Kendrick Lamar Vs. Drake (Summary)

Both rappers come from humble beginnings; Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24th, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario, and is of mixed heritage. Drake originally got his start in acting, being well known for playing “Jimmy Brooks” on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Simultaneously, he also began working in music and would eventually transition to music full time, being discovered by Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, and would go on to achieve mainstream success, becoming a rising figure in the late 2000s and one of rap’s biggest superstars in the 2010s moving forward. Along the way, Drake was in contact with many other artists, one of whom was a young artist by the name of Kendrick Lamar.

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born on June 17, 1987, in Compton, California, one of the most impoverished and violent cities across America. He comes from a loving family and grew up as an affiliate of the Westside Pirus. He had taken particular interest in music, especially Hip Hop, at a young age and aspired to become a rapper. He formed close connections with producer Dave Free who introduced Kendrick to Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, who later offered him a recording contract and was initially a hype man to Jay Rock, their first signee. He, along with Rock, Ab-Soul, and ScHoolboy Q, quickly formed close bonds, essentially becoming Black Hippy. Kendrick was still a relatively unknown rapper by the early 2010s; however, his talent in lyricism and freestyling had gained him connections from kindred spirits such as J. Cole, who quickly befriended him and worked alongside him. It was J. Cole who introduced Kendrick’s music to the legendary West Coast Producer Dr. Dre, who got in contact with Kendrick and worked alongside him as he began work on his debut album. He was also signed to Dre’s Aftermath imprint.

Both Drake and Kendrick Lamar would get in contact with each other, with Kendrick sending Drake digital files of his then-unreleased debut album Section.80, which Drake heavily praised and encouraged him. Eventually, Kendrick was allowed a solo spot on Drake’s critically acclaimed sophomore album Take Care in 2011 in “Buried Alive Interlude,” marking their first collaboration. The track details how Drake invites him into a world of luxury, fame, and recognition but worries that it may come with a cost. The track states that Kendrick is conflicted by the pressures of fame despite wanting to be recognized for his talent, and is also frustrated learning that he and Drake are the same age, but at this point in time Drake is a household name while Kendrick was still on a steady come-up by this point. Lamar spoke fondly of Drake in initial interviews as their relationship remained on amicable terms. Drake had invited Kendrick (alongside A$AP Rocky) to open for him during his Club Paradise tour, exposing Kendrick to wider audiences; in return, Kendrick requested Drake to feature on his highly acclaimed storytelling album “good kid, m.A.A.d city”, featuring on the flipped Janet Jackson sample “Poetic Justice”, a song in the story which details Drake and Kendrick battling for the affection of a girl named Sherane who winds up setting Kendrick up with her elder gang affiliate brothers. The song was released included in the original album on October 22, 2012 and was officially released as a single with a video on January 15, 2013, thanks to its positive response. The song marks the first time the 2 have officially collaborated on a song as artists. Days after the release of “good kid, m.A.A.d. City”, A$AP Rocky would release “Fuckin Problem”, a song that had been passed up by each of the contributing artists before falling into Rocky’s hands. The song features Rocky, 2 Chainz, Drake, and Kendrick. The song was commercially successful, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard charts and was named number 21 on Complex's list of the 50 Best Songs of 2012. This song would serve as the final collaboration between Kendrick and Drake as their relationship began to sour in the following years.

Round 0 (Kendrick Puts Everyone On Notice):

On August 14, 2013, Detroit rapper Big Sean released “Control”, a collaboration between Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica. Originally, the song was meant for Electronica’s planned second album but was given to Big Sean to use for his sophomore album Hall of Fame. However, the song was ultimately cut from the album due to sample clearance issues, and the song was released as a promotional single. The Song itself would be known for helping increase Kendrick’s notoriety in Hip Hop as he lays claim that he is the King of New York and proceeds to name-drop many rappers (most of whom are his current peers), some of whom he has friendly relationships with, such as Mac Miller, Tyler, the Creator, J.Cole, Pusha T, and, of course, Drake. Lamar clarifies in the song, “I got love for you all, but I’m trying to murder you niggas; trying to make sure your core fanbase never heard of you niggas” demonstrating his desire to prove himself the best out of all the rappers currently dominating the game. The song immediately made headlines as it gained mixed but mostly positive responses. Other artists even took this as a challenge and delivered musical responses to Control. Lamar stated it was his intention to encourage competition and ignite a spark within the Hip Hop community. Later that month, Drake would respond in an interview to the verse, dismissing it as playful banter and stating, “I know good and well [Lamar’s] not murdering me, at all, in any platform”. He would also go on to state that the verse contradicts his later interactions with Kendrick, where they remained amicable. However...

