After J. Cole entered and then publicly stepped away from the ongoing “Battle of the Big 3” last weekend, all eyes have turned to Drake for his response to Kendrick Lamar’s pot-stirring “Like That” verse from March. With Drake rumored to finally be weighing in with a new song on Friday — the same release day as We Still Don’t Trust You, sequel to the album that originally unleashed “Like That” on the world — the beef between the two rap legends seems to be coming to a head. Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop writer Michael Saponara and deputy ed. director Damien Scott present the cases for each rapper to be considered the fight’s favorite.
Why Drake Will Win
“As long as there’s competition, there will never be peace. Everyone wants to be the one,” reads a Kurupt quote that was plastered backstage to fuel Drake at every stop of his It’s All A Blur – Big as the What? Tour with J. Cole.
It’s clear only one of the co-headlining rappers on the trek took that proverb to heart. With J. Cole bowing out of the bout, Drake and Kendrick Lamar appear to be headed for a blockbuster war that’s been over a decade in the making.
While most have been afraid of stepping into the ring with hip-hop’s boogeyman hailing from Compton, Drake is the way more battle-tested rapper – a part of the rap repertoire that gives him the upper hand to defeat K. Dot in the main event.
The 6 God has sparred with a range of adversaries over the years. Whether he was scorching Common on “Stay Schemin,” knocking out Diddy with “4PM in Calabasas” or most notably putting Meek Mill in the ground for good on “Back to Back,” Drake has proven to be a formidable opponent amid his massive commercial success and pop crossover capabilities.
“Man, we wrote the book on calculated thinking,” Drake reminded listeners while taking a Meek Mill victory lap on More Life’s “Lose You” in 2018.
For those who have doubts and may have forgotten, press play on “Back to Back” again. The hit record was ubiquitous in nightclubs for the summer of 2015 and reached No. 21 on the Hot 100, while also serving as a definitive knockout punch and crushing blow to Meek Mill’s legacy that still sizzles to this day. Drake is the rare breed of a rapper who can craft a scathing diss track that damages another artist’s career trajectory and doubles as a song of the summer contender.
There’s no doubt Kendrick and Drake are going to exchange potent lyrical haymakers, but when it comes to bringing the commercial appeal to a solo diss record – advantage: Drake. The OVO camp should be working overtime attempting to dig up dirt on the elusive K. Dot, and if the feud gets messy and spills onto social media, that’s a playground Drake will fare well in too, since Drizzy’s as petty as they come.
Drake will always be a super calculated artist so it will be interesting to see if he focuses on strictly flaming Kendrick or raises the stakes by bringing his “Like That” hosts Future and Metro Boomin into the line of fire. That strategic decision would separate him from the pack, while redesigning the rap food chain and have collaborators in the industry forced to choose allegiances with a line in the sand dividing hip-hop’s elite. Drake is rumored to be dropping on Friday (April 12) which is the same day Future and Metro Boomin’s We Still Don’t Trust You is slated to arrive. The bold move would put him in direct competition with the Atlanta duo, where he could put a halt to their momentum and even top them on the charts.
With Kendrick mainly aiming at Drake on “Like That” to revive their long-simmering feud, which dates back to Lamar’s atomic “Control” verse, the stage is set for the OVO honcho to erase the stench that still lingers from the 2018 Pusha T feud which gave him the only loss on his otherwise unblemished résumé. Drake backed down from that beef, following Pusha’s “Story of Adidon” exposing his child Adonis, at the advice of Rap-A-Lot co-founder and consigliere J. Prince – who claimed his response would have “hurt families.”
Drake holding his own in a Kendrick battle would go a long way to making up for that legacy-tarnishing moment. And reining supreme over K. Dot, with Drake holding up the figurative championship belt in the battle of the “Big Three,” would give even the biggest OVO haters no choice but to bend the knee to the 6 God. — MICHAEL SAPONARA
Why Kendrick Lamar Will Win
Let’s get this concession out of the way: The only true battle-tested rapper in this entire ordeal is Drake. He’s the only one who has gone past sneak dissing and slick one-off verses, and made songs with the intention of causing career-ending damage. The highlight is, of course, 2015’s “Back to Back,” the song that sincerely made everyone relitigate a once-ascendent Meek Mill’s place in rap’s pantheon.
That said: Kendrick’s got this.
