Feuds

Kendrick Lamar unified the West Coast with his epic Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert celebrating Juneteenth on Wednesday night (June 19), which was one for the hip-hop history books with K. Dot performing his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” five times in a row to close out the show.
After performing the live debut of his nuclear guest verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” K. Dot welcomed his mentor and iconic West Coast rapper Dr. Dre to the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., as he rose from underneath the stage for one of the biggest surprises of the night. “I see dead people,” Dre whispered as Mustard’s signature Cali bounce on “Not Like Us” blared through the speakers.

In a red hoodie with jeans and a pair of Nike Shox (an outfit some fans compared to 2Pac‘s at the 1994 Source Awards), Kendrick had the 18,000-plus in attendance and rap world watching via Amazon Music at home in the palm of his hand.

Trending on Billboard

The raucous crowd sang along to every last word of the “Not Like Us” live debut. They held the “A-minor” Drake punchline for what seemed like an eternity while Lamar basked in what he curated. 

But that wasn’t all. Kendrick ran the Drake kill shot back a second time and spun the block for a third round of “Not Like Us.” The fourth edition was the most special, as K. Dot proved West Coast unity about 15 miles northwest of where the Compton native grew up, while bringing various L.A. luminaries such as NBA stars DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook on stage, who essentially danced on Drake’s figurative grave.

Mustard, G Perico, Hit-Boy, Blxst, Steve Lacy, Big Boy, Westside Boogie and Lamar’s Black Hippy running mates joined the party alongside other gang members repping different sets across Los Angeles. Each took a turn dapping up Kenny on stage as he kept his breath control intact amid the distractions.

“This s–t making me emotional,” Lamar admitted while gathering the blended crew for a group photo moment that he wished could last forever “We been f—ked up since Nipsey died. We been f—ked up since Kobe [Bryant] died,” he poignantly declared. “This is unity at it’s finest.”

“Not Like Us” wasn’t the only Drake diss performed by Lamar for the first time as part of his explosive set. He kicked things off with the bristling “Euphoria,” which found him tweaking a lyric directed at the 6 God. “Give me 2Pac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect,” he spewed. Lamar also brought out Ab-Soul to perform his verse on “6:16 in L.A.” mixed into his run of greatest hits. 

“Not Like Us” gave Kendrick his fourth Hot 100 leader as it debuted atop the all-genre chart on May 13 with over 70 million streams in the first week. The West Coast anthem sits at No. 6 in its sixth week on the Hot 100 while “Euphoria” holds at No. 47.

While gang violence and street politics have cut lives way too short, Kendrick Lamar united a city for one night where territory allegiances and banging sets didn’t matter in the name of hip-hop. “It ain’t got nothing to do with no back-and-forth records,” Kendrick said, dismissing his Drake feud. “It’s got everything to do with this moment right here. That’s what this s–t was about. To bring all of us together.”

Find more highlights from Kendrick’s memorable “Not Like Us” performance below.

Cardi B has always been her most authentic self since bursting onto the rap scene in 2017 with “Bodak Yellow.” She quickly was able to ingratiate herself to the Bardi Gang, and it’s a testament as to why her fans ride so hard for her.
One fan came to Cardi’s defense on X when wondering whether the continuous bashing of the rapper’s speech patterns could be deemed racist.

“At what point does making fun of cardi b’s speech patterns become racist,” they asked on Sunday (June 2).

Cardi B appreciated the sentiment and thanked the fan for defending her on Monday (June 3), while explaining that she’s not changing for anybody.

Trending on Billboard

“wwwww thanks for defending me FCK THEM I will never change the way I talk… I became famous from that just being myself! Then I started making music and became a millionaire out of it,” she wrote. “THIS IS A MULTIMILLION DOLLAR ACCENT BABBYY OKKKKRRR.”

The heartfelt exchange seemed to be in response to bars sniping Cardi B from Bia on her “Sue Meee?” diss track taking aim at The Bronx native, which arrived over the weekend.

“You should be home with your kids ’cause b—h, you speak like second grade,” she raps while jabbing Cardi’s speech.

The Cardi-Bia feud ratcheted up a few levels in the last week when Cardi put the rapper on blast in an Instagram Live and threatened to file a lawsuit against her if she keeps allegedly slandering the Grammy winner.

“You could come at me at any angle. You gonna lie on my f–kingg pussy. B—h, you lying on my f–king p—y. When you lie about my p—y, I’ma sue you and you better come with receipts,” Cardi said.

She seemed to also subliminally diss Bia with her verse on Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla’s “Wanna Be (Remix),” which was released on Friday (May 31).

Bia didn’t waste much time when firing back with “Sue Meee?” over the weekend. In the track she accused Offset of cheating on Cardi, called out the “WAP” rapper for allegedly having ghostwriters and dissed her body.

See Cardi’s tweet thanking a fan for defending her accent below:

Awwwww thanks for defending me 🥺 FCK THEM I will never change the way I talk… I became famous from that just being myself! Then I started making music and became a millionaire out of it.. THIS IS A MULTIMILLION DOLLAR ACCENT BABBYY OKKKKRRR 💁‍♀️ https://t.co/jpezWMBCg0— Cardi B (@iamcardib) June 3, 2024

Slim Shady has found himself in quite a few feuds.

