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Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud is a decade-long rivalry over rap’s top position, authenticity, influence and artistic identity—not the result of one isolated insult. Their relationship began with collaborations in 2011 and 2012. Lamar’s verse on Big Sean’s Control in 2013 created the first major public rupture, but the modern, direct battle began when Lamar rejected the “big three” on Future and Metro Boomin’s Like That in March 2024.
The battle produced a rapid exchange of diss tracks, including Drake’s Push Ups and Family Matters, and Lamar’s Euphoria, Meet the Grahams and Not Like Us. Lamar was widely perceived as the public and cultural winner, especially after Not Like Us reached No. 1, won five Grammys and appeared in his Super Bowl LIX halftime show. But the most serious accusations in the songs remain allegations and battle rhetoric—not established facts.
As of August 10, 2026, the concentrated 2024 exchange is dormant rather than definitively erased. Drake continued addressing its fallout on What Did I Miss? and his 2026 album ICEMAN, while his defamation case against Universal Music Group was dismissed at the district-court level and remained on appeal in the researched record.
Two different feuds: the long rivalry and the 2024 battle
It is useful to separate two connected stories.
- The long rivalry: Beginning publicly with Control in 2013, this period was dominated by competitive tension, indirect references and arguments about status.
- The 2024 battle: A direct, fast-moving exchange that began with Like That and escalated into attacks involving careers, race, collaborators, family, relationships and alleged sexual misconduct.
Calling Control the beginning of the entire feud is too simple. Calling Like That the beginning of the rivalry is also inaccurate. Control was the original public rupture; Like That detonated the modern battle.
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The early relationship was professional and positive, but the two artists were not necessarily close friends whose personal friendship suddenly collapsed. Kendrick Lamar appeared on Drake’s Take Care, Drake appeared on Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, and Lamar opened much of Drake’s Club Paradise Tour. Their connection also contained an obvious status difference: Drake was already an established global star, while Lamar was emerging as one of rap’s most ambitious new voices.
Why did Drake and Kendrick Lamar start feuding?
1. A contest over rap’s top position
The immediate 2024 trigger was a hierarchy argument. On Drake’s October 2023 song First Person Shooter, J. Cole referred to himself, Drake and Kendrick as rap’s “big three.” Lamar’s response on Like That rejected the idea that the three were co-equals. His “big three” dismissal—followed by the claim that there was only “big me”—turned a group compliment into a two-person contest, with Drake as the most obvious target.
That framing mattered because rap arguments about the greatest living artist are rarely only about sales. They involve technical ability, influence, cultural authority, consistency and the ability to represent a particular community or tradition. Lamar attacked Drake’s right to occupy the highest position; Drake’s responses argued that Lamar’s reputation exceeded his commercial reach and output.
2. Different ideas of authenticity
Lamar’s central criticism was that Drake was a commercially successful but culturally inauthentic artist: a Toronto performer who, in Lamar’s telling, borrowed credibility, sounds and collaborators from Atlanta, the American South, the West Coast and other rap scenes. The attack presented Drake as someone who moves through hip-hop cultures without fully belonging to them.
Drake’s counterargument portrayed Lamar as dependent on a network of allies, less consistent as a hitmaker and less commercially dominant than his critical reputation suggested. These are competing artistic positions and lyrical strategies, not objectively proven descriptions of either artist.
3. Years of unresolved tension
Control made the rivalry public in 2013, but the artists did not immediately enter a sustained diss-track exchange. For years, fans and commentators debated whether particular lines in songs such as Drake’s Energy, Two Birds, One Stone and Diplomatic Immunity, or Lamar’s King Kunta and The Heart Part 4, were aimed at one another.
Some of those interpretations may be persuasive, but the public record does not establish a complete, agreed-upon list of subliminal shots. They belong in the category of possible or widely interpreted references, not confirmed events.
4. Conflicting networks and loyalties
The 2024 battle was amplified by relationships around the two rappers. Future and Metro Boomin, already estranged from Drake, gave Lamar the platform for Like That on We Don’t Trust You. Drake’s Push Ups then expanded the conflict to Metro, Future, Rick Ross, The Weeknd and A$AP Rocky, among others.
