Kendrick Lamar fired back at Drake with “Euphoria.”
The track opens with Lamar rapping over the Teddy Pendergrass classic “You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspriation,” calling out “the famous actor we once knew” as spiraling. He also stated Drake was a “pathetic master manipulator” created a fake story about Lamar’s family in “Push Ups.” Another early job is “you make music that pacify them, I can double down on that line but spare you this time, that’s random act of kindness,” hinting at rumors of Drake’s involvement with underage girls.
The track then hits a new level, calling out Drake for dodging Pusha T, calling into question his contracts, bieng a poor father and more. All the while, leaving the belief he has more on the way. One of which, “
Kendrick Lamar really goes after Drake on “Euphoria,” with most of the bars leaving very little doubt about what exactly he means. There is one portion of the diss track that has raised some uncertain eyebrows, though: At one point, Lamar raps, “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI? N**** feelin’ like Joel Osteen / Funny, he was in a film called AI / And my sixth sense tellin’ me to off him.”
While Joel Osteen is a televangelist, the lyrics seem like they’re really more about similarly named actor Haley Joel Osment, which has left some listeners confused (and dropping Abbott Elementary references).
Meanwhile, Osment himself has subtly weighed in: As some have observed, Osment liked Lamar’s tweet sharing the song. Whether this is Osment taking Lamar’s side or simply giving a quiet nod to his unexpected role in the situation as a whole, who knows. But, we know that he’s at least aware of the fact that he got roped into the big hip-hop beef of the moment.
Perhaps relevant is the fact that in a 2017 interview with Uproxx, Osment said Flying Lotus’ “Massage Situation” was his most-played song at the time. Given that Flying Lotus and Lamar have a history of working together, perhaps Osment’s X (formerly Twitter) like really is a Lamar co-sign.
Angel Reese is a competitor. She knows what it takes to win, and she doesn’t have a problem getting in people’s faces to prove it. Reese is famous for speaking her mind, on and off the court, but she decided to draw the line during a recent Q&A with the Chicago Sky. The basketball team was asked whether they preferred Drake or Kendrick Lamar in the ongoing rap battle, but Reese was one of the few who dodged the question. Instead of picking a side, the WNBA stalwart decided to play it safe.
The majority of the Chicago Sky team answered the prompt, and the majority of them picked Drake. It’s fitting that the guy who made the “Best I Ever Had” music video has the support of the WNBA. Reese, on the other hand, opted for a more diplomatic approach. She made it clear that she doesn’t want to cause any additional strife between the rappers.
Even more importantly, though, she didn’t want the headache of having to deal with various news outlets hyping up her answer. “I’m not getting in this controversy because I’ll be on Twitter, The Shade Room, all that,” Reese explained. “Nope!”
This isn’t the first time Reese has avoided the “Drake or Kendrick” question. The athlete was asked to pick during the red carpet for the WNBA Draft, but she told Complex she didn’t want any part of it. “I don’t want to get in the mix,” she said. “I’m out the mix!”
Angel Reese has publicly spoken about Drake in the past. During a 2023 appearance on The Breakfast Club, the athlete revealed that both Future and the Toronto rapper slid into her DMs after she won the NCAA Championship. “They just congratulated me,” she noted. “It’s all congratulations.” Nevertheless, Charlamagne tha God told Reese to stay away from both rappers given their reputations.”You said two that you need to stay far away from,” he advised.
It looks to be all love between Reese and Drake, however. The former appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue in 2023, and she quoted a lyric from Drake’s “Jimmy Cooks” while promoting it on Instagram. “Don’t tell me that you a model if you ain’t been in Vogue or whatever Drake said,” she wrote in the caption.
Los Angeles has more eyes on it than usual, which is saying something. The Lakers were just eliminated by the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers are fighting to stay alive against the Dallas Mavs, and the Compton savior, Kendrick Lamar, is duking it out with Canada’s favorite son. Some Angelinos theorized that Lamar dropped “Euphoria” at 8:24 am as a tribute to Laker Kobe Bryant, but the Drake diss was unexpectedly tied to the L.A. Clippers on May 1, when the song played during the TNT halftime show.