Yes, the well-worn joke is that Kenny appears like the Boogie Man and drops a verse that sends the game into a tizzy only to disappear again until he’s ready to drop his next project. That’s not untrue. But, to wit: What other rapper not named Shawn Carter could drop a verse every few years that makes every rap fan stop what they’re doing and pay attention? And, yes, fine — Kendrick has yet to really dig in for a full-on battle, though, if we’re being fair that’s more to do with his opponents than him. Regardless, if there’s any rapper working today who should get the benefit of the doubt in this regard it’s Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. Here’s why.
To borrow a quote from the late astronomer Carl Sagan, the “absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.” Put another way, just because we’ve yet to see Kendrick take a rapper’s head off for a full song doesn’t mean Compton’s favorite son is incapable of doing so. If anything, the warning shot he sent to Cole and Drake proves that he’s been ready and willing to dismember a rapper.
While “f–k the Big 3, n—a, it’s just big me” is the bar from Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” that caught everyone’s attention, there are a bunch more on that verse that let it be known Kendrick is able to get it going. Bars like, “I’ll crash out, like ‘F–k rap,’ diss Melle Mel if I had to,” or, my personal favorite, “I hope them sentiments symbolic, my temperament’s bipolar, I choose violence.” Take your pick. Whichever door you choose ends up at the same place: Kendrick is ready.
The last time we saw Kendrick this animated in song going at a rapper was back on 2017’s “The Heart Part 4,” when it’s believed he sent a bunch of shots at Big Sean who he was reportedly beefing with since 2013’s “Control” fiasco. (And, yes, all the shots being subliminals is a knock on Kendrick.)
“My fans can’t wait for me to son ya punk-ass/ And crush ya whole lil’ s–t/ I’ll Big Pun ya punk-ass, you a scared lil’ b—h/ Tiptoein’ around my name, n—a, you lame/ And when I get at you, homie/ Don’t you just tell me you was just playin’.”
The second half of the song was so scathing that Big Sean reportedly called TDE’s Top Dawg and asked him if Kendrick was talking about him. That lead to Top putting Sean and Kendrick together for a private conversation that resulted in Sean saying, “the respect is mutual.”
That wasn’t an apology, but the two never even got into a proper battle, with Big Sean saying they peaced things up after Nipsey Hussle was murdered in 2019. That was all probably for the best — because in 2023, an alternate version of Kendrick’s song “ELEMENT.” from DAMN. leaked, and it featured the following lines directed squarely at the Detroit rapper.
“Big Sean keep sneak dissin,’ I let it slide/ I think his false confidence got him inspired/ I can’t make them respect you, baby, it’s not my job/ You finally famous for who you date, not how you rhyme (boy).” He kept going, “Cute-ass raps, get your puberty up/ Then make you a classic album before you come at us/ Drake and Meek Mill beef might got you gassed up/ But I’m a whole ‘nother beast, I really f—k you up.”
Sean, when asked, said the song was “ain’t no diss” and kept it moving. The track also mentioned Jay Electronica and French Montana, both of whom opted to just let it slide.
That’s just what happens when Kendrick goes at rappers: They get quiet or start making excuses or just completely opt out altogether. There’s a reason for that — most, if not all, rappers know that Kendrick is, as he says on the Future and Metro track, “really like that.” He’s been able to disrupt the game multiple times with verses aimed at numerous targets, imagine what happens when he focuses his pen on one opponent. It’s silly to believe the results would be less devastating.
But that’s all offense: Let’s talk defense. We already saw Cole take aim at Kendrick’s catalog and general lack of productivity. What will Drake focus on? Other than “I helped you break into the game” — which he’s not wrong about — what else can Drake really say about Kendrick? He’s a critically acclaimed, award-winning rapper who has been adored by hip-hop culture for well over a decade. After being utterly discountenanced by Pusha T with “The Story of Adion,” Drake surely learned a lesson or two: one likely being that to really land a big blow in 2024, you need to spring a surprise on unsuspecting fans and rappers. Joe Budden says Drake has a nuke. Perhaps he’s learned something we don’t know. But even then, it depends the validity and quality of the dirt. As we saw on his last album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick’s been pretty forthcoming with his failings.
We’re a long way from, “You underestimated greatly, the most No. 1s ever, how long did it really take me?” Kendrick doesn’t underestimate Drake. And the talk of chart success is seemingly null and void after his pre-emptive “Prince outlived Mike Jack” bar.
But, we’ll see. The excitement is in the suspense. As Kenny said, “Let’s get it, bro.” — DAMIEN SCOTT