2024 seems to be the year of beefing in hip-hop. Bia didn’t waste any time responding to Cardi B’s subs on the “Wanna Be (Remix),” and returned the serve with an eviscerating diss track taking aim at the Grammy-winning rapper.
After previewing “Sue Meee?” on Instagram Live, BIA uploaded the track to her official YouTube page on Saturday night (June 1). The cover art features a June 2023 Instagram Story from Offset in which he alleged that Cardi B cheated on him, which he walked back last year.

“My wife f—-d a n—a on me gang yall n—-s know how I come,” read the Story, which he had deleted before it expired.

Trending on Billboard

Bia alleged that Offset cheated on the “Bodak Yellow” rapper in their home, and claimed Cardi has ghostwriters penning her bars and a second-grade reading level throughout the bristling track.

“Put it on your hubby since you love lying on your vows/ I write all my verses, I can do this s–t for hours/ I be d–ned I let a n—a f–k a b—h inside my house,” she raps.

Bia continues: “All that surgery and how your body looks so mid/ Thought your a– was for the culture, you just tryin’ to ride the wave/ You should be home with your kids ’cause b—h, you speak like second grade.”

The “WHOLE LOTTA MONEY” rapper gets back to antagonizing Cardi B on the chorus: “You ain’t nothing but a f–k girl, I see right through you.” Bia then rides out teasing Cardi about her tattoos and how her friend group always makes fun of Cardi’s ink.

Billboard has reached out to Cardi B’s and Offset’s reps for comment.

The Bia-Cardi feud was reignited on Friday (May 31), when the Bronx bombshell hopped on Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla’s “Wanna Be (Remix),” on which she seemed to take subliminal shots at Bia using a play on words with her name.

“Hope she talk like that when I see her/ B—h, please, don’t nobody wanna be ya/ Cheap lookin’ a– ho, weak lookin’ a– ho/ Great Value me lookin’ a– ho,” Cardi raps.

The title of “Sue Meee?” seems to be inspired by a recent Cardi B Instagram Live in which she threatened to take legal action against Bia for lying on her name.

Listen to “Sue Meee?” below.

[embedded content]

Snoop Dogg has given his thoughts on the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. While promoting his role in The Garfield Movie during a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, the Doggfather shouted out both rappers for setting a good precedent. “Well, the only thing I want to say about that whole scenario is that I want […]

Roc-A-Fella alum and former State Property member Oschino Vasquez appeared on a podcast for the African Cultural Art Forum in Philadelphia recently and weighed in on Kendrick vs. Drake. The Philly rapper — whose known for the gritty realism in his music — surprised the room when he deemed Kendrick Lamar “overrated.”
When asked about the feud, Oschino bigged up Drake, saying, “First of all, Drake got a whole country behind him. Drake got the most hits. Girls like Drake. Drake comes across as a nice guy,” before predicting Rick Ross is going to lose “a lot of fans” for beefing with the Canadian rapper.

But when he was asked about Kendrick, the State Property member had to think about his answer before saying, “Kendrick can rap, too, but I think he’s overrated,” before shaking his head and adding, “I know people are gonna be talkin’ s–t.” He explained his stance further, telling the host, “All of his songs are not hot to me. When Drake sings, I hate it. When Drake sings, I cut it off. I say, ‘Drake, don’t do this.’ When Kendrick Lamar sings on some of his songs, he tries to go too deep.”

Trending on Billboard

He drills down further, giving Kendrick credit for his lyricism, but that’s about it. “People like something they don’t understand a little bit,” he says. “You need to be saying some crazy double entendres sometimes, but Kendrick Lamar got a lot of songs I don’t like. Lyrics? He hot. But some of the songs, they ain’t for me.”

Later on in the interview, he outs himself as a Drake fan, saying, “Drake is the best. As far as rappin’? I think Drake’s better than all of them because consistently he puts some s–t out. It’s hot, it’s lyrical, it’s everything.”

Oschino has been making a name for himself online as a podcaster and vlogger. A couple weeks ago, Oschino posted a clip on his YouTube saying he thought Drake won the battle after listening to all of the songs.

[embedded content]

If you’re not familiar with Oschino, you can start here.

Drake and Kendrick Lamar‘s rap feud is a family matter to the Hanks clan. Feeling out of the loop on modern hip-hop’s biggest beef to date, Tom Hanks recently reached out to his 33-year-old son Chet Hanks for an explanation of the whole debacle, making for a hilarious conversation which the latter shared on Instagram […]

While the dust appears to have settled in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud, other rappers are still providing their takeaways from the massive battle that swept the hip-hop world and permeated pop culture. T.I. pulled up to Big Boy’s Neighborhood in an episode that dropped May 16, where he broke down the Drake-K. Dot […]

Metro Boomin trolled Drake with the launch of the “BBL Drizzy” beat giveaway last weekend, and several remixes and various freestyles have taken off on social media. “Best verse over this gets a free beat just upload your song and hashtag #bbldrizzybeatgiveaway,” the 30-year-old tweeted May 5. He later added a $10,000 cash prize into […]