2024 is one of the craziest times to be a hip hop fan in history, on par with East vs West coast tensions in the 90’s and I’d say it’s even better because these rappers are solving their conflict with words. The tensions in rap today have been labeled as the “Rap Civil War” and is between many artists but the big names and most impactful to the media are Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
This will be very biased because Kendrick Lamar is my number one most listened artist of all time but everything is how I actually feel and not just a bump to make Drake look horrible
TIMELINE
- March 22, 2024. Metro Boomin and Future dropped their album “WE DON’T TRUST YOU” and to everyone’s surprise Kendrick Lamar was an unlisted feature on the song Like That.
- April 5, 2024. J Cole responds to Kendricks 1 minute verse with 7 Minute Drill.
- April 13, 2024. Drake drops Push Ups.
- April 19, 2024. Drake drops again with Taylor Made Freestlye.
- April 30, 2024. Kendrick drops Euphoria.
- May 3, 2024. Kendrick drops 6:16 in LA which is a direct reference to Drakes whole career which is filed with songs titled a timestamp and a place.
- May 3, 2024. Drake drops Family Matters.
- May 4, 2024, 30 minutes after Drake dropped Family Matters. Kendrick drops Meet The Grahams.
- May 4, 2024. Kendrick drops Not Like Us.
- May 5, 2024. Drake drops The Heart Part 6.
Rating & Ranking The Tracks
- The Heart Part 6. – Drake – 2/10
This might be one of the worst disses I’ve ever heard, on the level of 2018 youtuber beef music. Drake doesn’t even diss Kendrick and instead just says “nuh uh” to some of the allegations brought onto him by K Dot. Drake dug himself into more of a hole when saying he isn’t a pedophile and then name drops Millie Bobby Brown even when nobody specifically mentioned her. He also said that if he did have sexual relations with minors then he would be in prison and he’s too famous to do something that heinous, which is one of the most stupid non-points I’ve ever heard muttered. Drake is known to use ghostwriters for his whole career and now ai, but he very clearly wrote this himself because it is a contender for his worst song in his cold streak of music that has spanned since he dropped Views. Not only is it a terrible diss but it’s not even a good song overall, nobody is bumping this in the car or the club. It only gets the extra point to be a 2/10 because its so bad its funny.
- Taylor Made Freestyle – Drake – 2/10
Drake used ai voices of Kendricks idols, 2Pac and Snoop Dogg, to hype himself up and make fun of Kendrick for being short again. Drake uses these voices to call Kendrick a fake gangster because he didn’t go to prison and doesn’t live that life anymore. Drake tries to ally himself with Taylor Swift by praising her then goes on to challenge Kendr
ick to drop a quintuple entendre. This diss is so bad it’s not even funny, the only reason it is higher is because it is kind of savage to use Kendrick’s idols to diss him, but he just called him short and a fake gangster. After this I hope Drake stops trying to be hard and just makes the melodic music, he has been good at.
- 7 Minute Drill – J Cole – 4/10
This diss can be summed up with one part of averse. “ fell off like the Simpsons, Your first sh*t was classic, Your last sh*t was tragic, Your second sh*t put ni***s to sleep but they gassed it, Your third sh*t was massive and that was your prime, I was trailin’ right behind and I just now hit mine.” My immediate reaction is a long sigh, J Cole is delusional. J Cole is trying to say that his discography is somehow better than Kendricks? His first album was a classic, being good kid, m.A.A.d city, which I would agree with and that is the last time I will say that. His last album was tragic, being Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers which won album of the year and a slew of other accolades and is a genuinely very good album that has gotten better with time so maybe he means the me
ssage behind it is tragic. His second album put people to sleep? To Pimp A Butterfly, disregarding genres, it is one of the best albums EVER made, the BEST album of the 2010’s and has been the gold standard for what artists want to make since it came out. His third album was his prime, DAMN. is a very good album but it’s hard to say where Kendricks’s prime is because he had a different objective and way of expressing his ideas that he met perfectly with every album, so every album is intentionally different, but if we are talking about a prime it’s probably when he dropped the greatest rap album of all time. J Cole tried to call Kendrick’s discography bad when he has zero classics, even 2014 Forest Hills Drive only has a handful of good songs. The best thing J Cole ever did in his career was apologize to Kendrick 2before he responded.
