The beef primarily between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has grown to include a seemingly endless stream of other rappers, in some cases reigniting years-old feuds and roping in artists like Rick Ross, The Weeknd, J. Cole and most recently Kanye West, who took shots at Drake in a remix to Lamar’s “Like That.”

Drake’s beef with Kendrick Lamar has grown to involve a long list of rappers, including Kanye West … [+]

Drake and J. Cole laid the groundwork for the last few weeks of drama with their song “First Person Shooter,” released in October, in which they rapped that themselves and Kendrick Lamar are the “big three” of rap.

Lamar reignited the feud last month by dissing Drake and J. Cole on his verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s No. 1 hit, “Like That,” in which he rejected the idea of the “big three,” stating it’s just “big me.”

J. Cole released, and quickly retracted, his own diss track against Lamar, taking aim at his “tragic” last album and accusing him of seeking attention—but he later said he felt pressured to release a diss because the “world wanna see blood.”

Rick Ross entered the fray after a Drake diss track that contained shots at him, “Push Ups,” leaked, setting off a bizarre beef between the two in which Ross released his own Drake diss, accusing him of getting a nose job and a procedure on his abs, and calling him “BBL Drizzy” (“BBL” is a slang acronym for Brazilian butt lift).

The Weeknd, the target of a Drake diss on “Push Ups,” said on Future and Metro Boomin’s song “All to Myself,” released April 9: “I thank God that I never signed my life away,” which some fans think is a shot at Drake, who attempted to sign The Weeknd to his label in 2010.

Drake used AI-generated voices of Snoop Dogg and the late rapper Tupac Shakur on his diss track released Friday, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” to diss Lamar.

Former billionaire Kanye West jumped in over the weekend, producing a remix to “Like That” with his own verse, in which he slammed Drake for his massive deal with Universal Music Group, and took shots at Drake and J. Cole’s music.

NEWS PEG
West addressed his Drake diss in clips released Monday from an upcoming interview on Justin LaBoy’s “The Download” podcast. He said Future called him to the studio to record the remix, and said he and his collaborators were “very, very excited about the elimination of Drake. Not excited. We was energized.” West also said Drake has a “rich baby daddy named Lucian [Grainge] and Universal,” referencing the CEO of UMG, and said Drake appears to have “signed his soul to the devil to not be cool with me.”

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
If any other rappers will join the ever-growing list of involved parties. On “Taylor Made Freestyle,” Drake challenged Lamar to drop a response, rapping: “Dot, I know you’re in that NY apartment, you strugglin’ right now, I know it / In the notepad doing lyrical gymnastics, my boy,” telling Lamar “we waiting on you.” Drake also dared Lamar to respond in a post on Instagram. Some have speculated on social media that another longtime Drake rival, Pusha T, may drop a diss track or collaborate with Metro Boomin after he liked a post on X from a fan urging the two to join forces.

KEY BACKGROUND
Several of the key figures in this increasingly convoluted rap beef have been feuding on-and-off for years, including Drake and Lamar. Though they collaborated multiple times in 2011 and 2012, they have largely stayed away from each other since Lamar called out Drake, among other rappers, on the 2013 song “Control.” Lamar listed many rappers, including Drake, and declared he has “love” for them, but is trying to “murder” them by establishing himself as the best rapper. Since then, fans have analyzed their raps and have theorized they have taken subtle shots at each other on multiple occasions—such as in Lamar’s 2015 song, “King Kunta,” in which he disses artists that use ghostwriters, an allegation Drake has repeatedly denied.

Drake and West also have a long-running beef that blew up in 2018 when Pusha T dissed Drake on the West-produced track “Infrared,” in which Drake was again accused of using ghostwriters. Drake then dissed West and Pusha T with his track “Duppy Freestyle,” clarifying he had collaborated on songs with other writers—not ghostwriters—and accused Pusha T of hypocrisy because West has writing and producing credits on all the songs on his album “Daytona.” Drake also fired back by rapping that he had previously written for West, which West thanked him for in a post on X in 2016. Pusha T responded in his song “The Story of Adidon” in May 2018, controversially revealing that Drake had been “hiding a child” he had in 2017 with French artist and former adult film actress Sophie Brussaux, whose identity Drake had not yet publicly disclosed.

On Pusha T’s song, he revealed the name of Drake’s son, Adonis, and accused him of being a “deadbeat” father. Drake confirmed his son’s identity on his song “Emotionless” the next month, rapping: “I wasn’t hiding my kid from the world / I was hiding the world from my kid.” Drake accused West of telling Pusha T about his son, but Pusha T said it was Drake’s producer Noah “40” Shebib who had told him. Drake and West also feuded over wanting to use the same beat that West ultimately used on his 2018 single “Lift Yourself,” which West later apologized for. West has targeted Drake in numerous social media rants, including one in December 2018 where he accused Drake of threatening his family following their “Lift Yourself” drama (which his then-wife Kim Kardashian also claimed in a series of posts).

SURPRISING FACT
Even Taylor Swift got a few shoutouts from Drake on his diss tracks—but unlike nearly everyone else he name-dropped, he didn’t exactly diss her. In “Push Ups,” Drake criticizes Lamar for making mainstream concessions by featuring on songs by Maroon 5 and Swift, rapping: “Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty / Then we need a verse for the Swifties.” Drake again name-dropped Swift on “Taylor Made Freestyle,” alleging Lamar hasn’t dropped a response yet because he’s waiting for Swift’s chart dominance with her latest album release, “The Tortured Poets Department,” to pass. Drake also called Swift the “biggest gangster in the music game right now” and admitted he once moved his album release date to avoid clashing with her.