Rap fans were on the edge of their seats this weekend as two of the genre’s biggest stars continued to provoke one another with allegations of pedophilia, domestic abuse, infidelity and harbouring secret children.
The latest instalment of the rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar saw the Toronto-born artist release his fourth diss track against Lamar, entitled The Heart Part 6, on Sunday.
The moody track is over five minutes long and attempts to dispute several claims made by Lamar, 36, in his earlier raps targeting Drake, 37. Much of the response sees Drake deny grooming underage girls for sex, an allegation that has followed the rapper for years now.
Drake called Lamar’s claims that he is a pedophile “the s—t I expected.”
“I never been with no one underage, but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with,” Drake raps. “Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I’m too respected / If I was f—ing young girls, I promise I’d have been arrested / I’m way too famous for this s—t you just suggested.”
In the song, Drake addresses his controversial friendship with Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown, who was 14 years old when she met the rapper. In 2018, Brown (now 20) said she and Drake texted often and that he regularly offered her career and life advice.
“Millie Bobby Browns, I’d never look twice at no teenager,” Drake defends himself in the new diss track.
(Rap beef aside, Drake has never been formally accused of pedophilia.)
He also fired back at Lamar’s allegations that he’s been hiding an 11-year-old daughter.
The claim, made in Lamar’s song Meet the Grahams, came as a surprise to Drake’s core fanbase, who speculated whether the rapper may have another child away from the public eye, similar to his son Adonis. After a 2018 rap beef with rapper Pusha T, Drake confirmed he had a son who was born the year prior.
As for Lamar’s insistence that Drake has another child, the rapper said in The Heart Part 6 that he and his team “fed” Lamar bad information.
“We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information / A daughter that’s eleven years old, I bet he takes it,” Drake raps. “We thought about giving a fake name or a destination / But you so thirsty, you not concerned with investigation.”
So far, there’s been nine tracks released in the ongoing feud between Drake and Lamar — though Drake seemed to imply he’s growing tired of their back and forth, regardless of how enthusiastic their collective fanbases have been.
“I don’t wanna diss you anymore, this really got me second-guessing,” Drake raps on The Heart Part 6, later adding, “I’m not gonna lie, this s— t was some good exercise. It’s good to get out, get the pen working.”
Regardless, the beef has won both rappers placement in this week’s Hot 100 music charts. Want to know the whole story? Read on for a thorough explanation of what’s going on.
Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s rap beef, explained
It’s been no-holds-barred (or rather, no holds bars) between Drake and Lamar since late March, but the rappers have been arguing since even before then, beginning in 2013 when Lamar rapped on Big Sean’s Control about a desire to “murder” Drake and other famous rappers.
Across their numerous diss tracks in recent months, the rappers have repeatedly doubled down on their allegations against one another, with arguments spanning from comparisons of artistry to illegal behaviour.
Fans of both Drake and Lamar have been taking sides and eagerly dissecting and meme-ifying every verse, beat and clever (or not-so-clever) quip.
Like That — Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar
The rap beef’s first instalment came on March 22, when Lamar — alongside rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin — released Like That.
Over a flashy, synthesizer drumbeat, Lamar disavowed rap’s “Big Three,” a common consensus that he, Drake and J. Cole are the best rappers in the music game.
Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize winner, slammed the Big Three, declaring instead “it’s only me.”
“Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried / That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary,” Lamar raps, referencing Drake’s 2023 album For All the Dogs.
Lamar compared himself to Prince and Drake to Michael Jackson, boasting, “Prince outlived Mike Jack.”
Push Ups — Drake
Three weeks after the release of Like That, Drake hit back at Lamar with the release of Push Ups on April 13.
The song initially came as a leak but was later released to streaming platforms.
In Push Ups, Drake, who is the most streamed rapper in the world, pokes fun at Lamar’s commercial success working with popular artists like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift.
“Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty / Then we need a verse for the Swifties,” Drake chides. “You ain’t in no big three, SZA got you wiped down / Travis got you wiped down, Savage got you wiped down.”
Drake also took aim at rapper Rick Ross, who responded with a diss of his own.
Taylor Made Freestyle — Drake
Days after Push Ups, Drake released Taylor Made Freestyle on April 19.
The song has since been taken down, as it featured A.I.-generated voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. Shakur’s estate threatened to sue Drake over the song.
Drake rapped alongside the A.I. voices and accused Lamar of waiting to respond to Push Ups over fears of competing with Taylor Swift’s album release for The Tortured Poets Department.
“Now we gotta wait a f—ing week cause Taylor Swift is your new top, and if you boutta drop, she gotta approve,” Drake raps. “This girl really ’bout to make you act like you not in a feud / She tailor-made your schedule with Ant, you out of the loop.”
Snoop Dogg, 52, didn’t publicly threaten legal action, and seemed mostly unbothered.
“They did what? When? How? Are you sure?” Snoop asked in a video posted to social media. “I’m going back to bed. Goodnight.”
Euphoria — Kendrick Lamar
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Fans didn’t have to wait long for Lamar’s second diss, which arrived on April 30.
Named Euphoria after the HBO show Drake produces, Lamar’s verses slammed Drake’s use of A.I. and his rap artistry in general, calling him a “scam artist.”
But Lamar’s jabs weren’t only about Drake’s career. The rapper took aim at Drake’s parenting, personal life, allegations of plastic surgery and Drake’s racial identity.
“How many more fairytale stories about your life ’til we’ve had enough? How many more Black features ’til you finally feel that you’re Black enough?” Lamar prods.
