For the past several years, three different hip-hop artists have made up the “Big 3” of the rapping industry. These artists are Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and J Cole. Being the top three rappers, a rivalry has developed among them over the years.
The rappers occasionally include minor insults towards each other during songs, interviews, and events. For example, Lamar’s verse in Big Sean’s “Control” depicts that he was “trying to murder” Drake, Cole, and a few other rappers. According to BBC News, Drake’s retaliation was to say “I know good and well Lamar’s not murdering me at all.” This sparked a friendly competition that has remained between the three rappers for the past decade.
However, things have recently taken a turn since the release of “Like That” by Metro Boomin and Future, featuring a verse from Lamar. In this verse, Lamar said that there was no “Big 3” and “it’s just big me,” contrary to Cole’s “First Person Shooter” lyric, “We the big three like we started a league.”
“The power of the verse can’t really be conveyed in print, but when it ends with Lamar promising to put all of Drake and J Cole’s ‘dogs’ in the ‘pet sematary’ – you know a fuse has been lit,” BBC News said.
After the song was released, Cole decided to release a song of his own called “7 Minute Drill.” In the song, he implied that Lamar’s music was on a decline and said that he “fell off like the Simpsons.” However, Cole quickly apologized for the song and took it off all streaming platforms.
Drake, on the other hand, did not back out of the situation. He released “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle” exactly four weeks after “Like That” was released. In “Push Ups,” Drake called out Lamar for his “Control” verse from 2013, claiming that Lamar ultimately started the feud after that song. He also repeatedly commented on Lamar’s size, calling him short and saying, “How … you big steppin’ with a size seven men’s on?”
His other song, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” featured an AI-generated verse from late rapper Tupac Shakur. According to People Magazine, after a “threat of legal action” from Tupac’s estate, Drake decided to delete this diss track. “Push Ups” still remains streamable.
The two rappers continued to make diss tracks, and eventually “Meet The Grahams” was released by Lamar. The song claimed that Drake has a daughter that he has been keeping hidden from the public. Drake later addressed this as false and said he’d planted that information for Lamar to find.
“You got gamblin’ problems, drinkin’ problems, pill poppin’ and spendin’ problems,” Lamar said, along with calling him a predator and solicitor.
Lamar also released “Not Like Us,” where he further elaborated on Drake being an alleged sexual predator and called him a “certified pedophile.” In response, Drake uploaded “The Heart Part 6” to YouTube. The song name was a reference to Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5.”
“The Heart Part 6” ended up being unsuccessful, gathering almost 1 million dislikes from YouTube users across the world. Because his latest diss track wasn’t very successful, it is possible that Drake may not release another one.
If “The Heart Part 6” does end up being the last of the diss track series, then the feud may publicly come to a close. Based on the number of supporters for each rapper during the feud, it can be inferred that Lamar has won their lyrical battle.
Edited on Aug. 28, 2024 for clearer citation.
