The long-simmering beef between hip-hop titans Kendrick Lamar and Drake has reached scorching new heights, as both rappers have unleashed scathing diss tracks leveling stunning allegations against each other and their families.
The escalation began in the early hours of Friday, May 3rd, when Kendrick Lamar dropped "6:16 in LA," a blistering follow-up to his earlier shot "euphoria." In the track, K-Dot alleges that members of Drake's own team are actively working against him, even leaking information to his adversaries.
Not one to back down, Drake responded later that evening with a nearly 8-minute diss track accompanied by a music video depicting the crushing of a 1996 Chrysler Town & Country, a nod to the cover art of Kendrick's seminal album "good kid, m.A.A.d city."
In his vicious rebuttal, the Canadian superstar crosses a line by accusing Kendrick of domestic violence, questioning the sincerity of his racial activism, and even nudging 2Pac's estate to remove his "Taylor Made Freestyle" from social media platforms.
"When you put your hands on your girl, is it self-defense 'cause she bigger than you?" Drake raps, mocking Kendrick's height.
He also dismisses Kendrick's socially conscious image, rapping: "Always rappin' like you 'bout to get the slaves freed/ You just actin' like an activist, it's make-believe."
In addition to taking shots at The Weeknd's fan base, Rick Ross, Kanye West, Future, Metro Boomin, and A$AP Rocky, Drake reignites rumors of a past fling with Rihanna.
Less than an hour later, Kendrick Lamar struck back with "meet the grahams," a 6.5-minute track directly addressing each member of Drake's immediate family – his son Adonis, mother Sandy, and father Dennis – as well as Drake himself, using his real name Aubrey Graham.
"But you f**ked up the moment you called out my family's name/ Why you had to stoop so low to discredit some decent people?" Kendrick raps, before leveling his own shocking claims.
He implies that Drake uses the weight-loss drug Ozempic, is hiding a daughter, and hires sex offenders, among other allegations. "You got gamblin' problems, drinkin' problems, pill-poppin' and spendin' problems," Kendrick spits, adding, "You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh/ You lied about them other kids that's out there hopin' that you come."
With both tracks rife with unverified yet deeply personal attacks, the once-simmering feud between the two rap titans has reached explosive new levels of vitriol. As other high-profile artists like Rick Ross, The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, Kanye West, and J. Cole have been drawn into the fray, it remains to be seen just how far Kendrick Lamar and Drake will take this rapidly escalating war of words.