Tension, 10/23 - 5/24?

Created in August 11, 2024

2024   ·   rap   thought

There has been tension in the rap game from, at least, October 2023 to May 2024. Kung Fu Kenny, i.e. Kendrick Lamar, didn’t like that Drizzy, i.e. Drake, and Cole, i.e. J. Cole, got together for a single, i.e. “First Person Shooter,” and a tour, which the two dubbed ‘big as the Super Bowl’. Even though there is a ~10-year history of hostility between Drake and Kendrick, the starting point of the recent tension has been the release of “First Person Shooter” by Drake and J. Cole on October 6, 2023. In it, J. Cole raps, “We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali,” ‘the Greatest,’ saying he feels like the GOAT and also furthering the idea that the 3 of them are the ‘big three’ of the game; while Drake raps, “I’m one away from Michael,” meaning he’s one No. 1 song away from Michael Jackson, ‘the King of Pop,’ all the while comparing himself to him.

Kendrick, being the competitive rapper he is, releases “Like That” together with Future on March 22, 2024. He conveys his discontent with the collaboration of the two, who both had claimed the crown by the time, and delivers the line “Motherfuck the big three, nigga, it’s just big me” in the song. This hyped up the listeners for responses from the two.

Cole responds with “7 Minute Drill” (April 5, 2024) and then apologizes for the “misstep” because he doesn’t want to diss someone he sees as a brother. The listeners get really upset at this, thinking this was only a friendly competition and they convey their discontent in the apology. Later, it turns out that the beef is not really friendly and there are lots of serious allegations thrown around between Kendrick and Drake, so now the apology is found to be just right and the diss by Cole was just out of peer pressure.

Drake first responds with “Push Ups” (April 19, 2024) and then closely after it with “Taylor Made Freestyle” (April 19, 2024) where he uses AI with voices of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg, both of which are from the West Coast. Many people find this corny and disrespectful. Kendrick responds with “euphoria” (April 30, 2024) and then closely after it with “6:16 in LA” (May 3, 2024). Drake then swiftly responds with “Family Matters” (May 3, 2024), which is responded to by Kendrick with “meet the grahams” (May 3, 2024) within an hour. After “meet the grahams”, Kendrick, almost, closes the beef by “Not Like Us” (May 4, 2024).

After these, Drake waves the white flag with the song “THE HEART PART 6” (May 5, 2024). After a while, Kendrick ‘pops out’ with a concert, named “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends”, on June 19, 2024 where he and his friends perform various songs, he focusing on the ones from the beef. He performs “Not Like Us” 5 times in a row with the crowd singing along. On July 5, 2024, he releases a music video for the record “Not Like Us” and the following frame, from the video, is the symbolic closing of the beef:

Kendrick, Whitney, and one of their children; Kendrick and Whitney seeming to look down at Drake's metaphorical grave.

The following playlist features the relevant songs in order, missing a couple that had not been released on DSPs:

The tension still continues…