Kendrick Wins This Round

hi everyone Anthony fantano here

internet's busiest music nerd you know

why you're here I know why you're here

it's beef watch 2024 the tensions

between Kendrick Lamar and Drake

continue to escalate things have

advanced quite a bit since Kendrick

Lamar fired that first public shot

across the bow at Drake and jcole unlike

that from the metro boomman and Future

album we don't trust you weeks and weeks

ago jcole responded he apologized he

rescinded the response then Drake

responded with push-ups and then one

more time responded again uh trying to

bait Kendrick into a response sooner

rather than later with the tailor made

freestyle I very much messed with

push-ups as you guys may remember and

while I thought what Drake did with the

whole AI voice thing with Tupac and

Snoop uh was kind of a very smart uh

psychological warfare uh 4D chest Type

move it was still really weird and

tasteless and kind of odd on his part I

commented on that as well and uh since

that video I did on the tailor made

freestyle uh that response that diss

track has been taken down off social

media because turns out Tupac estate not

too happy with Drake uh using the guy's

voice in that weird ass track so yeah

that's down offline now and days later

we finally have a fullon complete direct

at Drake response from Kendrick in the

form of this track Euphoria that's the

setup that's the context let's get into

it uh just kind of talking about on a

surface level uh the instrumental

production Sonic aspects of what's going

on here we have a pretty lengthy disc

here at 6 minutes and change bit of an

intro bit of an outro core of the track

Works in three separate parts a first

leg that is backed by a Teddy

Pendergrass sample uh over this Kendrick

Lamar is giving us a pretty lowkey

delivery that kind of lures you in a

little bit really gets you set up to eat

up every word that he's saying because

he's not jumping out at you then things

escalate with a beat switch a pretty

standard but grim and dark trap

instrumental that is a little lowii

little rough around the edges some big

synth horns on it some bells in the

background too and then once again

another beat switch with a similar

rhythm in the background but we're kind

of switching it up melodically with uh

these kind of Wheezy Dusty stringly s

which eventually drop away in favor of

just kind of giving us the rhythms

instrumentally I feel like the track is

solid not exactly mindblowing or

gamechanging but as far as the

instrumentals have gone so far in this

beef exchange no beat has really gone

harder than that original like that beat

I think on the instrumental side it's

it's really Metro boomman who's kind of

uh going to end up taking the W on this

one but no matter because in these dis

exchanges between Kendrick and Drake I

don't I don't think the production

should be carrying that much anyway it

really should be the words it should be

the flows it should be the pen game

while on push-ups Drake most definitely

came with some mean words some witty

lines uh kind of an analysis in terms of

uh the splits Kendrick and Company are

making on their records their streams

their sales Kendrick is clearly out for

blood on this track where it is very

apparent uh that his distaste for Drake

goes beyond just hip-hop compet ition

being the best he doesn't really care

for the guy on a personal level as a

result his whole takedown of Aubrey as I

will go over is kind of surgical and

multi-layered so with that let's get

into the bars and the content of what

Kendrick is saying here we got the bars

right here before I get into this just

to remind you guys everything I'm going

to say about every single lyric on this

track is my interpretation of what is

being said and what goes on you're free

to have your own read on on all of this

what I'm about to say is not the Beall

end all with all this we are observing a

beef a disagreement between two very

talented entertaining guys ultimately

all I want to see is who makes the

better set of tracks in the midst of all

this and with that let's see if it ends

up being Kendrick with this Euphoria cut

all right now uh for those who did not

pay attention this entire track kicks

off with a reversed piece of audio which

is a call back to the classic

reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz The

Whiz that at one point features Richard

prior uh saying everything they say

about me is true which then progresses

into another line about him being a

phony now to me my read of this and

really just the surrounding everything

uh from the get-go on this track is

Kendrick is really trying to do

everything that he can to paint Drake as

an authentic as fake essentially as an

actor a guy who has more ties with

entertainment and visual media and

pretending to be something that he's not

than he does hip-hop in actuality which

again is why he's throwing in this line

here which is why he has named uh the

record Euphoria many fans have read

layers into Kendrick's reasoning behind

that but the most obvious I think kind

of tie-in with all of this is Euphoria

is a show it's a drama that is actually

produced by Drake himself I'm not trying

to play stupid here I'm just saying the

most vious connection between all of

these things especially with these bars

on the front end where he's talking

about Drake being a famous actor we once

knew looking paranoid who is now

spiraling is that again Drake is an

actor he is a fake he is being something

that he's not which Kendrick reinforces

with even more bars right after in a

very low-key relaxed flow and a writing

style that sets things up like he's uh

just a narrator uh beginning to tell you

a story he's not throwing too much word

play flipping too many double on tandas

anything like that he's just setting us

up for a tale fabrication stories on the

family front cuz you heard Mr morale a

pathetic master manipulator I can smell

