When livestreamer Briana Williams first heard “Like That” about a year ago, she didn’t imagine it would propel one of, if not the biggest clash of titans between hip-hop’s contemporary superstars.
The music world stopped when fans heard Kendrick Lamar’s emphatic verse on producer Metro Boomin and rapper Future’s collaborative hit song, which was released on May 22, 2024.
“The energy was definitely different,” Williams, also known as StorymodeReacts online, said during an interview with USA TODAY.
Williams’ “Rap Beef Is Back” reaction video has over 225,000 views on YouTube. In the eyes of many, Lamar and Drake have become the antithesis of one another throughout their historic careers.
“Drake and Kendrick, they’ve been going back and forth for years, it’s been a lot of subliminal shots,” Williams continued. “I feel like that was one of the most almost direct hits that we’ve heard in a while.”
“Like That,” which appeared on the album “We Don’t Trust You,” was the by-product of a beef bubbling under the surface for decades. Hip-hop journalist Justin Hunte recalled “social media going nuts” about Lamar’s surprise verbal gut punch.
“This has been a conversation within the culture for a long time,” he said.
Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef: A timeline of features, diss tracks and drama
Kendrick Lamar: ‘It’s just big me’
In the song that debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, Lamar raps: “These (expletive) talkin’ out of they necks. Don’t pull no coffin out of your mouth, I’m way too paranoid for a threat. Ayy-ayy, let’s get it, bro. D-O-T, the money, power, respect. The last one is better. Say, it’s a lot of goofies with a check.”
Social media users and hip-hop sleuths connected the dots. They deemed that Lamar was talking about Drake and fellow rapper J. Cole, who both mentioned him in their song “First Person Shooter,” in which the North Carolina MC refers to all of them as “the big three.” On “Like That,” Lamar unapologetically declared, “It’s just big me.”
“I think for me personally, it always felt inevitable that they would collide,” Hunte said of Drake and Lamar. “I do remember when ‘First Person Shooter’ came out, particularly the video because the video has Drake and J. Cole competing in all the two-person sports. They’re playing chess, they’re playing ping pong.”
Since making waves on Big Sean’s “Control” in 2013, Lamar has been consistent in his messaging of being among the greatest of all time and defeating other rap giants. The Pulitzer Prize winner’s retort to “First Person Shooter” drew a line in the sand, experts say, and culminated in a back-and-forth with the Canadian rapper, eventually leading to a series of epic diss tracks, including the critically acclaimed “Not Like Us.”
USA TODAY is exploring the high and low moments of the beef that continues to create conversation in pop culture and beyond a year after the song that “popped and showed” the abhor both rappers have for one another.
Kendrick Lamar controversial halftime show features Serena Williams
Serena Williams joined Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl halftime show. Lamar performed his diss track “Not Like Us,” about Williams’ ex, Drake.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake trade diss songs
Following J. Cole’s bowing out of the feud with his song “7 Minute Drill,” Drake came front and center by taking jabs on the song “Push Ups” on April 19. The track initially leaked on social media days before its official release on digital streaming platforms.
“Everybody on social media was like, ‘Is this real? Is this an AI song? Where did this come from?’” recalled veteran music journalist and rapper Rob Markman. “There was an internet investigation going on.”
Although it’s unclear if Drake’s camp leaked the song, Markman argued that it would’ve had a better rollout if fans didn’t have to probe whether it was legitimate.
“I think Drake kind of lost control, and his team lost control of the narrative from the beginning of the battle, and I think that kind of set him off on the wrong foot,” Markman said.
Drake decided to fire again, immediately releasing “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which contained AI-generated imitations of legendary West Coast-affiliated rappers Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. After the song’s release, Shakur’s estate sent Drake a cease-and-desist letter and dubbed the move a “blatant abuse of the legacy of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”
Amid high anticipation, Lamar struck back with “Euphoria,” calling Drake a “scam artist” and warning him over a Teddy Pendergrass sample: “Don’t tell no lie about me, and I won’t tell truths about you.” He attacked his authenticity: “How many more fairytale stories ’bout your life ’til we had enough? How many more Black features ’til you finally feel that you’re Black enough? “
“This was culture versus commerce,” Markman argued.
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ was the ‘victory lap’
Lamar followed up with “6:16 in LA” on May 3. It prompted a response hours later from his rap adversary with the nearly eight-minute “Family Matters” and a music video. In the comeback record, Drake made unproven allegations that Lamar physically abused his fiancée, Whitney Alford and that she had a baby with his longtime business partner, Dave Free.
Lamar responded minutes later with “Meet the Grahams,” a chilling counter that accused Drake of hiding a child, pedophilia, and addiction. These are all claims the Canadian rapper has adamantly denied.
Williams, who was live streaming her reaction to “Family Matters” when her chat told her that Lamar had dropped his response song, said, “The mood shift was insane.”
According to Markman, the late-night exchange was a “highlight in the battle.” The next day, Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” produced by DJ Mustard, took over the speakers of rap lovers.
It was” the victory lap,” Markman said about “Not Like Us.”
