By: Daylon Riley
Is it the greatest rap “beef” of the century? Some people say of all time as the two go at it with more than just lyrics.
The world didn’t see it coming but a lyrical death match between the biggest rappers in the game today, Drake and Kendrick Lamar is just what was needed. At first, things seemed between the young artists when they collaborated on each other’s records during the early stages of their careers. As time passed, friendly fire became a volcanic eruption, sparked by Lamar’s feature that sent shockwaves across the rap world on March 22, 2024, on Future and Metro Boomin’s “We Don’t Trust You album.” which then led to a 9 song dispute between the two Grammy winning artists.
“My intent from day one was to keep the nature of it as a sport,” Kendrick explained during a new Apple Music interview. “I don’t care how motherfuckers look at it as far as a collaborative effort. That’s cool too, but I love when artists grit they teeth.”
Drake’s controversial “Taylor Made” (reference to artist Taylor Swift) Freestyle utilised AI-generated voices of two of Lamar’s heroes; Snoop Dogg and the late, great, Tupac Shakur to goad him into a reply. Kendrick’s rebuttal was Euphoria, a track questioning Drake’s parenting skills, rumours that he’d had plastic surgery and his use of AI.
After having a few more back and forth drops between the two, Kendrick then releases a song that would send waves throughout the world for the rest of the year solidifying he is the winner as well as going on to pick up two Grammy awards.
The world was listening and as of 11 May, “Not Like Us”’ was the number one song on Spotify’s global chart, with over 57 million streams since its release. With all 5 seconds Kendrick Lamar holds on to the last letter of “A minor” in Not Like Us, the inflammatory song about his fellow rapper Drake, his raspy vocals reverberate through hip-hop and popular culture.
Since its release on 4 May, “Not Like Us” has been dissected on social media, played at NBA basketball games and boomed from DJ booths at parties from London to Los Angeles; New York to Atlanta, and even in our daily rotation of music,piercing the public consciousness.
To put the icing on the cake “Not Like Us” landed Kendrick a Super Bowl 59 halftime show performance, and you guessed it, not only did he perform the ‘hit’ but he called Drake’s name on worldwide television as well as held on to the 5 second “A minor” which felt like 10 this time.
All in all, people said Drake won and people said that Kendrick came out on top. One thing for sure is that the audience was definitely entertained for some months.
THE PHAROS 
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