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With the shots fired by Kendrick Lamar on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” helping the song debut atop the Hot 100, a rundown of all its spite-filled predecessors at the chart’s apex.
The hip-hop world has been in flames since the Friday (Mar. 22) release of Future & Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” featuring an incendiary Kendrick Lamar verse taking thinly veiled shots at “First Person Shooter” co-stars J. Cole and Drake. Rap traditionalists are unsurprisingly clamoring for a response record from both MCs — but which of the two has the most to gain by jumping into the fray, or the most to lose by staying out of it?
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Below, two Billboard Hip-Hop writers present the case for each artist being the one who most needs to get in the game ASAP.
WHY DRAKE MOST NEEDS TO RESPOND
When Drake graced the cover of Billboard in August 2013 ahead of his acclaimed Nothing Was the Same album, he brushed off Kendrick Lamar’s genre-shaking “Control” verse, referring to the atomic bomb Lamar dropped on rap as an “ambitious thought.”
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“That’s all it was,” he said dismissively. “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.”
Just over a decade later, that day has presented itself. Lamar has dropped the gloves and scorched Drizzy and J. Cole, with a scathing verse aiming at his supposed “Big Three” running mates on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” (“Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD/ Motherf–k the Big Three, n—a, it’s just big me”), which had hip-hop in a tizzy over the weekend.
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Actually, it extended well beyond the rap world: debates about the simmering feud between Drake, Kendrick and Cole extended far outside the genre, with even the likes of ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith spitting bars from Eminem’s final 8 Mile battle on his show while discussing the potential clash of the “Big Three.”
Drake has scoffed in the past at disses from rappers whom he didn’t deem worthy of his time. Some he’d address with subliminal jabs when he felt suitable, on his terms, while others beneath him on the food chain never even got half an OVO bar. It’s an opportunity he’s earned, as one of hip-hop’s titans with a battle-tested past where he’s repeatedly proven to be a formidable opponent – including battles with Joe Budden, Diddy and most notably Meek Mill in 2015, when he ethered the Philly rapper with “Back to Back” and put the ghostwriting claims to rest. After most battles, Drizzy has emerged stronger from his battle scars.
However, there’s always going to be a stain on Drake’s decorated resume that no record amount of Hot 100 hits could remove when it comes to his 2018 feud with Pusha T. Drizzy backed down following Pusha’s scintillating “Story of Adidon” exposing his child, Adonis, at the advice of Rap-A-Lot co-founder and consigliere J. Prince – who claimed his response would have “hurt families.”
This isn’t a situation Drake can rightly shrug off as beneath him, though. While Kendrick Lamar only stands at 5’5”, the West Coast legend sees eye-to-eye with the 6 God – one of his few true peers in rap, with comparable levels of commercial appeal, critical acclaim and years in the game.
With all that Drake has accomplished in his Hall-of-Fame career, it’s rare for an artist of his caliber to have an opportunity to elevate their legacy and wipe away some of the years-old stench leftover from the botched Pusha T feud that OVO detractors still bring up to this day.
Rising to Lamar’s challenge — and potentially emerging victorious — could wash out the bad taste Drake opting out of that beef left in fans’ mouths a half-decade ago.
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The “Poetic Justice” collaborators have been entrenched in a Cold War of digs since “Control” and K. Dot’s BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher dissing the “sensitive” Toronto star months later. Drake has jabbed back on records like Future’s “Sh!t” remix and “The Language,” but they’ve never met head-on for a collision on the throne.
Showing out in such a showdown could have a profound effect on Drake’s legacy. To spell it out in sports terms Drake would appreciate, longtime New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady didn’t cement his GOAT case until completing the 28-3 comeback at Super Bowl LI in 2017 against the Atlanta Falcons. Similarly, many already labeled LeBron James as the best player of the 21st century, but pulling off the improbable 3-1 comeback against the 73-win Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals launched his legacy into the same stratosphere as Michael Jordan.
Both were undoubtedly seminal moments in the careers of those all-time legends, and took place well over a decade after they entered the league. A line could be drawn to Drake possibly getting the best of Lamar in this rap version of the ultimate game.
While “Like That” is a response to Cole and Drake’s “First Person Shooter,” it’s Drake that most of Dot’s smoke is specifically directed at. After dismantling the “Big Three” argument, Kendrick takes aim at Drake with a For All the Dogs reference, and snarlingly compares their relationship to iconic rivals Michael Jackson and Prince: “And your best work is a light pack/ N—a, Prince outlived Mike Jack’/ N—a, bum/ ‘Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried/ That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary.”