The halftime panel featured the usual suspects: Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. Each of them weighed in on who they thought was going to take game 5 (spoilers, but Dallas prevailed) in predictable fashion. The curveball in the broadcast came when the show cut back from a commercial break and Lamar’s ferocious diss track was blaring over the speakers.
It wasn’t even the soft, melodic intro, either. The TNT halftime show was playing the third beat switch. The one where K. Dot cuts loose and calls Drake a bad father (among other things). It was the last things fan expected to hear, and the same goes for the panelists.
Shaq and Kenny Smith began laughing when they heard the song. “C’mon man,” Smith noted. “Y’all putting us in the middle of the rap beef. [Now] we in the middle.” The Jet then joked that the network needed to play Drake’s “Push Ups” in order to stay neutral. The rest of Inside the broadcast went over without any beef talk, but one of the panel members actually weighed in on the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar battle previously.
Shaq voiced concern for both artists during an episode of his podcast The Big Podcast With Shaq. “I like competition,” he admitted. “I love it, you know, because we all have egos. We all say we’re the best and the fans want you to prove it.” The NBA legend asserted that things between Drake and Kendrick Lamar would be fine as long as they kept their conflict to the music. “I just hope it don’t go into all that other stuff,” he added. “You know, ‘My crew see your crew and we start fighting and shooting and all that.’”
Given Drake and Dot’s track record, it doesn’t seem like Shaq has anything to worry about. The same goes for the rest of the TNT panel.
Wednesday night was a big one in the Mavs-Clippers series, as the two teams met in Los Angeles for a pivotal Game 5 (I’m legally obligated as a sportswriter to call it that) with the series tied 2-2. The first half was a back-and-forth battle until the Mavs went on a late second quarter run to pull ahead by 10 at the halftime break on TNT. Once the halftime buzzer sounded, it was time for Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson to break down that half of basketball in the studio.
However, before they could get to that, TNT’s production team decided to tap into the dominant story of the day in the world of pop culture, playing Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss that he released earlier in the day, “Euphoria”, in the transition from the booth in L.A. to the studio in Atlanta. Only half of the desk realized what was being played in the background as Ernie did his lead-in, with Shaq and Kenny both chuckling about how they were suddenly in the middle of the rap beef.
The least surprising thing ever is that Shaq (literally a DJ) and Kenny (a man who still listens to new music) would recognize the Drake diss playing while Ernie (old, white) and Chuck (listens to country) would be oblivious. Shaq and Kenny got a kick out of it, with Jet joking that they were inserting themselves in the middle of the rap beef and they needed to play Drake’s “Push Ups” to stay neutral in the battle between the Los Angeles and Toronto artists.
Angel Reese is not interested in entering the fray. The Chicago Sky posted a video on Wednesday, May 1, showing the WNBA team’s players answering a loaded question: “Drake or Kendrick?” Reese’s teammates each chose a side — the results were lopsided in Drake’s favor — but Reese knew better. “I’m not getting in this controversy because I’ll be on Twitter, The Shade Room, all that,” Reese said. “Nope!”
Last month, Reese was drafted seventh overall by Chicago after a decorated collegiate career at LSU, where she and the Tigers won the national championship in 2023. Anyway, Reese’s favorite rapper might be her former LSU teammate, Flau’jae Johnson. The two co-starred in NLE Choppa’s “Champions” video last year, and Reese was also featured in the video for Latto and Cardi B’s “Put It On Da Floor Again.”
Young Guru has a bulletproof reputation within the hip-hop community. Not only has he produced and mixed for rappers like Jay-Z and Kanye West, but he’s dedicated his time to teaching the next generation of artists. He knows the history of the genre, and is able to contextualize it with a clarity that few mixers are capable of. This pedigree is what makes Young Guru’s comments on the new Kendrick Lamar diss “Euphoria” so insightful. There are plenty of insulting touches that resonated with listeners, but Guru pointed out two he felt have been overlooked.
Young Guru shed light on these two aspects via Instagram Stories. The first post addressed the audio that opens the song. The words are played in reverse, but Genius confirmed that they say “everything about me is true” when played forward. Guru confirmed the line to be taken from the 1978 film The Wiz, and explained the larger statement that Lamar is making about his opponent: Drake. “The dance scene in Oz is incredible but it points out that pop culture is fake,” he noted. “The Wiz changes the colors and people just go along with it. Richard Pryor later admits that he is a fake and a phony.”
