For rap giants Kendrick Lamar and Drake, no insult is too vicious as they battle out their beef

Nnew month, new war conflict. But now one that is fought with the most vicious insults in rhyme and a pumping hip-hop beat.

The beef, as a musical feud is called in the hip-hop world, is between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, the rap giants of the moment, and broke out in full force last week. In nine diss tracks – music songs where beefs are fought out – which was released in rapid succession, the rappers do not shy away from a nasty insult to settle once and for all who is the better artist of the two.

The rappers call each other pedophiles (Drake allegedly has sex with underage girls), dwarfs (Kendrick Lamar is only 1.63 meters tall), worthless fathers and traumatized victims of child abuse.

The dust has not settled yet, but according to the American magazine Rolling Stone it is already clear who won the battle of words: Kendrick Lamar, the virtuoso rap prodigy from Los Angeles who has seventeen Grammys to his name and, as the only rapper ever, even managed to win a Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics. According to Rolling Stone has Kendrick Lamar with lyrics like ‘You’re not a colleague, you’re a colonizer‘ – suggesting that Canadian Drake has no business in the American hip-hop world – has caused irreparable damage to his rival’s reputation.

Commercially, the beef has certainly done both rappers no harm. The nine diss tracks now reach a billion streams on Spotify and keep the press and public worldwide on the edge of their seats. Joe Biden’s presidential campaign team also tried to get in on the fuss and used the beat from one of the nine diss tracks – Euphoriaby Kendrick Lamar – to take on rival Donald Trump.

On good terms

Initially, Drake and Kendrick Lamar were on pretty good terms. In songs like Buried Alive Interlude and Poetic Justice – from 2011 and 2012 respectively – the rappers can still be heard together. In the years that followed, they grew into the rap greats of their generation, together accounting for countless hits – Drake has as many number 1 hits as Michael Jackson with 13 number 1 hits – awards, and a staggering number of streams on music platforms. But with success, rivalry also grows.

The first, fairly disguised outburst came in 2013 as Kendrick Lamar in the song Control makes it clear to his colleagues that he is the undeniable rap genius. ‘I got love for you all, but I’m trying to murder you / Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you‘ it still sounds the best brag and boasttradition, according to the established custom in the hip-hop world to declare yourself the superior rapper.

J. Cole

Then it is quiet for a long time, with the occasional song by Drake or Kendrick Lamar that only well-established hip-hop fans recognize as a diss track. It took until last March before the rappers entered into direct confrontation. The reason for this lies a little earlier, in October last year, when another acclaimed rapper, J. Cole, appeared in the song First Person Shooter declares himself, Drake and Kendrick Lamar as The Big Three of the rap world. ‘We the big three like we started a league / but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali‘.

That’s against Kendrick Lamar’s sore leg. According to the rapper, there is one but the greatest and that is him. ‘Motherfuck the big three, n***, it’s just big me‘ Lamar raps in the song Like Thatwhich came out last March.

And with that, a beef of epic proportions was born. Eight more diss tracks follow, five from Drake and three more from Kendrick Lamar. The most listened to is Kendrick Lamar’s Like Thatwhich has now been streamed more than 235 million times on Spotify.