Drake and Kendrick Lamar's beef: A timeline of features, diss tracks and drama

Parental Advisory: Explicit Content

The Drake versus Kendrick Lamar feud fully entered the public eye this month when Lamar headlined the Super Bowl halftime show and performed "Not Like Us," a diss track aimed toward Drake, less than a week after it was lauded with five Grammy awards, including both record and song of the year.

Last month, Drake filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), the company that handles the distribution of both Drake and Lamar's music, in which he accuses UMG of "corporate greed" in its promotion of "Not Like Us," which alleges Drake had relationships with younger women.

Their beef had been simmering for over a decade, fueled mostly by subtle references, until it erupted in March 2024 with Lamar's verse on "Like That," a song with Future and Metro Boomin. Then over a 16-day span in April and May 2024, Drake and Lamar went back and forth with eight direct diss tracks, four from each of them.

Here's a timeline of their relationship with each other, from friendly collaborations in the early 2010s to hate-filled diss tracks in the mid-2020s:

When things were good (2011-12)

◾ Nov. 2011: Drake featured Lamar on "Buried Alive Interlude," a song from Drake's second album, "Take Care." Lamar also told XXL Mag in an interview, that Drake's "a real good dude. He got a real genuine soul. We clicked immediately."

◾ Feb. 2012: Lamar opened for Drake on his Club Paradise tour alongside A$AP Rocky.

◾ Oct. 2012: Lamar featured Drake on "Poetic Justice," a song from Lamar's second album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city." They were also both featured alongside 2 Chainz on A$AP Rocky's song "F*****' Problems."

"Control" changes everything (2013-14)

◾ Aug. 2013: Lamar wrote a verse on Big Sean's song "Control" where he listed out 11 rappers, including Drake, then followed with "I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you n****s." Drake spoke to Billboard about it afterward and said, "I know good and well that Kendrick's not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic."

◾ Sept. 2013: Drake released "The Language" as a song on his album "Nothing Was The Same" that was speculated to be a diss at Lamar with lyrics like, "F**** any n**** that's talkin' that s*** just to get a reaction."

◾ Oct. 2013: During a live rapping segment at the 2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards, Lamar rapped, "Nothing's been the same since they dropped 'Control,' and tucked a sensitive rapper back into his pajama clothes."

• Dec. 2013: Vibe Magazine interviewed Drake about "Nothing Was The Same." When asked about "The Language" he said, "Where it became an issue is that I was rolling out an album while that verse was still bubbling, so my album rollout became about this thing. What am I supposed to say? Nah, we’ll be buddy-buddy? Mind you, I never once said he’s a bad guy (or) I don’t like him. I think he’s a f***ing genius in his own right, but I also stood my ground as I should."

◾ Nov. 2014: On The Breakfast Club radio show, Lamar was asked about his verse on Jay Rock's song "Pay For It" and said, "People need to leave that, let that go. ... It wasn't no issue from the jump. I think people talk about beef, it’s just a whole ‘nother dynamic. I can’t see myself going bar for bar with Drake. We’re two different types of artists."

Subtle digs and references (2015-21)

◾ March 2015: Lamar rapped, "I can dig rapping, but a rapper with a ghostwriter? What the f*** happened?" on "King Kunta," from Lamar's album "To Pimp A Butterfly." Though Lamar didn't say it was about Drake, Meek Mill publicly accused Drake of using ghostwriters a few months later.

◾ June 2015: Drake was featured in The Game's song "100" and rapped, "I would have all of your fans if I didn't go pop and I stayed on some conscious s***," which many interpreted as a diss on Lamar.

◾ July 2015: Drake released the song “Energy” which didn’t specifically call out Lamar, but addressed the hate he was getting at the time: “Got a lot of enemies, got a lot of people tryna drain me of my energy.”

◾ Aug. 2015: Lamar had multiple features on Dr. Dre's album "Compton" with lyrics that some interpreted as Drake disses in "Darkside/Gone" and "Deep Water" because they reference lines from popular Drake songs like "Energy" and "Started from the Bottom."

