“Motherf*ck the Big Three, n*gga, it’s just big me!”
When Kendrick Lamar came in swinging at Drake and J. Cole on his surprise guest appearance of Future and Metro Boomin’s #1 hit single “Like That”, the hip-hop community was well aware of what would happen next. However, what has transpired over the past week and some change are a turn of events not only populated by unexpected easter eggs but a bombardment of new music from two of rap music’s most influential and successful artists over the past thirteen years.
The Return of the Boogeyman
Since the confirmation and subsequent escalation of the beef owing to the release of “Push Ups”, Kendrick Lamar’s attitude to the approach of the battle has been that of cunning and patient strategy tempered with relentless attacks. With online pressure mounting on him, spearheaded by hip-hop commentator DJ Akademiks, as well as the release of the now-deleted “Taylor Made Freestyle”, the most interesting aspect of Kendrick Lamar’s response has been his ability to almost stop time with his radio silence. Something that has given him the upperhand and also strength to his punches.
Releasing the six-minute “euphoria” on a random Tuesday exclusively on his YouTube channel, Dot officially stepped into the ring with an aura of hatred towards Drizzy rippling from him. With the sprawling diss record that not only saw him verbally shootup the OVO camp, he also desecrated Drake’s status in the rap game by framing him as a culture vulture, a pseudo-Black person, an appalling excuse for a father, and an atrocious exhibit of what a decent human being governed by honesty and integrity should look like.
Listen to “euphoria”:
Of course, Kung Fu Kenny’s first diss had some rookie mistakes, such as it being an ethereal stream of consciousness, not populated by consecutive bars compared to “Push Ups”. However, it contained enough dirt, hate, and contempt towards Drake – as well as conviction – for it to count as a legitimate and worthy comeback against Drake and his social media detractors who were now beginning to pan Kendrick for being dead silent after his showing on “Like That”.
A couple of days after “euphoria”, Lamar kept the veiled promise he made on the track (““Back to Back”, I like that record / I’mma get back to that for the record”), following up with “6:16 in LA”.
What made this record unique, lyrics aside, were two attributes: the cover art and the title itself. With Drake being known for his Timestamp Songs, K. Dot usurping the idea and flipping it to make it a title wasn’t only a move seemingly motivated by pettiness but a deep sense of spite. Upending the Timestamp concept not only went against the legacy of Drake’s songs, it was also Duckworth’s tacit way of letting his opp know how little he thought of his music. By also pulling a “Back to Back” on Drake, a gameplan which won the 6 god his beef against Meek Mill in 2015, Kendrick Lamar was showing that not only had he studied Drake but that he’d also ripped off a couple of pages from his playbook.
The second layer to the “6:16 In LA” diss was its single-minded focus and how Kendrick focused on the OVO barracks, doubling down on Drake being a poor excuse of a person to a point that even people under him whispered that he “deserved it”. Coupled with the album art of Drake’s alleged belongings mysteriously obtained from his father, the message was now becoming clearer and clearer: Kendrick was not only ready on a lyrical front but on a strategic level.
This wasn’t beef, to Kendrick, but psychological warfare.
Listen to “6:16 In LA”
Drake: The Battle-Tested War Vet Back In No Man’s Land
Given the magnitude of the stakes (who’s going to be officially crowned the greatest of the Big Three) and the ranking of his opponent, Drake’s attitude in this beef has been somewhat juvenile in comparison. With his online presence being marked by memes directly responding to Kendrick’s disses, Drizzy, like Kendrick, has also been playing mind games, the difference being that he’s been playing another gaming console altogether.
After the releases of “euphoria” and “6:16 In LA”, Drake was now on the backfoot, trailing by at least one diss, since “Taylor Made Freestyle” became null and void because of the Tupac Estate. At this point “Push Ups” was still holding it down on streaming platforms. Having taken Ws (vs. Meek Mill) and Ls (vs. Pusha T), Drake showed that past battles weren’t in vain, with “Push Ups” being three minutes but still packing enough entendres, clapbacks, and mean one-liners over slick, club-friendly production. In essence, “Push Ups” demonstrated that Drake had enough battle-rap intel for effective combat. However, all of that was drowned out by Kendrick’s consecutive responses.
Drake needed a stronger, more locked-in rebuttal.
Listen to “Push Ups”:
The comeback came in the shape of “Family Matters”. Faithful to Champagne Papi’s penchant for making club-inclined records, the diss entered the fold arguably as Drake’s strongest showing in the beef. With thumping beats, more slick punchlines, and damning accusations leveled against his rival, the song was exactly the type of redemption the Toronto star needed.
Laced with spicy allegations that Kendrick was a wifebeater and a cuck raising Dave Free’s love child by his wife as his own, “Family Matters” tipped the scales. Not only did the song have replay value, all eyes had now shifted to Kendrick Lamar – Drake had managed to make Kendrick resemble something close to being as horrendous as the Boogeyman people claimed he was.
And although the record digressed by addressing Future, Metro, Rick Ross, and A$AP Rocky, enough arsenal was unloaded on Kendrick for it to be a diss worth being counted as being directed to him. With an accompanying music video depicting the car similar to the one on the cover of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City being crushed, Drake had hit a sweet spot somewhere between seriousness and pettiness to show just how much of his heart was in this beef: which was all of it.
However, the deadlock was shortlived.
The Big Weekend
Just half and hour after the drop of “Family Matters”, “meet the grahams” snuffed out the hype and switched up the complexion of the beef.
A polar opposite of “Family Matters” musically, Kendrick opted for Alchemist production built on haunting pianos which lent the song an atmosphere of a horror screenplay. With epistolary songwriting, Kendrick angled for the Graham family, addressing Drake’s son, Adonis, Drake’s mother and father, Drake’s alleged unclaimed daughter, and the man of the hour himself. The scathing diss saw Kendrick trash-talk Drake while he laid out his thoughts on Aubrey to each of them as though they were having a family intervention and Kendrick was the social worker overseeing the entire process. On top of that, Kendrick consolidated his accusations of Drake being a sex offender, a pedo, and a deadbeat father by rubbing more salt on the raw wound.
“meet the grahams” marked a turning point in the battle. While both rappers had obviously done their investigations, Billboard’s Artist of the Decade was laying out his findings as an adept and battle-refined lyricist while the Pulitzer winner was churning out matter-of-fact reports from his research like a seasoned investigative journalist. To Kendrick, this was not about winning, but about providing a service to the people, even if that service meant doing absolutely nothing but exposing Drake as a charlatan.
The song might not have been an “Ether”, but the surgical cuts Kendrick made on “meet the grahams”, coupled with it being the fastest reply in hip-hop beef history and a confirmation of claims made on “euphoria” and “6:16 In LA”, were enough to leave Drake cornered.
Listen to “meet the grahams”
After the climax, Drake and Kendrick Lamar released “The Heart Part 6” and “Not Like Us”, respectively. However, both songs were merely both artists rehashing already-made points. Kendrick got the streets jumping and clubs lit up with “certified lover boy, certified pedophile” over Mustard beats, while Drake opted to switch into defense mode, deflecting accusations of him being a sex offender, a pedophile, and a perpetual child denialist.
Time has passed and songs have been dropped, but a winner between the two hasn’t truly been crowned. While both camps having dropped nuclear “information” on each other, neither one of them has produced receipts till now. The streams say that Kendrick’s “euphoria” and “Not Like Us” have been getting through-the-roof replays, but the online polls say Drake is the clear winner between the pair. It’s safe to say that both artists have delivered damaging blows to each other, enough to dent street cred and possibly end a career if receipts are ever produced in the coming weeks.
Until then, it’s great music all around.