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With Kendrick and Drake’s icy relationship taking shots at one another dating back to 2013’s “Control,” it’s imperative for the 6 God to step up and be first in line rather than J. Cole, who has had an admirable relationship with Lamar from a distance over the years. There’s been way less friction between the Dreamville boss and Compton native, as they were even rumored to be working on a joint project at one point.
All that said, Drake could end up falling back and avoiding the fray, maybe addressing K. Dot down the line with a series of jabs after he goes on hiatus following his Big As the What? Tour wrapping next month. He’s already allegedly liked a comment saying he’s not taking K. Dot’s threats “seriously,” and is still posting selfies to his IG Story in an unbothered fashion.
Not all hope is lost for a quicker response, though, as Drizzy appeared to respond to Lamar’s threats sweeping the rap world with a chest-puffed rant during a recent tour date. “I’m 10 f–king toes down in Florida or anywhere else I go – and I know that no matter what, there’s not a n—a on this earth that could ever f–k with me in my life,” Drake confidently told a Florida crowd while on stage over the weekend.
In a genre with a dwindling number of A-list stars, the Drake-Kendrick Lamar tussle gives rap a rare monocultural moment, and a chance for the 6 God to etch another chapter in the hip-hop history books. The ball’s bouncing inside Drake’s home court – but will he put a shot up or leave the gym and retreat to the wine cellar of his Toronto estate? — MICHAEL SAPONARA
WHY COLE MOST NEEDS TO RESPOND
Let’s keep it all the way honest: It’s scary hours. The rap civil war is upon us, and the best man to spar with Kung Fu Kenny is his one-time brother-in-arms, Jermaine Lamarr Cole.
This part of rap is largely unfamiliar territory for Cole: though he’s had words for 6ix9ine, Lil Pump, and the Soundcloud generation, he’s never engaged in true one-on-one combat, making this potential battle with Kendrick Lamar an even more important one. Rather than let Drake stand ten toes down and attempt to get the pinfall on K. Dot, Cole needs to tag in, earn the W to get out of the shadows of both men, and show why he’s indeed not the two or the three when speaking on this rap hierarchy.
In truth, there hasn’t been a time in Cole’s career when he was undoubtedly “the one.” When Cole entered the fray in the late 2000s, fans immediately pitted him against Drake because both were spry and capable lyricists with booming potential to push the genre forward. Going into it, Drake had the leg up after his seismic mixtape So Far Gone rocketed him to the moon in 2009. The following year, he instantly became the go-to guy with debut album Thank Me Later, netting close to 500,000 units sold during its opening week.
Cole’s road to success was more arduous, as he struggled to put together a favorable single to please radio and his boom-bap audience. “Who Dat” failed to catch traction, and though “Work Out” became his first breakout hit, peaking at No. 13 on the Hot 100, skepticism surfaced because Cole had to dumb down its lyrics a little and rely on a borrowed Paula Abdul hook and Ye sample for radio approval. He later admitted to his missteps on the 2013 Born Sinner standout song “Let Nas Down” when he revealed Nas’ displeasure over the record. Still, Cole notched his first No. 1 album and mostly evaded further criticism until the mainstream arrival of Kendrick Lamar.
Cole and Kendrick’s friendship goes back to the days before the Compton rapper was signed. “Before my album was even out, before he even had a deal, I was making sure to stamp him,” Cole told Elliott Wilson during his CRWN interview in 2014. “Kendrick was one I saw right away and said, ‘This kid is special.’” Cole even entertained the idea of wanting to sign Kendrick to Dreamville. That’s how real the brotherhood was.
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Lamar’s ascension into Rap God status wasn’t an overnight success. Like Cole, he played the long game, releasing mixtapes and EPs. While Section 80 was lauded in the underground as a classic, it wasn’t until his 2012 major label debut, good kid, m.A.A.d city, that he was dubbed as a generational talent. By then, Lamar also received an extended Drake co-sign, as he worked with the 6 God on Take Care for his “Buried Alive Interlude,” opened up for him during his Club Paradise tour, and collaborated on “Poetic Justice.”
Kendrick’s career crescendoed from there with classic album after classic album, spanning from good kid, m.A.A.d city to To Pimp a Butterfly, to his game-changing opus, 2017’s DAMN. Suddenly, most conversations about the best MC weren’t between Drake and Cole anymore. The narrative shifted to Drizzy and Kenny, with Cole sliding to third. Despite his superstar growth, Kendrick and Cole remained allies, with rumbles of a collaborative album brewing after they freestyled on each other’s tracks in 2016.