the tales on you now you're not a rap

artist you're a scam artist with hopes

of being accepted Kendrick makes another

comparison between him and Drake as well

uh saying I make music that Electrify

him you make music that pacify him which

I mean if you're objectively looking at

the music of both artists you can't

really disagree with because what does

Drake's music really inspire people

about or inspire people over really kind

of I guess rile them up to do or feel or

think much of it is very low-key

egocentric uh moody in your feels type

music which there's nothing wrong with

in concept but it does stand that that

is pretty much the only lane Drake has

the ability to operate in whereas

Kendrick has shown the ability to do his

thing in multiple different lanes and

has especially focused a lot of his

efforts in making music that has been

proven uh to be boundary breaking

challenging substantive and thoughtful I

can double down on that line but I'll

spare you this time that's random acts

of kindness so Kendrick already saying

on some level out of the gate he is

pulling and will most likely be pulling

punches on this track everything he has

to say about Drake topically maybe he's

saving for another response down the

road I know you're a master manipulator

and and a habitual liar too uh but don't

tell no lie about me and I won't tell

truths about you it's after this point

on the song that vocally and

instrumentally the track switches up

Kendrick escalates the energy level and

he really starts going in uh in the

First full verse okay look the first

handful of bars on this verse uh

definitely work in layers but to kind of

get to the meat to the point of what

Kendrick is saying here he's really

building himself up he's ramping up to

start pulling out uh some deadly lines

and start kind of teasing at uh things

that he might want to reveal about Drake

down the road or maybe eating at Drake's

feelings and motivations in the midst of

all this saying everybody want to be

demon till they get chipped by your

throwaway talking about the way Drake

has been acting and carrying himself in

the midst of this beef and prior to it

as a tough guy as a Kingpin as of this

and of that uh but meanwhile Kendrick

saying he's been chipped or hurt by a

throwaway line a throwaway verse a sub

something that wasn't even close to

going as hard as he possibly could which

I mean you could kind of say like that

was given that it wasn't that lengthy of

a verse to begin with it did have some

great bars and word playay in it uh but

Kendrick has dropped bigger more

hard-hitting verses in the past and yet

because it's Kendrick uh that

performance in that writing caused the

stir that it did anyway and next

Kendrick really does show how deep he

can go in lyrically setting up this idea

of whether or not Drake has played a

game of have you ever asking him have

you ever walked your enemy down like

with a poker face have you ever paid 500

though like to an open case which a lot

of people are tying to an instance back

in 2019 where Drake paid a settlement a

six figure settlement to a sexual

assault accuser which uh bringing that

up is um

it's a diss track it's a fair game that

is not a good look that Kendrick is

absolutely right to go after this next

set of bars referentially gets kind of

dense and involves a lot of different

ties industry-wise uh between Drake and

a lot of cash money people a lot of

music business people but Kendrick says

I hate when a rapper talk about guns and

somebody die they turn into nuns then

hop online like pray for my city he

faking for likes and digital hugs his

daddy a killer he wnab be junior they

must have forgot the [ __ ] that they done

where Kendrick is kind of portraying

hypocrisy here an inconsistency between

Drake and those who are around him

especially above him in the music

industry guys like Birdman guys like J

Prince guys who use and abuse their

control in the music industry especially

on the hip-hop side in all the wrong

ways and then Kendrick ties this up in

just H the the meanest dementia must run

in his family you know meaning the group

of people he's a part of let it get

shaky I'll park his son which some might

think is going a little too far here but

he actually kind of addresses this this

very tone shift in the following handful

of bars uh saying the very first time I

shot me a drake meaning previously when

he's gone at Drake before but Drake also

gun homie had told me to aim it this way

I didn't Point down enough today I'll

show you I learned from those mistakes

so obviously listening to somebody else

prior Kendrick didn't go about doing

this the way that he wanted to and also

pointing down meaning uh aiming lower

going down to Hell shooting below the

belt which um given what has happened up

until this point he is clearly ready to

do this next set of bars is pretty

interesting as on the front end Kendrick

makes reference uh to a recent purchase

of a ring that Drake uh did and showed

and flashed on social media that Tupac

owned uh and then he ends that with I'd

rather do that than let this Canadian

guy make Pac turn in his grave

referencing not just that but also

Drake's recent use of pac's voice in

this whole AI thing Kendrick also makes

reference to Drake's perception of

things being uh Twisted which uh given

how he tried to go at Kendrick for being

too popc Centric um is pretty valid

because that's obviously an accusation

you can hurl at Drake times 10 I hurt

your feelings you don't want to work

with me no more okay it's three goats

left and I seen two of them kissing and

hugging on stage then goes on to make

this metab bar about how he's going to

explain why he's bringing this up and

again he's telling us the number of bars

we're going to have to wait for him to

finally give us this punchline and this

reasoning and also he's taking shots at

Drake's weird [ __ ] accent play [ __ ]

