With a single verse on the track “Like That”, Pulitzer Prize winning rapper Kendrick Lamar has shaken up the rap game.
Lamar, one of the most influential and acclaimed rappers of his time, has often been compared to J. Cole and Drake. The so-called “Big Three” have been the best selling rappers of the past decade.
Now, being more than a decade into their careers, the artists are competing for the number one spot in the rap game.
On Metro Boomin and Future’s album, “WE DON’T TRUST YOU”, the sixth track “Like That” debuted No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks.
“Motherf- the Big Three, it’s just big me,” said Lamar on the track. “Your best work is a light pack.”
“Like That” was a response to Cole and Drake’s “First Person Shooter,” a track that debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Over an intense beat, Cole and Drake celebrated the competitive nature between themselves and Lamar.
“Love when they argue the hardest MC, is it [Lamar], [Drake] or me” Cole said on the track, “First Person Shooter”. “We the Big Three like we started the league.”
A celebration that Lamar rejects completely on the track “Like That”.
In a matter of only two weeks, Cole responded to Lamar’s “diss”. Not with a single song, but with an entire album by the name “Might Delete Later” released on April 5. The main draw was the closing track, “Seven Minute Drill.”
“Your arms might be too short to box with a god who lives without the pressures of a constant facade,” Cole said on “Seven Minute Drill.”
But Cole’s “diss” had a mostly negative reception from fans.
“Cole just doesn’t have the heart for the lying, disrespect and animosity it requires to make an effective diss track,” Alfonso Pierre, a staff writer for Pitchfork, wrote in an article for the popular music magazine.
What absolutely no one expected was that merely two days later, Cole apologized for the whole track during a concert at his Dreamville Festival in North Carolina on April 7.
“I tried to jab [Lamar] back and I tried to keep it friendly but at the end of the day, when I listen to it, and when it comes out it don’t sit right with my spirit,” Cole said at the festival. “Seven Minute Drill” was then deleted from all streaming services on April 12.
A day later, Drake’s response leaked on the internet. In “Push Ups” Drake dissed several artists, but the main focus of his lyrics was getting back at Lamar.
In the song Drake rejected Lamar’s “Big Three” status, giving it to the younger, more popular artists of the moment.
“Pipsqueak pipe down you ain’t in no big three SZA got you wiped down, Travis got you wiped down Savage got you wiped down,” Drake said on “Push Ups.” “Like your label boy you’re in the scope right now and you’re going to see the aftermath of what I write down.”
On “Like That” Lamar compared himself to Prince, an innovative musician from the 1970s and ’80s, while comparing Drake to Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop”. Lamar said that Prince’s legacy and music outlived that of Jackson, but Drake had a clever comeback.
“What’s a Prince to a King? He a son,” Drake said on “Push Ups”.
Drake then poked fun of Lamar’s height. “How the f- you stepping with a size seven men’s on?” Drake said on the track.
Officially releasing the track on streaming services on April 19, Drake made the cover art for “Push Ups” a tag for a size seven men’s shoe.
Relentlessly continuing his attacks, Drake then dropped the track “Taylor Made Freestyle” via his social media on April 20.
Drake used AI on the track to mimic the voices of two west-coast rap legends, Snoop Dogg and Tupac.
Rapping from the perspective of these two legends, Drake mockingly encourages Lamar to respond. Soon after Tupac’s estate threatened to sue Drake if he didn’t take down the song.
“Since ‘Like That’ your tone changed a little, you’re not as enthused,” Drake said on the track. “How are you not in the booth? I feel like you kinda removed.”
After being dissed by Drake, Lamar responded yet again to Drake with his release on April 20. The single “euphoria” quickly made its way to the public.
“Its always been about love and hate, now let me say I’m the biggest hater.” Lamar rapped in the single.
After going back and fourth between artists, Will the beef ever be resolved?