During this time, Kendrick and Drake have sent shots at each other for title contention – most notably Kendrick’s “Control” verse and his BET Cypher freestyle in 2013 – while again, Cole quietly chipped away with No. 1 album after No. 1 album. The Cole and Kendrick joint album never happened, with the two’s lone team-up on record remaining their Born Sinner collab “Chaining Day.” And then, last year, Cole and Drake — who were once pitted against each other at the early stages of their careers – unleashed their For All the Dogs Hot 100-topper “First Person Shooter.” They would up the ante by teaming up again for Drake’s indelible gem “Evil Ways” on his Scary Hours Edition of Dogs and later going on tour together, where the love fest was inescapable.
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Was this a case of sour grapes for Kendrick? Of course. His old buddy is siding with the opps. So because of his allegiance to Drake, Dot brought the Uzi out on Cole and had no issues hosing him down. Now, even though Cole shouted Kendrick out on “First Person Shooter,” rhyming “Love when they argue the hardest MC Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?” – realistically, in Kendrick’s mind, he consistently lapped Cole. And for quite some time, Cole believed it too, rapping on “Heavens EP” about how “They threw the bronze at me/ Behind Drake and Dot, yeah, them n—as is superstars to me/ Maybe deep down, I’m afraid of my luminosity.” But those words pierce harder when heard aloud from Cole’s competition. Kendrick essentially said it’s never been us; it’s always been me against me.
Cole, who has cemented himself as one of the best feature artists of all time after constructing two hellacious runs in 2018 and 2023 – even being named Complex’s Rapper of the Year for ’23 without releasing any new music of his own – boasted about being on top of his game. If you’re feeling that froggy, then Cole, you have to leap – and do it over the biggest amphibian in the pond? If you’re tired of being the little bro, being told you’re not top-10 all-time material, a win against Lamar at your lyrical peak could shift your story considerably. The narrative wouldn’t be about you being the third-best; it’d be about the quiet giant who chose violence and defeated the Boogey Man when no one else could.
All the rap greats have beefed at one time or another. A heavyweight battle between Cole and Kendrick would be must-watch material and could alter Cole’s all-time ranking. For many, he’s currently just outside that all-time top 10. Having a memorable feud and outlasting Kendrick could change his trajectory because he already has the stats of an all-world performer. Now, as the underdog, if he could slay the beast and be the last man standing, then he could finally be the No. 1 we all knew he was capable of being. — CARL LAMARRE
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At some point, it needs to be acknowledged that the main reason the two-decade-old beef between Benzino and Eminem refuses to die is that Benzino refuses to stop talking about it.
It was just last month that the “Who Is Benzino?” rapper had a tearful emotional breakdown on the set of Drink Champs because he was supposedly tired of talking about his Caucasian rival, who he said he “don’t have a problem with” at the time. But then he was right back to trading jabs with Slim Shady soon after. Now, the 58-year-old is taking his beef with Em to the latter’s home city of Detroit and posting on Instagram photos and footage of himself at Em’s “Mom’s Spaghetti” Italian cuisine restaurant, where he bought bags of food just so he could tell his followers that the spaghetti was “horrible.”
“Mark this date. #Rapelvis Video soon come……oh the [spaghetti] was horrible,” Zino captioned a photo posted to IG that showed him flipping the bird at the logo of Em’s restaurant. Apparently, the former Mad Men member didn’t think there was anything counterintuitive about spending his money on food from Em’s eatery—which essentially puts it in the Music to be Murdered By rapper’s pocket—while giving the restaurant free advertising.
From Vibe:
Zino also uploaded various other clips from behind the scenes of his music video, showing him launching more disrespect at Em’s establishment. The former The Source owner is seen ordering bags of food from the spot. In another clip, he takes a bite from a pint-size spaghetti order before chucking it in disgust. Another clip features the 58-year-old Hip-Hop figure stealing one of the store’s signs.
Meanwhile, outside of an occasional diss track, Em appears to be far less invested in this beef than Zino is. So, you know, maybe it’s time to let it go, bruh.
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Kendrick Lamar put the Hip-Hop world on notice after dropping a verse on “Like That” from Future and Metro Boomin‘s new WE DON’T TRUST YOU project. K-Dot revisited his “Control” verse days and restored the feeling after aiming shots at Drake and J. Cole while declaring himself the best among the so-called “Big Three.”
Kendrick Lamar has been spending more time focused on his pgLang brand and assisting the career of his cousin, Baby Keem to great effect. The former TDE standout has often been mentioned in the same tier as Drake and J. Cole, with many thinking the trio would clique up one day and shift the entire ecosystem.