Guru does not say he explicitly agrees with Lamar. He does, however, assert that the rapper is making parallels between Drake and Pryor’s character. Drake has been able to stay relevant for a decade and a half by embracing different sounds and trends, and K. Dot posits that he is changing the colors like the Wiz. The second part of Young Guru’s analysis had to do with the “Euphoria” beat. The song samples the Teddy Pendergrass classic “You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration.”
It might not scan as a big deal on the surface, but the producer notes that Pendergrass suffered a debilitating injury late in his career. “Teddy Pendagrass [sic] got into a car accident,” he wrote. “And had to live the rest of his life paralyzed in a wheelchair.” Guru interprets this historical context as yet another dig at Drake, who rose to fame playing a wheelchair-bound character on Degrassi. The Toronto rapper also referenced Pendergrass on his 2016 single “Child’s Play.” The layers of meaning in “Euphoria” are seemingly endless, and Guru wants to remind listeners to keep digging.
Ever since Kendrick Lamar first took shots at Drake and J. Cole back in March, the rap world has been following every development closely. As the beef slowly expanded to include Kanye West, Rick Ross, Metro Boomin, and even potentially Future and The Weeknd, rap blogs shares their reactions in real time. That included Joe Budden who called together numerous emergency podcasts with his team to react in real time to the various developments in the beef. Most recently, Kendrick Lamar shared his Drake response track “euphoria” and Budden was quick to react.
Today, he shared his full live reaction to the song. In the video, Budden and his co-hosts listen to the song and share their first reactions. They frequently pause the song to discuss lyrics Kendrick delivers, often with impressed reactions. Fans in the comments following along seem to think he has a blatantly pro-Kendrick bias. That would be in line with his over-arching reaction to the beef at this point. He revealed that he thinks Kendrick is winning so far, but he’s looking forward to what Drake will hit back with. Check out the full video of his reaction below.
Specifically, Joe Budden said that Drake got “punched in the face” by Kendrick’s diss. But he’s been consistent throughout the entire beef in claiming that anybody can change things if they hit back with a good response. That was the case when he made the claim that J. Cole could start to rebuild his reputation by responding to Kanye West’s “Like That” diss track.
Cole responded to Kendrick back in March, but quickly deleted his response track. He’s yet to release anything taking aim at some of the claims Kanye made about him. What do you think of Joe Budden and his co-hosts take on Kendrick Lamar’s new diss track “euphoria?” Do you agree with him that Kendrick is winning the beef so far but Drake could take it back? Let us know in the comment section below.
Musicians put in the work to perfect their craft and churn out great music that their teeming fans will love and appreciate. It takes so much to put out a music album, and one of the ways musicians track how much their work is appreciated is through album sales. Music data relating to album sales began in 1991, thanks to SoundScan, now known as Luminate. Since such data came into existence, only 26 albums have sold a million copies in the first week.
Selling a million album copies in the first week is no mean feat. However, some artists have managed to do it, with a few of them even going ahead to do it more than once. Some of the artists that sold a million album copies in the first week include Norah Jones (Feels Like Home), Limp Bizkit (Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water), and Garth Books (Double Live). Others on the prestigious list include Lady Gaga (Born This Way), The Beatles (1), Backstreet Boys (Black & Blue), and Whitney Houston (The Bodyguard). There are more artists on the list, with Taylor Swift and Adele among the most dominant musicians, releasing albums that sold over one million copies in the first week. Here are 11 albums that sold one million copies in their first week.
11. Drake – Views (2016)
Canadian rapper Drake released his fourth studio album, Views, on April 29, 2016. The album was released under three record labels: Cash Money Records, Republic Records, and Young Money Entertainment. In Views, Drake showed his musical diversity by taking influence from West African and West Indian music. He also made his first full foray into Jamaican dancehall music. Other music genres featured in Views include R&B, Afrobeat, pop, and UK funky. Views did remarkably well thanks to its diversified sound as it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Views sold 1.04 million equivalent album units in its first week. Equivalent album units combine streaming and song downloads in addition to traditional album sales. The measurement was introduced in the mid-2010s as a solution to the drop in album sales in the 21st century. Drake’s actual album sales for Views in the first week was 852,000 copies. Besides hitting high equivalent album unit sales, Drake also smashed streaming records with his Views album as it hit a staggering 245 million streams.
