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By: Adam Belmares
It has now been 11 months since the infamous rivalry of hip-hop artists Kendrick Lamar and Drake shook up pop culture and music after Lamar's surprise feature on Metro Boomin and Future's record “Like That" which included a verse that reignited the feud between the two artists and took the pop culture and music world by storm. Before the surprise verse from Lamar that served as a response to Drake and J. Cole's “First Person Shooter" track where both artists referred to themselves as the top two best artists in the rap game, leaving Lamar as the third best artist due to his absence and lack of releasing new music. Since Lamar's sinister and direct response, many factors have changed for both artists nearly a year after the initial track that started debates and forced rap fans to pick a side.
Since the end of the back-and-forth battle between two of the most dominant rap artists within the last two decades, Lamar has been crowned by many hip-hop fans around the world as the victor of the battle due to a variety of factors that came after the battle was done. After the release of “Not Like Us", which served as the biggest song of the summer, it has since become one of the most successful records in music history. Since arriving on streaming platforms, the record has surpassed over a billion streams. It has been recently awarded five Grammy awards including the Song of the Year and Record of the Year awards in February 2025, leading to the record winning out all nominations and becoming the most-awarded rap record in the history of the Grammys.
After receiving high praise from music fans and reclaiming the crown in the music industry, Lamar suddenly released his highly anticipated album with a surprise album on November 22, 2024, named ‘GNX'. Lamar's west-coast dedicated album accumulated 363 million streams on Spotify during its opening week, marking the biggest rap streaming week of 2024 and becoming the seventh-largest streaming week ever on the platform. Since debuting, multiple songs on the album have dominated the Billboard Hot 100, with “Squabble Up" debuting at number one, “TV Off" at number two, and “Luther" at number three. Eight songs from the surprise album have since earned top 10 spots on the chart.
To add to the fire, Lamar was named the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performer on September 8, 2024. Lamar's performance on February 9, 2025, led to ‘GNX' experiencing a resurgence in popularity and sales bringing it back to number one on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition, the highly televised performance made Kendrick Lamar the first rapper to have three albums simultaneously in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, which consisted of: ‘GNX', ‘DAMN.', and ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city'. The performance consisted of subliminal messages to bring awareness towards social injustice, systematic racism, and the identity of minorities. Lamar teased the audience about playing the “Not Like Us" record but eventually performed it and strategically name-dropped Drake in front of 127.7 million viewers worldwide and played out the first verse of the song that criticizes the type of individual Drake is as a person and accuses him of being a pedophile. Since the halftime show, Lamar has continued to dominate the Billboard charts and has shown no signs of slowing down after his victory lap to wrap up his feud with Drake.
In contrast, the success of the hit record “Not Like Us" left Drake in an interesting position. Ironically, Drake has been historically documented as one of the best hitmakers and most consistent artists in the music industry. Lamar's ability to create a hit record that would shatter award show and song chart records essentially beat Drake at his own game. Since the end of their public feud and release of diss tracks against each other, Drake has strategically released ‘Some Sexy Songs 4 U' on February 14, a collaboration album with fellow Canadian native PARTYNEXTDOOR. This album serves as a filler between Drake's first solo album since the end of the feud and the shift in the public eye's opinion of Drake. The highly anticipated R&B album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 246,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. As a result, Drake now holds 14 number-one albums, tying him with Jay-Z and Taylor Swift for the most number-one albums by a solo artist. The album assisted Drake in eliminating pressure from the media by demonstrating his musical impact, his plans to stay consistent, and not rattled by the result of the diss tracks.
Along with the release of new music, Drake filed a defamation lawsuit against UMG, the parent company of both his and Lamar's record labels on January 15, 2025, accusing UMG of facilitating the distribution of “Not Like Us" despite its defamatory content. The active lawsuit claims that UMG and iHeartMedia participated in a “pay-to-play" scheme to promote “Not Like Us" on radio platforms and increase streaming numbers to manipulate the public into believing that the record is bigger than it is statistically. Media personal and significant pop culture figures have publicly voiced their opinion on Drake's decision to take the decade-long feud to court, claiming Drake is becoming a “sore-loser" and “snitching" on stream manipulation tactics that he has allegedly taken advantage to benefit his own music's chart performance in the past.
In February 2025, Drake announced a tour across Australia and New Zealand, which has been postponed with four shows remaining due to scheduling conflicts. Lamar is set to kick off his “Grand National Tour" with SZA in support of his new ‘GNX' album on April 19, 2025, with North America and European dates.
After a decade of sneak-disses, references to each other in music and public performances, and growing tension between two of the most decorated and awarded rap artists of this generation, the intense competition of rap battling and the roots of hip-hop returned to the media and served as a monumental moment of entertainment and display of talent. Despite Lamar's recent and ongoing success from his victory over Drake, both musicians continue to achieve significant musical milestones, remain in the ears of their beloved listeners and fans, and maintain their influence in the hip-hop realm.
Overall, it is vital to take a step back and appreciate the greatness and the prime of artists at their peak, competing against each other and digging deep into their toolboxes to reclaim the attention of their audiences. Although the media can sometimes put us in a position that makes us feel that we must choose a side to root for, it is essential to be appreciative of both sides and strive to value both artists while they are still in their competitive form and present in the music industry.
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