Subliminal Shots:

On September 24, 2013, Drake would release his highly anticipated Junior album “Nothing Was the Same”. Its intro track “The Language” would also contain lyrics that were interpreted to be subliminal shots towards Lamar. However, Birdman, who is the head of Cash Money Records and, by extension, Young Money, its subsidiary, denied that any line was directed at Lamar. Despite this denial, Kendrick had indeed interpreted the lines as being used against him and would go on to diss Drake at the BET Hip Hop Awards during a rap cypher. Drake would go on to deny the song being used as a diss towards Kendrick but also stated his refusal to take any jabs from anyone without responding to them. Kendrick would also deny any rumors of a feud, explaining that they are 2 different artists that can’t go to war. On January 26, 2014, both Kendrick and Drake’s albums would lose in the Grammy Awards category “Best Rap Album” to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “The Heist”; many have deemed this to be “a snub” to Kendrick, who was more deserving of it. Macklemore himself even posted a screenshot of him texting Lamar, believing that he was “robbed”. Drake himself, although not shading Lamar, would go on to send a message explaining his feelings over Macklemore not owning up to his win, extremely implying that, despite not being affected by the loss, he is indeed upset that fans and peers alike believed Kendrick deserved this album over Drake, subtly implying there to be a subtle rivalry between the 2. Despite this, the 2 would go on to focus on their own solo careers, rarely crossing paths; however, subliminal shots were fired throughout their careers, though both parties kept denying there was any feud.

Drake would go on to become one of the biggest rappers of modern times, being referred to as one of the greatest rappers of all time. He founded the OVO Sound imprint and used his influence to introduce many upcoming artists into the mainstream spotlight. He would also go on to drop many tracks that would become extremely popular or heavily memed within pop culture. On a few occasions, Drake would get involved in several highly publicized beefs, having a longstanding on-and-off feud with Kanye West, and was involved in physical altercations with Chris Brown & P. Diddy, feuded with Joe Budden, Tyga, Kid Cudi, DMX, Common, Tory Lanez, XXXTentacion, among others. Most notably, in 2015 he would go on an intense, controversial feud with Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill, following the release of his sophomore album “Dreams Worth More than Money”, which Drake was featured on; Meek had criticized Drake, suggesting that he uses ghostwriters in his music. The ghostwriter in question was revealed to be Quentin Miller, who had helped write "R.I.C.O." The collaboration between Drake and Meek. In response, this led to Drake releasing 2 diss tracks, with Drake being declared the victor of their battle as Back to Back went on to be named “The Song of the Summer”. The 2 would continue to trade shots until Meek’s incarceration in 2017. Upon Meek Mill’s release, the 2 would amend their feud, solidified by Drake’s appearance on his album Championships in 2018 (an act that Kendrick mentioned extremely confused him). Earlier that same year, however, Drake would be involved in yet another high-profile feud with Clipse member Pusha T, using the same reason as Meek to shade him with the song “Infrared”. In response, Drake released “Duppy Freestyle”, a song in which Drake asserts that he ghostwrote for Kanye himself and frowns on Push’s background as a drug dealer, again denying the allegations and name-dropping Pusha T’s then fiancé. Outraged, Push responded with “The Story of Adidon”, in which Push reveals to the public at large that he had sired a son. Drake would then confirm the accusations were true, and he indeed had a child with a former porn star. He also acknowledged having lost that feud and was forced to face his own problem on “March 14th”, the outro to Scorpion.

