Topline
Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s ongoing feud reached a brand new peak this week after Lamar dropped “Euphoria,” a greater than six-minute lengthy diss monitor during which he takes repeated photographs at Drake, who seemingly responded to his longtime rival early Wednesday morning in a put up on his Instagram story.
Timeline
Drake and J. Cole launched collaboration “First Individual Shooter,” during which J. Cole raps that himself, Drake and Lamar are the “huge three” of rap.
Lamar responded on his verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s tune “Like That,” slamming the rappers for “sneak dissing” and rejecting their concept of the “huge three,” as a substitute rapping: “It’s simply huge me.”
J. Cole dropped his personal Lamar diss monitor, “7 Minute Drill,” during which he fired “warning photographs” on the rapper, accusing him of looking for “consideration” and slamming his newest music releases as “tragic.”
Simply two days after releasing “7 Minute Drill,” J. Cole backed down from the feud, stating he felt pressured to reply as a result of “the world wanna see blood.”
Drake’s response to Lamar, “Push Ups,” leaked on-line (earlier than its April 19 launch), with lyrics slamming Lamar’s shorter stature and his mainstream collaborations with Taylor Swift and Maroon 5, whereas additionally dissing different artists together with Rick Ross and The Weeknd.
Ross responded to Drake with “Champagne Moments,” alleging that Drake had a number of beauty procedures accomplished together with a nostril job and ab surgical procedure, whereas additionally accusing him of utilizing ghostwriters (an accusation Drake has repeatedly denied).
Drake launched one other diss monitor, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” utilizing AI-generated voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur to diss Lamar, daring him to reply: “We waitin’ on you,” Drake rapped.
Kanye West jumped into the meat on a remix of “Like That,” taking photographs at Drake’s music and his take care of Common Music Group, stating he and his collaborators are “energized” for the “elimination of Drake.”
Lamar dropped “Euphoria,” a six-minute lengthy diss monitor during which he lambasts Drake’s biracial id (suggesting he shouldn’t be capable of say the n-word), slams the rapper’s means as a father and calls Drake a “rip-off artist,” questioning his authenticity as a rapper.
Drake seemingly responded to Lamar’s diss by posting a clip from the 1999 movie “10 Issues I Hate About You” on his Instagram story during which Julia Stiles’ character Kat lists all the explanations she hates Heath Ledger’s character Patrick—probably mirroring part of “Euphoria” the place Lamar lists causes he hates Drake.
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What To Watch For
Whether or not Drake will reply to Lamar’s “Euphoria” in a brand new diss monitor. Drake hinted on his earlier diss tracks that the feud is barely simply starting. “The primary one actually solely took me an hour or two/ The subsequent one is actually ’bout to convey out the coward in you,” Drake rapped on “Taylor Made Freestyle,” probably a nod to future diss tracks. He additionally rapped on “Push Ups” that he’s simply “heating up.”
Stunning Reality
Drake’s “Taylor Made Freestyle” is now not obtainable to stream after Tupac Shakur’s property threatened authorized motion for the AI-generated use of his voice. Drake posted the tune to his X and Instagram accounts on April 19, however deleted them every week later.
Key Background
Drake and Lamar’s beef spans greater than the previous decade. The 2 as soon as had a seemingly pleasant relationship, collaborating a number of occasions between 2011 and 2012. However in 2013, their relationship appeared to vary after Lamar featured on Huge Sean’s tune, “Management,” during which he referred to as out Drake and plenty of different rappers, together with Pusha T, Mac Miller and A$AP Rocky. “I obtained love for you all, however I am tryna homicide you,” Lamar rapped, including he’s “tryna be sure that your core followers by no means heard of you.” Followers have since theorized that the 2 have taken delicate photographs at one another of their raps all through the years. Some interpreted Lamar’s photographs at artists who use ghostwriters in his 2015 tune “King Kunta” may very well be a dig at Drake. Followers and observers of Lamar and Drake’s beef have interpreted the feud to be over who may very well be thought-about the best rapper of in the present day—although a Rolling Stone evaluation of their feud famous the 2 have completely different strengths and completely different claims to the title of “best” rapper. Lamar has lengthy been recognized for his critically acclaimed work, together with 17 Grammy Award wins and a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album, “DAMN.” Drake, in the meantime, is commercially dominant: He was the most-streamed artist of the 2010s on Spotify, and he has probably the most licensed digital singles of any artist, in accordance with the Recording Trade Affiliation of America.
Tangent
Drake, Lamar and different artists concerned within the feud have discovered current success on the charts, probably because of the publicity supplied by the feud. “Like That” has dominated the Billboard Sizzling 100 since launch—it topped the chart for 3 consecutive weeks (although it fell to No. 17 this week, behind 14 tracks from Taylor Swift’s new album “The Tortured Poets Division”). “7 Minute Drill” debuted at No. 6 on the Sizzling 100 after its launch, whereas “Push Ups” debuted at No. 19 this week (the fifth-highest non-Swift tune). Lamar’s “Euphoria” is the No. 1 trending video on YouTube in the future after launch with 8 million views. Drake rose from No. 18 to No. 3 on this week’s Billboard Artist 100, which measures the most well-liked artists in a given week primarily based on gross sales, streaming and radio airplay numbers.
Additional Studying
Kendrick Lamar Slams ‘Rip-off Artist’ Drake In New Diss Observe ‘Euphoria’—Newest Chapter In Their Beef (Forbes)
Everybody Concerned In The Drake And Kendrick Lamar Beef—As Kanye West Says He’s Energized For The ‘Elimination Of Drake’ (Forbes)
Drake And Rick Ross Beef: What To Know About The Diss Tracks, Nostril Job Allegations And ‘BBL Drizzy’ (Forbes)