◾ Jan. 2016: In an interview published by The Washington Post, YouTuber Swoozie asked then-President Barack Obama whether Lamar or Drake would win in a rap battle, to which he responded, "Gotta go with Kendrick. I think Drake is an outstanding entertainer, but Kendrick, his lyrics." Drake responded two weeks later in his song "Summer Sixteen," rapping, "Tell Obama that my verses are just like the whips that he in, they bulletproof."

◾ June 2016: In Drake's song "4PM in Calabasas," he rapped, "When they told me take an R&B n**** on the road and I told 'em no and drew for Kendrick and Rocky. I tried to make the right choices with the world watching."

◾ March 2017: Lamar's song "The Heart Part 4" was perceived by many outlets as a diss toward Drake at the time, as well as Big Sean. Lamar later referenced lyrics from that song in his 2024 song "euphoria" which is a diss at Drake.

◾ May 2017: Lamar was featured on Future's song "Mask Off (Remix)" and rapped, "How y'all let a conscious n**** go commercial while only making conscious albums?" This could be a direct reference to Drake's lines in The Game's "100" from 2015.

◾ Jan. 2018: In Drake's song "Diplomatic Immunity," he rapped, "They try to compare us, but like a job straight outta high school there's no you and I. I taught you everything you know, now you got student pride." This could reference songs "u" and "i" from Lamar's album "To Pimp A Butterfly."

◾ June 2018: In Drake's song "Sandra's Rose," he rapped, "I walk in godly form amongst the mortal men," which possibly references Lamar's song "Mortal Man," also from "To Pimp A Butterfly."

◾ Aug. 2021: Baby Keem, Lamar's cousin, collaborates with Lamar on the song "family ties" which many listeners speculate was a diss at Drake.

Direct shots (2022-24)

◾ May 2022: Lamar released the album "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers." In the song "Father Time," he rapped, "When Kanye got back with Drake, I was slightly confused. Guess I’m not mature as I think, got some healin’ to do."

◾ Oct. 2023: Drake and J. Cole collaborated on the song "First Person Shooter," where J. Cole rapped, "Love when they argue the hardest emcee. Is it K. Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.” Lamar also goes by K. Dot and Drake's first name is Aubrey.

War breaks out (2024)

◾ March 2024: Lamar, Future and Metro Boomin collaborated on a song "Like That" where Lamar rapped, "F*** sneak dissin', first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches ... Motherf*** the big three, n****, it's just big me." While that directly references "First Person Shooter," Lamar goes on to rap, "Prince outlived Mike Jack ... 'Fore all your dogs gettin' buried, that's a K with all these nines, he gon' see Pet Sematary," which references Drake's album "For All The Dogs" and compares Drake to Michael Jackson and himself to Prince.

◾ April 19, 2024: Drake released his song "Push Ups" which disses Lamar's deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, Lamar's record label, among other characteristics. On the same day, he released another song called "Taylor Made Freestyle" in which he used artificial intelligence to rap in the voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, two of Lamar's influences, to directly address Lamar. The song was taken down after Shakur's estate threatened a lawsuit.

◾ April 30, 2024: Lamar released a six-minute song "euphoria" as a response to Drake, including lyrics like, "I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress ... I even hate when you say the word n****, but that’s just me, I guess." The title is possibly a reference to the HBO show "Euphoria" for which Drake is an executive producer.

◾ May 3, 2024: Lamar then released "6:16 in LA," a title possibly parodying the titles of Drake songs like "4PM in Calabasas" and "6PM in New York." In the song, he references OVO Sound, Drake's record label, and rapped "Have you ever thought OVO was working for me? ... You must be a terrible person, everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it."

◾ May 3, 2024, still: Drake responded 14 hours later with the song "Family Matters" where he accuses Lamar of domestic violence against his fiancee Whitney Alford, rapping "You the Black messiah wifing up a mixed queen and hit vanilla cream to help out with your self-esteem. ... When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defense 'cause she bigger than you?"

