When thinking of 21st century rap, popular names may come to mind such as Lil Wayne, J. Cole, and Kanye West. However, as of late, no rappers have been talked about more than Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The two rappers have been a part of a feud since the early 2010s, which has since heated up in 2024. Feuds are not a new thing in rap and can be traced as far back as the late 1980s. These rap rivalries can be traced back to the 1980s as rappers from the East Coast and West Coast would fight to prove their dominance over one another.
A focal point of the East- West coast rivalry was the feud between The Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur–two of the biggest rappers at the time. The feud resulted in some wildly popular rap songs and paved the way for future generations of rap, contributing to the genre’s rising popularity. Unfortunately, many of these rap rivalries led to violence and murder. Both Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G were murdered, leading to a temporary “ceasefire” of the East-West rap rivalry.
Looking to today, many rappers have had their fair share of feuds, but none have been as popular as Drake and Kendrick Lamar. At the start, Drake and Lamar were two young rappers who often collaborated. Drake made an appearance on Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” album, and Lamar appeared on Drake’s “Take Care” album. This friendly relationship was short-lasting, with Lamar dissing Drake on “Control” by Big Sean. Lamar went on to say this diss was friendly competition, but it led to a long-lasting feud between the two rappers.
From the time of the release of “Control,”the two rappers went on to hit one another with subtle disses, which did not amount to much. However, the feud reached new heights in 2017 when Lamar released his album “The Heart Part 4.” The album had many clear disses to Drake, the most significant of which accused him of using “ghostwriters” that wrote his songs for him. With no immediate comeback, the feud calmed until the release of a collaboration song by Drake and J. Cole titled “First Person Shooter” in 2023. In the song, J. Cole suggested that he, Drake and Lamar were the “big three” of rap. Lamar disagreed with the statement, and on a feature in the song “Like That” by Metro Boomin and Future, Lamar claimed that there was no “big three”, and that it was “just big me”.
This line set the feud ablaze, and triggered the release of more disses between Drake and Lamar. In April of 2024, Drake released the single, “Push Ups,” a clear diss at Lamar. The song mocks many aspects of Lamar’s life, such as Lamar being 5’5” and asserts Drake as the “ruler” of the rap game. In response to the diss, Lamar released two singles, “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA” Both singles attacked Drake’s public image, authenticity, and character. Soon after the release of “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA,” Drake published the song “Family Matters,” in which he accuses Lamar of domestic violence, and attacks Lamar’s reputation. Lamar would go on to release the songs, “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us,” both attacking Drake and his family. In response, Drake released “The Heart Part 6,” in which Drake denies all of the claims made by Lamar, and claims that Drake’s team planted the information used by Lamar.
The pop culture world has deemed Kendrick Lamar to be the “winner” of the feud. Jonah Walsh (’26), an avid music listener, spoke to the feud saying, “Kendrick obviously won the feud. The music he released took deep shots at Drake, whereas Drake’s disses were very surface level.” Many students have been following the feud including Tobias Bots (’25) who agreed with Walsh, stating “We may never know if the disses made by both rappers were true, but Kendrick’s disses were heartfelt. Kendrick was really trying to rattle Drake and his fanbase, which he accomplished.”
The Drake-Lamar feud is a testament to the rivalries that defined the early years of rap and that history repeats itself.
