Kendrick Lamar responds to Drake with diss track Euphoria in escalating feud
Kendrick Lamar dropped a fresh diss track aimed towards Drake titled 'Euphoria' in the midst of an ongoing rivalry between the two prominent hip-hop stars. The feud began earlier this year and has evolved into a "civil war" within the upper echelon of the rap industry.
On Tuesday, Lamar made available a new song on his YouTube channel that coincidentally has the same title as the popular HBO series that Drake happens to be an executive producer on.
During a span of more than six minutes, Lamar accuses Drake of being an expert at manipulating people and constantly telling lies. He also criticizes Drake's abilities as a parent, his mixed racial heritage, and his Canadian origins.
Lamar lyrically states, "I am responsible for raising my son, however, it seems like you have no understanding of that."
In another part of the song, he raps about the idea of needing certain physical features in order to feel like a true Black person. He also calls out Drake, who holds the record for most streams by a male artist on Spotify, for creating music that he believes just helps people forget their problems instead of tackling them.
The argument between the duo goes back as far as 2013, during which time Lamar made a name for himself by featuring on Big Sean's track "Control." Lamar purportedly established his superiority over other rappers in the industry. Then, the rapper targeted Drake towards the end of that year by calling him a "sensitive rapper" during his performance at the BET awards.
The disagreement reignited in March when Lamar made an appearance as a guest on Like That, a Billboard-charting track by Future and Metro Boomin.
In the realm of hip-hop, Lamar gave his response to the song titled "First Person Shooter" released by Drake and J Cole in 2023, where the two rappers dubbed themselves, as well as Lamar, the leading trio in the genre.
"Lamar raps 'screw the big three' and emphasizes that he is all that matters in the song Like That."
Drake put out a diss track in the month of April, which was the first of two. It's called Push Ups and takes jabs at Lamar for being shorter. The song also pokes fun at Lamar's collaborations with popular artists like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift.
The following month, Drake released a new diss track called Taylor Made Freestyle. It was unique because he utilized AI technology to mimic the voices of both Snoop Dogg and the deceased Tupac Shakur. They can be heard giving negative comments about Lamar.
Drake released a song on Instagram that caused a lot of anger, especially from Shakur's estate. They sent a letter ordering Drake to stop using the track as it was disrespectful to one of the greatest hip-hop artists ever. Drake respected their wishes and removed the song from his social media pages.
In the song "Euphoria," Lamar mentions the event. He wonders if he's up against a specter or artificial intelligence, alluding to both the Taylor Made Freestyle and the assertions that Drake has been using ghostwriters.
For the last couple of months, a dispute has involved numerous rap colleagues. The Weeknd as well as Kanye West have both introduced their personal songs that refer to this argument. Other artists, including Rick Ross and Metro Boomin, have also reacted to Euphoria on social media.
