Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud
Updated: Wikipedia source
Canadian rapper Drake and American rapper Kendrick Lamar have been involved in a rap feud since 2013, when Drake responded to Lamar's verse on the Big Sean song "Control". It escalated in 2024 with Lamar's lyrics in the song "Like That". The two began on favorable terms in 2011. On August 14, 2013, Lamar dissed Drake, among many rappers, on "Control", but claimed his verse was "friendly competition". Over the next decade, the two denied speculation that they had dissed each other on various songs. In 2023, on rapper J. Cole and Drake's song "First Person Shooter", Cole claimed that he, Drake, and Lamar were the "big three" of modern hip-hop; on "Like That" in March 2024, Lamar rejected the notion of a big three, saying the top spot in hip hop was "just big me". In April 2024, Cole responded by dissing Lamar on "7 Minute Drill" before apologizing shortly after release, then Drake dissed Lamar with "Push Ups" and "Taylor Made Freestyle". On April 30, Lamar responded to Drake in "Euphoria" and, on May 3, in "6:16 in LA". Later on May 3, Drake released "Family Matters", accusing Lamar of domestic abuse and claiming that Lamar's collaborator, music producer Dave Free, biologically fathered Lamar's son. Twenty minutes later, Lamar released "Meet the Grahams", accusing Drake of sexual predation (including sex trafficking), lying about Lamar's family, and having fathered a second secret child; rapper Pusha T had previously revealed in a 2018 track that Drake secretly had a son named Adonis. On May 4, on "Not Like Us", Lamar accused Drake of pedophilia. On May 5, Drake released "The Heart Part 6", which denied Lamar's accusations and claimed Drake's team fed Lamar false information about a second child. In January 2025, Drake filed a petition against and then sued Universal Music Group (UMG)—his and Lamar's record label—in the Southern District Court of New York, for releasing "Not Like Us", alleging that the song was defamatory and that it was promoted by UMG with illegal tactics. In 2025, Drake reflected on the feud on "Fighting Irish Freestyle"; and Lamar won five Grammy Awards for "Not Like Us" (including Song of the Year), performing it and "Euphoria" at Super Bowl LIX. In October 2025 "Not Like Us" was legally adjudicated in U.S. federal court to not be an actionable act of libel or slander but merely a successful exemplar of the genre "diss track," with a "catchy beat and propulsive bassline." Media outlets, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Guardian of London, and Rolling Stone magazine, have broadly declared Kendrick Lamar the winner.