6:16 in LA — Kendrick Lamar
Just as Drake did, Lamar again dissed his opponent before they could respond.
6:16 in LA was released on Friday, with “6:16” seemingly a reference to June 16, Father’s Day.
In the song, Lamar slams Drake’s record label, OVO, and called the rapper a “bully.”
“Have you ever thought that OVO is workin’ for me?” Lamar warns. “Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person / Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it.”
The song was produced by Jack Antonoff, the acclaimed music producer and longtime collaborator of Taylor Swift.
“Ain’t no brownie points for beating your chest, harassin’ Ant / F—in’ with good people make good people go to bat,” Lamar raps in reference to Antonoff.
Family Matters — Drake
Only hours after Lamar’s 6:16 in LA drop, Drake released Family Matters, a beat-switching, seven-minute track that turned the heat up on Drake’s allegations against Lamar.
In the song, Drake suggests that Lamar’s children, shared with fiancé Whitney Alford, are actually fathered by Lamar’s longtime creative partner Dave Free.
Drake also accused Lamar of domestic abuse against Alford.
“When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defence ’cause she’s bigger than you?” he raps.
He later adds, “There’s nowhere to hide, there’s nowhere to hide, you know what I mean / They hired a crisis management team to clean up the fact that you beat on your queen.”
(Lamar has never been formally accused of domestic violence. Alford has not commented on the rap beef publicly.)
Drake also accused Lamar of pushing Shakur’s estate to sue him over Taylor Made Freestyle.
Meet the Grahams — Kendrick Lamar
In his retaliation, released 20 minutes after Family Matters, Lamar accused Drake of being addicted to gambling, sex, drugs and alcohol.
Lamar said Drake was wrong to bring his family into their feud. In the song, he takes aim at Drake’s own family and raps that he was sorry for Drake’s son, Adonis.
Meet the Grahams is also where Lamar accuses Drake of having a secret daughter.
“He a narcissist, misogynist, living inside his songs / Try destroy families rather than takin’ care of his own / Should be teaching you timetables or watching Frozen with you / Or at your 11th birthday singing poems with you,” Lamar raps. “It’s not your fault that he’s hiding another child.”
“A child should never be compromised and he keeping his child around them / And we gotta raise our daughters knowing there’s predators like him lurking,” Lamar continues. “I’m looking to shoot through any pervert that lives, keep the family safe.”
On Instagram, Drake denied having a daughter and wrote, “Nahhhh hold on can someone find my hidden daughter pls and send her to me…these guys are in shambles.”
Not Like Us — Kendrick Lamar
Hours after the release of Meet the Grahams, Lamar also dropped Not Like Us on Saturday.
The track sees Lamar double down on many of his accusations toward Drake.
“Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one,” Lamar raps, adding, “Certified Lover Boy, certified pedophiles…Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”
Lamar called Drake a “colonizer” and attributed his success to the many other rappers Drake has worked with.
The Heart Part 6 — Drake
Even the title of Drake’s latest diss, The Heart Part 6, takes aim at Lamar, who has an ongoing five-part series of songs under the same title. Lamar released The Heart, Part 1 in 2010 ahead of his mixtape Overly Dedicated.
As well as denying the existence of a daughter, Drake controversially references Lamar being molested as a child.
“My mom came over today and I was like, ‘Mother I, mother I, mother I … / Wait a second, that’s that one record where you say you got molested,” Drake raps. “I just made the whole connection / This about to get so depressing / This is trauma from your own confessions.”
The line is in reference to Lamar’s song Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, in which Lamar says his mother was sexually abused. The song, however, maintains that Lamar wasn’t molested as a child, and he has never publicly said otherwise.
BBL Drizzy — Metro Boomin
On April 13’s Push Ups, Drake raps, “Metro, shut your ho a— up and make some drums.”
In what’s since become a fan favourite release, Metro on Sunday dropped a beat entitled BBL Drizzy. With a cheery 150 beats per minute (BPM) on the track, a singer passionately belts, “I’m thicker than a Snicker … These yams deserve a trophy.”
The beat is a diss on its own, poking fun at a popular rumour that Drake (nickname Drizzy) had a Brazilian butt lift (BBL).
Metro encouraged his followers to rap over the beat he created, even advertising that the creator of the “best verse” would receive a complementary beat from Metro for their personal use. Since the drop, rap fans have used the track to diss Drake themselves in several languages.
The drop came hours ahead of Drake’s The Heart Part 6.
The fallout
Fans of both rappers are either eagerly awaiting yet another diss track or are hopeful that the longstanding feud will come to an inevitable, messy end.
J. Cole, a member of the so-called “Big Three,” seems to be hoping for the latter. Though Cole originally struck back at Lamar after the release of Like That, the rapper has since backed down and apologized.
During April’s Dreamville Fest in Raleigh, N.C., Cole admitted he isn’t “proud” of his own diss track, 7 Minute Drill. Cole said releasing the song was a “lame” and “goofy” thing to do.
Cole has since removed 7 Minute Drill from streaming.
But for Drake and Lamar, as well as their dedicated followers, the beef continues. As fans wait for more music from the rappers, should it come, the respective camps backing Drake and Lamar have taken to trolling one another.
Lamar’s admirers are even tagging Drake’s Toronto Bridle Path home on Google Maps with remarks about pedophilia and ghost writing.
Despite the severity of some of the allegations made by Drake and Lamar, rap fans have poked fun at the feud online with an ever-growing flow of jokes and memes — and it doesn’t seem like it will end any time soon.
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If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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