Kendrick Lamar has had an incredible year, and that might be an understatement. Where do we even begin? How about the beef that blot out the sun of summer 2024?
Photo: Joseph Okpako/WireImage; Prince Williams/Wireimage
After years of mounting public tension, the conflict between the "Humble" rapper and Canadian pop sensation Drake exploded into all-out musical warfare on the digital battlefield this summer. In the hip-hop landscape, adjutants on both sides were primed, with pitchforks at the ready. This is the moment they've been waiting for. This is the moment a Cold War of subtweets, veiled jabs, and subliminal disses culminate in direct, focused verbal artillery. And to all who bore witness, the fusillade was fireworks. The people were starved, and this beef... it's wagyu.
To an outsider, a public feud between two notable rappers may seem like an insignificant, petty endeavor between a couple of out-of-touch celebrities with too much pride, but those connoisseurs of the culture know that this is much more. This is a big deal; a supermassive event of cosmic rap proportions. Beefs between two big artists in hip-hop hold a powerful place in the culture, and these are the moments that serve as cornerstones in rap history, a la Tupac v. Notorious B.I.G, or Nas v. Jay-Z, with the potential to submit the combatants into the hallowed halls of rap history. These are the waves that ripple beyond the moment, into the rap universe, and with the titanic figures of K.Dot and Drizzy? When they crashed, the ripples were tsunamis.
Kendrick Lamar in Martine Rose royal blue white and black colorblock 'Rose Sport' scarf and white Willy Chavarria ‘Bad Boy’ Track Jacket
Credit: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar, official music video (Kendrick Lamar, 2024) pgLang / project3
But for us spectators, the prospect of a rap beef is much rosier. Out on the sidelines of the battlefield, outside the chaos of the war room, where generals on both sides ruminate on tactics of greatest pain delivery, the beef is a feast of multimedia artistry served by two of the industry's most beloved and successful artists. If Drake's "Push-ups", released mid-April this year, was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, then Kendrick's gargantuan "Not Like Us" was Hiroshima. A decisive coup de grâce; an overwhelming display of power that terraformed the summer and ended a long, evolving war that seemed to span generations.
The ninth diss track in a series of back-and-forths between the two, "Not Like Us" dominated airplay and streams, shattering multiple records. It was the fastest rap song to surpass 100 million streams; it garnered the most single day streams for a rap song in the United States (over 13 million!); and the most song streams in a week for any rapper (81 million), among many other records. The smoke has cleared: "Not Like Us" was an era-defining power move, and Kendrick's legacy in the hallowed halls of Rap Beefs has been secured.
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