Drake addressed Lamar’s grooming claims in “The Heart Part 6.” However, fans and hip-hop pundits already gave Lamar the crown. The rapper doubled down on his vitriol during his performance at “The Pop Out—Ken & Friends” concert on Juneteenth, where he performed “Not Like Us” several times in front of thousands of attendees at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
“I believe Kendrick won the battle. There’s no question in my mind about that,” Markman said. “I believe Kendrick out-rapped Drake, and more importantly, he out-strategized Drake. He had an answer for everything.”
The battle became more personal when Drake mentioned Lamar’s partner Whitney, a strategy he used that intensified his battle with lyricist Pusha T in 2018. At that moment, Markman said, “The gloves were off.”
One of the low moments of the battle was how women, whose voices were often suppressed, were used as daggers in a battle they were not involved in, according to journalist and DJ Natelegé Whaley. It underscores the unresolved misogyny in the hip-hop landscape.
“These men often lose me because there is no consistent advocacy for the protection of women. Drake, you can’t talk about somebody getting abused, but then you are around abusers,” Whaley said, referring to allegations made throughout the battle. “Kendrick…you can’t just talk about abuse when it’s your enemy, but you are around men who have been accused of these things.”
Lamar has faced criticism for his ties to Dr. Dre and working with rappers like Kodak Black.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud ‘transcended hip-hop’
With no clear end in sight, Hunte said one thing is for sure: the feud between Drake and Lamar has “transcended hip-hop and moved into global cultural prominence.” It came on the heels of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary in 2023 and the growing discourse about rap’s positioning on the music charts.
The beef has been embedded in mainstream culture—it was referenced at the recent Academy Awards, the 2024 presidential election, the Grammys, spoofed at SNL 50, and, of course, Super Bowl 59, where Lamar performed at halftime. Experts predict that the genre will place a premium on individuality and cultural richness post-battle.
One aspect of the clash that intrigued Hunte the most was the youth’s infatuation, which may point to how things shake out in the future.
“I think the thing that grabbed me the most was watching kids on TikTok rap ‘Not Like Us’ like their recess depended on it,” he said. “And watching kids that could barely speak screaming Mustard.”
With that particular being so popular among a “generation that is not even old enough to drive yet,” according to Hunte, he said this, coupled with Drake’s heavily criticized pending litigation, will contribute to his legacy being questioned going forward. And at a bare minimum, the “Hotline Bling” rapper will be seen as “uncool” to a younger demographic that most artists are trying to get in front of, he added.
“There’s a generation right now that looks at Drake as the least cool thing in music,” Hunte said. “There’s a generation that’s been stripped away from this 15-year run of success, and that narrative, his brand, and his reputation have done a complete 180… I never thought I would see a generation that didn’t look at Drake as being the goal (or) representing the type of success everybody wants to see.”
Despite Drake’s criticisms, he remains popular in music, with his recent collaborative project with singer PartyNextDoor, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” selling 246,000 first-week units, according to Billboard. And his die-hard fans believe he was the victor of the battle despite the general consensus.
This feud has opened up a new wave of stan culture in hip-hop, with accounts going head-to-head on social media about each rapper’s achievements, chart placements, their music catalogs, and spreading unverified rumors.
“The extremism that you have to pick a side on social media in particular is the worst byproduct of this battle,” Markman said. “The divisiveness of the accounts.. all they do is tweet about Kendrick and Drake. There are some accounts that just tweet things to disparage Drake. There are some accounts that tweet things to disparage Kendrick.”
Williams, who has publicly reacted to most of the diss records, said that sharing her opinion favoring Kendrick has resulted in harassment: “They click on your video because they want to hear how you feel. But then, if you feel a way that doesn’t align with how they feel, it’s an issue. I have been receiving hateful comments. It’s the sexism on top of that.”
Kendrick Lamar’s victory lap: Rapper goes from Drake beef to Super Bowl stage
Kendrick-Drake feud leads to legal battle
The legal battle between Drake and Universal Music Group has been ongoing since last year, and it became federal in mid-January when the rapper accused the record label of “corporate greed” in their promotion of Lamar’s song, which accuses Drake of being a “certified pedophile.
According to court documents obtained by USA TODAY, Drake was targeted by armed intruders at his Toronto home and had to remove his young son and the boy’s mother from the city due to Lamar’s song’s popularity. This legal back-and-forth is still ongoing, with UMG filing a motion to dismiss Drake’s lawsuit earlier this week, citing the Toronto musician’s failure to beat Lamar in their high-profile rap battle.
“(Drake), one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” the motion obtained by USA TODAY reads. “Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. (Drakes’) Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
Drake’s attorneys have responded in a letter arguing that UMG’s motion to dismiss does not address their client’s “well-pled factual allegations.” The judge has given Drake until April 16 to amend his complaint, which his attorneys said he is evaluating, but they emphasized that the rapper is not withdrawing his lawsuit’s claims.
‘I don’t think they’re ever going to be cool’
The move to proceed with the battle in court has been widely frowned upon, but Markman said that although it will be a stain, it won’t wholly damage Drake’s legacy in the long run.
“After a few years, when we look back on Drake’s career, I think he’ll be fine. I think we’ll still look at it with fondness because there are a lot of records there. There were a ton of moments that soundtracked our lives.”
While Drake’s reputation diminishing is merely a projection, Hunte said one thing he believes for certain is that the two rappers will never be on good terms.
“I don’t think they’re ever going to be cool. I can’t imagine that ever happening,” Hunte said.
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected]. Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
