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The Kendrick–Drake Rap Battle Became Meme Culture at Its Finest

The Kendrick Lamar–Drake battle became a participatory internet event as fans decoded diss tracks, shared reactions, and turned each new release into meme material.
Opened Runtime3 min Written byDocumentaryTube Team
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The Kendrick Lamar–Drake battle became an internet event as much as a music feud: every new track gave listeners fresh lyrics and references to decode, while reaction clips and jokes turned that decoding into a shared spectacle. The memes helped make the battle feel participatory—but they are not the same thing as the songs’ chart success, and no reliable source establishes the total reach of the memes.

How the battle became a rolling online event

The exchange intensified in spring 2024. In March, Lamar took aim at Drake and J. Cole on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” according to The Washington Post’s May 7, 2024 account. Drake answered in April with “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” drawing attention to what Lamar would say next.

Then the pace accelerated. Drake released “Family Matters” on May 3; Lamar responded with “Meet the Grahams” and, on May 4, “Not Like Us.” The quick succession gave fans a stream of new material to interpret and react to. Know Your Meme’s archive of the feud documents jokes and reaction videos tied to that sequence, including an RDCWorld1 skit responding to the “Meet the Grahams” and “Family Matters” back-and-forth.

Why the memes took off

Each release changed what people were discussing

Unlike a feud that unfolds through occasional interviews, this one moved through a fast sequence of tracks and countertracks. Each release invited listeners to search lyrics, references, and visual details for clues; the next song could quickly shift the conversation. Fans were not only choosing a favorite track. They were trying to work out what each artist meant and how each new response changed the story.

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Decoding became a group activity

The Washington Post described social media and decentralized hip-hop media as amplifiers of audience participation, with fans looking for Easter eggs and context across the conversation. Rory Farrell, co-host of the hip-hop podcast New Rory & Mal, called it “a scavenger hunt game that everybody in hip-hop was a part of.” That image captures the appeal: understanding the references—and arguing about them—became part of the entertainment.

The reactions were content, too

Fans and creators could turn a new lyric, a sudden reply, or a listening-party moment into a joke or reaction video. Know Your Meme’s “Not Like Us” entry records examples of memes and videos inspired by the track, including people sharing club reactions. Those examples show how music and meme formats fed into one another; they do not represent every platform or the whole online audience.

What “Not Like Us” and “A minor” mean in the memes

“Not Like Us,” released May 4, became the most conspicuous soundtrack for the meme wave. The song’s repeated refrain and pointed lyrics gave listeners material they could quote, perform, remix, or react to. One lyric, “A minor,” was especially easy to lift into jokes: in context, it is part of Lamar’s accusation against Drake. Its circulation as a punchline does not make the underlying accusation a verified fact.

That distinction matters throughout the battle. The diss tracks include serious allegations and counterclaims made by the artists. They should be understood as claims within a rap feud, not as independently established facts simply because a lyric became a viral meme.

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Memes, chart success, and awards measure different things

The battle’s online life and its music-industry results overlap, but one cannot stand in for the other. “Not Like Us” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 18, 2024, stayed there for two weeks, and spent 38 weeks on the chart, according to the Associated Press’s timeline, updated February 5, 2025. Those are chart-performance figures, not a count of memes or total online exposure.

At the 2025 Grammy Awards, Lamar won five Grammys, including two for “Not Like Us,” the AP reports. That recognition is another measure of the song’s impact—not a tally of how many people saw, made, or shared memes. The sources document notable posts and videos, but do not establish a defensible total for the battle’s overall meme reach or participation across platforms.

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Why the online response became part of the spectacle

The battle offered a rare combination: prominent artists trading records at a rapid pace, lyrics that invited interpretation, and audiences able to turn each new development into public commentary. Social platforms made that commentary visible and shareable. The result was not simply a set of jokes attached to a feud; it was a participatory way of following the feud, where listening, decoding, reacting, and meme-making happened alongside one another.

That does not mean every fan agreed on a winner, or that any one viral clip represented the internet as a whole. It means the audience’s shared search for meaning became one of the event’s defining features.

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