K-Dot put those hopes and dreams to rest on “Like That” and didn’t mince words at all. Some are of the mind that Lamar has taken subliminal shots from Drizzy over the years, in particular, related to their status within the Hip-Hop hierarchy.
From “Like That”:
“Okay, let’s get it up, it’s time for him to prove that he’s a problem/N*ggas clickin’ up, but cannot be legit, no 40 Water, tell ’em/Ah, yeah, huh, yeah, get up with me/F*ck sneak dissin’, first person shooter, I hope they came with three switches/I crash out, like, “F*ck rap,” diss Melle Mel if I had to”
In a bid to distance himself from the pack, Lamar added, “Motherf*ck the big three, n*gga, it’s just big me” which left nothing to the imagination.
This isn’t the first time Kendrick Lamar caused a stir. Back in 2013 on Big Sean’s “Control,” Kung Fu Kenny named names and essentially dared everyone to try his pen and had people not even involved in the jabs responding to the verse. Time will tell if Drake or J. Cole will respond, considering the latter has always represented his connection to Lamar as friendly.
Again, this could also be traced to a perceived beef between Future and Drake, although that hasn’t been confirmed. Further, Metro Boomin has had recent issues with the Canadian superstar that went public, adding to the lore of discord between them all.
On X, formerly Twitter, folks are chiming in about Kendrick Lamar’s jabs toward Drake and J. Cole. Check out the reactions below.
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The Kid Mero, one-half of the former comedy and talk show duo Desus & Mero, has broken the silence around the pair’s split on his new podcast program. However, Desus is pushing back on Mero’s version of the split, calling cap on the whole breakdown.
Today, Mero is a co-host of 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & The Kid Mero, with the pair taking on conversations in the pop culture space. Joe Budden, who knows a thing or two about professional public breakups, was a recent guest on the podcast and the topic of the Desus & Mero split came up.
“It’s the business, there’s no friends in the business, you know what I’m saying? We was in a situation where I got four kids, two mortgages. The taxes are crazy. I got real life situations going on,” Mero said, gesturing to Budden, and mentioning that he now lives in New Jersey.
He added, “So I’m like, ‘Yo, if we get an offer from DraftKings for 1.5, before they got logos on the NBA court, and you’re like, ‘Nah, bro this ain’t it.’ And I’m like, ‘Nah fam, I’m gambling illegally right now. This sh*t is legal in Jersey, I just moved here. This is going places, bro. We need to do this.’ And they’re like, ‘Nah?’ I’m like, ‘F*ck outta here!’ To me that’s like, the beginning of like, ‘Alright, this sh*t is corroding.’”
Desus, catching wind of the recaps made by various outlets, in this case, Complex, retweeted the article with a gif of the “cap” meme in response although he has elected so far to not say more beyond that.
At their height, Desus & Mero were an unstoppable force that crossed over into the hearts of America by way of their high-profile cable television program and appeared by all measures to become the next big thing in media and beyond.
Check out reactions from all sides below. We’ve also got the podcast episode in full below.
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Men lie, women lie, and numbers don’t, but are numbers indicative of something’s actual worth? Nicki Minaj certainly seems to think so.
Responding to Megan Thee Stallion’s “subliminal” diss on “HISS,” Nicki Minaj clapped back with the lackluster response track “Bigfoot” and though most Hip-Hop fans called the song a complete dud, Nicki feels she struck gold as she boasted about the numbers the song garnered upon its release.
Hopping on Instagram to take a victory lap, Nicki felt that the 2.45 million views that the track got on the first day of its release was something to celebrate and in the caption said as much even though many of her fans weren’t feeling the cut.
“Imagine being backed by a machine & going up against me, THEE MACHINE. Imagine spending money on a music video & full campaign only for an audio of a blank screen with just my RAPS to gets more views. A rap I made up joking on IG LIVE in mins Broke APPLE MUSIC & YOUTUBE records. NOW WE WAITING ON SPOTIFY!!!!!!! WHO WANNA PLAY WIT NICKI?!?? 🤣 Spotify ain’t gotta lie!!!!!! They REALLY STREAMING my music. 😎 #BigFOOT This is what happens when you think FAKE BOTS, PAID BLOGS & FAKE STUNTS will win the war in 2024 this is thinking you that bitch then running into THAT BITCH. #HeavyOnIt@tateko1 lets GOOOOOOOOOOO #GagCITY WHO MAD?!?!!!!!! Idc,” Nicki Minaj wrote.