The argument also carried the history of Drake’s separate feud with Pusha T. Pusha was not a participant in the 2024 Drake-Lamar exchange, but his 2018 song The Story of Adidon had already demonstrated that Drake could be attacked through concealed personal information, fatherhood and private life. That precedent helps explain why Lamar made family and parenting central to Meet the Grahams.
5. Personal escalation
What began as an argument about rap hierarchy became a battle over personal credibility. The songs included claims about romantic relationships, children, alleged infidelity, alleged domestic abuse, an alleged secret daughter and alleged sexual misconduct.
Those claims must be treated carefully. Diss tracks are adversarial performances that use exaggeration, insinuation and persona. Drake denied Lamar’s most serious accusations, and the alleged secret daughter was never publicly verified. Likewise, Drake’s accusations about Lamar’s relationship with Whitney Alford and Dave Free were not established by the songs or by the public evidence reviewed for this timeline.
How to read the allegations: A documented song release is a fact. A claim made in a lyric is an artist’s allegation. A theory about a subliminal or hidden meaning is public interpretation. Those categories should not be merged.
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Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud timeline
2011: Kendrick appears on Drake’s Take Care
Lamar appeared on “Buried Alive Interlude” from Drake’s 2011 album Take Care. Lamar’s verse describes a younger rapper learning from a more established Drake while worrying about being overshadowed by Drake’s success. The collaboration is important because it shows their early professional connection and an early status imbalance.
It does not prove that the feud began during the recording session. At this point, the public relationship was collaborative. The track is available through Spotify.
2012: “Poetic Justice” and the Club Paradise Tour
Drake appeared on Lamar’s “Poetic Justice,” from good kid, m.A.A.d city. Lamar and A$AP Rocky also opened much of Drake’s Club Paradise Tour. The artists were still publicly aligned and benefitting from one another’s platforms.
That history later made the rivalry more compelling, but it should not be rewritten as evidence that they had been inseparable friends. Watch the official “Poetic Justice” video on YouTube.
August 2013: Lamar’s Control verse creates the public rivalry
On Big Sean’s “Control,” Lamar said he loved his fellow rappers but intended to “murder” them competitively and make their core fans forget them. He named Drake alongside several prominent rappers, including J. Cole, Meek Mill, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky and Big Sean.
The verse was not a Drake-only diss. It was a broad challenge to an entire generation of peers. Drake nevertheless became one of its most prominent targets because of his position as one of rap’s biggest stars. Lamar later discussed the verse’s impact with The Fader.
September–October 2013: Drake dismisses the challenge; Lamar follows up
In a Billboard interview, Drake said Lamar was not “murdering” him. Lamar then used the 2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards to perform another verse referencing Control and mocking a “sensitive rapper.”
This established the public rivalry, but neither artist released a full diss track exclusively dedicated to the other. The exchange was more of a warning shot and status dispute than the 2024-style battle.
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During this period, fans and commentators searched both artists’ catalogs for indirect attacks. Drake’s Energy, Two Birds, One Stone and Diplomatic Immunity, and Lamar’s King Kunta and The Heart Part 4, were among the songs discussed as possible shots.
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The responsible conclusion is that competitive tension continued, but the public record does not confirm every theory. A useful classification is:
| Category | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Confirmed direct diss | The artist clearly identifies or unmistakably addresses the opponent. |
| Widely interpreted subliminal | Critics and fans identify a plausible target, but the artist has not definitively confirmed it. |
| Unverified fan theory | A speculative connection based on timing, wording or symbolism. |
Broader chronology and interpretation of this period are discussed by Uproxx.
2015: Drake’s Meek Mill feud temporarily takes center stage
Drake’s major public rap battle in 2015 was with Meek Mill, not Lamar. That feud produced the highly visible tracks Charged Up, Back to Back and Meek Mill’s responses. Its importance here is explanatory: Drake and Lamar’s unresolved rivalry did not immediately become a sustained exchange because Drake’s attention was focused elsewhere.
2017–2018: Pusha T raises the personal stakes
Drake’s separate feud with Pusha T culminated in The Story of Adidon, in which Pusha revealed that Drake had a son, Adonis. Drake later acknowledged that he was Adonis’s father.
This was not a Drake-Lamar diss, but it became essential context for 2024. Lamar used Drake’s history of concealing information about his child as ammunition in Meet the Grahams. Pusha’s 2018 battle also established a template in which Drake’s family and private life could become central subjects of a rap attack. The earlier feud is covered by Time.