Magna Carta Holy Grail was Jay-Z’s 12th studio album. Days before the album’s release, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) changed its rules for gold and platinum certification. Before releasing the album on July 4, 2013, Jay-Z sold one million digital copies to Samsung, which then offered the copies to its users for free. Due to that action, the RIAA ruled that artists no longer had to wait 30 days to get certification for digital sales. Hence, Jay-Z’s one million album sales to Samsung began counting immediately after Magna Carta Holy Grail‘s release, meaning the album went platinum soon after its release.
Jay-Z featured artists like Nas, Rick Ross, Justin Timberlake, Frank Ocean, and his wife, Beyoncé, on the album. Some of the hit songs on the album include “Holy Grail,” “Oceans,” and “Tom Ford.” Besides the one million digital album copies sold to Samsung, Magna Carta Holy Grail sold 528,000 physical copies in its first week and topped the US Billboard 200 chart upon its release. Jay-Z earned six Grammy Award nominations for the album, with “Holy Grail” winning the award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
9. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III (2008)
Tha Carter III was Lil Wayne’s sixth studio album. It was released on June 10, 2008, and sold 1,006,000 copies in its first week. Lil Wayne featured several big names in the album, including Jay-Z, Fabolous, Robin Thicke, Kanye West, the late Static Major, and Busta Rhymes. The album had several hit songs, including “A Milli,” “Lollipop,” and “Got Money,” and cemented Lil Wayne’s status as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Tha Carter III received several award nominations, including Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammys. That year’s award season was successful for Lil Wayne, as Tha Carter III earned him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. Meanwhile, “Lollipop” won Best Rap Song, while “A Milli” won Best Rap Solo Performance.
Usher released his fourth studio album, Confessions, on Mar. 23, 2004. The R&B album had instant hits like “Yeah!,” “Burn,” “My Boo,” and “Confessions Part II.” Confessions sold 1,096,000 copies in its first week, solidifying itself as one of the greatest R&B albums. Confessions also came with some controversy due to its theme. There were wide beliefs that the album was themed around Usher’s personal relationships. However, Jermaine Dupri, who mainly produced Confessions, claimed the album was more reflective of his personal story. Besides incredible album sales, Confessions also earned Usher a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album.
7. 50 Cent – The Massacre (2005)
After announcing himself to the world with his Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ album in 2003, 50 Cent followed it up with The Massacretwo years later. The album debuted at no. 1 on the US Billboard 200 thanks to hits like “Candy Shop,” “Just A Lil Bit,” and “Hate It Or Love It.” The Massacre sold 1,141,000 copies after its first week and solidified 50 Cent’s impact in the rap game. Hip-hop bigwigs like Dr. Dre, Eminem, Sha Money XL, and Scott Storch helped produce The Massacre. 50 Cent also featured Eminem, Olivia, Jamie Foxx, and Tony Yayo in the epic album, which was widely positively received and considered as one of his best albums.
6. Britney Spears – Oops!… I Did It Again (2000)
Oops!.. I Did It Again was a befitting name for Britney Spears’ second studio album. A year before its release, Britney debuted with a highly successful album, …Baby One More Time. Hence, she was under pressure to replicate the success of her first album. Britney welcomed the challenge and worked with several highly sought-after producers. Eventually, she put out a pop album that incorporated funk and R&B, earning her high praise and critical acclaim. Oops!.. I Did It Again enjoyed massive commercial success. It sold 1,319,000 copies in its first week and held the record for the fastest-selling album by a female artist and the largest first-week sales for a female album for 15 years.
Eminem’s fourth studio album, The Eminem Show, sold 1,322,000 in its first week. The album featured songs like “Without Me,” “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” and “White America.” Eventually, it sold 27 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Eminem incorporated more rap rock in The Eminem Show than he did with his previous albums. The Eminem Show was themed around The Real Slim Shady’s hip-hop prominence and his mixed feelings about fame. Eminem also took a step back from his Slim Shady alter ego in the album, as he deviated from being satirical.
4. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
The Eminem Show was not the first album with which Eminem sold over a million copies within the first week. On May 23, 2000, the rapper released his third studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP. Dr. Dre mainly produced the highly successful album, which went on to sell 1,760,000 copies in its first week. The album’s success helped to propel Eminem to the forefront of America’s hip-hop culture. Some of the album’s most popular songs include “Stan,” “The Real Slim Shady,” and “Bitch Please.”
3. NSYNC – No Strings Attached (2000)
NSYNC is a famous boy band consisting of Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, and JC Chasez. Although the band is not as popular as before following a long hiatus, it remains one of the top-selling bands of all time. After making waves with their first two albums, NSYNC took it a notch higher with their third studio album, No Strings Attached. After its release on Mar. 21, 2000, No Strings Attached sold a mindblowing 2,416,000 copies in its first week. NSYNC repeated the feat with their next album, Celebrity, which sold 1,878,000 copies a week after its release on July 24, 2001.
2. Taylor Swift (The Tortured Poets Department, 2024)
Taylor Swift’s knack for singing about her romantic travails in her albums means her teeming fans would always anticipate her next album release. Hence, when she announced an album was on the way during the 2024 Grammy Awards, Swifties readied their earbuds in anticipation, as the album was Taylor’s first since her split from Joe Alwyn. Taylor released The Tortured Poets Department, her 11th studio album, on April 19, 2024. Unsurprisingly, her latest work sold 2,610,000 copies in its first week.
However, TTPD isn’t Taylor’s first album to sell over a million copies in its first week. The beloved songstress achieved that feat six other times with her previous albums. These include: 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which sold 1,359,000 copies in its first week; 1989, which sold 1,287,000 copies in its first week; Reputation, which sold 1,216,000 copies in its first week; Red, which sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week; Midnights, which sold 1,140,000 copies in its first week; and Speak Now, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.
1. Adele (25, 2015)
While Taylor Swift has sold over a million album copies with seven albums, Adele needed just one album to achieve the feat three times. On Nov. 20, 2015, Adele released 25, her third studio album. The album’s title reflected the singer’s life and mind frame when she was 25 years old and featured classics like “Hello,” “Water Under the Bridge,” and “Love in the Dark.” Adele’s 25 enjoyed so much commercial success. It racked in a massive 3,378,000 album sales in its first week, breaking the record for first-week sales. The album sold over a million copies in a week for the second time in December 2015, selling 1,112,000 copies. It repeated the feat for a third time in January 2016, selling 1,158,000 copies in a week.
The beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake has seemingly closed its first chapter after the Compton superstar dropped “euphoria” out of nowhere. It caught the entire hip-hop community off guard, and it left everyone scrambling to react and break down the bars. Both Dot and Drizzy’s stans alike have been staunchly supporting their guys over who is on top, and it has been great to see the competitive fervor once again. Currently, the response to “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle is only on YouTube right now. Still, even with the minimal release and promotion, “euphoria” has racked up a ton streams for Kendrick Lamar.
In a recent Instagram post from thehiphopwolf, the account revealed that the track had brought in around 7.7 million plays in just 24 hours. In fact, that number has increased by about 300,000 at the time of writing, bringing the new total to 8.1 million. For comparison, Drake’s “Push Ups” has over 6.4 million views, and that hit YouTube officially almost two weeks ago. However, it still sits number eight on trending for music.
But “euphoria” has Kendrick at number one on trending overall, so in that aspect, he is winning. Then, on the other hand, Drake does have the streaming advantage by default. It has over 40 million plays on Spotify and debuted at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. So, the question is, does Lamar drop “euphoria” on streaming platforms now, especially with the numbers it is seeing?
What are your thoughts on Kendrick Lamar bringing in over eight million streams on YouTube for “euphoria” in just one day? Does this prove that Lamar is winning right now, why or why not? What bar stands out to you the most so far? Do you think he should drop the song on streaming now? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and “euphoria.” Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
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