Marlon Wayans recently stopped by Big Boy’s Neighborhood in Los Angeles and, among many other reflections, he assessed the Kendrick Lamar and Drake rap battle that dominated 2024. First off, he started with some praise for the 6ix God for taking on so many challengers. “But look how many people it took,” the entertainer remarked. “This was like he was Thanos and all the Avengers was coming after him. I got to give Drake his credit for standing toe to toe, like, ‘Nah, I got something for you, I got something for you, I got something.’ Kendrick just slipped through the cracks. Kendrick is just special and different and hit him from an angle that was like therapy. He hit him in the soul, you can’t beat that.”
Then, Marlon Wayans and Big Boy discussed the success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss against Drake. Specifically, the radio host commented on all the previous rap beefs they’ve seen, whereas Wayans described the West Coast banger as a combination of many legendary diss tracks like “Ether” and “No Vaseline.” In addition, he commented on how the track “had Bloods crip-walking” to it.
Furthermore, Marlon Wayans and Big Boy had a lot of praise for Kendrick Lamar, and also commented on how this is an amazing prelude to K.Dot’s Super Bowl halftime show. However, Wayans brought up an important point about how Kendrick’s artistry also owes itself to the pioneering of artists like Lil Wayne, who really wanted that halftime slot. “You see the evolution of things that was starting and how they’ve been applied to this generation,” he posited. Also, the actor expressed excitement for however Drake decides to follow up this saga.
Still, Marlon Wayans did have one criticism for Drake amid this Kendrick Lamar battle: his legal petition against Universal Music Group and Spotify. Nevertheless, he and Big Boy spoke on how Jay-Z lost to Nas and is still one of the GOATs, and on how Kendrick and Drizzy could still make up one day. On that note, we have to disagree. But we probably wouldn’t have predicted this beef before it exploded, so anything goes.
2024 was the year in which all of us obsessed over the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, whether it was for five minutes or five-plus months. It was a massive hip-hop moment, so it’s only natural that the culture would speak on it at length. Fat Joe recently reflected on the battle’s overall success, impact, and longevity during his latest appearance on Big Boy’s Neighborhood. While he emphasized K.Dot’s dubs over the 6ix God’s, you can apply this to both.
“Yeah, um, if I’m being honest with you, I wasn’t watching it so closely at the beginning,” Fat Joe said of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. “And then when ‘They Not Like Us’ – ‘They Not Like Us’ is a ‘Lean Back.’ It is a ‘Go, shawty!‘ You got the deal with that record for the next 50 years. There’s no way around it. He done f***ed around and made a hit. Nah, nah, nah, that’s a ‘You can find me In Da Club,’ like, ‘They not like us,’ that’s forever. It’s crazy. It’s also the energy, you know what I’m saying? You can’t dismiss the energy. It was coming up to that, boom!
Fat Joe Reflects On The Kendrick Lamar & Drake Battle
Fat Joe reacts to Kendrick Lamar’s success this year after battling Drake
“Not Like Us is a Lean Back… you got to deal with that record for the next 50 years… this new album (GNX) is incredible too… too much energy this is like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony… aunty Kendrick can… pic.twitter.com/wa1o4ytW9s
“And then, this new album’s incredible, too,” Fat Joe continued. “This new album is incredible. And, it’s just, it’s too much energy. This is like… You know, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, when I was in the game, they was selling 30 million records, right? Like, s**t I didn’t even understand. It felt like the stadium would break, right? I used to go with them. And then they had, like, groups like Mo Thugs, guys that we never heard, that were going, like, five platinum too because they was affiliated with Bone Thugs at the time of that energy.
“And so, that’s that energy Kendrick got right now,” Fat Joe concluded. “His cousin could come out and sell some s**t. [Baby Keem] was already in play, he’s known. Right now, Auntie Kendrick could come out, Auntie, spits ten bars and her s**t be multi-platinum right now. It’s just the energy.” Even though the victor earns the spoils of war, both warring MCs deserve some credit.
Now that Kendrick Lamar has announced his Super Bowl halftime show, many fans are wondering what Drake really meant with his “Game 2” teases. For those unaware, Kendrick seemed to call out The Boy’s hints towards another round by proclaiming that there’s only one shot at winning a championship. But fans didn’t really know how to interpret this IG burner tease from the 6ix God, which consisted of Rasheed Wallace saying that the Pistons will “win Game 2.” They went on to win the series, and DJ Akademiks is the latest person to suggest that this supposed victory in the long run is what he’s trying to refer to here.