October 2023: First Person Shooter revives the “big three” debate
On Drake’s First Person Shooter, J. Cole referred to “K-Dot,” Drake’s birth name Aubrey Graham and the “big three.” The track did not directly attack Lamar. Its significance came from the hierarchy it proposed: Drake, Cole and Lamar as the leading trio of their generation.
Lamar’s response would reject not only the compliment but the premise that he and Drake were co-equals.
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Future and Metro Boomin released Like That on We Don’t Trust You, featuring an unannounced Lamar verse. Lamar dismissed the “big three” and declared that there was only “big me.” He also referenced Drake’s For All the Dogs.
This is the correct starting point for the 2024 direct battle. It is not the beginning of the entire Drake-Lamar rivalry. The song also arrived on a project connected to Future and Metro, two artists already positioned against Drake, which gave the challenge a larger coalition around it.
April 5, 2024: J. Cole releases 7 Minute Drill
J. Cole briefly responded to Lamar on 7 Minute Drill, criticizing several of Lamar’s albums and his release frequency. Cole soon reconsidered, saying the song did not sit right with him. He apologized publicly and removed it from streaming services on April 12.
Cole’s withdrawal changed the shape of the contest. What began as a “big three” discussion became primarily a Drake-versus-Lamar battle.
April 13–19, 2024: Drake releases Push Ups
A version of Drake’s Push Ups leaked on April 13, and Drake officially released it on April 19. The song attacked Lamar’s status, stature, label arrangements and collaborations. It also targeted Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky and others.
Drake’s main strategy was to reject Lamar’s claim to the top position and portray him as reliant on a broad group of collaborators. In competitive terms, Push Ups was Drake’s broadest response: it widened the field and challenged several people at once. See the release reporting from Pitchfork.
April 19, 2024: Drake posts Taylor Made Freestyle
Drake posted Taylor Made Freestyle on social media. The track used AI-generated vocal imitations of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg and accused Lamar of delaying his answer because of Taylor Swift’s album release.
The track generated a separate controversy over the use of Tupac’s likeness and voice. The Tupac estate sent a cease-and-desist demand, after which Drake removed the song from his public social-media accounts. The documented event was a cease-and-desist demand and removal—not a successful lawsuit against Drake. Billboard Canada reported on the dispute.
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April 30, 2024: Lamar releases Euphoria
Euphoria was Lamar’s extended response. It attacked Drake’s rapping, image, use of AI, commercial style, race, parenting and artistic identity. Lamar presented Drake as a manipulator and an inauthentic performer who borrows from other cultures.
The title references the HBO series Euphoria, on which Drake was an executive producer. In the battle’s structure, Euphoria was Lamar’s most comprehensive character and artistic attack: less a single accusation than an extended argument about what Drake represented. Pitchfork covered the release.
May 3, 2024: 6:16 in LA
Lamar released 6:16 in LA through social media. Its primary target was Drake’s inner circle and OVO. Lamar suggested that information might be leaking from within Drake’s camp.
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The title inspired theories involving dates, Los Angeles, Tupac, O.J. Simpson and biblical references. Those theories should remain separate from the verified facts: the song was released on May 3 and attacked Drake’s camp.
May 3, 2024: Drake releases Family Matters
Drake answered with Family Matters, a nearly eight-minute song and music video. It attacked Lamar’s relationship with Whitney Alford, questioned the paternity of one of Lamar’s children and accused Lamar of hypocrisy and inauthentic activism.
These were allegations made in a diss track, not established facts. The official video is available on YouTube. The timing of the release also became important: Lamar answered less than an hour later, preventing Drake’s song from dominating the news cycle.
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May 4, 2024: Meet the Grahams
Less than an hour after Family Matters, Lamar released Meet the Grahams. He addressed Drake’s son, parents and an alleged secret daughter. He also made severe accusations about Drake’s alleged conduct around women and compared him to convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein.
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May 4, 2024: Not Like Us
Lamar released Not Like Us less than 24 hours after Meet the Grahams. It repeated and popularized allegations that Drake was sexually interested in underage girls and that people around him were sexual predators. It also portrayed Drake as a “colonizer” of other rap cultures and mocked OVO.
