by and featuring the two artists. While their tense relationship dates back years, the origins of this most recent dispute can be traced to Drake’s song “First Person Shooter,” which was released as part of his album, For All the Dogs, last October. During that track, featured guest J. Cole called himself, Drake, and Lamar the “big three.” When Lamar was featured on Future’s “Like That” on March 22, he ripped into Cole and Drake for suggesting they are on the same level.
The ensuing drama has brought forward serious, unverified claims, and shows no signs of slowing down. It is the latest chapter in a long tradition of rap feuds that has seen rivalries between the likes of Jay-Z and Nas and Tupac and Biggie.
Here’s a recent timeline of the rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
The backstory and “First Person Shooter”
Both rappers achieved mainstream fame at around the same time in the early 2010s. They’ve worked together in the past; on Drake’s 2011 album, Take Care, Lamar is featured on an interlude, and Lamar had Drake on his second studio album, 2012’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, on the song “Poetic Justice.”
The first sign of trouble seems to have cropped up around 2013, when Lamar appeared on Big Sean’s “Control.” Lamar called out Drake and several other rappers on the song, but Drake didn’t engage at first, suggesting in interviews at the time that he was not going to take the bait.
Instead, Drake’s rivalry with Meek Mill in 2015 consumed much of his time, and later, in 2018, he got into it with Pusha T, who revealed that Drake was hiding a secret baby in the song “The Story of Adidon”—which Drake later admitted was true.
It wasn’t until “First Person Shooter” came out last year that Drake reopened the conflict with Lamar, intentionally or not, after Cole referred to himself, Drake, and Lamar as the “Big Three.”
Kendrick’s featured verse on “Like That”
Lamar, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for his album DAMN., took offense to the idea that he and Drake are on the same skill level. The standout line in Future’s song “Like That,” which is produced by Metro Boomin, is, “Motherf-ck the big three, it’s just big me.”
He also refers to Drake’s most recent album, For All The Dogs, rapping, “‘Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried/ That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary.”
J. Cole enters the rivalry with “7-Minute Drill,” but quickly bows out
Shortly after “Like That” came out, Cole released a surprise album called Might Delete Later, and one of the songs, “7 Minute Drill,” includes a diss directed at Lamar. In it, he raps, “Your first sh-t was classic, your last sh-t was tragic/ Your second sh-t put n—-s to sleep, but they gassed it/ Your third sh-t was massive, and that was your prime,” a line that many listeners took issue with because Cole suggests that To Pimp a Butterfly (an album widely regarded as Lamar’s best) was boring. He says in the song that people don’t care about Lamar, rapping, “He averagin’ one hard verse like every thirty months or somethin’/ If he wasn’t dissin’, then we wouldn’t be discussin’ him.”
However, Cole then decided to distance himself from the rivalry. He later said that the song “didn’t sit right with his spirit” and removed it from streaming services on April 12, saying his actions are some of the “lamest, goofiest sh-t” he’s participated in.
Drake tells Lamar he needs to do some “Push Ups”
Rap fans waited with bated breath for Drake’s response, and he returned to the rivalry with not one song, but two, “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” released on April 19. The Toronto rapper attempts to put Lamar in his place, calling him a “pipsqueak” and rapping, “How the f-ck you big steppin’ with a size-seven men’s on?” Drake also attempts to make fun of Lamar for doing features on pop songs. “Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty/ Then we need a verse for the Swifties,” he raps on “Push Ups,” referring to the 2015 remix of Swift’s “Bad Blood” and “Don’t Wanna Know” with Maroon 5 the following year.
But Lamar isn’t the only person called out on this record. Drake also dissed Future, The Weeknd, Rick Ross, NBA player Ja Morant, Metro Boomin, and Cole on the song.
“Taylor Made Freestyle,” AI Tupac and Snoop Dogg
Following “Push Ups,” Drake briefly released “Taylor Made Freestyle,” sharing the song in a now-deleted Instagram post on April 19 with the caption: “While we wait on you, I guess.” In the song, Drake alleged Lamar did not release a response to his diss track because had just put out her latest album . “Now we gotta wait a f-cking week ’cause Taylor Swift is your new top, and if you boutta drop, she gotta approve,” rapped Drake.
But the track was short-lived after Drake was sent a cease and desist letter from Tupac Shakur’s estate for using AI-generated vocals from the rap legend, who died in 1996. Drake was then forced to remove “Taylor Made Freestyle” from all public platforms. The estate said they would have never approved of using Shakur’s voice for the track.
The song also featured AI vocals from Snoop Dogg, who commented on Instagram.
Lamar’s scathing response “Euphoria”
Lamar returned on April 30 with the hostile response “Euphoria,” full of double entendres and deep cuts. The title seems to reference the HBO show of the same name, on which Drake is an executive producer. The song starts with a sample of Richard Pryor from The Wiz saying, “Everything they say about me is true, I’m a phony.”
Lamar then starts shooting off diss after diss after diss. “Fabricatin’ stories on the family front ’cause you heard Mr. Morale/ A pathetic master manipulator, I can smell the tales on you now/ You’rе not a rap artist, you a scam artist with the hopes of being accеpted,” he raps. “Tommy Hilfiger stood out, but FUBU never had been your collection,” taking aim at Drake’s biracial identity.
He goes on to call himself “the biggest hater” before unleashing a tirade on the song, “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 dissing/ If I flight it’s gonna be direct/ We hate the b-tches you f–ck because they confuse themselves with real women.” He ends the song by saying he doesn’t like how Drake says the N-word and suggests he no longer say it.
“6:16 in LA” and the multiple meanings behind the title
Lamar dropped a second song in the same week he released “Euphoria,” with multiple possible meanings behind th