Drake vs Kendrick Lamar – What Does This Mean for the Future of the Music Industry? 

2024 so far has been an incredible year for new music. Charli XCX wowed the world with her already club classic “BRAT”, Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO!” created one of the most viral TikTok dances this year, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour brought millions of Swifties together over the world including eight nights at Wembley Stadium, Beyoncé showed us her country roots on “COWBOY CARTER”, and Coldplay stunned Glastonbury with their Saturday pyramid stage headline show. Now, the Gallagher brothers reunite for an Oasis world tour! It is fair to say Christmas has come early for many music lovers. 

However, hip-hop fans would notice how quiet of a year it has been with barely any mainstream big names releasing music. From the multiple delays for Playboi Carti as well as A$AP Rocky’s new albums, to no news on when Skepta will release his highly anticipated “Knife and Fork”,many fans have been losing hope on if new music will ever come around the corner. That fear didn’t last for long though as two of rap’s biggest hitmakers Future and Metro Boomin teamed up for two sleek, vengeful albums in a month titled “We Don’t Trust You” and “We Still Don’t Trust You”.

Sleek and vengeful you may ask? That would be because we haven’t seen such projects create such hype in minutes since Kanye West hosted the three “Donda” listening parties. You didn’t want to be out of the loop for what was going on, most importantly for the multiple shots fired at Canadian superstar Drake. A key moment from the projects that sparked fans was the hidden feature from Compton’s very own Kendrick Lamar on the track “Like That”, in which he directly responded to J. Cole’s verse on Drake’s song, “First Person Shooter”: ‘Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league…’ 

It seemed that Lamar dismissed Cole’s suggestion on “Like That”, stating that there is no ‘big three, it’s just big me’ and that their best work is a ‘light pack.’ He didn’t stop there though, as he compared his success to Drake’s idea of being our generation’s Michael Jackson, whilst Lamar references himself as Prince. Personal opinion: Prince overrules the so-called king of pop, but I still adore Michael Jackson’s early work in the Jackson 5.

A month went by until either of the two rappers would respond. “7 Minute Drill” saw Cole call “To Pimp A Butterfly” (one of the greatest critically acclaimed albums of all time) a snooze fest to then apologise for the track on stage, delete the song without a single word from Lamar, and appear on “We Still Don’t Trust You” – which side of the beef is Cole on?!?!?!

Meanwhile, “Push Ups” saw Drake not only aim for Lamar but also the entire list of features on both Future and Metro Boomin’s albums: The Weeknd and Rick Ross as well as A$AP Rocky. It was clear however who his main target was, and therefore began a brand new beef which in two months would go down as one of the greatest rap beefs of all time.

So who do people have their money on? The dominator of sales and streams who relies on making hit songs, or the critically praised lyricist whose albums delve into incredible stories and have been recognised by hip-hop legends like Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Andre 3000? That’s for you to decide. More importantly, though, what does this mean for the future of the music industry when discussing hip-hop, rap beefs and taking serious matters into topics discussed by both Lamar and Drake on every single track?

It’s probably best to create a whole timeline of events that made this rap beef historical after Drake’s response.

The release of Drake’s second track “Taylor Made Freestyle” on Instagram was received with many mixed thoughts for the disrespectful use of artificial intelligence voiceovers of Snoop Dogg and the late 2Pac. Moreover, Drake trying to troll Lamar on social media saying time is ticking felt childish knowing it took him more than a month to even think of a response.

But, the real hype began when “Kung-Fu Kenny” dropped “Euphoria”, a six-minute track referencing the HBO teen drama show Drake helped produce. This track felt like this was going to be more than just sneak dissing with the way that Lamar opened fire on Drake’s racial identity, alleged use of ghostwriters, plus the recent remarks and behaviours that have led to accusations of misogyny. I feel as if nothing was brought to the table from Drake. Sure, saying Top Dawg Entertainment (the record label Lamar was signed to until 2022) wanted 50% of profits from Lamar’s albums and mocking him for supposedly using Taylor Swift for mainstream popularity on “Bad Blood” was interesting but nothing became heated until Lamar rapped: ‘I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, the way that you dress / I hate the way you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct’. From that moment on, I knew it was going to be a battle to the death. 