“‘Game 2’ has nothing to do with running back the rap Battle between Drake and Kendrick,” DJ Akademiks tweeted. Most likely, people advocating for this “Game 2” are concerned more with sales, commercial performance, and industry dominance than actual rap battles and beef. Many folks are rallying against Jay-Z now, for example, and have this “rich man versus rich man” approach as they pick their favorite capitalist to pettily use the industry to one-up each other through. And while Kendrick Lamar is performing at the Super Bowl, Drizzy is one of the ambassadors for FIFA World Cup 2026, which will take place across North America. So what do you care about in hip-hop: the money or the music? We know Ak’s answer…
“But Game 2, we will win,” DJ Akademiks had previously shared. “Game 2, we will win. That’s a fact. If you think Drake finna abandon and forsake all them fans, you got to realize, this for the fans right here. You think he gon’ let some p***y a** n***as have something over him, his legacy, and his fans? No! Aye, chat, f**k that. This the new thing: Drake in five. Drake in five, people, Drake in five. Remember I told you that. No, no, no, no, we ain’t doing six. Five. What’s understood don’t need to be explained. Y’all are going to watch it. Listen, listen, we got to see where the game starts. We got to see, bro. Just watch Game 2, bro. Just watch Game 2.”
What you won’t hear from OVO fans, though, is that they just want any excuse for Drake to “beat” Kendrick Lamar, whereas Kendrick fans have all the proof they wanted. At least both sides mostly agree that Lil Wayne should’ve had the headlining slot instead, and that goes for every other New Orleans Super Bowl. Regardless, we’ll see how this all continues to develop. Hopefully one day we can talk about these MCs without having to mention the other.
Fans are accusing 50 Cent of betraying Kendrick Lamar after meeting up with Drake at a party in Toronto over the weekend and teasing a collaboration. 50 posted a picture of the two together on Instagram on Sunday afternoon. “Brain [brain emoji] storming last night me and @champagnepapi gonna get the [camera emoji] rolling biggest ting on your TV GLG,” the caption reads. This suggests that 50 and Drake’s collaboration is related to television, not music. 50’s an accomplished TV producer, with his Power franchise celebrating ten years on the air last month. Drake is an executive producer on Netflix’s Top Boy revival and Euphoria. The latter is one of the most popular shows on HBO.
50 Cent meeting with Drake angered fans of Lamar. Some of them pointed out 50’s own history of attacking those who sided with his rivals. “You can’t do Ja Rule like that and go hang with the modern day Ja Rule,” said one user. Another user mentioned Drake’s own history as an actor, saying that they “don’t want to see [Drake] in Power” after this.
Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent have shared history. The two of them collaborated on the 2013 track “We Up.” Lamar also made a cameo in the fifth season of Power as Laces, a homeless drug addict who gets shot in the head by Kanan Stark, portrayed by 50 himself. Of course, the two of them have connections to Dr. Dre and Eminem. Both signed to Aftermath Entertainment at different points in the last two decades and found massive success. The two have since departed to forge their own paths. 50 went into TV and Lamar founded the pgLang production company.
Fans have also pointed out that 50 Cent and Drake’s meetup was likely in part because of a shared enemy: Rick Ross. Ross and 50 have had beef since the 2000s. Drake and Ross’s relationship deteriorated earlier this year, with the two of them taking petty shots at each other during the much bigger battle between the former and Kendrick Lamar. Drake claimed credit for Ross’s crossover success. Ross referred to Drake as “BBL Drizzy,” alleging that Drake uses Ozempic and paid for ab sculpting surgery. Ross recently got into a fight for playing “Not Like Us” in Vancouver. Drake’s and 50’s meetup is a hot topic, and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.
Wack 100, The Game’s longtime manager, recently appeared on DJ Vlad’s YouTube channel to talk about a variety of things. Of course, one of the topics that came up was The Game not appearing at Kendrick Lamar’s Pop Out show on Juneteenth. Fans have theorized about it for weeks. Some have theorized that Lamar and crew snubbed The Game because of Game’s longstanding friendship with chief Lamar rival Drake. Wack 100 denied any friction between the two artists.
“If Kendrick or anybody from that camp needed Game, he would’ve been there,” said Wack 100. He also asserted that Game performing at The Pop Out would have taken time away from more underground acts, as the curfew was 8PM PST and Game is an established artist nearly two decades into his career. The choice was about supporting new talent rather than overshadowing them, ensuring that emerging artists had their moment. The Game is a West Coast legend, but the night was primarily about the present.
Wack 100 Speaks On The Game Missing The Pop Out
The Game and Kendrick Lamar’s relationship goes back over ten years. One of the first tours Lamar went on was for Game’s R.E.D. Album. Game was one of the rappers who passed the “West Coast Torch” to Lamar in 2011, shortly before he signed to Interscope Records and grew into a star. They also did the tracks “The City,” and “On Me” together, released in 2011 and 2015, respectively.
