Emma Barbernell | Writer & Photographer
May 8, 2024
Over the weekend, two of the most famous rappers in the world dropped diss tracks aimed at each other, resulting in the public debate: TEAM DRAKE? or TEAM KENDRICK? Read this before you get lost in Reddit forums or subject yourself to random news outlets.
Drake and Kendrick have previously worked together on music, specifically the hit Poetic Justice. So, why are they beefing all of a sudden? Frenemies turned actual enemies sparked after Kendrick’s feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s album, We Don’t Trust You aimed at Drake.
Here are the dates you need to know. On April 13th 2024, Drake dropped “Pushups,” dissing Kendrick’s height and talent, claiming he isn’t in the “Big Three” of rap and ultimately compares him to other artists while simultaneously dissing other famous artists who work with Kendrick. Drake dropped another song called “Taylor Made,” again poking fun at Kendrick’s talent and the fact that he is friends with Taylor Swift. While Drake commends Taylor Swift for being the “biggest gangster in the music game” and says that he moved his album to not interfere with Taylor’s album release, he screws up by using AI-generated vocals of Tupac in this song which leads to the song being taken down by Tupac’s team. Kendrick then responds with the song “Euphoria” on April 30th; the context is that Drake is the executive producer on the HBO show Euphoria. In this song, Kendrick criticizes Drake’s parenting and his crew “OVO”.
Then on May 3rd, Kendrick drops “6:16 in LA” (The song title making fun of Drake’s past songs like 9 am in Dallas, 4 pm in Calabasas), produced by Jack Antonoff who works closely with Taylor Swift; responding to Drake’s diss, “Taylor Made”. This track calls out the snakes in Drake’s crew, and poses a question whether or not Drake’s crew is actually working for Kendrick Lamar.
This is where Drake ruins everything and puts himself into a hole that he can’t get out of. On the same day, Kendrick, also known as K-DOT’s song “6:16 in LA,” drops, Drake releases a song called “Family Matters.” He mocks slavery and says that Kendrick is always rapping like he is “going to get the slaves freed” and throws jabs that feel like insecure digs. Drake reminds me of a boy on Xbox who throws his controller or unplugs his console when he loses. The song lyrics infer domestic violence between Kendrick and his wife.
Pulitzer prize winner K-DOT responds with 6 minutes and 32 seconds of pure slam poetry, “Meet The Grahams.” In this track, Kendrick digests all of Drake’s faults. Through his gambling issues, faulty parenting, hidden children, master manipulation, involvement in the sex business and, he also claims Drake is a pedophile. Kendrick structures his lyrics like a letter addressing Aubrey Graham (Drake) and his family members. His lyrics are so affluent and well thought out. This isn’t a rap battle. Instead, Kendrick is just sending a message to the people and anyone who associates themselves with Drake. In a very “I told you” so way.
Drake responds with “THE HEART PART 6”, basically a song filled with Drake just trying to rebuttal K-DOT’s allegations. Claiming that if he were an actual pedophile, he would “be behind bars right now.” This track feels like his ghostwriters went on break, and Drake played a game of “nuh-uh.”
Sophomore, Cole Wilkes, told me that he speaks for the entire “gay community: that we think Kendrick is up and winning and BBL Drizzy needs to max stop”.
At the end of the day, this rap battle isn’t what matters. What matters is that this is a much-needed conversation and that Drake, an idolized rapper by so many, must be investigated.
Obama is Team Kendrick, and so is senior, Daisy Fontanes, who says that “Kendrick ate” (0:30).
While you’re waiting for the next song, go freestyle on Metro Boomin’s beat, “BBL DRIZZY”.
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