Drake vs. Kendrick: Clash of the Titans

The year was 2012. The end of the world was approaching, Lebron James and the Miami Heat dominated the NBA and Barack Obama was preparing for re-election. North of the land of the free and home of the brave, in Toronto, Aubrey Graham, better known as Drake, was preparing for the “Club Paradise Tour” world tour, with his October’s Very Own (OVO), following the release of his second studio album, the now historic “Take Care”, catapulted by the success of “Thank Me Later”.

On the west coast, in Compton, a city in California, a small young man named Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was beginning to capture national and international attention. Supported by the label Top Dawg Entertainment and guys like Antony Tiffith, Ab Soul, Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock, a fundamental personality in the ignition of his career, the spotlight came on with “Overly Dedicated”, began to shine brightly with “Section 80” in 2011 and that year he was preparing to cook one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of rap, the iconic “good kid, mAAd city”.

Taking advantage of the Californian’s moment, Drake, with a different status in the industry, invites Kendrick to open one of his shows on the Club Paradise tour, in the USA and Europe, after having already invited him to shine on the track “Buried Alive Interlude”, on last year.

Looking to give back and attract new audiences to the nascent album, K. Dos [Kenrick Lamar] invites Drizzy to collaborate on the record “Poetic Justice”. Everything was going well for the two artists and their respective groups, money and fame flowed and respect seemed to come naturally.

Fast forward to 2024 and the success, although predictable, of both reaches stratospheric levels. Records are broken for streams, sales and popularity, album releases put the music industry on the brink of collapse and the culture changes forever. In different registers: Kendrick more spaced out, conceptual and jazzy, Aubrey [Drake] more tumultuous, productive and trendy. Both? Very heavy.

Nothing would anticipate a beef between two established icons of contemporary hip-hop… or would you?

First of all, culture. Hip-hop is a culture of competition, belligerence and technique. The sociological context where it was born and its infusions explain that any artist sucked into this world faces, sooner or later, the idea of ​​being the best in the game. To do this you need an ego, a mastery of using a pen, strong beats and a hungry desire to collect heads to put on the fireplace. It was like that with Pac and Biggie, Ice Cube, NWA and Eazy-E, Jay-Z and Nas or Eminem.

When two bodies, two gigantic masses, gravitate in the same system, it is inevitable that, sooner or later, they will enter into a collision course. It all starts in 2013, Lamar participates with a legendary verse on Big Sean’s “Control”, in which, to the surprise of the host himself, he declares war on half the world of hip-hop, including Drake. At that moment he acquires an aura of untouchability and one who should not be affronted.

Now Aubrey [Drake], with no open response to this verse, entertained himself with furtive lines and beefs with Meek Mill and, later, Pusha T and Kanye West. In this dispute, children who were hiding from the world or their world are discovered, doctrine diverges, relationships are ended and ethnic roots are questioned.

The years pass, the figures grow larger and the subliminal shots from one side to the other never fade, especially looking retrospectively at some of the bars.

Until in October 2023, the dawn that ends the silence sounds. J. Cole and Drizzy’s collaborative track “First Person Shooter Mode” is released on the album “For All the Dogs”. Cole places himself alongside Drake and Kendrick in the top 3 rappers today, which, added to all the unknown backstage details and the accumulation of subliminals, would have been the final straw for the latter.

Kendrick Lamar couldn’t stay and jumped, months later, on the track Like That by Future and Metro Boomin, artists from Atlanta with major disagreements with 6 God, mainly passionate and related to the production process, launching a deliberate attack on the two artists. For Dot it was war time: screw the big three, it was just him.

Cole is quick to respond on “7 Minute Drill” from the unsuccessful mixtape “Might Delete Later”. Ironically, not accepting the hatred and tone used, she actually ends up deleting the track. But the focus was never on the Charlotte rapper or the Georgia rapper and producer. Not even the kind of weekend songs. The animosity was even between two generational titans of an industry more popular than ever.

Thus, the decline begins, Aubrey launches “Push Ups”, addressing the reasons for Kendrick’s turbulent departure from the TDE label, namely the alleged leonine pact and the percentages received, his stature and the MC’s inability to produce in abundance or create hits commercials, without leaving aside artists like Rick Ross, Future, Metro, The Weekend who took advantage of the first shot to criticize him, in a kind of 20 vs. 1.

Seventeen days pass and we finally hear something coming from California. And what a blast. We have entered the Blitzkrieg phase of this dispute: 6 days, 6 songs.

April 30th Kendrick releases “Euphoria”, questioning the use of the n-word, the merit of his achievements, his appearance and the use of ghostwriters by the Canadian star. May 3rd comes out at “6:16 in LA”, in a reference to Drake’s traditional timestamps, exposing the alleged traitors within the OVO team. Later that same day, Drake responded with the song “Family Matters”, complete with a music video, in which he destroyed GKMC’s famous van, accusing Kendrick of infidelity and domestic violence.

There was no need to wait long for a response. The next day, Kendrick releases a combination: “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us”, the latter with the potential to be a successful single, from the sample used to the uppity flow and powerful bars, everything is in place. With a provocative cover, aerial photography of the embassy, ​​Drake’s home in Toronto, the message this time was to expose his poor parental qualities, the suspicion of the existence of an unacknowledged 11-year-old daughter, secret cosmetic operations and serious accusations of pedophilia.

The last shot to date takes place on May 5th. In “The Heart Pt.6”, an allusion to the singles that preceded Lamar’s albums, Aubrey reveals that false information was planted about a possible daughter and other details about his team, in order to create an idea of ​​an atmosphere of betrayal in the within the October firm. She attacks, once again, Kendrick’s relationship with Whitney Alford, engaged for over 9 years and with two children, by focusing on the father’s estrangement from his children, an extramarital relationship with Dave Free and domestic violence.

It’s not simple, nor clean. There is art and a lot of talent in the process, but there is much more beyond this. It’s part of the game, we are privileged to be able to enjoy it. We hope that the bloody outcome of 28 years ago will not be repeated. The industry wouldn’t support it. Neither do we, the culture.