Kendrick Lamar & Drake’s Feud: A Timeline of Their Beef
With Drake releasing, “The Heart Part 6,” the two rap icons have yet to take more swings at each other. Look back on their entire beef here.
It’s funny to think that there was once a time when Kendrick Lamar and Drake were once collaborators. Early on in both of their careers, Kendrick, 36, was featured on the Drake, 37, cut “Buried Alive Interlude” from his album Take Care. K.Dot also served as the opener on Drake’s 2012 tour, and Drizzy made an appearance on Kendrick’s song “Poetic Justice” from 2012’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.
In 2013, Kendrick took shots at tons of huge rappers in his guest verse on Big Sean’s never-formally released song “Control,” including Drake. “I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you,” Kendrick rapped in part. Though there was some back and forth and speculation that one of Drake’s songs was a response to “Control,” the beef mostly went dormant for about a decade. As Kendrick dropped “euphoria” at the end of April 2024, tons of fans were drawn into the feud between the two. While it’s unclear if the sparring match is over, Drake has gotten the last word in at the time of publication.
Look back on the timeline of the beef starting from Drake’s For All The Dogs track in late 2023.
October 31, 2023: Drake Drops “First Person Shooter”
When Drake released his album For All The Dogs in October 2023, one of the stand-out tracks was “First Person Shooter,” which featured J.Cole. On the song, both Cole and Drake rap about their superstar statuses, and boast about their success. While they celebrate being at the top of the game, Cole did offer Kendrick a shoutout, declaring the trio “the Big 3,” even though Cole admitted that he felt like boxing great “Muhammad Ali.”
March 26, 2024: Kendrick Lamar Responds With “Like That” Verse
Despite Cole’s verse being mostly complimentary, Kendrick responded months later with a verse to show that he wasn’t having it, when he made a guest appearance on Future and Metro Boomin‘s song “Like That.” He took shots at both Drake and Cole on the song, while declaring himself the best. “F**k sneak dissin’, first person shooter, I hope they came with three switches,” he rapped. “Motherf**k the big three. N***a, it’s just big me.”
Kendrick also took a shot at Drake’s line in the song where he compared himself to Michael Jackson, with K.Dot giving himself his own great to liken himself to. “Prince outlived Mike Jack’.”
April 5, 2024: J. Cole Releases “7 Minute Drill”
Shortly after Kendrick’s diss on “Like That,” Cole surprise-released his album Might Delete Later. On the closing number “7 Minute Drill,” Cole laid into the Damn rapper with tons of disses against the music and his status in the current rap scene. The Born Sinner rapper also accused Kendrick of dropping disses to stay relevant. “He still doin’ shows but fell off like The Simpsons,” he rapped. “If he wasn’t dissin’, we wouldn’t be discussin’ him.”
April 7, 2024: J. Cole Apologizes for Dissing Kendrick
Like clockwork, J. Cole quickly retracted his diss track on stage at his Dreamville Festival. “It’s one part of that s**t that make me feel like, man, that’s the lamest s**t I ever did in my f**king life, right?” he said. “How many people think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest motherf**kers to ever touch a f**king microphone? Dreamville, y’all love Kendrick Lamar, correct?”
From there, Cole has not re-entered the beef.
April 13, 2024: Drake’s Song “Push Ups” Leaks
Just days after Cole took back his diss, Drake’s song “Push Ups” made its way online. The track takes various shots at K.Dot, besides just his music. Drizzy insults Kendrick’s height and more notably, he insults the rapper’s deal with his former label Top Dawg Entertainment. Drake also took shots at a few other rappers, like Rick Ross, who had supported Kendrick in the beef. On top of all of that, Drake showed off his success and his wealth. “Numbers-wise, I’m out of here, you not f**kin’ creepin’ up,” he rapped. “Money-wise, I’m out of here, you not f**kin’ sneakin’ up.”
