Drake and Kendrick Lamar's 2024 battle set the stage for one of hip-hop's most memorable years ever. Overall, this is a feud that had been a longtime coming. Although these two rap heavyweights had toured together over a decade ago, their relationship quickly deteriorated. Kendrick's 2013 "Control" verse was the catalyst for this animosity. While Lamar was simply trying to stir up competition amongst his peers, the Canadian megastar took things personally. Subsequently, things would worsen as Drake had zero qualms when it came to talking about the verse in interviews. This sparked Kendrick to call him out in a BET Cypher, and the rest was history.
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HotNewHipHop Video Essay
For the better part of a decade, the feud between Drake and Kendrick was mostly left dormant. While subliminal shots were taken, there was no real threat of an all out nuclear war. Of course, that all changed on March 22nd of 2024 when Kendrick Lamar appeared on Future and Metro Boomin's "Like That." It was here where he went at both Drake and J. Cole for proclaiming their prominence as the top two in the Big Three. In the weeks that followed, Drizzy would respond with "Push Ups" and the ill-advised AI troll-fest that was "Taylor Made Freestyle."
However, the dynamics shifted on April 30th with the release of "Euphoria," Kendrick's sprawling 6-minute epic in which he attacks Drake's manipulative tactics, his cultural shortcomings, and his questionable taste in women, among other things. By that Friday, the entire hip-hop world was waiting for Drake's response, a response that would be goaded by Lamar's IG exclusive "6:16 In LA," a song that played into Drizzy's paranoia.
That night, "Family Matters" was released, and it had Kendrick on the ropes. However, 45 minutes later, K. Dot would punch back harder with "Meet The Grahams," leaving fans and social media in shambles. A day later, "Not Like Us" delivered the knockout punch. A song so undeniable that it won five Grammys over the weekend, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. While Drake tried to downplay Lamar's allegations on "The Heart Part 6," the damage was already done.
By May 6th, a winner had been declared and it was obviously Kendrick Lamar. However, Drake's loss would set off months long chain reactions that are still being felt today. Chief among them were his lawsuits against UMG. Perhaps a last-ditch effort to save himself from the embarrassment of defeat. The first alleged that the company was using bots to promote "Not Like Us" as a way to potentially undermine his career and eventually undercut him in negotiations. Subsequently, Drake filed another petition, this time alleging defamation.
However, the evidence being used by Drake was shaky to say the least. When held to even the most minute scrutiny, some of the arguments immediately fell apart. It made Drake’s lawsuit immediately feel like a desperate plea for acceptance. An underdog story that could never come to fruition.
A great example of this comes from Jeremy Hecht of HipHopDX, who was wrapped up in this mess. His own reporting was used as quote-unquote evidence in Drake’s petition, albeit incorrectly. Drake alleged that Apple’s Siri was directing people to the song “Not Like Us” whenever users would ask Siri to play Certified Lover Boy. However, this was not as malicious as one may assume. Instead, Siri was simply going off of lyrics, and it just so happens that “Certified Lover Boy” is a lyric in “Not Like Us.” Hecht was one of the first to discover this phenomenon, and his video eventually went viral. That said, he couldn’t help but feel a bit slighted by Drake trying to use his reporting as propaganda. HotNewHipHop even interviewed Jeremy about the situation back in January.
“I was like ‘how are you gonna include one part of my video but not include the debunking video where I literally showcase the technology that made it so that happened.’ So whether or not that was on purpose from Spotify or Apple's end, you can see in the second video where it actually came from and what the lyrical technology was in order to do that. So I just felt kind of like not used, but I was like, ‘I'm just going to be part of this, don't use me as propaganda.’”
On top of all of this, the hip-hop community was absolutely livid with Drake for trying to tear down the fabric of hip-hop. Rap beef is supposed to be lawless. There are no rules of engagement. Suing for defamation because you lost is seen as weak. It’s as if you’re taking your ball, destroying it, and then going home. If UMG were to lose on the defamation side, it could create a horrible precedent for rap beefs as a whole, and the genre, point blank period. When speaking with YouTuber and hip-hop artist Scru Face Jean about the lawsuit, he was quick to go off on Drake for his audacity.
“So, I didn't like either of them, right? But the first one, I think they were both very insulting. There are certain people who tried to defend the first one. They're like, ‘No, this is for the little man. He's doing this to be like, we're going to break the industry. Drake is really the savior of all the little men.’ And I was just like, I don't understand how people are seeing it like that. I understand they're trying to protect Drake as a last ditch effort. But if you look at that petition, it was basically telling people that if you like ‘Not Like Us,’ you don't really like ‘Not Like Us.’"
For months, UMG and Drake would go back and forth in court without much progress. UMG filed a motion to dismiss, and they had to wait a while before they got an answer. However, on October 9th, Drake’s defamation suit was dismissed. Judge Jeannette Vargas was powerful with her statement, claiming that rap battles are “wars of words” and that it is silly to think the general public actually thought that Drake was a pedophile. She also said both artists participated in offensive accusations, and therefore, Drake has no case.
“The artists’ seven-track rap battle was a ‘war of words’ that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse,” the judge wrote. “Although the accusation that plaintiff is a pedophile is certainly a serious one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable facts about plaintiff.”’
And that was the problem with this lawsuit from the very beginning. If you go and listen to Family Matters, you will quickly realize that Drake was accusing Kendrick Lamar of all sorts of inflammatory things. From domestic violence, to colorism, to Dave Free being the real father of his children. These were all accusations that could have ruined Kendrick’s reputation. In "Euphoria," Lamar warned Drake not to make it personal because if he did, he would drag them both to hell. Drake refused to listen, and "Meet The Grahams" and "Not Like Us" happened.
Drake’s defamation lawsuit was doomed to fail. Defamation is extremely difficult to prove. Not to mention, this lawsuit was the first of its kind, and it was hard to imagine a judge allowing this to go all the way to the wire. While Drake and his legal team can appeal the decision in federal court, once again, it’s hard to fathom that changing anything. Both artists tried to inflict maximum harm on their opponent, and Kendrick won. While some may find that Kendrick played dirty, it’s not like we haven’t seen something like this before. Every rap beef in history has come with some sort of mudslinging. Imagine if Jay-Z had sued Nas or vice versa?
Even if Drake had won the lawsuit, it would still have been a net negative for his career. Sure, you get a quick victory against UMG, but you also lose the respect of your peers. You lose the respect of hip-hop as a whole. You change the genre forever, for the worse. Rappers no longer engage in rap beef for fear of legal repercussions. It’s like nuking the entire world, winning the war, but there is nothing left of the planet. You win, but at what cost?
Hopefully, now that this is behind both artists, they can just focus on their own separate crafts. Drake is looking to drop Iceman, while Kendrick Lamar is probably about to reinvent himself, as he always does. The battle is over, and it should stay that way.