Kendrick Lamar would also achieve high levels of success; his follow-ups to “good kid, m.A.A.d city” were highly acclaimed albums, including 2017’s DAMN. Gaining a Pulitzer Prize, becoming the first non-classical album to achieve this feat. His song "Alright" had become a Black Empowerment Anthem. DAMN. would have every single song on the album chart on the Billboard charts, and Good Kid m.A.A.d city would hold the record for the longest-charting hip-hop album. Kendrick would also be enlisted to executive produce the Black Panther Soundtrack while he was initially only slated to send in a couple of songs before watching parts of the film. The soundtrack also featured his (at the time) highest-streaming song “All the Stars” that was played during the credits. Compared to Drake, who maintains a large social media presence and following, Kendrick intentionally abstains from the public during his downtime, preferring to keep to himself and keep much of his personal life private and away from the public eye. As such, he took a long 5 year hiatus between his 4th & 5th albums due to feeling stagnant in artistic and personal growth, as well as personal issues with his family, only appearing in some features now and again. He had also partnered with his longtime friend and colleague Dave Free to create “pgLang”, a multimedia distribution company and record label. One of the signees included his cousin Baby Keem. By August 2021, Kendrick had come out of hiatus to aid his cousin on his debut album “The Melodic Blue”, which was released on September 10, 2021. Lamar was featured on 3 songs, the most notable being “family ties”, the song lyrically being a “warning shot” to all their enemies in the music industry, with some even debating that Kendrick was indirectly challenging Drake in this regard. A few weeks prior to that, Lamar released a statement stating that he is working on releasing his final album with TDE, telling everyone he’ll see them soon. He made good on that promise the following year on May 13th, 2022, when he released Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers and went on to become the first male artist to be nominated for Album of the Year awards 4 times in a row. He went on to Headline the Big Steppers Tour, which earned 111 million in revenue, becoming the highest-grossing rap tour of all time before the record was broken by Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus Tour. Following the tour, Lamar kept up limited appearances, collaborating with Baby Keem and Beyoncé. However, it wasn’t until 2023 J. Cole stated that he, Drake, and Kendrick are the big three, that Kendrick Lamar decided to return to the spotlight the following year in full force.

The “Big Three” Debate:

On October 6th, 2023, Drake released “For All The Dogs”, his 8th studio album. The album contained 2 hit records: “Slime You Out” by Drake featuring contributions from Dot’s former label mate SZA, and “First Person Shooter” featuring contributions from J. Cole. Drake revealed that this was the final record to be recorded for the album. The track features both artists playfully testing their skills and trading bars. Cole, in a sense of camaraderie, rhetorically asked who is the “hardest MC” before name-dropping Drake and Kendrick, suggesting that they are “the big three” together and there is no clear answer. Although the lyrics were giving praise to all 3 artists as equals, Kendrick Lamar did not see it that way. Harking back to Control, when Kendrick said he would murder his competition, as well as “family ties”, where he promises to “smoke the top 5”, he makes true on this promise on March 26th, 2024, when Atlanta superstars Metro Boomin and Future collaborated to release the trap-heavy album “We Don’t Trust You”. The 6th song on the album, “Like That”, contained a surprise verse from Kendrick Lamar (none of the featured acts were credited at the time) where Kendrick vehemently rejects being a part of the big three and takes the time to shade Drake, mocking him by stating Prince outlived Michael Jackson in reference to Drake’s frequent comparisons to Michael Jackson. He makes a statement saying, “motherfuck the big three, it’s just big me.” The surprise verse completely threw the internet by storm, with Lamar’s verse being the standout among the entire album, let alone the song. The song went on to top the charts, with the reactions effectively reigniting the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, with J.Cole even being thrown into the mix. The song itself would go on to be commercially successful, peaking at number 1 on the Billboard charts.

Round 1 (Warning Shots):

On April 5th, 2024, J.Cole released his mixtape “Might Delete Later”, the outro track “7 Minute Drill”, a diss track written as a response. Here, J. Cole suggests the quality of his work has been deteriorating through the years. Although fans were happy to see J. Cole standing his ground against Kendrick (with Drake himself even co-signing), some were disappointed by the light jabs and backhanded compliments. 2 days after the song’s release, J.Cole would release a statement on DreamFest stating he has nothing but admiration for Kendrick and does not wish to do battle with his friends, claiming he is choosing his own mental health and effectively pulling out of the beef, promising to delete the song. He made good on this promise 5 days after its release, disappointing fans and critics alike who feel as though this left a stain on his reputation, though some commended Cole for prioritizing his mental health. Drake was also reportedly displeased with Cole’s decision.