- Like That – Metro Boomin & Future feat. Kendrick Lamar – 5/10
Kendricks verse on this is the only good part because Future committed some actual hate crimes on this beat and nearly wasted it if it wasn’t for K Dot. In1 minute, Kendrick started a rap civil war with the best verse of the year so far and his verse didn’t get topped by anyone until he dropped again. Kendrick had some very tame disses and simply states, “ mothafu** the big three, ni***, it’s just big ME.” because Drake and J Cole are not on his level. If this song was Kendrick dissing for the full 4 and a half minutes, then it could genuinely be the best song of the year because Metro did a fantastic job on the beat.
- Family Matters – Drake – 5/10
I am in genuine shock as to how bad this is. Drake did what Kendrick did and asked for with three beat switches, and each time he changed it got significantly worse. The first beat and his flow were not even bad, and he made some serious accusations towards Kendrick such as saying he’s a woman beater and his kid might not be his. Drake made several mistakes, but one of the biggest is trying to make a catchy song and not a good d
- Push Up – Drake – 5.5/10
Drake once again tries to make a catchy song rather than a good diss, but he succeeded at one because it’s not a bad song. In terms of disses Drake doesn’t really say anything except for Kendrick is short, has small feet, and tries to claim that SZA, Travis Scott and 21 Savage are all above Kendrick in a “Big Three” conversation, which is just wrong. Drake keeps talking about himself with all his money and that he’s a dog
iss, because he fails at both. I am appalled and have very few words other than this is just terrible.
but says very little about Kendrick.
- 6:16 in LA – Kendrick Lamar – 8/10
Every Kendrick diss immediately gets 7/10 because he wrote all his responses ahead of time, literally predicting what Drake would do. Kendrick dropped a very good sounding song with one very big deal of a diss. Kendrick tells Drake that his people at OVO do not like him and he has a mole or few that are giving him information whichis an absolute bombshell of a reveal. Kendrick knows everything that Drake is doing right now so he knows he is losing sleep over this feud. Kendrick also calls out Drake to use memes to respond instead of actual disses.
- Meet The Grahams – Kendrick Lamar – 10/10
This could very well be the best diss track ever made. Kendrick drops a straight up diss, no dilly dallying trying to make it super catchy like the other responses and he still manages to make it a good song. Kendrick writes letters to each member of Drakes family apologizing for the terrible father or son they have in their lives. Kendr
- Euphoria – Kendrick Lamar – 10/10
6 minutes and 23 seconds with 3 beat switch
ick calls Drake a bad influence for his son, a terrible son with a gambling problem, a pedophile that keeps pedophiles on payroll at OVO, and a deadbeat father for the second time and that’s all before his verse to Drake. In his verse to Drake, he calls him a weirdo with women, he craves entitlement, craves attention, body shamer, deadbeat father, a liar that lied about a long laundry list of things. This song is an absolute bombshell of a response and Kendrick absolutely destroyed Drake but still has more to say which is insane.
es that could each be their own dedicated diss tracks. If you disregard all the harsh disses Kendrick makes, this song is an absolute troll by Kendrick because he did what Drake always does by making a song that would get played in the club but un
- Not Like Us – Kendrick Lamar – 10/10
The actual best song of the year. Kendrick continues calling Drake and his crew pedophiles and does so over an incredible beat. Super clike Drake, Kendrick has actual substance in his song. Kendrick ends the first verse and beat by saying “don’t tell no lies ‘bout me, and I won’t tell truths ‘bout you.”, which goes so unbelievably hard because he’s saying that the truths he knows about Drake are worse than any believable lies Drake could tell aboutKendrick. Kendrick brings up Pusha T because Drake still hasn’t settled that yet and is trying to get into a beef with a better artist than the person he lost to already. There is not a single bar in this song that isn’t catchy or just savage.
atchy and very funny. After the murder that Meet The Grahams was, this feels like Kendrick celebrating and dancing on Drake’s grave. This song is just straight up funny and hype.
This photo is a visualization of what Not Like Us sounds like.
RESULT – Kendrick Wins
Kenrick absolutely destroyed Drake on every front; disses, numbers, public view, reputation. Drake is so dumb for trying to beef with an artist that is a top 3 rapper of all time, when he couldn’t beat a guy who isn’t top 50. There is no winning this because it is over already, Drake could drop more but it wouldn’t do anything. A big part of why this is so insane that is glossed over by a lot of people, is Kendrick recorded most of his responses around the same time so he predicted what Drake would say. This beef has been a great thing for the rap game because people are dropping more and especially Kendrick because there are talks of him working on a album. This is a top 3 rap beef of all time easily, the only thing that might beat it is 2 Pac and Biggie but this might actually be number 1 because it is as savage as Pac and Biggie, but it didn’t end in violence, Kendrick just murdered his character and reputation for life using his words which is much more powerful.