that he's always doing whenever he

crosses over into a sound or into a Vibe

or with an artist that does something

different than what he does but yes Cole

and Aubry know that he's selfish the

crown is heavy and he prays that they're

his real friends because if not he's ynw

Melly who is current ly in jail because

he got convicted of killing two of his

friends from here Kendrick's pretty

direct talking about how he doesn't like

uh that Drake has been taking shots at

Fel he's going to take up the beef on

his behalf and then he says [ __ ] all

that pushing P doing a little Gunna W

reference and then says he would like to

see Drake push a t which does that need

any further explanation I don't think it

does you better off spinning again on

him you think about pushing me

which at this point that may in fact be

true because at least at the end of the

day while push a te did really smother

Drake uh in the crib with the story of

adidon push a te is never going to be at

Drake's size unfortunately and Drake can

just kind of throw shots at him all day

and probably see no repercussions about

it because there's going to be a massive

section of Drake's audience that's never

going to listen to a push a te disc all

the way through no matter what even if

it's a good one even if it's an earth

shattering one and if they do it's most

likely going to be one time and they're

going to be doing this the entire

time whereas with Kendrick the entire

world is going to be listening to this

diss track I mean already on YouTube in

a few short days uh this song has as

many streams as uh push-ups does on

YouTube Kendrick goes on to make more

comparisons between him as Drake

obviously putting him above Drizzy uh

and also we ain't got to get personal

this is a friendly fade you should keep

it that way another pulling punches line

like for Kendrick this is him actually

not going nuclear he he is not pushing

the red button and he's essentially

recommending wherever this goes it

should stay here at this level and he

threatens saying that he knows stuff

about people that would make Gunna who I

mean has long been talked about as a

snitch that would make him look like a

saint Gunna really catching as stray on

this one cuz he's really been doing

everything that he possibly can to you

know

um sidestep the snitch allegations but

after this disc he's really not really

not going to overcome them side note

though I do feel like a bar such as this

one is a reflection on how expectations

of diss tracks have changed so much over

the years that in order for a disc to be

good there has to be some big reveal

that really is kind of like the push a

te story of adidon effect personally I

don't think a Dis Track has to have uh a

revelation on the level of you have a

son in order for it to be good and

effective but with that being said uh

Kendrick unfortunately has the cross to

bear that his fans actually analyze his

lyrics and pay attention to the things

that he says and I do think he will have

egg on his face if things escalate from

here and whatever information or

Revelation he's promising with this bar

and others like it doesn't actually

bubble up because he doesn't present any

additional info which I mean from here

Drake most defitely has the ability to

call his bluff if he so wants cuz I mean

as damning as some of these bars are

Drake May respond and I think he needs

to respond especially since he kind of

baited this response out of Kendrick to

begin with and if he knows for a fact

that Kendrick is bullshitting he may

call him out and say uh I don't think

you know anything go ahead say whatever

you feel like you think you know from

here Kendra kind of reframes and reminds

us and Drake about what this is all

about uh it's not about critics or

gimmicks AI stuff uh it's about who's

the greatest and so far Kendrick is

showing that in this back and forth

because I don't think this track or any

track in the midst of all this uh should

be taken in a vacuum or just at face

value it's about which person is

outdoing the other person and so far uh

when it comes to the quality of the

tracks we have heard up until this point

I think Kendrick is outdoing Drake here

because again the tailor made freestyle