April 19, 2024: Drake Drops “Taylor Made Freestyle”
After Drake’s song, Rick Ross released “Champagne Moments,” where he responded to the beef. Days later, the “Forever” rapper released the song “Taylor Made Freestyle,” where he integrated AI technology to have Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg’s voices deliver some lines. On the track, Drake taunts Kendrick to respond, and he speculates that the reason he had not yet released a diss was to not let it be overshadowed by Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department release. The song was later pulled from streaming platforms after Tupac’s estate threatened legal action.
April 30, 2024: Kendrick Hits Back at Drake With “euphoria”
Over a week after the “Taylor Made Freestyle” was released and “Push Ups” officially hit streaming services, Kendrick didn’t hold back with “euphoria.” Kendrick takes tons of shots at Drake, including insulting his credibility, reputation, and abilities as a father. “I got a son to raise, but I can see you don’t know nothin’ ’bout that,” he raps at one point.
Kendrick also accused Drake of trying to block the release of “Like That” before it dropped. “Try cease and desist on the ‘Like That’ record? Ho, what? You ain’t like that record,” he rapped.
Throughout the song, Kendrick also didn’t hold back on letting his feelings on Drake be known. “I hate the way you walk, the way you talk/I hate the way you dress,” he says.
May 3, 2024: Kendrick Back-to-Backs Drake With “6:16 in LA”
Just like Drake had dropped “Back to Back,” his 2015 diss track against Meek Mill, in quick succession with his first diss “Charged Up,” Kendrick quickly got another hit against Drake in days later with “6:16 in LA.” While it’s not the most memorable song from the beef, it did hint at a crucial bit of information that someone from Drake’s circle was giving Kendrick information about him. “Have you ever thought that OVO [Drake’s label] is workin’ for me? Fake bully. I hate bullies. You must be a terrible person,” he rapped.
May 3, 2024: Drake Fires Back With “Family Matters”
Hours after “6:16 in LA” was put up on Instagram, Drake put out the music video for his response “Family Matters.” Drake’s biggest shot at Kendrick in the song is alleging that one of the children that he had with his wife may not in fact be his but rather belonging to Kendrick’s childhood friend Dave Free. These rumors haven’t been verified.
May 3, 2024: Kendrick Lamar Immediately Responds With “Meet The Grahams”
Just 20 minutes after “Family Matters” dropped, Kendrick fired back with the scathing tune “Meet the Grahams.” Each verse is styled in the form of a letter to Drake’s son Adonis, his parents, an alleged secret daughter, and finally Drake. One of the claims that got the most attention was the allegation that Drake had an 11-year-old daughter, whose life he was absent from, which the “Hotline Bling” rapper quickly responded to, claiming it was not true.
Kendrick also brought forward very serious allegations of sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and having sexual predators work with OVO. “Him and [Harvey] Weinstein should get f**ked up in a cell for the rest of their life,” he rapped in the second verse. “He got sex offenders on OVO that he keep on a monthly allowance.”
May 4, 2024: Kendrick Jabs Drake Again With “Not Like Us”
One day after dropping the double disses, Kendrick took another shot at Drake with the song “Not Like Us,” where he doubled down on allegations of sexual abuse against Drake and people associated with OVO. “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young/You better not ever go to cell block one,” he raps. “Certified Lover Boy? Certified Pedophile.”
May 5, 2024: Drake Responds With “The Heart Part 6”
Drake dropped the latest song “The Heart Part 6” in the feud a day after “Not Like Us.” Naming the song following Kendrick’s “The Heart” series, Drake claimed to have knowingly fed the To Pimp a Butterfly rapper false information to see if he would run with it, including the claim about the daughter. Drake also denied the sexual allegations and allegations that he was involved with underage women. “I never been with no one underage,” he rapped.
May 7, 2024: Drake’s Security Guard Injured in Shooting Outside His Home
Days after Drake released “The Heart Part 6,” there was a shooting outside of his mansion in Toronto, which left a security guard injured. Police are investigating the shooting, and Inspector Paul Krawczyk said that he couldn’t speculate on if the shooting was motivated by the current feud when asked.