‘Like That’: How Kendrick Lamar, Future and Metro Boomin’s Brutal Opening Salvo Against Drake Launched the Beef of the Year
At a time when watercooler moments are hard to come by, “Like That” — an explosive collaboration between hip-hop heavyweights Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar — dominated the cultural conversation for weeks on end. While the chatter largely centered on Lamar’s incendiary verse and the very public beef it triggered among Drake, J. Cole and himself, the anticipation for “Like That” had been building for the better part of a year: Metro Boomin first shared a snippet of “Like That” at an after-party in Brooklyn in 2023.
“The crowd went crazy off of the beat alone – it was one of the best flips of ‘Everlasting Bass’ I’ve ever heard in my life,” says Xiarra-Diamond Nimrod of Republic Records, Metro’s label, in reference to the sample of Rodney-O and Joe Cooley’s 1986 hit. She posted a short clip online, and the response was immediate.
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“Before I knew it, fan pages picked it up, blogs and publications ran with it and everyone was asking for the full song,” Nimrod remembers.
SalXCo’s Ryan Ramsey also knew it was special from the moment Metro first played him the track. “That beat is just insane,” he says, “and then you get Future to put his sauce on and let Kendrick do his thing — that’s tough to beat.”
The buzz only built when Metro Boomin and Future headlined the Rolling Loud California festival just prior to the song’s release, and Travis Scott personally asked them to play it during their set.
“The request wasn’t planned, but we made sure content capture was in place to document all of the key moments,” Nimrod says. The cherry on top was sending a fleet of Boominati/FBG Rolls-Royces to cruise around New York City and Atlanta blasting the song.
With fans primed, the record arrived to a captive audience. “Ninety minutes after the release, it was very clear that ‘Like That’ was a historical moment we all got to witness in real time,” Justin Duran of Future’s label, Epic Records, says of the joint release. His colleague Jermaine Pegues, who oversaw the lengthy clearance process, agrees. “It’s the most excited I’ve seen playlist editors.”
In addition to starting a rap battle, “Like That” proved to be both a critical and commercial juggernaut — debuting at No. 1 and earning two Grammy nominations — and a reminder that hip-hop still shapes culture. “For three weeks every artist stopped to watch what was happening with this song,” Duran says.
Epic’s Brooke Marcimo believes the legacy of “Like That” can be seen in the heated conversations it sparked on social media and blogs, as well as the fiery rebuttals and dis tracks it inspired. “Consumption happened on a global scale as the world listened to the project, discovered and discussed the featured artists,” she says. “The lyrics were digested and heavily studied. We all got to see what the power of the pen can do.”
Songwriters: Joe Cooley, Future, Kobe Hood, Kendrick Lamar, MC Ren, Metro Boomin, Rodney Oliver
Producer: Metro Boomin
Labels: Freebandz-Epic/Boominati-Republic
Hitmakers:
?Justin Duran, VP of marketing, Epic Records
?Brooke Marcimo, senior director of commercial partnerships, Epic Records
?Xiarra-Diamond Nimrod, senior VP of marketing strategy, Republic Records
?Jermaine Pegues, VP of A&R, Epic Records
?Ryan Ramsey, manager, SalXCo
Publishers: Hood Muscle Publishing, Universal Music Group, Jarjourco Worldwide, Naydavius Maximus Music, Not Interested Publishing, Songs of Universal, Y2K Music Worldwide
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