was just a weird gimmick to get Kendrick

to react in instantly and push-ups while

I think it did have some good bars here

and there Drake did not objectively and

we're not even all the way through the

track yet dig as deep into Kendrick as

Kendrick is into Drake on this song so

far Kendrick also says that while uh

this what he does this performance this

writing this uh Act of aggression he's

involved in while it's about love it's

also about hate and he's the biggest

hater and he very apparently hates Drake

with such a deep passion making a bit of

a DMX call back here uh when he was

ranting about Drake uh during a radio

show uh saying he hates the way that he

walks the way that he talks the way that

he dresses the way that he sneak disses

uh if he catches a flight it's going to

be direct which he is very much being

direct here he doesn't even like the

women that Drake has sex with there's

been a lot of debate over why exactly he

framed uh this line in this way

personally given the tone of many of the

bars surrounding this throughout the

rest of the track I kind of see it as an

attack against Drake's moral character

because he's either hooking up with uh

Instagram models that kind of thing or

women that as many people have discussed

are not necessarily of age which is very

much a third rail on this song that uh

Kendrick doesn't seem to be ready to go

full in on quite yet but it seems to be

something that just about everybody is

expecting him to comment on on even

Drake himself because through the Tupac

AI voice he made mention of that very

thing and I don't know if Kendrick isn't

like uh going that deep into it as a

topic because uh he doesn't have that

much information on it it's something

he's saving for a little bit further

down the road if he does get another

response from Drake which he most likely

will but either way it's something that

Kendrick frames as being an issue that

we everyone is aware of and then

topically he circles back into this sour

spot that Rick Ross was very much going

on about that Drake is an appropriator

he's a fake he's an actor that he acts

tough and he's essentially not a part of

hip-hop culture but he's just performing

it he also claims that Drake does not

have a classic and again these are all

things these are all criticisms that

have been leveled at Drake before but

Kendrick is going about framing them

lyrically in this track in a better way

we see another example of that comparing

Rick Ross with him saying let your core

audience stomach that then tell them

where you get your abs from and again in

the wake of the Rick Ross disc there's

been a lot of discussion about oh the

Drake lipos suction Drake ABS Drake

plastic surgery yeah okay that's very

obviously a thing that that happened

pointing it out just to point it out

doesn't necessarily add up to much

honestly but if you are going to bring

it up do it in a way where you're

getting layers here where the core of

your audience has to stomach a fact an

idea a piece of information he also

makes reference to the fact that yotti

has been outed as a ghost riter for

Drake because there recently was a

reference track that came out uh that

clearly yachty did that landed on a

drake record he goes again hilariously

into all of the things he hates about

Drake and uh comments on him being

surprised that Drake uh had a feature

request for him despite them having

unsettled business now this is a bit of

speculation here but many assume that

this has something to do with uh Drake

uh wanting Kendrick on first person

shooter as well which I guess would kind

of like make sense given the vibe of

that track so Kendrick's dislike of

Drake just runs so deep he's not even

taking feature requests from the guy

before this whole beef popped off but he

still has love for the Drake who makes

poppy catchy just generally enjoyable

music uh he says he likes when he sees

Drake uh successful and he wants to keep

him dancing and waving his hand and if

he continues doing that there won't be a

threat but then immediately after that

he infantilizes the guy and says he

doesn't see where the man in him is and

then tries to uh bleed him saying that

when he stands by sexy red uh he sees

two bad [ __ ] and again Kendrick kind

