The biggest haters in the game: Drake VS Kendrick Lamar beef teaches the industry what makes a good diss track

Rap beef is a dish served hot. As the Drake versus Kendrick Lamar feud tops the Billboard Hot 100, we could not help but try to decipher their tracks released back to back over the last couple of weeks and make a verdict on the ingredients of a good diss track. 

When it comes to the biggest rappers, we are talking about recognised masterminds – with Drake as the most commercially successful hip-hop artist of the 21^st century, and Lamar, the only Pulitzer Prize winner in music outside the jazz and opera genre – no other artist could arguably top their talent. Although the feud between the two has been “brewin’ in a pot” since 2013 as Drake recalls how the two went from collaborators to opps (short for opponents in rap culture), Kendrick Lamar goes full force listing almost 10 reasons he hates the Canadian artist in his ‘euphoria’ track, proving there is no friendship in rap, but a game of thrones. The beef took a turn after Lamar himself slammed J. Cole’s claim from his collaboration with Drake, ‘First Person Shooter’ which goes back to October 2023, that J. Cole, Drake, and Lamar are the “big three” in the genre. Honestly, all Kendrick had to do was to agree, instead, he took the opportunity to feature in Metro Boomin and Future’s ‘Like That’ to rap “It’s just big me”. Since then the rappers fired back at each other releasing viral 9 tracks to date, perhaps resulting in the pop-culture moment of the year as the social media buzz swept over TikTok dance trends and news headlines.

Although timing is an important aspect of a rap beef, the West Coast rapper putting into action his Pulitzer Prize-winning pen was worth the wait

The verses are, undeniably, the bulk of any good diss track. They have to radiate self-confidence with a degree of aggression and violence delivered in rhythmic wordplay and some drum beats (shoutout to Metro). The Canadian rapper’s response came out in two singles, ‘Push Ups’ and ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’, with the former targeting Lamar and his past collaborators Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, Future, and Rick Ross. Known for his versatile combination of tough and tender rhymed pop rap, Drake re-enters his dark rap era as both tracks belittle his opp’s discography, claiming Kendrick’s last album was “wiped down” by other artists and mocks his pop features on Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift’s albums. He also plays along with Lamar’s allusions to them being new Michael Jackson and Prince, respectively, as that same song Kendrick responded to has tied Drake with the King of Pop’s No. 1 records, with him reasserting, “What’s a prince to a king? He a son”. Tough, right? As the Toronto-born rapper was waiting for a response, dropping the second diss track with unauthorised AI vocals of Snoop Dog and the late Tupac Shakur might have been a genius move since their status as West Coast rappers was honourably passed down to Lamar, but it yet again sparked controversy over AI use in music, and as Time reports, was promptly taken down as it was threatened by legal action from Tupac’s estate.

Although timing is an important aspect of a rap beef, the West Coast rapper putting into action his Pulitzer Prize-winning pen was worth the wait. In 6-minute long ‘euphoria’, Kendrick’s outstandingly articulate storytelling heats up with blistering speed and his signature back phrasing style as the beats build up tension, unlike his opp’s rather stable beats. The track is an ode to hate – of Drake’s public image and mixed race among others, proclaiming him as a “scam artist”. Despite warning his opp that taking the beef further is “something you don’t wanna do” and that he’s “war-ready if the world is ready to see him [Drake] bleed” in a follow-up ‘6:16 in LA’ track, the Canadian artist’s prompt drop of ‘Family Matters’ fuelled the feud proving good beef needs one more ingredient – extremely spicy personal attacks. Lamar’s back-to-back releases ‘Meet the Grahams’ and ‘Not Like Us’ take it further, addressing Drake’s son and mother with pity for the Canadian rapper being a “terrible person”. As Lamar accuses Drake of relationships with underage women, plastic surgery, and parenting failures, all later debunked by Drake himself, we’re reminded that in the rap game, the goal is to defame the opponent, as verses don’t necessarily need to be true. Despite the beef as of now concluding with Drake’s ‘The Heart Part 6’, Lamar’s last release, ‘Not Like Us’, debuting No. 1 on Billboard and streaming charts with its catchy and viral beat, is believed to be his win as NY Times claims old West Coast hip-hop beats Drake’s modern iteration of the genre.

it is hard to claim a winner as both artists’ talent is, undeniably, too good

As a fan of both camps, it is hard to claim a winner as both artists’ talent is, undeniably, too good. For Drake and Lamar, the opp’s every new drop motivated them to elevate their rap game. What the beef ultimately did was three things – entertain the whole world, bring the spotlight back onto two rap artists, and, unsurprisingly, make Universal Music Studios richer as both artists’ labels are distributed by the industry giant. Notably, UMG denied requesting artists to end the feud because, apparently, business runs separately from the artists’ personal beef.

One more thing that this public beef has shown us is what constitutes a good diss track – rappers returning a favour (read: diss) duly, spicing it up with personal insults, and revealing dark secrets – all delivered in witty metaphors, intellectual wordplay and, of course, drums. For the two industry titans, this was a good exercise and for future rap beefs to happen it’s a guideline per se.

Listening sequence:

Metro Boomin, Future ft. Kendrick Lamar – ‘Like That’

[ J. Cole’s deleted diss at Lamar – ‘7 minute drill’ ]

Drake – ‘Push Ups’

[ Rick Ross’ diss at Drake – ‘Champagne Moments’ ]

Drake – ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’

Kendrick Lamar – ‘euphoria’

Kendrick Lamar – ‘6:16 in LA’

Drake – ‘Family Matters’

Kendrick Lamar – ‘Meet the Grahams’

Kendrick Lamar – ‘Not Like Us’

Drake – ‘The Heart Part 6’