◾ May 4, 2024: Within minutes of "Family Matters" releasing, Lamar released "meet the grahams," in which he addresses Drake's son Adonis, Drake's mother Sandra, Drake's birth name Aubrey and an unnamed "baby girl," which listeners speculated implied that Drake had a secret daughter. The song targets Drake's parenting, addictions and weight loss, ending the song with "You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh, you lied about them other kids that's out there hopin' that you come. You lied about the only artist that can offer you some help, f*** a rap battle, this a long life battle with yourself."

◾ May 4, 2024, still: On the same day, Lamar followed up "meet the grahams" with another song, "Not Like Us" which features an aerial view of Drake's estate on the cover art with multiple red sex offender labels on top of it. Now a five-time Grammy award-winning song, it explicitly accuses Drake of being a pedophile with lyrics like, "Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young ... Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles."

◾ May 5, 2024: The next day, Drake released "THE HEART PART 6," which plays on Lamar's series of song titles that begin with "The Heart." Drake addressed several of Lamar's allegations, asserting he wasn't a pedophile and the secret daughter bit was a planned hoax. "We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information: A daughter that's eleven years old, I bet he takes it. We thought about givin' a fake name or a destination, but you so thirsty you not concerned with investigation," Drake rapped.

"Not Like Us" takes over (2024)

◾ June 2024: Lamar performed at "The Pop Out – Ken & Friends" concert on Juneteenth in Los Angeles, which was also streamed live on Amazon Prime Video, where he performed "Not Like Us" five times.

◾ July 2024: After weeks of success in the charts, Lamar released a music video for "Not Like Us" featuring a scene where Lamar beat up an owl piñata with text reading "Disclaimer: No OVHoes were harmed during the making of this video," a reference to the logo for Drake's record label OVO Sounds.

◾ Sep. 2024: Lamar was announced as the headliner for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and said in his statement, "Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date. And I'll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one."

◾ Nov. 2024: Lamar released an album "GNX" with the song "Wacced Out Murals" where he rapped, "I never peaced it up, that s*** don't sit well with me. Before I take a truce, I'll take 'em to hell with me."

Legal troubles ensue (2024-25)

◾ Nov. 2024: Drake filed a petition against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify for artificially inflating the streaming numbers for "Not Like Us." He filed another petition the next day against UMG that alleged defamation and that they participated in a "pay-to-play scheme" with iHeartRadio.

◾ Jan. 3: Conductor Williams, a record producer, posted a now-deleted Drake freestyle video to YouTube called "Fighting Irish" where Drake accused friends of siding with Lamar, "The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets, seemed like they loved every minute. Just know the s*** is personal to us and wasn't just business."

◾ Jan. 15: Drake withdrew his first petition against UMG and filed a federal lawsuit against UMG for defamation. He claimed that UMG promoted a "false and malicious" narrative about Drake by releasing and promoting "Not Like Us," which resulted in physical threats to Drake's safety and online harassment.

"Not Like Us" takes the national stage (Feb. 2025)

◾ Feb. 2: "Not Like Us" won all five of the Grammy Awards it was nominated for, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Music Video, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. As Lamar accepted his awards, he wore an all-denim fit known as a "Canadian tuxedo" that many perceived as a diss at Drake, a Canadian.

◾ Feb. 9: Lamar performed a 10-song setlist at the Super Bowl halftime show, including "Not Like Us." He prefaced the song by saying "I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue," possibly a reference to Drake's January lawsuit. Lamar also brought out two of Drake's ex-girlfriends while on stage: SZA performed alongside him and Serena Williams danced on stage during "Not Like Us."

◾ Feb. 14: On Valentine's Day, Drake released "$ome $exy $ongs 4 U," a collaboration album with PartyNextDoor. In the song "Gimme A Hug," Drake starts with, "Yeah, Drake elimination, fake intimidation," and later goes on to say, "F*** a rap beef, I'm tryna get the party lit."

ILLUSTRATIONS Veronica Bravo

CONTRIBUTING Madalyn Hoerr, Taijuan Moorman, KiMi Robinson