Timeline of a Rivalry: Drake’s Struggle to Reclaim the Spotlight After Kendrick Lamar’s Victory

Since the explosive Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef culminated with K-Dot reigning victorious with the summer smash “Not Like Us,” Drake – typically the king of the charts – seems desperate to reclaim the spotlight.[1] In the wake of his defeat, he’s dropped 12 tracks and continued to take subtle jabs at Kendrick.[2] Beyond the music, Drake has kept the feud alive, relentlessly trolling Kendrick on social media. Read on for a detailed breakdown of each track and the ongoing rivalry.

May 24, 2024: Drake and Sexxy Red – “U My Everything”

Released after Kendrick Lamar’s barrage of disses, Drake dropped “U My Everything” with Sexyy Red on May. 24, 2024.[3] Often seen showing love to each other on social media, Kendrick dissed their relationship less than a month earlier on “Euphoria” with the bars, “When I see you standing by Sexyy Red, I believe you see two bad bitches,” he raps. “I believe you don’t like women, that’s real competition, you might pop ass with them.”[4]

Drake also responded to rumors about undergoing plastic surgery, rapping, “Me and the surgeon got history,” and “BBL Drizzy, they want a new body, they ask me for it.”[5]

K-Dot previously accused Drake of using Ozempic and getting a Brazilian butt lift on his diss track “Meet the Grahams,” rapping: “Don’t cut them corners like your daddy did, fuck what Ozempic did / Don’t pay to play with them Brazilians, get a gym membership.”[6]

Producer Metro Boomin also started a viral trend after dissing Drake with a “BBL Drizzy” beat. With over 5 million listens on SoundCloud, numerous fans rapped their own renditions over the production across social media.[7]

Hoping to regain favor in the rap game, Drizzy jokingly leaned into the disses on the Tay Keith-produced track, but the track made a lackluster debut, debuting at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[8]

June 3, 2024: Snowd4y f/ Drake – “Wah Gwan Delilah”

Snowd4y and Drake released “Wah Gwan Delilah” on June 3, 2024, leaving many fans puzzled.[9] Hoping to joke his way out of his loss to Kendrick Lamar, the Plain White T’s cover harped on Kendrick’s disses by using heavy Toronto slang and hints of cultural appropriation.[10] Throughout the track, Drake uses Multicultural Toronto English (MTE), a dialect primarily spoken by younger people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in the Greater Toronto Area.[11] “Wah gwan” (spelled in various ways) is a phrase borrowed from Jamaican Patois that translates to “What’s going on?” in standard English.[12] [13]

This could be seen as a response to the following Kendrick bars in “Euphoria.”[14]

“Don’t speak on the family, crodie
It can get deep in the family, crodie
Talk about me and my family, crodie?
Someone gon’ bleed in your family, crodie
I be at New Ho King eatin’ fried rice with a dip sauce and a blammy, crodie
Tell me you’re cheesin’, fam
We can do this right now on the camera, crodie”

Overall, the comedic track missed the mark with social media circles who harshly criticized the parody track and even managed to confuse the Plain White T’s themselves.[15]

June 28, 2024: Camila Cabello and Drake – “Uuugly” and “Hot Uptown”

Both released June 28, 2024, Camila Cabello recruited Drake for two tracks on her C,XOXO album.[16]

The song “Uuugly” is actually a solo offering by Drake, as confirmed by Camila herself.[17]

“Why does he have his own song? Because selfishly, I just want to hear Drake on my own album. I love that for me — it’s like that rebellious mood. Who says I can’t do that? It’s Drake talking his shit,” she told Billboard.[18]

Formerly unreleased and titled “Trying Me,” the track contains several references to their other collaborative track “HOT UPTOWN,” which showcases Drake and Camila Cabello delving into themes of love, desire, and reconciliation, all set against a backdrop of luxury and materialism.[19] [20]

According to Complex, Cabello initially held off on releasing “Hot Uptown” due to the Kendrick-Drizzy beef, but it failed to reach major commercial success, reaching #62 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[21]

July 26, 2024: Gordo and Drake – “Healing” and “Sideways”

Both released on July 26, 2024, EDM star Gordo’s album Diamante featured two Drake-assisted tracks: “Healing” and “Sideways.” Remaining surprisingly active since being annihilated by Kendrick Lamar, Gordo commented on Drake’s mindset at the time in an interview with People magazine.[22]

“He’s been past it… Ever since all this has happened… I’ve seen him happier. It’s really weird,” he shared.

