“Motherf*** the big three, it’s just big me,” the words that started the biggest hip-hop battle since Pac and Biggie. Kendrick Lamar has made it clear to critics, fans, and fellow artists that he is not on the same level as the “big three” artists of Hip-Hop/Rap: Drake, J. Cole, and himself. After alleged anger towards the two for not working together for Drake’s For All the Dogs song “First Person Shooter,” Kendrick decided to hop on the Future track “Like That” to express his anger and attitude over the comparison. Although I cannot cover every bar that Kendrick put out, I would highly recommend listening to each of Drake and Kendrick’s songs that were put out as each of these artists made exceptionally well thought out tracks. This article will cover the standout lyrics of Kendrick’s diss tracks; however, I cannot stress enough that listening to the songs is the best way to understand the whole experience of this beef.
Embarking on the journey of “Like That,” one must be fully prepared for a war of lyricism and music. Kendrick opens his first verse with the line, “D-O-T, the money, power, respect,” a profound commentary on life’s three most significant aspirations. Many individuals gravitate towards either wealth, power, or respect when choosing a path to follow. This also serves as a clever wordplay as the aforementioned “big three” stars embody one of these traits: Drake for money, Kendrick for power, and J.Cole for respect. Unraveling these life paths, Kendrick continues to take jabs at Drake and Cole with, “F*** sneak dissin’, first person shooter.” Directly aiming his next verses at the two, Kendrick follows his warning shot with, “Got two T’s with me, I’m snatchin’ chains and burnin’ tattoos.” This line talks about common symbols that gang members have to identify themselves with customized chains and tattoos, either from prison or close friends. Talking about removing these symbols sends a powerful message about Kendrick’s future association with Drake or J. Cole. Kendrick’s following major line is, “If he walks around with that stick, it ain’t Andre 3K. Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD.” This line may seem very random to many. However, there is a triple entendre where Kendrick talks about walking around with a “stick,” slang for a gun, and I will “drop the location” that he is at as a challenge to anyone who wants to fight him. It also is a reference to J. Cole’s songs “Stick” and “PTSD” off his latest album, D-Day. On top of these two references, Kendrick could also be alluding to the fact that in 2021, Kanye West doxxed, leaking Drake’s home address, following a disagreement between the two. Directly after these lines, Kendrick boldly exclaims, “Motherf*** the big three, n****, it’s just big me,” crowning himself as the biggest rapper on Earth. Although every rapper claims they are the best in the world, Kendrick has a portfolio that matches his claims with a Pulitzer Prize, regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition, and 17 Grammy Awards, 3rd most of all time. Shortening his aim from J. Cole and Drake, Kendrick specifically attacks the alleged “King of Modern Hip-Hop.”
“eurt si em tuoba yas yeht gnihtyrevE,” A reversal of the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz begging to gain a heart from the wizard. This leads to the idea that Drake is a heartless rapper who does not understand the meaning behind many of his actions. Although delayed, the track “Euphoria” hit when looking at it through a battle rap lens. It takes apart many of Drake’s earlier comments about Kendrick while also serving as a threat of what is to come should Drake feel he can go down the warpath Kendrick is taunting him with. A couple of lines after the opener, Kendrick raps, “I calculate you’re not as calculated, I can even predict your angle,” only adding to this idea that Drake is predictable and cannot surprise Kendrick, which is proven with a future track *cough cough* “Meet the Grahams.” “You’re not a rap artist, you a scam artist with the hopes of being accepted. Tommy Hilfiger stood out, but FUBU never had been your collection,” an unambiguous message about Drake’s involvement and understanding of Rap culture. Many critics of Drake have openly stated that he is not an actual rapper but someone who benefits from the rapping lifestyle. Ending the prologue to this diss track, Kendrick warns Drake, “But don’t tell no lie about me and I won’t tell truths ’bout you.” This bar alone shows that Kendrick, although prompting the beef, does not want to continue it as he can expose Drake in more ways than anyone could predict. “Have you ever paid five-hundred thou’, like to an open case?“ questioning Drake about his alleged settlement over a sexual misconduct allegation; however, there is little information about it due to its private settling. Moving onto another deeply thought-out lyric, Kendrick mentions, “Somebody had told that me you got a ring” and ponders, “I’d rather do that than let a Canadian n**** make Pac turn in his grave,” jabbing at Drake’s purchase of the legendary West Coast rapper Tupac’s custom diamond crown ring at an auction mid-to-late 2023. This further adds to the idea that Drake is trying his hardest to gain “street cred” amongst his fellow rappers. Continuing on with the song, Kendrick brings up, “There’s three GOATs left, and I see two of ’em kissin’ and huggin’ on stage,” a new jab at the fact that while Drake and J. Cole were performing at different events, they spent a lot of their on-stage time praising each other. Another display of Kendrick’s lyrical ability is when he brings up a past beef Drake had with rapper Pusha T with the line, “Yeah, f*** all that pushin’ P, let me see you push a T,” as during that conversation, Pusha T revealed the existence of Drake’s hidden son, Adonis. Shooting another warning at Drake, Kendrick states, “We ain’t gotta get personal, this a friendly fade, you should keep it that way,” a straightforward message warning Drake about getting anyone other than each other involved in the beef, also alluding to Kendrick’s later song Meet the Grahams. Furthering the fact that the beef all originated from Kendrick’s claims of being the greatest rapper in the world but also placing a twist on the line that makes the message come off as one that comes from pure hatred, “This ain’t been about critics, not about gimmicks, not about who the greatest.” Drake’s record label allegedly attempted to copyright strike Kanye’s remix of Like That, mentioned with the line, “Try cease and desist on the “Like That” record?” On top of all of the past lyrics, Kendrick turns towards Drake’s actual involvement in Adonis’ life, “…I got a son to raise, but I can see you don’t know nothin’ ’bout that,” calling into question how well Drake is preparing Adnois to hold good “morals, integrity, discipline.” Without a second to breathe, Kendrick attacks Drake’s alleged ghostwriters, rapping, “Ain’t twenty-v-one, it’s one-v-twenty if I gotta smack n***** that write with you” and ”Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?” Taking deep shots into Drake’s ability to write his songs without outside help. However, it should be mentioned every rapper has helped with their songs as they commonly will go to others for their opinions on different verses. Ending off with the lyric, “Don’t speak on the family, crodie” Kendrick flips everyday Canadian slang with a warning to Drake not to get family involved, warning that he holds information about Drake’s personal life that he could mention if Drake decides to go into personal relationships.