The Game also did a track with Drake in 2015 called “100,” which was released on The Documentary 2. The track resulted in the two shooting a music video in Compton. Fans have since interpreted as a subtle diss by Drake towards Lamar. Wack 100 alleges that Drake had to be convinced to leave the car for them to shoot that video. Game being at The Pop Out would have been a significant moment. He and Kendrick Lamar have not worked together in close to ten years. But Wack 100 is adamant that if Game was needed, he would have been invited. Maybe the two of them will reunite on a song, as Lamar has a new album rumored to release this year.
Soulja Boy has strong words for Drake after his highly publicized battle with Kendrick Lamar. Drake and Lamar have been taking shots at each other since the latter’s now-infamous verse on Big Sean’s “Control” released in 2013. Drake and J. Cole collaborated on “First Person Shooter,” the hit single from Drake’s 2023 album For All The Dogs. Lamar responded to claims of a hip-hop Big 3 on the Future & Metro Boomin track “Like That.” The rest is history.
Soulja Boy, who has a new album set for release on July 28, took to X (formerly Twitter) to make his disappointment in Drake clear. His posts were met with a mixed response. Some shared their belief that Drake needed to take the loss. Others accused him of clout chasing, as his album is under two weeks away from release and controversy almost always sells. “This is what happens when you don’t hop up out the bed and turn your swag on,” said one Instagram user, referencing his 2008 hit.
Soulja Boy Is Disappointed In Drake’s Battle Performance
Soulja Boy and Drake were friendly for some time in the latter’s early years of superstardom. Drake freestyled over “We Made It” in 2013, a non-album track that got very popular. In 2019, Soulja claimed that he “taught Drake everything he knows.” It was a one-sided beef that ended with the infamous “Draaaake?” soundbite from his interview with The Breakfast Club. After that, Drake reached out to Soulja to end any animosity and resolve the conflict peacefully.
Drake has been reeling since his battle with Kendrick Lamar. He reportedly plans to release new music this summer, which may get him back on track. Lamar has been on a months-long victory lap, with “Not Like Us” surging to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after the music video released. Soulja Boy is not the only disappointed rapper out there. Kendrick Lamar’s own Black Hippy squadmate, Ab-Soul, seemed to express a level of disappointment in Drake. He was more forgiving than Soulja, not ruling out the possibility of redemption. However, he specified that Drake could never “f*ck with” Kendrick on the rap side.
Many would like to argue that the Drake-Kendrick Lamar beef is getting dragged out; perhaps there is some truth to this. We live in a time when attention spans are limited to seconds, and scandals rapidly riddle the newsfeed one headline after another. It’s hard to keep track of anything, really. However, this situation is an anomaly when applying Drake’s mother’s 72-hour rule. “My mom said to me, ‘You know what, you’ll go to sleep tonight, you’ll wake up and it’ll still bother you. Then you’ll go to sleep again and you’ll wake up and it’ll bother you a little less. And then on the third day, you’ll wake up and someone else will have done something stupid enough that everyone will forget,’” he once told Zane Lowe.
“That’s the 72-hour rule. I’ve learned to control my emotions for those first two or three days. That’s why I don’t run to social media and start yapping about my anger or my frustration, I let it sit, and it always goes away.” It’s sage advice that clearly didn’t stick in recent years. It, unfortunately, wouldn’t have been effective in this beef had Drake simply ignored the releases of Future and Metro Boomin’s back-to-back albums, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You, that were practically dedicated to a universal disdain towards the Canadian rapper.
The online discourse and industry chatter probably left pressure on Drake’s shoulders to respond at a time when he admitted to needing a break to prioritize his health. And ultimately, if he didn’t bite the bait, he likely wouldn’t have been able to live this moment down. It was a lose-lose situation, but no one could’ve predicted the avalanche of diss records to emerge in the span of a few days, nor the damage it would inflict on Drake.
But does it really matter? Public perception is easily swayed. Many doubted Drake before “Push Ups,” yet it set the tone for the trajectory of the battle. However, subsequent efforts, such as “Taylor Made Freestyle”, backfired and put an even bigger lens on Drake’s motives as an artist within hip-hop. Is his participation to help grow the culture or leech off it? Questions like these linger in the back of minds these days. Whether or not you’re convinced that “Family Matters” is the best song to emerge from the exchange if only due to his lengthy run-time, numerous targets, and beat switches, you can’t deny that the “Drake stimulus” has decreased in value, culturally and commercially.
If Drake is the MC I imagine he can be. Redemption is not off the table.