Just a few days later, Lamar would decide to go back-to-back on Instagram with “6:16 in LA”, nodding to a favoured theme in Drake’s catalogue, seen in songs such as “5 am in Toronto” and “7 am On Bridle Path”, but also 6/16 being both Father’s Day in America and Tupac Shakur’s birthday. It is important to note this song was produced by Jack Antonoff, ensuring that Lamar’s latest track is, indeed, “Taylor Made”.

Personal opinion time: this is the best track out of the entire beef and also my favourite song of the year so far. I remember being an hour or two late because I was on a plane but the moment I got the notification from a friend with the song, my headphones were on first thing after I landed. The Al-Green sample is crazy good, when you look further into the credits you notice Drake’s uncle, Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, played the guitar, and it’s just an amazing Kendrick Lamar track; not only as part of the beef but as a song itself. If Lamar were able to clear the sample and upload it to streaming services it would be one of his most beloved songs. Lamar directly telling Drake he has moles within OVO (Drake’s record label) and sending information to the Compton rapper meant we were getting into dangerous territory. 

Whatever information Drake’s “friends” had sent to Lamar would go on to create the biggest 24 hours in hip-hop, as it was no matter of time before he would respond. It only took him about 12 hours to release a seven-minute music video titled “Family Matters”, a three-part track in which he accuses Lamar’s pro-Black activism of hypocrisy, “begging” the Tupac estate to sue Drake for his use of AI on “Taylor Made”, claiming one of Lamar’s children is his friend’s, Dave Free, and the most noticeable moment on the song being the alleged domestic violence towards Whitney Alford, Lamar’s fiancé. The majority of the music video showcased video footage of the lyrics whilst a tow-truck takes the van from the “good kid, m.A.A.d city” album cover to be crushed to bits, indicating a threat to Lamar from Drake.

I find “Family Matters” to be Drake’s best song to rap on in quite some time, whether he had ghostwriters or not. Sure, his albums may sell well in the charts however I believe the support he gets from features with 21 Savage on their collaborative album “Her Loss”, and most features from “For All The Dogs” (especially SZA and Sexyy Red on “Rich Baby Daddy”) aided him in staying popular in the music industry. 

The messages I received from one of my friends telling me Drake dropped “Family Matters” were instant, but I have never been repeatedly called and shouted at down the mic with excitement more than to listen to “Meet The Grahams”, which Lamar dropped only 20 minutes later. Whether any of the accusations Drake made were true, it was bound that Lamar would respond after his family was name-dropped on “Family Matters”. 

This is not a diss track though. This is a death wish on Drake and his father Dennis Graham as well as an apology to Drake’s son Adonis, his mother and the rumoured 11-year-old daughter he has hidden from the world. Drake hasn’t been exposed this heavily since Pusha T released “The Story of Adonis”, where the Virginia-based rapper let the world know Drake has a secret son (Adonis) – history repeating itself six years later.

I won’t lie when I say I had to listen to this song for the second time ever when writing this article because of how frightening it was the first time listening to this song with every single verse exposing Drake and his father. The bells on the instrumental created by The Alchemist that loops for the entire six minutes are scary enough after it is stuck in your head after the first listen. From the first line of the song: ‘Dear Adonis/ I’m sorry that man is your father’, to the final verse where Lamar lists out every lie Drake ever made, it was an obvious winner of the beef and that every Drake fanboy couldn’t defend him anymore. Drake did immediately go to Instagram to ask if people could find this so-called 11-year-old daughter, but no word was ever said about any of the allegations made against him.