The song became the cultural knockout because it combined serious accusations with a highly accessible West Coast club beat, a memorable hook and a crowd-ready response. It transformed a complicated rap dispute into a song that could be played at parties, sporting events and public gatherings. The allegations remained allegations; the song’s popularity did not establish their truth.
May 5, 2024: Drake releases The Heart Part 6
Drake responded with The Heart Part 6, borrowing the title of Lamar’s recurring song series. He denied the allegations involving underage girls and the alleged daughter. Drake claimed that he had fed Lamar false information about a daughter and repeated accusations about Lamar’s relationship and family.
It was Drake’s final direct response in the concentrated exchange. Critics widely viewed it as less effective than Lamar’s preceding releases, but that is a critical judgment rather than a measurable fact. The song’s defensive posture and explanations did not reverse the momentum created by Meet the Grahams and Not Like Us.
May 12, 2024: Drake signals a pause
Drake posted “Good times. Summer vibes up next” alongside an image of a samurai facing a crowd. Top Dawg and Punch, Lamar’s former label executives, also characterized the battle as over.
This indicated a pause in dedicated diss-track releases, not proof that the personal rivalry had ended permanently.
May 18, 2024: Not Like Us reaches No. 1
Not Like Us reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ultimately spent two weeks at the top. Its chart success gave Lamar the strongest measurable mainstream result of the battle and helped make the song one of the defining records of 2024.
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That success does not settle every artistic question in the feud, but it does explain why the public narrative moved decisively toward Lamar.
June 20, 2024: Lamar’s Pop Out concert
At the Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Lamar performed Not Like Us five times. The event functioned as a celebration of Los Angeles and a victory lap over Drake. Artists with past connections to Drake, including DeMar DeRozan, appeared onstage.
The concert broadened the battle from a dispute between two rappers into a public display of regional and network solidarity. It also showed how Lamar’s argument about cultural belonging had become part of the performance itself.
July 4, 2024: The Not Like Us music video
Lamar released the Not Like Us video with Compton and Los Angeles imagery, cameos from his family and collaborators, and visual jokes aimed at OVO. Whitney Alford and Dave Free appeared, which was widely read as a visual response to Drake’s allegations about Lamar’s relationship and family.
The video communicated Lamar’s counter-narrative, but it did not independently prove or disprove the allegations made by either rapper.
September 8, 2024: Lamar is announced for Super Bowl LIX
The NFL announced Lamar as the Super Bowl LIX halftime performer. His announcement video included the line “No round two,” which many observers connected to the recent battle.
At that point, the dispute had moved beyond rap media. Lamar’s appearance placed the artist at the center of one of the largest entertainment broadcasts in the United States. The NFL’s halftime-show information is available at NFL.com.
November 2024: Drake begins legal action involving UMG
Drake filed pre-action legal petitions alleging that Universal Music Group and related parties artificially inflated the popularity of Not Like Us through streaming and radio promotion. These were allegations in legal filings, not findings that manipulation occurred.
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January 15, 2025: Drake sues UMG—not Kendrick Lamar
Drake filed a federal lawsuit in New York against Universal Music Group. He alleged that UMG promoted a defamatory song, amplified false accusations, contributed to harassment and helped devalue his brand.
The distinction is important: Drake did not sue Kendrick Lamar personally in this case. The defendant was the record company that distributed and promoted the song. The case therefore tested UMG’s role in publishing and promoting Not Like Us, rather than directly determining whether Lamar’s lyrics were factually true.
February 2, 2025: Not Like Us wins five Grammys
Not Like Us won five Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Lamar dedicated the major win to Los Angeles. The awards gave the song institutional recognition in addition to its chart and cultural success. See the Recording Academy’s report and its full winners list.
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February 9, 2025: Lamar performs at Super Bowl LIX
Lamar performed at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans and included Not Like Us in the halftime show. He altered or omitted some of the song’s most legally sensitive wording, but the performance still made the song and its Drake-directed message part of the largest stage of Lamar’s career.
It should not be described as an uncensored performance of every lyric. The performance is documented through the NFL’s Super Bowl coverage and contemporaneous reporting from The Associated Press.
March 2025: The iHeartMedia dispute is resolved
Drake’s legal dispute with iHeartMedia was settled. iHeartMedia said it had demonstrated that it did nothing wrong.
