Over the past two weeks, the internet has been taken over by the two biggest names in the rap industry, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. It all started with “First Person Shooter”, a song featuring Drake and J.Cole from Drake’s latest album called For All The Dogs. Cole mentioned how the two of them, plus Lamar were “the big three” but right now, Cole feels like “Muhammed Ali.” Cole implies they’re currently the three most successful names in rap, but he feels like he’s on top.

Lamar was not a fan. In his eyes, Drake and Cole, specifically Drake, make their music solely for the purpose of fame and money, whereas Lamar’s music is about embracing culture and art. While I love Lamar’s, Drake’s, and Cole’s music, I totally agree with Lamar. Even though Drake has a lot of catchy, feel-good, #1 hits, and Cole has shifted to more deep and perspective-based lyrics, the fact alone that Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for his album DAMN proves that he is a superior writer. This is due to his immaculate storytelling skills that he is able to convey with melodic beats.

As a response to Cole’s claim of dominance, Lamar was featured in “Like That” where he clapped back at Cole and stated “The big three, It’s just big me” essentially saying that he can out-rap both J.Cole and Drake and believes he is way above their level.

Now, this is where Cole lost his role in the feud. In his new album Might Delete Later he responded to the “Like That” diss with “7 Minute Drill.” Cole apparently felt bad about the drama, apologized for the diss, and later ended up deleting the song altogether. The fact that Cole felt so bad he erased his music from the internet just further proves Kendrick Lamar’s high level of influence. If Lamar weren’t the most talented rapper in the game, I doubt Cole would’ve responded this way.

But even though J.Cole dropped out of the feud and is now probably feeling relieved about that, Drake made himself more involved. He released several disses about Lamar in an attempt to knock him down some pegs. The first is called “Push Ups” where he mentions artists he believes to be more popular than Lamar, such as Travis Scott, Sza, and 21 Savage. The second diss, called “Taylor Made Freestyle”, basically claims that Lamar isn’t dropping his new diss because of the volume of anticipation and excitement Swifites have over Taylor Swift’s new album, which was released around the same time, The Tortured Poets Department. However, this song was removed from Drake’s social channels, which proves that he just can’t beat Lamar.

Less than a week later, on April 30th, Lamar dropped an almost 7-minute track titled “euphoria”. This song makes the feud a bit more intense than everyone thought. Lamar expressed his sheer disdain for Drake, claiming he’s a bad dad and a bad rapper. He claimed that Drake is homosexual and hates women and pokes fun at his appearance. Lamar also stated how he believes Drake uses his biracial identity only when it is beneficial to him. While these details seem harsh, keep in mind the hip-hop industry has normalized these disses. One of my favorite lyrics of “euphoria”, which also includes a lot of humor, is “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress.”

Lamar also dropped another diss at Drake, and on May 3rd Drake responded with ‘Family Matters.” Drake basically reclaims his racial identity but also pushes some serious allegations against Lamar stating he is physically abusive and unfaithful to his wife.

This is where I would say Lamar wins the feud. Less than thirty minutes after Drake’s diss, Lamar released “Meet The Grahams.” This takes a turn from the catchy upbeat tracks. “Meet The Grahams” has an extremely eerie and horror movie-like beat where Lamar just takes shot after shot at Drake, essentially apologizing to both Drake’s son and mother for what a disappointment he is, while rapping about Drake’s alleged pedophilia and his alleged hidden daughter.

As if that wasn’t enough, Kendrick Lamar dropped yet another diss titled “Not Like Us”. This is my favorite diss out of the entire beef saga, with a super catchy beat and both hilarious and clever remarks toward Drake. In “Not Like Us”, Lamar elaborated on Drake’s alleged pedophilic tendencies, with iconic lyrics like “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles” and “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-minor.”

The last update to the diss is Drake’s lukewarm response, “The Heart Part 6.” Drake denied all of Lamar’s claims and focused on his accusations of pedophilia. One of his lyrics states “Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I’m too respected. If I was f—– young girls, I promise I’d have been arrested, I’m way too famous for this s— you just suggested.” While Drake tried to defend himself, the way he did it was distasteful. The lyrics above state how Drake believes he’s too famous and has too much money to be accused of pedophilia.

This feud has raised accusations against both Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and both should be taken seriously. However, Drake has faced allegations of being a predator for years, from his inappropriate behavior with Millie Bobby Brown to alleged claims of sexual abuse. On the other hand, there is nothing else in the media that would support the domestic violence against Lamar. Neither claims are proven true or false, but I think it’s important to note evidence stacked against Drake.

All in all, these are two artists that I’m a big fan of, but the clear winner is Kendrick Lamar. His disses were precise and clean and I don’t think Drake could find a way to one-up him.