Yesterday, I tried to summarize the recent rap battle/extremely personal beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. This is a beef Drake wanted, this is a battle Drake thought he could win, which is crazy enough on its own. I’m an outsider to this world and even I know there are some people you simply do not f–k with, and Kendrick Lamar is one of those people. Please, the man won a Pulitzer… and he’s probably going to win a second Pulitzer for his well-researched and brilliant Drake takedown.
This weekend was dominated by the one-two punch of Kendrick’s “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.” “Meet the Grahams” is a surgical evisceration of Drake, it’s the musical equivalent of a snuff film, with Kendrick revealing that Drake is a deadbeat dad who is hiding at least one other child besides Adonis (the son he hid, who was revealed by Pusha T). Kendrick addressed “Meet the Grahams” to Adonis, to Drake’s daughter, to Drake’s parents and Drake himself and it was enough to do lasting damage to Drake. Less than 24 hours later, Kendrick dropped “Not Like Us,” which is actually just a great song, a song which will get a ton of club play and possibly be an early contender for the song of the summer. Like, people are going to tear it up to “Not Like Us” at the Met Gala tonight. It was also an evisceration of Drake’s character and career, his team and his sexuality.
Drake spent the whole weekend in shock about how Kendrick responded to him. And then last night, Drake finally responded. The response is… not great, Bob. It’s called “The Heart Part 6” and it’s basically Drake still trying to speculate about Kendrick’s relationship with his partner, plus some of the craziest sh-t about how Drake knew that Kendrick would attack him for being a predator (why is that) and DRAKE mentions Millie Bobby Brown (Kendrick never said her name). “Only f–kin’ with Whitneys, not Millie Bobby Browns, I’d never look twice at no teenager.” Except for all of the years’ worth of evidence that Drake was openly grooming teenage girls. This is so bad for Drake.
DRAKE
THE HEART PART 6
KENDRICK LAMAR DISS
OUT NOWpic.twitter.com/U6AgjMlQty
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) May 6, 2024
What’s been fascinating to watch is that Drake has lost the cultural conversation part of this and he’s lost the respect of his peers and even lukewarm fans. Rick Ross is ripping him apart, producers are sliding beats to Kendrick and it feels like there’s a significant shift.
“I’m way too famous to be a pedophile” is a line straight out of a Law & Order: SVU episode
— Ira (@iramadisonthree) May 6, 2024
damn drake is next level. he really played the long game FOR YEARS by dming underage girls, rapping about high school girls being hot, and even bringing underage girls on stage, all to trick Kendrick into thinking drake’s a pedophile!!! chess not checkers from the !!!!!!
— Travis Helwig (@travishelwig) May 6, 2024
Rick Ross says Drake’s writers should’ve put more thought when writing about the topic of ped*philia in “The Heart Part 6” pic.twitter.com/qyj821EFBu
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) May 6, 2024
drake said pic.twitter.com/Tca2mp2RIr
— soul nate (@MNateShyamalan) May 6, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.