Well, the numbers are the numbers, so we can’t take that away from her.
Still, fans chimed in on the comments about the song and had some pointed takes saying things like, “this is sooooooooooooooo embarrassing!!!!! song is TRASH and u ruining your legacy 😢,” and “You really tryna package up those stats like you’ve done something.”
But even with the backlash that Nicki’s garnered over her “hit” diss song, many fans came to her defense and praised her for making “history” with her “Bigfoot” drop with posts like “[C]ongratulations and this is not the end at all! You’re only getting warmed up.”
Now we wait and see if this is the end of the Megan vs. Nicki beef or just the beginning.
What do y’all think of Nicki Minaj patting herself on the back for the “success” of “Bigfoot”? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion have disrupted the Hip-Hop timeline in a major fashion, with the Queens veteran launching an all-out online assault on the Houston star. After the perceived shot from Megan Thee Stallion towards Nicki Minaj on “Hiss,” the Pink Friday 2 star fired back with the diss track “Bigfoot,” and fans are reacting.
As we previously reported, Megan Thee Stallion dropped her latest single, “Hiss,” last week as part of her return to the music scene, and one line in particular seemed to ruffle the feathers of Nicki Minaj.
The lyric in question reads, “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law/I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start,” which has been assumed to be about Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty and his past legal woes.
This, in turn, sparked Minaj to go on a days-long tirade on social media, egged on her legion of fans known as the “Barbz,” and things got ugly with MTS’ deceased parents being brought into the fray and mention of the shooting incident with Tory Lanez.
With “Bigfoot,” Minaj wasted little time addressing the line mentioned above from “Hiss” and continued to pile on the attacks in a song with all the current tea within.
From “Bigfoot”:
This lil’ beggin’ whore talkin’ ’bout Megan’s lawFor a free beat, you could hit Megan raw (Ooh)If you a ghost writer, Pardi in Megan jaw (Ooh-ooh)Shots thrown, but I still ain’t let Megan score (Tell ’em)Bad bitch, she like six foot (Ooh), I call her Big Foot (Brr-brr)The bitch fell off, I said, “Get up on your good foot” (Ah, ah)
Minaj ends the song by suggesting she. has more ammo in the tank for Megan should she want this beef to continue. As expected, the Barbz and the Hotties, which are MTS’ supporters, are at each other’s virtual throats and we’ve got all the reactions to “Bigfoot” below.
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Yung Miami and Armon Wiggins got into a wild back-and-forth on social media which caught the attention of DJ Akademiks. What has ensued is quite a bit of mess and we’ve got details down below.
From what we learned on X, formerly Twitter, Armon Wiggins, a popular YouTube and social media personality, shared a clip of DJ Akademiks slamming Yung Miami by calling her music career and other endeavors a failure which prompted a response from the City Girls rapper.
From there, things escalated after Wiggins fired back at YM’s money jab, which then prompted Big Ak to go even harder with his long-running disdain of the Florida rapper.
“Failed? LMAOOOOO I got more money than both of yall. Made a million in 15 days off a card game! Got all yall crying both a podcast when I was just trying some sh*t what exactly do yall do besides reporting bout B*TCHES ALL DAY??” YM wrote in her initial salvo.
Akademiks replied with, “Don’t let her talk that money talk wit u. N*gga why she ain’t get on that wit me when I was violating. N*gga only way on earth she got more bread than BIG AK is if she got it by selling that 30 year old P*SSY to PUFF DADDY. A whole billionaire.”
YM and Wiggins continued their intense argument and it appears the pair have crossed paths before.
“I saw you in person you was on MUTE REMEMBER????” YM said to Wiggins, who fired back with, “No I don’t remember that. I remember YOU being RUDE acting as if you had a STICK up your a$$. Remember I OFFERED you a seat! You know RIGHT before you got PUT OUT of Yo Gotti section remember? AND LETS BE CLEAR! I AM THE REASON YOU & EVERYONE you CAME WITH was AT THE BEYONCE CONCERT! ..I SIGNED OFF ON THAT SWEETIE..Remember you couldn’t even get tickets in your OWN CITY.”
Ak, who doesn’t know the meaning of subtlety, was relentless in his attack on YM despite most of the timeline slamming him for keeping things going.
Yeah, it’s all very messy and the reactions from X are all over the place. Of course, Yung Miami being linked with Sean “Diddy” Combs amid the mogul’s recent troubles gets mentioned, but YM fires back at Armon Wiggins and DJ Akademiks, the latter of which YM shares a timeline of questionable comments and actions from the streaming personality.
Check out the reactions below.
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