On April 13th, 2024, Drake released his response, “Push Ups”, though the song aims at multiple people for siding against him, especially Metro Boomin, Future, Rick Ross, and Ja Morant; the song primarily targets Kendrick Lamar, in which he mocks his height and alludes to Kendrick having to pay most of his royalties to Top Dawg. He states that many artists have already passed Lamar and flips the Michael Jackson and Prince bar to serve him better. In addition, he condemns Cole’s decision to bow out and states this extended beyond just Like That. The ending of the song also teases “Family Matters”. Many fans and critics praised Drake’s performance and hard-hitting raps, with many stating that Lamar would have to step up his lyrical game in order to top it.

2 Days later, Rick Ross would respond to Drake with “Champagne Moments”, where he alleged that Drake again also uses Ghostwriters and also sent a Cease-and-desist to block a collaboration with French Montana.

Inspired by Rick Ross’ statements to Drake, Metro Boomin would also respond to Drake with BBL Drizzy on May 5th, in which he made a free beat and offered a 10,000 award for whoever delivered the best rap on it. The song quickly went viral, with users throughout the internet sharing their own versions of it.

On April 30th, 2024, Kendrick would unexpectedly respond to “Push Ups” with “euphoria”, a track separated into 3 parts. The track states that Kendrick is not hiding and would love to beef with Drake, and takes further aim at Drake's character, calling him a scam artist and a master manipulator; he alleges that Drake sent a cease-and-desist to “Like That” record. He also states that Drake only has rap to look back on, while Kendrick has a family to look after, something Drake himself has problems with due to his own tense family relationships. Throughout the song, he aims at Drake’s insecurities, believing he resents the black side of himself and does not want him to say nigga anymore. The release of Euphoria quickly took the internet by storm, with Drake responding by posting a clip from the romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You comparing the similarities. Outside of music, New Ho King, a Chinese restaurant in Toronto, was flooded with 5-star reviews. In response to the sudden publicity, the restaurant added a “Kendrick Lamar Special” to its menu. Joe Biden’s presidential campaign team had also used Euphoria in a video against his opponent, Donald Trump, editing the lyrics to attack Trump’s character.

Round 2 (Trolling):

With Kendrick remaining radio silent after the release of Push Ups and publications ruling in favor of Drake, Drake would attempt to prompt more pressure by self-releasing Taylor Made Freestyle, a West Coast song that directly mocks Kendrick for “taking too long” to respond. The song was originally intended for Dr. Dre in 2008. The song features AI-generated vocals of Snoop Dogg and 2Pac, 2 legendary West Coast figures that he full well knows Kendrick has deep reverence for. Both the AI models mock Kendrick, with the 2Pac model suggesting he talk about Drake liking young girls and the Snoop model admonishing Kendrick for taking forever and basically setting himself up for failure. Drake himself implies the reason he doesn’t want to drop is that he doesn’t want to be overshadowed by Taylor Swift’s new album.

The song prompted a Cease-and-desist letter from Tupac Shakur’s estate demanding Drake delete the song.

On May 3rd, 2024, Kendrick would then directly respond to Taylor Made Freestyle by dropping "6:16 In LA" in a similar fashion, where he trolls Drake by suggesting that people at OVO are leaking him information and are secretly moles for Kendrick. He states that they speak ill of him behind his back. He even takes shots at DJ Akademiks (a pro Drake media enthusiast and streamer), referring to him as compromised. The cover art notably features a Maybach driving glove.

Round 3 (The Red Button/Nuclear Option):

