Feuds
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Drake appears to have heard about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, and made his subtle response by flipping some lyrics to his “Knife Talk” track while performing in Melbourne on Monday night (Feb. 10). “Beef is live, spoiler alert — I never died,” he raps on the reworked version following Lamar’s headlining performance […]
The fallout from the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud has been picked apart, and it will be further delved into as part of IMPACT x Nightline: Kendrick v. Drake: The Feud episode coming to Hulu on Thursday (Feb. 6). Ahead of its streaming premiere, Billboard exclusively shares a clip from the ABC News Studios program […]
The deterioration of Drake and LeBron James’ friendship appears to be part of the fallout from the Drizzy and Kendrick Lamar feud. Drake hit the stage for night two in Perth of his Anita Max Wynn Tour on Wednesday (Feb. 5), and in fan-captured video, flipped around some lyrics to “Nonstop” during the show to […]
Ye — formerly Kanye West — is advising all rappers to stand down from battling Kendrick Lamar outside of one circumstance.
West sat down with Justin Laboy for their The Download interview released on Tuesday (Feb. 4), which saw him give Lamar props, but he also exuded confidence he could get the “Not Like Us” rapper in a rap battle because he himself is a “psycho genius.”
“If you rap against Kendrick, you will lose,” Ye promised. “This man does this. You know in Street Fighter, you get Chun-Li, you get a certain kick, and no matter what, you can’t beat that thing?”
He continued: “If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, like Joe Budden said, ‘Never rap against Kendrick Lamar.’ If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, it’s a difficult task, but perhaps it’s something … I’m a psycho genius, so you know, it could be.”
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While Ye believes Drake suffered defeat at the hands of Kendrick, he doesn’t think anyone should count out a 6 God comeback in 2025.
“It was really challenging for me to make ‘Father Stretch My Hands’ and different things, and this man got ‘Work’ a top five song ever created in life and we doing the drums bringing Metro [Boomin] on,” Ye said.
“So Kendrick killed Drake — he’s dead,” Laboy claimed. Ye agreed, but doesn’t think it’s for good, going on to compare Drizzy to NBA star Steph Curry. “Yeah, for now,” West replied. “You can’t ever count out Steph Curry. That man might get 200 points in one song.”
Ye credited his frenemy Drake with adding “something to the algorithm to our frequency. He advanced us. Future advanced us and now Kendrick advanced the frequency.”
Yeezy briefly injected himself into the Drake and Kendrick feud last year when he took shots at Drizzy on a remix of “Like That.” West and Lamar went bar-for-bar on The Life of Pablo‘s “No More Parties in L.A.” anthem in 2016.
Watch the entire interview below.
Drake launched the Anita Max Wynn Tour in Australia on Tuesday (Feb. 4), kicking off in Perth, and he left the audience with some choice words to close out the first show. The 6 God is always one to end a set with some inspiration for fans, and he’s typically very intentional with what he […]
Ye — formerly Kanye West — hosted a Grammy Awards afterparty in Los Angeles on Sunday (Feb. 2), where he premiered his upcoming The Download interview with Justin Laboy. The rapper reflected on competing with Drake over the years, and while he recognized the 6 God was down following his battle with Kendrick Lamar, West […]
It’s famously difficult to win Azealia Banks‘ approval, but Taylor Swift has it. And in a series of posts on X Wednesday (Jan. 29), the rapper gave a detailed explanation why.
After previously declaring that Swifties make up one of the only fanbases she actually likes, Banks responded to a follower who asked her to elaborate. “Cause they don’t bother anybody,” she obliged. “Taylor doesn’t bother anybody. To have beef with her or over is a real sign of TRUE lack of self esteem.”
“Like Kanye Tyler charli whoever else is a f–kin lame,” the “212” artist continued, referencing Ye’s famous feud with the “Anti-Hero” artist, Tyler, the Creator’s recent clash with Swifties, and the Charli XCX’s rumored tension with Swift; the Brat artist and superstar later sang each other’s praises, debunking the rumors. “She really makes her music and minds her biz.”