Although the least well-known diss track that Kendrick released for the beef, “6:16 in LA” is still full of very deep jabs at Drake and is somewhat interpreted as bait for Drake to release a response track so Kendrick could continue to hate on him. The biggest thing to note about this song is the many, many different meanings of the title. The most obvious meaning is a play on Kendrick’s earlier song “Euphoria” on June 16, 2019, which ties into Drake’s role as producer of the show and the explicit exploitation of the cast playing teenagers. Another couple meanings that “6:16” could mean include the very public OJ Simpson trial that saw the legendary Buffalo Bills running back being put on trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her, at the time, current boyfriend, as well as the late Tupac Shakur, who was referenced in the previous song Euphoria, being born on June 16, there are also many different biblical references that could be pointed towards Drake, on top of all of these different pop-culture references June 16th, 2024 is the official day for Father’s Day in Canada. Moving past the quintuple entendre that is the title “6:16 in LA,” there are more than enough references for Drake to try to decipher, like mentions of how Kendrick is not as transparent as Drake is with his location with the line, “Who could reach us? Only God could teleport this type of freedom.” Mentioning how Kendrick is so well at hiding his next move while also implying that Kendrick doesn’t need to brag about where he goes. Not only does he continuously insult Drake, but he also scares him with threats, “Have you ever thought that OVO is workin’ for me?” and “Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it,” suggesting Drake is surrounded by an informant who he will never know. However it should be mentioned that Drake did make the claims that the snitch was working for him. These claims were disproven as one of Drake’s associates showed video evidence showing receipts for leaked images. The track wasn’t one of the top hits of the diss but still served a solid number of deep exposures.
Evil. The word most used to describe the soul of this track “Meet the Grahams”. The opening line is a banger, “Dear Adonis,” and this man’s opening bar is a clear letter to Drake’s son. He doesn’t end there; he then tells Adonis to abandon Drake and be mentored by him to learn true life lessons. He follows that up with sympathy for how poorly Drake is as a father figure in Adonis’ life. Moving past Adonis, Kendrick addresses both Drake’s mother and father, Sandra and Dennis, respectively, and lectures them on how their terrible raising of their son has hurt not only him but also everyone he surrounds himself with. For this next piece it is important to mention the most common reaction that influencers have had while listening to this track. Utter Shock. Kendrick exposes Drake for not only having another daughter but also implying that Drake has countless numbers of kids waiting for him to claim them as his own. This line should’ve been less shocking to listeners, as Kendrick earlier warned of having information that could triumph the exposing of Drake’s “only” son, Adonis. However, even with these subtle warnings, every ear that is knowledgeable in Hip-Hop culture displayed horrific faces that show their awe. To fully understand “Meet the Grahams,” I highly recommend taking a moment of your day to go somewhere quiet and listen to the track from start to finish. This song shows the lyrical execution of Drake, although given his popularity, it is impossible to remove him from the public spotlight this song has shown that even the greatest of artists can be deceiving the world.
Only a day after releasing “Meet the Grahams,” Kendrick displays his victory with arguably the best song of the entire beef, “Not Like Us.” Produced over a Mustard, a well-known West Coast style producer, beat and filled with catchy one-liners, “Not Like Us” is the nail in Drake’s coffin. Not only does Kendrick continue to bash Drake’s character but he also has removed any copyright over the song, allowing it to be used in any media format for the world to enjoy. This has created some very creative remakes and cartoons, which only further expand the popularity of the song. This song digs into the idea that Drake is a pedophile and “master manipulator” with one of the catchiest lines of the song, “Tryin strike a cord and its probably A Minor.” A classic bar that has been resaid and quoted by thousands of fans alike, Kendrick took some time with this song while balancing the underlying insult of diminishing Drake with his own style.
Overall, the songs that Kendrick and Drake have been very hit or miss, considering certain lines of their songs; however, the exposing of alleged pedophilic actions being committed by the most popular rapper in the world raises the question of whether or not the public should trust their celebrities. Of course, this conclusion was most likely not intended by Kendrick, but the idea that even the most well-known rapper can avoid leaking this information. Who knows exactly how many others do the same? Besides the personally alarming bells, the fact of the matter is that the court of public opinion declared Kendrick Lamar the winner of this rap beef. The entire lineup of Kendrick’s side shows his preparation and resilience to take down Drake on top of exposing all of Drake’s secrets for the world to judge.