Hip-hop Twitter (otherwise known as “X”) went insane within minutes and had many rappers responding with humour and hate towards Drake:

The next day (May 5th), Lamar released one of the biggest songs of 2024, “Not Like Us”, a West Coast track calling Drake a ‘certified lover boy, certified paedophile’ and creating one of the most memorable lines in music: ‘Why you trolling like a b**ch ain’t you tired? / Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably a-minor’.

The song was an instant classic, which brought Compton together through the “Pop Out” concert that would be held a month later and the music video, directed by Dave Free showcasing the Compton community together in harmony celebrating the accomplishments of Lamar and many other West Coast rappers since the birth of NWA, plus brutally putting Drake and the predators and abusers he pays in the dirt. The song has gone on to get over 700 million streams on Spotify and was number one on the “Hot Rap Songs” chart for 14 weeks. It is a song for listeners to sing and dance to that truth. And that doesn’t even get to the history of slavery which Lamar ties to Drake’s reliance on Atlanta rappers, stating that the Canadian rapper is a “coloniser”. Furthermore, the accusations towards Lamar of domestically abusing his fiancé seemed to be disclosed as the music video saw them vibing to the track with their children.

Note that Alford is wearing what many would call a wifebeater top. This shows that they have a good enough relationship to record this type of silliness while including their kids. It’s cosy and really sweet. This puts to rest Drake’s claim that Lamar is an abuser and feels like a genuine goodbye to Drake as well as saying “How was the lesson on the culture”. Dave Free and Lamar developed a strong visual language for this music video, hence why many are still bumping this track today.

Finally, we’ve made it to the end of the diss tracks with Drake’s response, “The Heart Part 6”, another song released on Instagram (now deleted) where we see the “God’s Plan” rapper shut down the story about him having a secret daughter, claiming that he and his team planted a fake story to Lamar on purpose. It did feel too real to think Drake had another child he kept quiet, especially when they were five years older than Adonis Graham. However, stating that you planted this information all along didn’t need another track, when instantly after Lamar’s response he could’ve released the messages sent rather than make a song that sounds more like self-defence than a diss. What caught my eye on this track was simply Drake just waffling and sounding like Bill Clinton denying any sex allegations. It doesn’t help that he claims he’s “too famous” to be doing such criminal acts with underaged women, and name dropping Millie Bobby Brown, even though no mention of her was included in this beef, to refer to him only being attracted to women like Lamar’s fiancé, Whitney Alford – not interested in teenagers. To simply explain this, Drake tried to deny the allegations but has baited himself out since there have always been speculations of him talking to teenage women celebrities like the Stranger Things actress as well as Billie Eilish, and most famously Kylie Jenner since “forever”.

With my question on what this means for the future of the music industry, I think “The Heart Part 6” is enough proof that sexual crimes aren’t taken seriously enough and are more used to humiliate one another. Drake does this by arrogantly laughing about the song “Mother I Sober”, a song released in 2022 on “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” where Lamar opens up with heartfelt and personal lyrics, confronting his traumatic upbringing of his mother’s experience with sexual abuse and her fear that Lamar might experience assault as well. With all disrespect towards the Toronto rapper, it’s quite pathetic to be a “music legend” and not understand the meanings behind songs, especially one of the most important songs in hip-hop, and just making fun of such topics that are not being taken seriously enough – it’s not what your idols are supposed to be looked up to for.

Nothing has been said since about the allegations towards Drake of sex trafficking, being a sexual predator, or fathering another secret child, but his disrespect to the rap scene grew worse, making fun of his friend J. Cole for being a feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s “We Still Don’t Trust You” whilst also releasing more songs with Atlanta rappers like 21 Savage, Young Thug and Playboi Carti that just sound unmixed and nowhere near finished. One thing I’ve questioned is how we will view Drake now since “Not Like Us” as this is a song where Lamar makes jokes out of some of the most serious crimes you could commit. If what he (Lamar) is arguing is true and he has very good reasons to believe so, the jokes and disses are not enough.