A loss of this magnitude never felt feasible for one of the biggest recording artists whose persona has been protected by an invincible shield. That’s especially the case following his bounce back post-Pusha T, where he dominated the summer with hits after effectively throwing in the towel. But, anyone with a working pair of ears could agree that since Scorpion, and maybe even before then, there was a decline in quality in exchange for prolificity. So when Ab-Soultweeted, “If Drake is the MC I imagine he can be, redemption is not off the table,” it didn’t immediately feel like some sort of ulterior motive to bait Drake or even a shot from the opposing team. Ab-Soul’s analysis felt like one of a rapper’s rapper and a student of hip-hop. After all, it didn’t take long for old tweets to surface of Ab-Soul singing Drake’s praises over a decade ago.
So, it seemed rather odd for B. Dot to respond to Soul’s tweets, writing, “The disrespect is disturbing.” “Disturbing” more accurately describes the allegations that both Kendrick Lamar and Drake dished at each other. But, B. Dot later clarified that he felt a type of way about the “condescending” tone of Soul’s comments before arguing that Drake has played a vital role in hip-hop for the past decade. “It’s backhanded praise! rap game caught amnesia the past two months,” B. Dot wrote in response to Soul claiming that Drake “could never Fucc wit da Gang ‘Nem on sum rap shyt.”
it’s backhanded praise! rap game caught amnesia the past two months. https://t.co/hUCjqhcR51
Let’s be real: Drake’s place in history is cemented. You nor I could ever strip that away from him, and the music he’s made plays a defining role in how hip-hop and pop music overlapped in the past decade. Not to mention, he’s also been a connective tissue between hip-hop and R&B for just as long. Despite this beef, Drake reportedly maintained his position as the highest-streamed artist on Spotify in June.
At the end of the day, that’s Drake’s greatest strength: creating accessible music for the masses that could be enjoyed in any setting. He’s become a ubiquitous force in hip-hop who hasn’t let his foot off the gas in the past 15 years. Within that time, he’s already set scary precedents that have become norms, whether the allegations of using a ghostwriter or the AI Tupac verse from “Taylor Made Freestyle.” For clarity, the issue isn’t about the collaborative process behind his songwriting prowess; we know he can write when he wants to. It’s ultimately about his perceived respect towards the craftsmanship and those who’ve laid the foundation of his success. Spinning a G-Unit chain in a music video or spending $1M on Tupac’s ring feels more sinister in retrospect.
So, whether Ab-Soul was being condescending or B. Dot’s simply stunned to see Drake’s fall, it was an inevitable outcome for an artist who has oversaturated the market with his presence and spread himself thin. Akademiks, Capella Grey, or anyone else can claim that Drake is about to light up the summer with a banger, but for that to happen, he’ll need to revamp the secret formula. That in and of itself takes time. It’ll take longer than 72 hours to forget the irreparable damage done to his career in the past two months but the best thing for Drake to do is keep to his original plans and take time away from the public eye. Without allowing himself to be missed, Drake fatigue will persist on a mass scale.
Over the last couple of months, J Cole has been laying quite low after dropping out of the Kendrick Lamar beef. People have been commending the German-born MC for his decision to bow out, as most know it is not in his nature to get into beefs. However, there are still quite a few people out there who still lack respect for the “7 Minute Drill” MC. Him and Drake continue to receive criticism for essentially not doing anything of merit since taking their respective L’s. For example, countless jokes circled the internet after his questionable guest performance on Cash Cobain’s “Grippy”.
But there are hip-hop figures out there who are showing J Cole love, and that includes Trae Tha Truth. According to HipHopDX, the Houston, Texas rapper sat down with AllHipHop at the BET Awards this past weekend and showed nothing but compassion for the man. Overall, Trae feels like the media painted Cole in an egregiously negative light for removing himself from what has become an overtly violent beef at times. The smoky-voiced MC sees no issue with the apology as Trae knows that Cole does not move like that.
“I watch blogs and I watch headlines make it as if he [Cole] was just trying to get away or duck any type of situation. And that wasn’t the case. What people have to realize is that’s just not the type of energy bro got. You know what I’m saying? He focused on him, he focused on his kids and just always stayed in his lane”. Trae elaborated further, “So everybody wanted to see him rumble and not knowing a lot of us came up together. We partners. So, for me, being a real brother to him, you got to respect if somebody like, ‘Man, you know what, bro? I know I’m dope. I’m not questioning myself. I just feel like that’s just not the energy that I’m on’”.
What are your thoughts on Trae Tha Truth backing J Cole’s decision to bow out of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef? Are you surprised that he feels this way, why or why not? Did it turn out to be the best case scenario after knowing what we know now? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Trae Tha Truth, J Cole, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
miller (@bdotTM)