A lot of people don’t realize that tensions between Drake and Kendrick Lamar had been brewing for over a decade. Dating at least back to 2013, the pair have thrown shots at each other. The only reason things didn’t absolutely explode sooner was that Drake made an abundance of other enemies that took priority in the years since. Moreover, Lamar had different aspirations and grander ideas to exercise than bickering with the Toronto MC.
To properly document the years of beef simmering between the two hip-hop giants, we’ve collected four verses where the Compton legend threw shots at his biggest rival.
4 Kendrick Lamar Verses That Proved His Beef With Drake Long Before ‘Not Like Us’
“Control”
The funny thing about Kendrick Lamar’s infamous “Control” verse is that the “diss” in question was extremely tame. All he did was list his many contemporaries, including Drake, and challenge them to be the best rapper in the game. “I got love for you all but I’m tryna murder you n***as/Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you n***as/They don’t wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you n***as,” Kendrick Lamar spit.
Still, it was enough to get Drake in his feelings and start a long cold war for the next decade.
“All The Stars”
Who knew that you could throw subliminal disses at your enemies in a song for a Disney soundtrack? Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “All The Stars” for the Black Panther soundtrack is largely subliminal in the shots fired. You might even think it’s too broad to apply to any specific person.
But knowing that Kendrick Lamar had constantly questioned Drake’s moral integrity in 2024, the shoe fits on “All The Stars”. He scoffed at ego and entitlement, wanting nothing to do with fake people. “I hate people that feel entitled/Look at me crazy ’cause I didn’t invite you/Oh, you important? You the moral to the story? You endorsin’?/Mothaf***a, I don’t even like you,” he rapped.
2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher With TDE
In the immediate aftermath of the “Control” verse, Drake threw some scattered shots and complained a little bit during interviews. Lamar largely scoffed at his reactions during the 2013 Hip-Hop Awards, dropping a sly reference to Drake and telling him to toughen up.
“Yeah, and nothing been the same since they dropped ‘Control’/And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes,” Kendrick quipped.
“King Kunta”
Ever since he battled ghostwriting allegations from Meek Mill in 2015, Drake’s legitimacy as a rapper started to come into question. Skeptics turned to full-blown haters, and pre-existing haters only had more fuel to argue Drake wasn’t that great.
Kendrick Lamar also indulged on “King Kunta”, wondering what happened to hip-hop for ghostwriting to be acceptable. Moreover, he even teased that he quietly knew about the allegations long before we did. “I swore I wouldn’t tell, but most of y’all sharing bars/Like you got the bottom bunk in a two-man cell,” Lamar rapped.
(Photo by Michael Buckner/Billboard via Getty Images)
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