The settlement did not establish that UMG manipulated radio play, nor did it establish that the allegations in Not Like Us were true or false.
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April 2025: Drake amends the UMG complaint
Drake amended his complaint to include allegations involving UMG’s handling of Not Like Us around the Grammys and Super Bowl. The amended case continued to target UMG’s publication and promotion of the song, not Lamar as an individual defendant.
The amended complaint can be read in the document reported by the Music Business Worldwide archive; reporting on the amendment appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
July 5, 2025: Drake releases What Did I Miss?
Drake released What Did I Miss? as a surprise track reflecting on the aftermath of the battle. He criticized people who, in his view, failed to stand by him or sided against him.
The song was better understood as a fallout record than as a new round in the 2024 exchange. The track’s release was covered by Pitchfork; the official audio is available on YouTube.
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Judge Jeannette A. Vargas dismissed Drake’s amended complaint. The court held that the disputed statements in Not Like Us were nonactionable opinion in the context of a rap diss track.
This is a legal conclusion about defamation and context—not a finding that every allegation was true. The court did not resolve the factual truth of the song’s claims. It determined that, viewed by a reasonable listener in the context of an adversarial rap battle, the statements were not legally actionable. The district-court order is available through Justia.
October 30, 2025–spring 2026: Drake appeals
Drake appealed the dismissal. The Second Circuit docket shows Drake’s opening brief, UMG’s response, Drake’s reply and amicus briefs filed during January through April 2026. The researched docket record does not show a final appellate merits decision.
Accordingly, the accurate status is: the district-court dismissal stands in the researched record, while the appeal remained pending there. The docket is available at Justia’s Second Circuit record.
May 15, 2026: Drake releases ICEMAN
Drake released the 18-song album ICEMAN on May 15, 2026. Contemporary coverage described portions of the album as addressing the aftermath of the Kendrick battle and containing apparent shots at Lamar and the cultural consequences of Not Like Us.
ICEMAN is best understood as a post-battle epilogue, not proof that a new full-scale Drake-Lamar diss exchange has begun. Its release date and track count are listed by Apple Music; later coverage includes The Associated Press and Pitchfork.
Every major diss track in order
| # | Artist | Track or appearance | Function in the feud |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kendrick Lamar | Control verse, 2013 | Broad public challenge to Drake and other leading rappers. |
| 2 | Kendrick Lamar | 2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards verse | Follow-up jab at the reaction to Control. |
| 3 | Kendrick Lamar | Like That, 2024 | Rejects the “big three” and starts the modern direct battle. |
| 4 | J. Cole | 7 Minute Drill, 2024 | Brief response to Lamar, followed by an apology and withdrawal. |
| 5 | Drake | Push Ups, 2024 | Broad competitive response targeting Lamar and his allies. |
| 6 | Drake | Taylor Made Freestyle, 2024 | AI Tupac and Snoop imitations used to taunt Lamar. |
| 7 | Kendrick Lamar | Euphoria, 2024 | Extended attack on Drake’s identity, artistry and authenticity. |
| 8 | Kendrick Lamar | 6:16 in LA, 2024 | Targets Drake’s inner circle and OVO. |
| 9 | Drake | Family Matters, 2024 | Personal counterattack involving Lamar’s relationship and family. |
| 10 | Kendrick Lamar | Meet the Grahams, 2024 | Addresses Drake’s family and makes severe personal allegations. |
| 11 | Kendrick Lamar | Not Like Us, 2024 | Turns the battle into a mainstream cultural event. |
| 12 | Drake | The Heart Part 6, 2024 | Denial and final direct response in the concentrated exchange. |
What did Drake and Kendrick accuse each other of?
The accusations fall into several overlapping categories. The distinction between allegation and fact is especially important here.
Career, talent and commercial success
Lamar challenged Drake’s position at the top of rap and attacked his artistic credibility. Drake responded by criticizing Lamar’s release frequency, commercial reach, label arrangements and reliance on collaborators.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThese are conventional battle arguments. They can be evaluated as criticism, but there is no objective scorecard that proves one rapper’s artistic superiority.
Authenticity, ghostwriting and cultural identity
Lamar portrayed Drake as an artist who borrows from multiple rap cultures and uses other performers’ credibility. Drake’s responses portrayed Lamar as dependent on a coalition of artists and less capable of sustaining mainstream success alone.
