Drake Moves on From Kendrick Lamar Feud on New Album: ‘F— a Rap Beef, I’m Tryna Get the Party Lit’
Drake released a new album with Partynextdoor and references his “rap beef” with Kendrick Lamar on the song “Gimme a Hug.” It marks Drake’s first new music since Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, where he performed the Drake diss “Not Like Us,” singing lyrics accusing him of being a pedophile to an audience of 127 million.
Drake starts the song with “Drake elimination, fake intimidation,” which some have interpreted as a response to Kanye West, who, on a podcast last year spoke about wanting to see the “elimination” of Drake at the top of the music industry.
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He goes on to rap, “You Neo in the matrix, these n—– just Nemo in the ocean,” comparing himself to the character in “The Matrix” who dodges bullets in slow motion to cheat death. Earlier this month, Drake arrived to a concert in Australia wearing a hoodie adorned with fake bullet holes, signaling that he is still alive despite all the shots taken at him. “Small fish, making kids feel emotion / Using you for promotion,” Drake continues, alluding that rappers like Lamar have been using his name for their own success.
Later in the song, Drake raps, “Funny how it’s only bitch n—– that are waiting on the boy’s obituary / ‘Cause if I die, it’s these n—– that become the sole beneficiary / And what the fuck are they gon’ do with it?” People are preying on Drake’s downfall — he wonders how they’d fill his shoes. Without naming Lamar, he hypothesizes that the new king of hip-hop would have girls “on stage twerkin’ with a dictionary,” an apparent dig at Lamar’s more “intellectual” style of rap.
Ultimately, the song signals Drake’s desire to move on from his rap beef with Lamar, which really kicked off in March 2024 with Lamar’s verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s “Like That” and reached a climax with last week’s Super Bowl halftime show. “Fuck a rap beef, I’m tryna get the party lit,” Drake raps toward the end of the song.
Still, while Drake may want to put his beef with Lamar to rest, the saga is far from over. In November, Drake initiated legal action against longtime label Universal Music Group for defamation in promoting Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” saying the song’s false accusation that Drake is a pedophile has put him and his family in danger. Lamar was notably not named as a defendant in a subsequent lawsuit, but he still mocked Drake on stage at the Super Bowl, teasing “Not Like Us” with a quip about the litigation — “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue” — before going on to perform the song.
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