of you know makes a little bit of a nod

makes a reference again to this idea

that Drake doesn't like women grown

women mature women actual women from

here Kendrick responds to Drake's

allegations that uh his percentages off

his music are all off and pretty messed

up meanwhile we know that for a fact

Drake has this huge multi-million dollar

deal with his label currently but that

deal while it does front him a lot of

money it does also require him to split

a lot of Revenue on multiple fronts with

the label so as a result Kendrick here

is advocating that well you know let's

look at all of it let's look at all the

splits let's pull all of it part and see

who financially is really doing better

than the other and he also kind of

frames this as a pyramid scheme in a way

saying that he signed to a guy that's

signed to a guy that's signed to a guy

and also insists and and this is kind of

another little Revelation here uh that

Drake tried to throw a ceas anded assist

on the like that record in the first

place or was it the remix he's not super

specific with that but he is making a

pretty bold claim here and then he asks

in a very funny way uh ho what you ain't

like that record back to back I like

that record maybe kind of displaying a

bit of a double standard here of you

know saying not only does he like back

toback which I mean we all do it's a

great diss track uh but uh you know

you're allowed to diss people am I not

is like that not allowed to exist

Kendrick also says that while he's

involved in this beef here he's not that

engrossed in the process of digging up

dirt on people because that's not his

life his life is actually uh raising his

son and saying that Drake wouldn't know

anything about doing that is is another

very brutal moment on this song now uh

this is a bit of information that going

into this track we all know we all

understand Drake had to be reminded by

push a te to be in his son's life and

look two Drake's credit at least in so

far as what he has presented to uh the

public he does seem to be more involved

in his son's life at this point but you

know what being a deadbeat dad you just

have to kind of get caught doing it one

time for it to pound you for the rest of

your life potentially he pretty much

calls Drake Godless and uh flips on its

head the 20 V1 line that Drake spat not

too long ago saying uh ain't 20 V1 it's

1 v20 if I got to smack dudes that right

with you as it's essentially Kendrick

versus Drake's Ghost Riders he says

he'll clean them out as well uh keep

beam close by and then you know this

almost proves that Kendrick is actually

writing this [ __ ] the next couple of

bars because he asks is he battling a

ghost or AI uh and then he mentions Joel

ostein now for those who are out of the

know Joel ostein is is is that isn't he

like a mega church preacher piece of

garbage that Kanye was on stage with and

had some uh dealings with yeah he is not

the actor Kendrick is actually trying to

make reference to here on this bar so

you know maybe this response here was a

little rushed because I I I don't I know

if Kendrick was uh uh knowingly uh

misfiring with this reference or not

because he is not uh by name calling on

the same or the right guy so I mean this

is kind of a pothole this is a bit of a

uh misstep here on Kendrick's part I

would say but with that being said uh

the other stuff surrounding it uh

certainly hits harder than bars about

someone's Sho size and again things

finish off with a threat from Kendrick

that he could take things further from

here if he's pushed to do so oh and of

course to top things all off he uh tries

hard hard hard to revoke Drake's nword

card which uh obviously I'm not in a

position to have uh an opinion on that

either way as a white guy okay look

because for sure this whole beef this

whole everything is going to go further

from this point I'm not going to go uh

any longer from here to comment on this

track but what I want to say is in terms

of word play criticisms attacks

consistency

relentlessness this is the best song we

have heard of this beef so far Kendrick

showed up Drake just in the way that I

thought he would however however I don't

know if Kendrick is necessarily

undefeatable I wouldn't put Drake down