These arguments overlap with longstanding hip-hop debates about regional identity, genre boundaries and the difference between commercial versatility and cultural authenticity. They are interpretations of artistic identity, not findings established by a court or independent investigation.
Family and relationships
In Family Matters, Drake alleged infidelity and abuse in Lamar’s relationship with Whitney Alford and suggested that Dave Free fathered one of Lamar’s children. Those claims were not substantiated in the public record reviewed.
In Meet the Grahams, Lamar addressed Drake’s son, parents and an alleged secret daughter. The daughter claim was not independently verified, and Drake denied it. The song’s allegations should not be converted into biographical facts.
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Sexual misconduct
Lamar accused Drake in Meet the Grahams and Not Like Us of serious sexual misconduct involving underage girls and alleged that people around Drake were sexual predators. Drake denied those allegations.
No fact in the songs themselves establishes the claims. The later UMG court decision also did not decide that they were true or false; it addressed whether the statements were actionable as defamation in the context of a rap diss.
Streaming and radio manipulation
Drake alleged that UMG and related companies artificially boosted Not Like Us through streaming and radio promotion. Those allegations appeared in legal filings. No researched court finding established that the alleged manipulation occurred. The iHeartMedia dispute was settled, while the federal UMG case was dismissed at the district-court level and appealed.
What roles did the other artists play?
J. Cole: the “big three” catalyst and reluctant participant
Cole supplied the phrase that immediately preceded the 2024 battle by placing himself, Drake and Lamar in the “big three” on First Person Shooter. His 7 Minute Drill briefly made him a participant, but his public apology and removal of the song left Drake and Lamar as the central opponents.
Future and Metro Boomin: the platform for Like That
Future and Metro Boomin released Like That on We Don’t Trust You, with Lamar’s verse appearing without advance announcement. Their existing estrangement from Drake gave Lamar’s challenge an immediate network context.
Pusha T: the precedent, not a 2024 participant
Pusha T’s 2018 attack on Drake established the precedent of using fatherhood and concealed private information as battle material. Pusha did not join Lamar’s 2024 exchange, but his earlier feud explains why Drake’s family history became such a prominent target.
Rick Ross, The Weeknd and A$AP Rocky
Drake named or attacked Rick Ross, The Weeknd and A$AP Rocky in Push Ups and related battle material. Their inclusion reflected Drake’s attempt to frame the conflict as Lamar backed by a broad alliance. The Weeknd and Drake had their own complicated professional history, while Rocky had earlier toured with Drake and Lamar.
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Drake used AI-generated imitations of Tupac and Snoop Dogg in Taylor Made Freestyle. The Tupac estate’s cease-and-desist demand and Drake’s removal of the song made the track a major controversy independent of its lyrical content.
Taylor Swift
Drake referenced Taylor Swift’s album-release timing to taunt Lamar over the delay in responding. Swift was not a substantive participant in the feud; her role was a timing reference in Drake’s diss track.
Why did Not Like Us become bigger than a diss track?
Not Like Us succeeded on several levels at once. It was direct enough for listeners to understand its target, catchy enough to function outside rap-battle culture and rooted in a recognizable West Coast musical identity. Its hook created a collective chant, while its accusations gave the song an unusually high emotional charge.
Lamar then reinforced the song through the Pop Out concert, its Los Angeles-centered video, the Grammys and the Super Bowl. Each event gave the record a new context:
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- Chart impact: Two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Live impact: Lamar performed it five times at the June 2024 Pop Out concert.
- Institutional impact: It won five Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
- Mass-media impact: It appeared in Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show.
That sequence made Not Like Us more than a response record. It became the central symbol of the public version of the battle.
Who won the Drake and Kendrick Lamar battle?