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In the replies, Banks also praised the 14-time Grammy winner for promoting Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” back in the early 2010s before the track fully blew up and launched the Queen of Rap into superstardom. Minaj has also previously credited Swift for having a hand in the song’s success, and in 2011, the two women performed it together on the latter’s Speak Now World Tour.
“Like what other white female artist would share her platform with a black girl like that without asking for anything in return but just out of sheer f–king respect for the music?” Banks added. “Not a single one of them. They always want something in return and I really respect the way she carries herself it’s refreshing.”
Banks’ approval of Swift might come as a surprise to some knowing how many other stars the former has verbally struck down over the years. One of the “Liquorice” artist’s most recent targets was Grimes, whom she accused of “trying to paint me like the [villain]” before alleging that Elon Musk had “dumped” and “cheated on” the “Oblivion” singer; Grimes quickly fired back, “i didn’t ‘get dumped.’ I bounced.”
Shortly before that, Banks sparred with Matty Healy over comments the former made about Charli XCX. The exchange crested when the New York native said that The 1975 frontman’s fiancée, model Gabriette, looked “like Frankenstein,” after which Healy said he was “going to f—ing slap [Banks] so hard I’ll get a Guinness world record” before announcing that he was stepping back from X. “I don’t have the right kind of intelligence / emotional maturity etc for social media I literally just end up saying stuff that immediately regret,” he wrote.
See Banks’ posts about Swift below.
Cause they don’t bother anybody. Taylor doesn’t bother anybody. To have beef with her or over is a real sign of TRUE lack of self esteem. Like Kanye Tyler charli whoever else is a fuckin lame she really makes her music and minds her biz https://t.co/5s7zwfotYl— Azealia Banks (@azealiaslacewig) January 29, 2025
Like what other white female artist would share her platform with a black girl like that without asking for anything in return but just out of sheer fucking respect for the music? Not a single one of them. They always want something in return and I really respect the way she…— Azealia Banks (@azealiaslacewig) January 29, 2025
Kai Cenat didn’t become the most popular Twitch streamer in hip-hop by holding back his real opinions. So while speaking to Billboard for his January cover story, he didn’t hold back when it came to his takes on the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar rap war of 2024.
In conversation with Billboard‘s deputy editorial director Damien Scott, Cenat — who once FaceTimed Drizzy on his Twich livestream — began by saying, “I’m cool with Drake.”
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“So people would expect me to be on Drake’s side,” he continued. “But I’m not going to lie. Kendrick won that battle.”
Cenat was one of countless hip-hop fans who was locked in during the Toronto native and Dot’s musical conflict last spring, during which the two rappers lobbed searing diss tracks at each other throughout April and May. The streamer reacted to the drops in real time on his channel, with Drake notably instructing him to “stay on stream” before releasing “Family Matters” in May.
“I loved every second of it,” Cenat told Billboard of the musical back-and-forth. “I was just appreciating the moment. Like, bro, we got bangers right now that’s dropping back to back and everybody’s talking about them. It was definitely fire.”
Things took a turn in November, however, when Drake filed two legal actions against Universal Music Group over Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — the two-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper in which the Compton musician famously calls his opponent a “certified pedophile.” The “God’s Plan” artist accused the label of inflating the track’s streams through nefarious methods and cited defamation, alleging that UMG “could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed.”
Earlier this month, Drake escalated things further by launching a full-blown lawsuit against UMG; the label has denied the allegations in his suit and called it “illogical.” Cenat also just so happened to be mentioned in the filing. The Degrassi alum’s lawyers named him and a few other streamers who reacted to “Not Like Us” when it dropped as examples of UMG “whitelisting” the song, something Cenat also reacted to on a stream.
“Wait, why am I in this s–t?” he asked his viewers at the time, baffled. “Wait, hold on! Wait, what the f—? I’m getting sued?!”
See Cenat on the cover of Billboard below.
Soulja Boy isn’t letting up on Drake. Big Draco went on another scathing rant about America and took some more shots at Drizzy over the weekend. “Drake you a b—h,” he began in a livestream. “You can’t even come to America and talk to the president. F–k boy, stay in Canada where your b— a– […]
01/16/2025
Drizzy has filed accusations against Universal Music Group, Spotify and more over the diss track.
01/16/2025