Drake and Kendrick Lamar drifted ever closer to mutually assured destruction on Friday, as the two rappers went nuclear in a set of dueling diss tracks.
The two rappers have been beefing since March, when Lamar hopped onto a Future and Metro Boomin’ track called “Like That,” to push back on Drake and J. Cole’s suggestion that the three of them were in the same league. Since then, the rappers have fired off a volley of diss tracks, slowly escalating from insults to allegations.
On Friday, Drake readied his missiles, while Lamar went straight up nuclear.
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That morning, Lamar released a track called “6:16 in LA,” under the name K.Dot, the follow up to Kendrick’s “euphoria” which was released earlier this week. “I hate bullies / You must be a terrible person / Everyone inside your team whispering that you deserve it,” Lamar said.
By the end of the day, Drake released a lengthy diss track in response, and Lamar struck back.
Drake released “Family Matters,” a three part, seven-plus minute track which took aim at Lamar over his relationship with his son.
“Why you never hold your son and tell him, ‘Say cheese?’ / We could’ve left the kids out of this, don’t blame me,” Drake sang. “Our sons should go play at the park, two lightskin kids, that shit would be cute / Unless you don’t want to be seen with anyone that isn’t Blacker than you.”
Drake also suggested that the real father of Lamar’s son was Dave Free, his longtime creative partner. Drake also turned his attention to Lamar’s relationship with Whitney Alford, his fiancée.
“Proposed in 2015, but don’t wanna make her your actual wife / I’m guessin’ this wedding ain’t happenin’, right? / ’Cause we know the girls that you actually like / Your darkest secrets are comin’ to light / It’s all on your face like what happened to Mike / Oh shit, it’s all making sense, maybe I’m Prince and you actually Mike,” he rapped, suggesting that Lamar might be a pedophile, like Michael Jackson who was accused of committing child sex abuse.
Drake also alleged that Lamar had tried to bury allegations he’d been violent with one of his partners, possibly Alford. “When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defense ’cause she bigger than you?” he rapped. “They hired a crisis management team to clean up the fact that you beat on your queen.”
Shortly after that song was released, Lamar fired off several warheads with a blistering response track called “meet the grahams.”
Each section of the song was an apology to a different person in Drake’s life, addressing the Toronto-native’s behavior. Lamar referenced Drake’s son Adonis, his mom, himself, and he also suggested that the rapper has an unclaimed child, who he referred to as “baby girl.”
“His father prolly didn’t claim him neither / History do repeats itself, sometimes it don’t need a reason / But I would like to say it’s not your fault that he’s hidin’ another child,” he said.
In what was probably the biggest escalation thus far, Lamar alleged that Drake and OVO Sound, his record label, are involved in a sex trafficking ring, and that Drake’s home, dubbed “the Embassy” will soon be the subject of a raid similar to that of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
“He got sex offenders on ho-VO that he keep on a monthly allowance /A child should never be compromised and he keepin’ his child around them / And we gotta raise our daughters knowin’ there’s predators like him lurkin’ / Fuck a rap battle, he should die so all of these women can live with a purpose,” Lamar rapped.
Despite the weight of the charges Lamar levied against the rapper, Drake was already cracking jokes on his Instagram story late on Friday night. Drake posted a story saying, “nahhhh hold on can someone find my hidden daughter pls and send her to me,” but did not refer to Lamar’s other allegations.
There is no evidence of any of the allegations leveled against either rapper.
Drake also posted a picture of a cartoon character eyeing a large red button, a subtle promise that he will go nuclear if he must. But after Lamar’s scathing rebuttal, it’s difficult to imagine how Drake could continue their battle without torching the Earth beneath them both.