Overall, what has happened since the last diss track? Did anyone win? Has any new music from either artist been released? For fans of Kendrick Lamar, there have only been hints of him working on his next album. However, anyone who is still a fan of Drake has been treated with many tracks he features on that have been hit with horrible reviews. A remix of “Hey There Delilah” retitled to “Wah Gwan Delilah”, a verse on Sexyy Red’s “U My Everything” where he raps over Metro Boomin’s TikTok viral song “BBL Drizzy”, and a page full of unreleased material since 2012 isn’t the best look on yourself and the music industry to say “I’m still the Drake everyone knows and loves”. For whatever he releases next, it’s best he probably sticks to the melodies rather than sneak dissing everyone.  

On the other hand, Lamar has played a concert at the Forum in Los Angeles titled “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends”. The show was met with widespread acclaim for the inclusion of underground talent, and versatile performances from the likes of Mustard, who opened the show with many famous faces from Compton including Tyler, The Creator, Steve Lacy, YG, Roddy Rich and so on. Moreover, the entire concert illustrated Lamar’s showmanship by bringing out fellow Top Dawg Entertainment rappers ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul for many of their classics, as well as music legend Dr Dre for “California Love” and “Still Dre”.

Many will say the best moment of the show was Lamar’s performance of “Not Like Us” not once, not twice, but six times in a row, with the entire crowd screaming the lyrics, especially the ‘a-minor’ line. The song is such a phenomenal anthem that a music video was released that featured Lamar’s fiancé and was directed by Dave Free, who Drake acclaimed to be the father of one of Kendrick’s children – both this and the domestic abuse allegations seemed to be denied in the music video. Drake clearly couldn’t handle all the pressure with the song now that it was reported ScHoolboy Q, Roddy Ricch and SiR were denied entry into Toronto for their concerts.

However, I believe this group picture of Lamar with each act that night who all come from Compton highlighted the cultural significance and the Grammy award-winning rapper’s love of the West Coast. Bringing rival gangs together on stage to show love for one another, considering the city’s history of internecine gangland conflict, is what Lamar himself called an example of “unity at its finest”. In all great honesty, hip-hop needed this badly not just this year but for such a long time, and there was not any other artist in Lamar’s generation that would be able to pull off what he pulled off that night.

So where does this leave us? Kendrick Lamar and Drake are both hugely respected in music and have changed rap beef forever. From being blasted from car stereos on the streets, to being played by DJs at nightclubs across the world, it is one of the most talked about events in pop culture this year with fans calling it “the defining hip-hop beef of the 21st century”. With the rise in TikTok trends this year, this beef is a clear indication of how great 2024 has been for music. These events will go in the history books thanks to Future and Metro Boomin for including Lamar in “We Don’t Trust You”. 

However, this beef needs to be further dealt with due to the use of women’s pain and trauma to bolster their egos. The imminent need for prioritising the safety of women and safeguarding policies across the music industry is very important as we see more women become noticed in the mainstream media with the likes of Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Clairo, whose 2021 single “Blouse” explores themes of sexual harassment/assault and how women are treated like objects in the music industry, forced to go along with it or else people above them will take away their career. In her June 2021 email newsletter, Clairo shared: “I wanted to thank you all for listening to Blouse. This song is so important to me because it delves into topics that I haven’t quite covered before. Blouse describes a kitchen table conversation: you’ve hung your coat, and scarf, combed your stray hairs back, and sat down. The table is set, you are equipped and prepared for a professional conversation, and all of a sudden – you see a male colleague staring down your shirt while you’re halfway through a sentence. It’s a feeling that a lot of people know well. What’s even more defeating – is the feeling of, “Well, if this is what it takes for him to hear me, then I’ll allow it.”

While it was clear that Lamar’s friends and family sided with him about the domestic abuse accusations, the issues with Drake still need to be investigated as it is highly crucial to recognise the implications of their actions that underscore the pervasive issue of misogyny within the music industry.