Rappers Drake and J. Cole recently teamed up on First Person Shooter where they attempted to position themselves as the rap game’s #1 emcees.
This elicited a response from Kendrick Lamar on Like That, a Future + Metro Boomin record K.Dot guested on. The record shot to #1 on the charts and shook up the rap game.
J. Cole was first to respond, with 7 Minute Drill on a mixtape titled Might Delete Later. The diss, however, fell short of expectations. And then in an unprecedented move, within 24 hours of releasing the record, Cole publicly apologized to Kendrick at a stadium packed with his own fans, and pulled the track from all streaming platforms. R.I.P. Cole’s legacy. All of his braggadocious records will never hit the same again.
Weeks later, came Drake’s response, titled Push Ups. Initially “leaked” online, this track was a surprisingly good diss and the internet agreed. Days later, the track was officially acknowledged by Drake when he released it on streaming. The same day though, Taylor Swift, currently arguably the biggest artist in the world, dropped her latest album and broke streaming records. The same evening, Drake dropped a second diss aimed at Kendrick titled Taylor Made Freestyle. The track featured AI generated voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg rapping the first two verses, with Drake joining as himself on the third verse. The diss was perfectly executed. The pressure was now mounting on Kendrick to respond.
Kendrick eventually responded with euphoria, a 6+ minute impeccably produced diss aimed solely at Drake, finally giving fans enough material to decide who wins this beef.
Now my brother just hit me up for my thoughts on Kendrick’s diss. Here’s my hot take:
PS: An update on the beef is here.
