We Expose Secrets of Kendrick Lamar and Drake's FURIOUS 13-Year Feud — As Diss Track 'Not Like Us' Makes Grammys History
Feb. 3 2025, Published 3:00 p.m. ET
It seemed everyone was celebrating Kendrick Lamar's historic Grammy victory Sunday night – except for arch-enemy Drake.
Lamar's big night could be the deciding factor in the rapper friends-turned-foes bitter rivalry, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Lamar swept all five Grammy categories he was nominated for his hit Not Like Us, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video.
The song is a not-so-veiled diss track aimed at Drake, accusing the 38-year-old of being a "certified pedophile" and pursuing minors.
Drake fired back in his track The Heart Part 6, denying the allegations, but the shots have clearly been fired. So how did we get here in the first place?
The pair started out as friends and collaborators, joining up for Drake's 2011 album Take Care, Lamar's 2012 song Poetic Justice and A$AP Rocky's 2013 track F---in' Problems.
They also tag-teamed on a tour in 2012.
But the relationship began to sour a year later, when Lamar dropped a verse on Big Sean's song Control that seemed to indicate he was better than his peers – including Drake.
The lyrics include the lines: "I'm usually homeboys with the same n----s I'm rhyming with / But this is hip-hop and them n-----s should know what time it is"
Then Lamar called out several colleagues, including Drake, saying he was better than all of them.
Drake fired back by questioning Lamar's career and relevancy, telling Pitchfork: "[Lamar is] giving people moments. But are you listening to it now, at this point in time?"
Lamar addressed his relationship with Drake in a 2013 interview with Complex, saying things between the two were "pretty cool" but also admitting he "would be okay if we weren't."
The two would continue to exchange shaded barbs over their personal styles and wealth, until Lamar dropped a bomb on his rival during a freestyle performance at the BET Awards as he rapped: "Nothing's been the same since they dropped 'Control'/And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes."
After several more veiled attacks at each other, the feud went full tilt, with the pair releasing a total of eight back-and-forth diss tracks throughout 2024.
However, it was Lamar's track Not Like Us that seemed to resonate the most, becoming song of the year and leading to Grammy accolades and a starring role during the Super Bowl halftime show.
Lyrics slammed Drake with lines like: "Say Drake, I hear you like 'em young," and encouraging others to "hide your little sister from him."
Lamar then roasted: "Why you trollin' like a b----, ain't you tired? You're tryin' to strike a chord and it's probably A minor."
In response, Drake took the battle out of the recording room and into a court room, filing a defamation lawsuit early this year against Universal Music Group on Wednesday, claiming the label's involvement in Lamar's diss track Not Like Us damaged his reputation.
The God's Plan hitmaker sued UMG for defamation and harassment, claiming Lamar's brutal track spread the "false and malicious narrative" he is a pedophile.
In the legal documents, Drake asserted Universal was aware that the lyrics and imagery in Lamar's music video were both false and harmful – yet chose "corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists."
The filing further said in the midst of the controversy, UMG "saw an opportunity, seized it, and continued to fan the flames."
The suit claimed Universal "approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track" that was "intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response."