Since 2023, Drake has been teasing “The Red Button”, a symbolic move in which he intends to release a nuke on all of his enemies. In the song of the same title, he claims that he will “kill” or destroy all of his enemies if they make him press the red button. Since then, Drake has been posting a picture from Ren & Stimpy in which Stimpy is observing a red button. On May 3, 2024, in response to all the diss tracks set against him, Drake finally released "Family Matters", a song in which he intended to bury his competition. Set in 3 parts similar to Euphoria, each part sees Drake rapping more aggressively. He accuses Lamar of showing hypocrisy for getting romantically involved with Whitney Alford, a mixed-race woman. He alleged that Whitney and Kendrick’s relationship is strained; he also claimed that one of his kids’ real father is actually Dave Free. Further attacking Kendrick’s character, he accuses him of being a performative activist. Deeper into the song, Drake takes further aim at Rick Ross, mocking him for using Ozempic, as well as mocking his past in law enforcement as a correctional officer; he criticizes A$AP Rocky for using his fashion career and relationship with Rihanna (whom Drake was romantically involved with in the past) for attention; he further attacks The Weeknd stating his team spends his money in Atlanta on or for gay men, and Metro believing he manipulated Future. In the final portions of the song, he doubles down on Kendrick; he criticizes his music as overrated and demands he steps up to take the jewelry he brought out of his house; he also denies having sent a cease and desist letter to prevent Like That’s release (though Metro Boomin debunks this by posting actual receipts) and accuses Kendrick of getting 2Pac's estate to send him a Cease & Desist. He then closes the song stating Kendrick is a domestic abuser, and Drake had successfully killed him. The accompanying video contains a visual of Drake crushing a third-generation Plymouth Grand Voyager in a junkyard as a way to symbolically bury Kendrick, along with flexing Pharrell’s jewelry & Tupac’s ring he had brought from an auction. Once again, this took the internet by storm, as it may look like Drake had successfully ended the beef between him and all of his opps, especially Kendrick; at least that’s how it looked for approximately 50 minutes…

Not even an hour later, again without warning, Kendrick Lamar would silently upload his response on YouTube. The cover art contained a zoomed-out picture of the Maybach Glove in 6:16 in LA, revealing the glove, a shirt, jewelry receipts, a visit card with Drake’s real name on it, and 3 prescription medicines for Ozempic, adderall, and Zolpidem. The cover art on streaming is blacked out due to censorship rules by Spotify and Apple Music. The song titled “Meet The Grahams”, carrying over Drake’s “family” theme, is structured in the form of an open letter where Kendrick pens remarks about Drake to his entire family. He begins the song apologizing to Adonis for Drake not being a real man to raise and offers to guide him and mentor him, suggesting he not let his father’s mistakes, insecurities, and decisions define who he is. He addresses both his parents, Sandra and Dennis, symbolically sitting them down and confessing that they gave birth to “a master manipulator” and affirmed that Drake is a misogynist, anti-black pedophile, with an entire team of sex offenders behind him exposing his child to that life. He pens a message to “baby girl”, Drake’s alleged daughter, apologizing for her “father” not being in her life and owning up to the responsibility of being a father, calling Drake a deadbeat. He then ends the song not attacking Drake’s character but attempts to humble him by suggesting he gets help discovering who he really is, even stating he does not hate Drake and battled him for the love of the game, and went deeper on Drake for mentioning his family. The song produced by The Alchemist immediately trended on the internet, taking away significant attention from Family Matters as fans and critics alike began to debate who won the beef.

Not even 24 hours later, Kendrick Lamar would upload yet another track, this one being an uptempo West Coast song produced by DJ Mustard. The song "Not Like Us" serves as yet another diss towards Drake in which he doubles down on his pedophile allegations (obliging Drake’s request in Taylor Made Freestyle) and insists that Drake is not a colleague but a colonizer who only speaks on black culture when it benefits him while failing to speak out on harsh topics associated with black culture. Kendrick continues to suggest Drake affiliates with black cultures in Atlanta to gain acceptance, street credibility, and financial gain. The song was an immediate smash hit, having gone viral on Social Media. Media outlets referred to it as the best song from the beef, effectively overshadowing Drake’s Family Matters track as the majority of fans and critics ruled Kendrick as the winner of the beef. Not Like Us had become the most successful song of that year, generating millions of views and streams upon release. The song has even been incorporated into other musicians' performances and has been parodied or freestyled to. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris even referenced it during her campaign. The song is seen as a “Victory Lap” during Lamar’s feud with Drake.

The Aftermath:

One day later, Drake would respond with “The Heart Part 6”, referencing Kendrick’s famous “The Heart” series, which he would normally release before an album dropped. 6 also references Drake frequently referring to Toronto as “The 6,” essentially an attempt to claim something dear to Kendrick. The cover art features a comment from Dave Free, again doubling down on the claim of Kendrick’s kids being Dave Free’s. The song in particular denies all the accusations Kendrick has made against Drake, while Drake himself implies that the reason Kendrick went that angle was because of his own abuse, incorrectly referencing Kendrick’s song Mother I Sober and stating he was molested, as well as doubling down on his own claims that Kendrick is a domestic abuser and Dave Free is the father of his son. He also claims that he fed Kendrick the information regarding the alleged daughter. Although essentially gaining “the last word” as the beef settled, The Heart Part 6 received negative reviews due to its nonsensical claims and contradictions towards Lamar. Furthermore, Drake implies he no longer wishes to diss Lamar due to his trauma, essentially waving the white flag and admitting defeat, as observed by some when he deleted a post promoting it following its poor reception. Lamar also intentionally ignored the song in response.

