Kendrick Lamar just took home a hefty number of Grammy awards this year for music he wrote about his infamous beef with rapper Drake. And if you haven’t been keeping up with what will likely be seen as the biggest hip-hop beef in recent history, here’s a timeline to get you caught up. Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about the origins behind Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s famed beef!
The Early Stages of a Legendary Beef
Back in 2010, Drake became a certified hip-hop superstar with his debut album Thank Me Later. By 2011, he attracted a lot of attention and released his second album Take Care. The song “Buried Alive Interlude” features a performance from none other than Kendrick Lamar. All seemed well, at least for a while.
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In 2012, Drake yet again brought Lamar along for the ride to open his Club Paradise Tour with A$AP Rocky. They further collaborated on songs like “Poetic Justice”.
Kendrick Disses Drake for the First Time via a Big Sean Song
Things between the two rappers first began to sour after Lamar released his major label debut, Good Kid, MAAD City, later in 2012. After that release, Lamar dissed Drake in a collaborative song with Big Sean in 2013 titled “Control”. Though, he didn’t single out Drake specifically. Lamar dissed a wide range of rappers in the game, noting that he was “trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you n***as.”
Drake responded to the diss in an interview with Billboard, saying “I know good and well that [Lamar]’s not murdering me, at all, in any platform.”
Kendrick Lamar Continues to Come for Drake Multiple Times Through the Years
Later in 2013, Lamar dissed Drake again during a cipher at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. Drake responded that year in VIBE Magazine by saying he “stood his ground” during that particular Kendrick diss.
From 2015 through 2016, the two rappers continued to deliver subtle and lukewarm disses about each other. However, nothing too substantial came of it… until 2023.
Drake Fires Shots at Lamar with J. Cole on “First Person Shooter”, Lamar Responds with “Like That”
Drake and J. Cole scored their very first Billboard Hot 100 no. 1 song together with the track “First Person Shooter”. Apparently, the song ruffled Lamar’s feathers, and a few months later in 2024, Lamar would deliver the first track to really get listeners’ attention to the beef with “Like That”.
Lamar collaborated with Future and Metro Boomin on the song “Like That”, which delivers a very stark and direct attack at both Drake and Cole.
“F**k sneak dissin’, first-person shooter / I hope they came with three switches,” Lamar spits in the song.
An Onslaught of Diss Tracks That Seem to Never End
We’ll make this one brief. After “Like That” was released, Drake appeared to respond to Lamar’s diss during his tour in March 2024. The next month, he released the song “Push Ups”, which directly takes aim at Lamar through the song and its cover, which mocks Lamar’s height.
Drake released another song, “Taylor Made Freestyle” that month that further disses Lamar. The song features the AI-generated vocals of Tupac, which the late rapper’s estate later threatened to sue Drake over. The song is removed soon after.
Lamar clapped back before April wrapped up with “Euphoria”, which bullies Drake for his sense of fashion and merit in hip-hop. Kendrick would go on to drop “6:16 In LA” just a few days later. Drake responds with “Family Matters”. Kendrick responds with “Meet The Grahams” and “Not Like Us”. The latter song would go on to earn Lamar a whopping five Grammy awards and become the biggest hip-hop hit of the year.
There, you’re all caught up. Who knows where this beef will go next?
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