"Rap’s megastars have finally found a way to keep busy outside of chasing past glories with joint albums that should have happened a decade ago and projects full of way too many 21 Savage verses. It is Rap Beef! And the hater-fueled theatrics and competition to get the best joke off or leak the juiciest gossip have most of them tapping into the kind of energy that doesn’t happen when everyone is on the same DJ Khaled song every time they need a new boat.

Happy for them. They seem to be having a good time with their little rivalries. Drake gets to bring back his If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late “Mafia Boss Living Off the Grid in a Beach Town” persona. Kendrick Lamar gets to cancel his next few sessions with Dr. Melfi. Future gets to find a new enemy who isn’t an Instagram model he met once. Rick Ross gets to show what Gotham villains would have done if they had Instagram. J. Cole gets to do uh… J. Cole stuff.

Who knows what actually got this whole rap civil war started. The rumors have ranged from romantic drama to behind-the-scenes politics, such as jealousy about Drake making Her Loss with 21 Savage. (Metro Boomin even had a tweet where he ranted about Her Loss winning more Grammys than his own Heroes & Villains.) So, yeah, a bunch of s*** that I barely care about. What is more interesting is the resurrection of rap’s eternal power struggle that launched with Future and Metro Boomin’s March collab album, We Don’t Trust You. On the cover, they look like fleeced assassins in a Johnnie To movie out for revenge after a job that turned out to be a setup.

The scorned spirit holds strong throughout the album with brooding Metro beats that are a little too cinematic and glossy and acidic Future verses littered with subliminal messages to Drake, down to the shady album title. But the bell was officially rung on “Like That,” track six on We Don’t Trust You, where Kendrick sets off this Drake vs. the World moment by directly attacking the wannabe Toronto godfather (and J. Cole, too, for spending too much time with Drake). “Motherfuck the big three, nigga, it’s just big me,” he raps, a rejection of Cole’s suggestion that the three are the cornerstones of modern rap. (Sidenote: Bizarre that any of them think they have an argument for the crown, when Hood Hottest Princess exists.)

Kendrick’s mild jabs sent the internet into a frenzy since rap beefs among giants—that are more than just sassy tweets, and, also, where there is no sense that real-life violence could come into play—doesn’t happen so often anymore. This beef is exactly that. A high-profile battle of bars—the hit rate isn’t that high, but at least they’re bars—with a splash of memes. We haven’t gotten anything close to our next “The Story of Adidon” or “Ether” or “Checkmate,” but, hey, the music is piling up and the jokes are flying and I have something new to talk about with my barber. (Before this, our last conversation was about if Ice Spice is the antichrist, so, thanks, Kendrick.)

What I can’t really get past is that this entire beef feels so artificial and desperate. A collective final cry for attention by a generation of artists who are attempting to fend off an unenviable descent into the nostalgia circuit. Whatever. I’ll live in the moment and play along with the hip-hop soap opera, even if this may very well end with them all together giving away a PlayStation 5 on a Kai Cenat stream. Below is a power ranking of the contributions of all who have been tagged into this mess."

pitchfork.com/thepitch/a-power-ranking-of-everyone-in-the-drake-kendrick-lamar-every-rapper-ever-battle-royale

Powerful

who

"Rap’s megastars have finally found a way to keep busy outside of chasing past glories with joint albums that should have happened a decade ago and projects full of way too many 21 Savage verses. It is Rap Beef! And the hater-fueled theatrics and competition to get the best joke off or leak the juiciest gossip have most of them tapping into the kind of energy that doesn’t happen when everyone is on the same DJ Khaled song every time they need a new boat.

Happy for them. They seem to be having a good time with their little rivalries. Drake gets to bring back his If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late “Mafia Boss Living Off the Grid in a Beach Town” persona. Kendrick Lamar gets to cancel his next few sessions with Dr. Melfi. Future gets to find a new enemy who isn’t an Instagram model he met once. Rick Ross gets to show what Gotham villains would have done if they had Instagram. J. Cole gets to do uh… J. Cole stuff.

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THE PITCH
A Power Ranking of Everyone in the Drake–Kendrick Lamar–Every Rapper Ever Battle Royale
Future? Drake?? Nav??? Who comes out on top in what really, really wants to be hip-hop’s most memorable beef in years?
By Alphonse Pierre

April 17, 2024
Drake Rick Ross Future and Kendrick Lamar
Drake, Rick Ross, Future and Kendrick Lamar (Image by Chris Panicker, photos via Getty Images)
Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention.

Rap’s megastars have finally found a way to keep busy outside of chasing past glories with joint albums that should have happened a decade ago and projects full of way too many 21 Savage verses. It is Rap Beef! And the hater-fueled theatrics and competition to get the best joke off or leak the juiciest gossip have most of them tapping into the kind of energy that doesn’t happen when everyone is on the same DJ Khaled song every time they need a new boat.

Happy for them. They seem to be having a good time with their little rivalries. Drake gets to bring back his If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late “Mafia Boss Living Off the Grid in a Beach Town” persona. Kendrick Lamar gets to cancel his next few sessions with Dr. Melfi. Future gets to find a new enemy who isn’t an Instagram model he met once. Rick Ross gets to show what Gotham villains would have done if they had Instagram. J. Cole gets to do uh… J. Cole stuff.

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Who knows what actually got this whole rap civil war started. The rumors have ranged from romantic drama to behind-the-scenes politics, such as jealousy about Drake making Her Loss with 21 Savage. (Metro Boomin even had a tweet where he ranted about Her Loss winning more Grammys than his own Heroes & Villains.) So, yeah, a bunch of s*** that I barely care about. What is more interesting is the resurrection of rap’s eternal power struggle that launched with Future and Metro Boomin’s March collab album, We Don’t Trust You. On the cover, they look like fleeced assassins in a Johnnie To movie out for revenge after a job that turned out to be a setup."

pitchfork.com/thepitch/a-power-ranking-of-everyone-in-the-drake-kendrick-lamar-every-rapper-ever-battle-royale

Yeah this is an entertaining POV if you don't really get entertained by this beef

Alphonse Pierre needs to be banned from writing anything music related

yo legit everytime i wanna give dude benefit of a doubt he drops a trash ass article which has the sole intention of generating clicks (and he isn't even really even good at doing that either 💀)

bro would be legit homeless if he was apart of the P4K layoffs and I implore y'all to stop giving this nigga an ounce of attention

@op please remove link to that trash ass website

Someone behind him is supporting all this, Condé Nasty?

also of course this no taste having coon hates on testing lmfao. also calling him mr fenty is crazy to begin with but saying it over and over again is desperate and projecting

the testing hate is gross fr

although i do agree overall with the sentiment that this beef is kinda sad and tired

Lmao at Kendrick seeing dr melfi

Rihanna carries Rocky heavly lets be honest

@Vietbrah this is classic?

I cannot get a read on the Weeknd anymore. He’s sort of just a basic pop star now who feels like he could turn into Bruno Mars, but he’s also doing weird stuff like The Idol and involving himself in this mess

okay... i feel this too

Salutes Alphonse

KTT just hates cuz he get paid to do what we do every day, except his opinions aren’t nearly as dog s*** as your average users on here

Schemin Up such a bop

carries him how? carries him into what? nigga dont even do anything aside from get interviewed in magazines, show up in insta posts or raise his son these days

The imbalance is unreal in that couple

whatever you say man

you gotta be sore asf after all that d***riding jesus christ