Kendrick Lamar would go on to organize “The Pop Out” Concert, a celebration event in which he headlined a show in Inglewood and would feature 3 separate acts with the first act from upcoming artists (headlined by his close friend DJ Hed) along with Tommy the Clown performing a dance number, the second act overseen by Mustard contained more established West Coast artists such as YG, Roddy Ricch, Ty Dolla $ign, as well as surprise appearances from Steve Lacy and Tyler, the Creator (the latter explaining he departed as soon he finished his set to finish work on his latest album). The third and final act saw Lamar performing songs from the beef and Kendrick’s own past albums. He was also reunited with his Black Hippy supergroup cohorts. Dr. Dre would also make a surprise appearance before Dot performs Not Like Us. He performs the song several times before inviting all the featured acts to return to the stage as well as take a picture (which went unplanned).

On July 4th, 2024, Kendrick would go on to release the official music video for Not Like Us, which features Lamar walking around Compton and linking up with many significant figures and crowds of people, as well as mocking Drake in many subtle or obvious ways, such as hitting an owl-shaped piñata and locking up an actual owl. The video reached critical acclaim and was seen as yet another victory lap for Lamar. The video also features a snippet from a then-unreleased song, “squabble up”.

In September 2024, Lamar was announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. In the video, he subtly rejects the idea of there being a round two, implying that Lamar has moved on from the beef. On September 11, 2024, Lamar would post “Watch the Party Die”, not necessarily a diss song but more of highlighting his frustrations with the music industry and desire to use the beef to shift away from hip hop’s materialistic lifestyle. Its release caused fans to speculate that Lamar may be dropping another LP soon.

On November 22, 2024, Lamar teased an unreleased song (dubbed Bodies by fans) on a trailer before surprise-dropping GNX later that day. The album served as his first official project after his departure from Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath Entertainment. GNX was met with widespread acclaim, with it being referred to as one of the best albums of 2024. Most notably, the album features guest appearances from a majority of upcoming West Coast natives, including appearances from established artists such as his longtime collaborator SZA & fellow Compton native Roddy Ricch. The album topped the charts in numerous countries, with many critics praising it as a reimagination of West Coast sound. The album also contained a few commercial hits such as Squabble Up, Luther, TV Off, and Peekaboo. Lyrically, the album addresses different topics, with its intro track “Wacced Out Murals” talking about how, despite how people may feel about him, he chooses to move forward and stand by all of his choices. He even aired out his frustrations, feeling as though Wayne is disappointed by all his hard work despite being a die-hard Wayne fan himself, and even joked that he hoped that Snoop was on the edibles when he reposted Taylor Made Freestyle. The lyrics had garnered responses from both rappers, with Snoop joking that "it was the edibles" and Wayne (who was reportedly heartbroken over not being chosen to headline the Super Bowl halftime show) who was notably offended by the comments. However, Wayne would eventually state he never heard the song when it was released and had shown support for Kendrick. Although not mentioned by name, a majority of the songs reference Drake in some form. The album also contains “heart pt 6”, a continued variation of Kendrick's The Heart series which ignores Drake’s version and subtly changes the title to distinguish them. Kendrick would later announce the Grand National Tour in support of the album, joined by SZA as his co-headliner in support of her SOS album reissue “LANA”.

On November 25, 2024, Drake appeared on a livestream with xQc and described himself as “fully intact, mind, body, and soul.” He would later state, “You would need facts to take me out; fairy tales won’t do it,” and would go on to insult Steve Lacy. Lacy and Lamar would respond to the stream with amusement. On that same day, Drake would file a petition against Universal Music Group, the parent label that owns the subsidiaries both Lamar and Drake are signed to, accusing them of using unfair and illegal tactics to boost streams for Not Like Us. UMG and Spotify both denied these claims, stating they had nothing to do with the song’s increasing popularity. The next day, Drake would file another petition against UMG and iHeartRadio for defamation and a pay-to-play scheme.