By public momentum and cultural impact, Lamar was widely perceived as the winner. There is no official scoring system for rap battles, so “winner” remains an interpretation rather than an objective fact.
| Criterion | Apparent advantage | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Most influential single song | Lamar | Not Like Us became a chart-topping, widely performed cultural anthem. |
| Most sustained public momentum | Lamar | He followed the diss tracks with the Pop Out, video, Grammys and Super Bowl. |
| Broadest number of targets | Drake | Push Ups and related responses addressed Lamar and several allies. |
| Most comprehensive artistic attack | Lamar, by critical perception | Euphoria attacked Drake’s image, music and identity across an extended runtime. |
| Most personal material | Both | Each artist attacked the other’s family or relationships, although the claims remained disputed. |
| Charts and awards | Lamar | Not Like Us reached No. 1 and won five Grammys. |
| Long-term commercial position | Unsettled | Drake remained commercially powerful and continued releasing music. |
| Legal outcome involving UMG | Not a conventional battle score | Drake’s complaint was dismissed at the district-court level; the researched appeal record did not show a final merits ruling. |
Drake’s continued commercial power means that a cultural victory for Lamar should not be confused with the end of Drake’s career. It describes the public outcome of this specific battle.
Is the feud over?
The rapid 2024 diss-track exchange ended after The Heart Part 6. Lamar’s subsequent activity was largely a victory-lap phase: the Pop Out concert, the Not Like Us video, the Grammys and the Super Bowl. Drake, however, continued addressing the fallout through What Did I Miss? in 2025 and portions of ICEMAN in 2026.
So the most accurate answer is:
- The concentrated battle is over or dormant.
- The broader rivalry remains culturally active.
- Drake continued to discuss its consequences.
- No equivalent new full-scale Drake-versus-Lamar diss exchange was identified in the researched public record after the 2024 sequence.
There was also a shooting involving a security guard outside Drake’s Toronto home during the period of heightened attention. Police investigated, but the feud was not established as the cause. It would be irresponsible to state a connection that investigators did not establish.
What was actually proven?
| Subject | What can be stated safely |
|---|---|
| Drake’s alleged sexual misconduct | Lamar accused Drake in Not Like Us and Meet the Grahams; Drake denied the allegations. |
| Alleged secret daughter | Lamar alleged Drake had a secret daughter; the claim was not independently verified, and Drake denied it. |
| Lamar’s relationship with Whitney Alford | Drake alleged infidelity and abuse; the claims were not established by the song or public evidence reviewed. |
| Dave Free paternity allegation | Drake suggested Free fathered one of Lamar’s children; the claim was not substantiated in the reviewed public record. |
| Streaming or radio manipulation | Drake alleged UMG and related companies artificially boosted Not Like Us; no researched court finding established that the scheme occurred. |
| UMG legal ruling | The court dismissed Drake’s case after finding the disputed lyrics nonactionable opinion in the context of a rap diss. It did not find the lyrics true. |
| Battle winner | Lamar was widely perceived as the public winner; there is no official result. |
The central lesson of the feud is that cultural impact and factual proof are different things. A lyric can win a news cycle, a crowd and awards without becoming verified evidence of a real-world allegation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud start with “Control”?
Control was the first major public rupture in 2013, but it was not the beginning of the entire rivalry. The modern direct battle began with Lamar’s Like That verse in March 2024.
What was Drake’s best response?
The answer depends on the criterion. Push Ups was Drake’s broadest competitive response, Family Matters was his most personal and ambitious, and The Heart Part 6 was his final direct response. Critics generally viewed the last of those as less effective than Lamar’s preceding tracks.
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Not Like Us had the greatest cultural impact, while Euphoria was the most comprehensive artistic and character attack. Meet the Grahams was the most personal and severe.
Were the allegations in “Not Like Us” proven?
No. Lamar’s accusations were allegations delivered in diss tracks, and Drake denied them. The court handling Drake’s UMG case ruled that the disputed statements were nonactionable opinion in the context of a rap battle; it did not determine that the allegations were true.
Did Drake sue Kendrick Lamar?
No. Drake’s federal defamation case was against Universal Music Group, which distributed and promoted Not Like Us. The district court dismissed the case, and the researched record showed an appeal underway rather than a final appellate merits ruling.
Did Tupac’s estate sue Drake over “Taylor Made Freestyle”?
The documented event was a cease-and-desist demand from the Tupac estate, followed by Drake’s removal of the song from his public social-media accounts. It should not be described as a successful lawsuit.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s rivalry began as a long-running contest over rap supremacy after Control, became a direct battle when Lamar rejected the “big three” on Like That, and reached its cultural peak with Not Like Us. Lamar won the public narrative by the usual measures—momentum, chart impact, awards and cultural reach—but the serious accusations exchanged in the songs remain allegations, not established facts. The 2024 battle is dormant, while its artistic, legal and cultural consequences continue.
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