“He’s pretty jolly… The internet makes it seem like, ‘Oh, that photo, he’s all sad and shit.’ That’s just a bad photo from a bad camera. But because it’s him, it’s put under a magnifying glass like, ‘Oh, look at his eyes. He’s looking a little droopy. He hasn’t slept.’ But the guy’s been happy as shit, to be honest. He’s chilling.”[23]

August 6, 2024: Drake – “Blue Green Red”

On August 6, 2024, Drake dropped “Blue Green Red,” a subliminal response to Kendrick’s “Meet the Grahams” that failed to gain traction.[24] The song originated from a folder containing three unreleased, self-leaked tracks, which were released on the 100 Gigs for Your Headtop website, which appeared to be hosted by Drake himself.[25] The lyrics also touch on LeBron James turning his back on him and boast that his career is still going strong despite Kung Fu Kenny’s four diss tracks.[26] The song was officially released on streaming services August 10, 2024.[27]

August 6, 2024: Drake and Young Thug and 21 Savage – “It’s Up”

Previously unreleased, Drake also shared “It’s Up” with Atlanta-based artists Young Thug and 21 Savage on August 6, 2024. The track was one of the three self-leaked tracks on the aforementioned 100 Gigs project.

The song ironically validated Kendrick’s accusation that Drake collaborates with Atlanta artists to maintain his relevance in the streets.

The West Coast rapper delivered the line, “You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars/No, you not a colleague, you a fuckin’ colonizer” on “Not Like Us.”[28]

Regardless, “It’s Up” brings together Drake, 21 Savage, and Young Thug as they rap about women, drugs, their luxurious lifestyle, and guns.[29] Young Thug’s vocals are sampled from his unreleased track “Don’t Care About My Opps*.”[30]

August 6, 2024: Drake & Latto – “Housekeeping Knows”

The third track Drake leaked on August 6, 2024 from the 100 Gigs folder featured first-time collaborator Latto. The track made little noise and debuted at #85 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[31]

August 23, 2024: Drake – “Circadian Rhythm”

As a part of the second installment of 100 Gig leaks that were dropped on August 23, 2024, “Circadian Rhythm” is likely a reference to Kendrick’s “6:16 in LA.”[32] The Compton MC rapped, “I know this type of power is gon’ cost/But I live in circadian rhythms of a shooting star.”[33]

Acting as a sequel to “The Language” off of Drake’s 2013 Nothing Was The Same, which is thought to be Drake’s response to Kendrick Lamar’s infamous “Control” verse.[34] The track was released alongside two others: “No Face” and “SOD.”[35]

August 23, 2024: Drake – “SOD”

First showcased in full during a live stream by Kai Cenat on July 24, 2024, “SOD” (short for Stacks On Deck) is the second track in another trio released by Drake via the 100 Gigs website on August 23, 2024.[36]

Originally, the song featured Lil Yachty, who contributed a verse, but due to complications, including issues with sample clearance, it ultimately became a solo Drake track upon its unofficial release.[37]

It’s also worth noting that an alleged reference track for Drake’s 2022 song “Jumbotron Shit Poppin,” recorded by Lil Yachty, started circulating online in April 2024, after being leaked to multiple media outlets by an anonymous source in Atlanta.[38 ]

August 23, 2024: Drake – “No Face”

On August 23, 2024, Drake and Playboi Carti’s “No Face” surfaced as the third track from the 100 Gigs 2 trio and marked their second collaboration since “Pain 1993” from Drake’s 2020 mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes.[39]

Though Kendrick has yet to respond to any of the disses, social media platform X began theorizing Dot actually replied to “No Face” in advance on “Meet the Grahams.”[40 ] In “No Face,” Drake mentions that his therapist gave a 30-day notice.[41] Meanwhile, on “Meet The Grahams,” Kendrick implied that therapy wasn’t sufficient for Drake, suggesting instead that he should strip his ego with ayahuasca.[42]

Conclusion: Drake’s Fight to Reclaim the Spotlight

In the aftermath of Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s intense rivalry, The 6 God has been on a mission to reclaim his spot at the top. Despite releasing a bevy of new tracks, the response from fans and critics alike has been mixed. While some tracks show flashes of Drake’s signature style, others have failed to make a significant impact on the charts. Only time will tell if this ongoing feud will reignite or fizzle out, but one thing is clear—Drake is determined to stay in the spotlight, no matter the cost.

[1]https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/kendrick-lamar-drake-beef-who-won-1235014499/

[2]https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/824068-drake-trolls-kendrick-lamar-wife-beater-hip-hop-news

[3]https://genius.com/Sexyy-red-and-drake-u-my-everything-lyrics

[4]https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/795205-kendrick-lamar-drake-diss-sexyy-red-hip-hop-news

[5]https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/05/24/drake-raps-over-bbl-drizzy-trolls-critics-but-not-kendrick-lamar-directly/

[6]https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/05/24/drake-raps-over-bbl-drizzy-trolls-critics-but-not-kendrick-lamar-directly/

[7] Ibid.

[8] https://genius.com/Sexyy-red-and-drake-u-my-everything-lyrics

[9]https://genius.com/Snowd4y-wah-gwan-delilah-lyrics

[10] Ibid.

[11] https://www.complex.com/music/a/peter-a-berry/ranking-every-song-drake-has-shared-since-the-kendrick

[12] https://genius.com/Snowd4y-wah-gwan-delilah-lyrics