On January 3, 2025, Conductor Williams would post “Fighting Irish Freestyle,” in which Drake would address the feud and call out LeBron James for his “disloyalty,” as the NBA player had attended “The Pop Out” despite his friendship with Drake. On the 15th, Drake and his legal team would move forward with his defamation lawsuit against UMG in New York federal court. Lamar was not named as the defendant. Drake alleged that Not Like Us led to break-in attempts at his house and required him to travel with increased security. The lawsuit also claims that the song caused emotional damages to Drake’s well-being. UMG would file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that they have put up with Drake’s numerous feuds and pointing out that Kendrick had taken Drake’s suggestion in Taylor Made and repurposed it.

On February 2, 2025, Not Like Us would go on to win all 5 of its Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video, becoming the second rap song to win in the first category. Drake was not mentioned in any of Lamar’s speeches; instead, it was dedicated to the City of Los Angeles and his fiancé. His outfit, a Canadian tuxedo, can also be seen as a playful jab at Drake, however.

On February 9, 2025, Kendrick performed at the Super Bowl using mainly cuts from GNX. He would also perform Euphoria during his set. During an interlude, he briefly teased playing Not Like Us and even joked, “I want to play their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” alluding to Drake’s lawsuit before switching to another track. In a later interlude, he stated, “they tried to rig the game but you can’t fake influence,” again alluding to the lawsuit and rumors that Drake attempted to get Not Like Us barred from performance. He would then play the track and would intentionally look into the camera with a devious smile when saying, “Say Drake, I hear you like em young”. The performance also contained a cameo from Serena Williams crip walking on set (alluding to their brief dating history). The performance would end with a sign that says “Game Over,” which can be inferred as Kendrick acknowledging his win. The term pedophile was also censored to avoid legal issues with the FCC. The performance was widely acclaimed and, to date, remains the most-watched halftime show in the United States, with a total of 133.5 million viewers, surpassing Michael Jackson’s performance in 1993.

Although Drake stated his desire to move on from and not address the beef, in his collaborative album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, his song “Gimme A Hug” finds him reflecting on the feud and commenting on his “resilience”. He again throws shade at Lamar, saying he wants to “get the party lit” and explains his music is too cerebral for partying. While on tour, Drake would unveil himself in a shirt with bullet holes to symbolize his resilience. He would also go on to amend his lawsuit to include the Super Bowl performance, pointing out that the word pedophile which was censored, is defamatory. He also criticized the Canadian Politician Jagmeet Singh for attending the Grand National Tour during his stop in Toronto promoting Singh to apologize. During said show, Lamar would, on request, perform Not Like Us twice. Drake would also release “What Did I Miss?" Where he criticizes and shades his former friends (including LeBron James) for attending the Pop Out.

Drake’s lawsuit against UMG would then be dismissed by Judge Jeannette Vargas due to Drake’s case being “largely incoherent” and arguing that Lamar’s lyrics were a “non-actionable opinion” that listeners would not take seriously as fact. Furthermore, she stated that New York Law does not permit defamation lawsuits for statements of opinion. Drake would go on to appeal the lawsuit on October 29, 2025.

On February 6, 2026, J.Cole would go on to release his highly anticipated album "The Fall Off". It was initially planned for release in 2024, and Lamar was supposed to feature in 2 tracks; however, his subsequent feud with Kendrick led to Lamar’s contributions being removed and Cole reworking the entire album. The album itself does not lyrically reflect on the beef, but the track "What If" can be interpreted as an apology to Kendrick and as him not wanting any bad blood between the 2.

On May 15, 2026, Drake released his highly anticipated album Iceman, along with the surprise release of 2 additional albums, Maid of Honour and HABIBTI. Unlike Cole, much of the album details Drake reflecting on the beef and insulting Lamar (not mentioning him by name, however), as well as his other feuds such as Pusha T, Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky, and Rihanna. "Make Them Pay" details Drake dismissing the Big Three Notion, shades Cole for backing out, and again reaffirms his belief, accusing UMG of illegally boosting Kendrick’s sales. “Ran to Atlanta” borrows a line from Not Like Us, in which Drake enlisted Future for a collaboration, suggesting they have reconciled (despite Future siding with Lamar in 2024). The song in which Drake defends his relationship with Atlanta Rappers.