There was a point in 2024 when you couldn’t escape the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef.
Open X.
Drake vs Kendrick.
Open Instagram.
Drake vs Kendrick.
TikTok?
Someone was dancing to “Not Like Us”.
YouTube?
Reaction videos. Bar breakdowns. Podcasts. Livestreams.
Group chats?
Forget about it.
For a few weeks, hip-hop felt like the centre of the internet again.
And as someone who loves hip-hop, I enjoyed it. Of course I did.
Two of the biggest rappers of their generation were actually rapping at each other. Not vague Instagram captions. Not interviews where everyone pretends they’re above it. Records.
But now that we’ve had some distance from it, I keep coming back to a question that seems simple:
Who actually won?
The internet will tell you, Kendrick.
Streaming numbers will tell you, Drake.
The cultural impact of “Not Like Us” will definitely tell you, Kendrick.
But I’m not sure that’s the whole story.
In fact, the longer this thing has gone on, the more I think nobody really won.
Hip-hop lost.
Let me explain.
Before They Were Enemies, They Actually Worked Together
It’s easy to forget this now, but Drake and Kendrick weren’t always on opposite sides.
Kendrick appeared on Drake’s Take Care in 2011 with “Buried Alive Interlude”. Drake then brought Kendrick onto his Club Paradise Tour in 2012, and they collaborated again on “Poetic Justice”.
Then came 2013.
Kendrick jumped on Big Sean’s “Control” and called out a generation of rappers by name.
Drake was one of them.
That verse wasn’t really a diss in the way we eventually came to understand this beef. Kendrick was challenging his peers. He basically wanted everybody competing again.
But something changed after “Control”.
The relationship cooled.
Subliminals followed.
Interviews were analysed.
Bars were interpreted.
For years, Drake and Kendrick existed in that strange hip-hop space where everybody knew there was tension, but neither had fully pressed the red button.
Then 2024 happened.
“It’s Just Big Me”
The immediate spark came from Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter”.
The conversation was about the “big three”: Drake, Kendrick and Cole.
Kendrick apparently wasn’t interested in sharing the podium.
He appeared on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” in March 2024 and rejected the whole idea.
That was it.
The internet stopped.
Now we had a real battle.
Drake eventually responded with “Push Ups” and followed with “Taylor Made Freestyle”.
Kendrick came back with “Euphoria”.
Then “6:16 in LA”.
Drake responded with “Family Matters”.
And this is where everything went crazy.
Kendrick responds almost immediately with “Meet the Grahams.”
Then Kendrick drops “Not Like Us”.
Drake eventually answers with “The Heart Part 6”.
Six tracks landed between April 30 and May 5 alone. (Billboard Canada)
You almost needed push notifications to keep up with the beef.
Can We Talk About “Family Matters” for a Second?
I’m going to say something that might get me kicked out of certain corners of the internet.
“Family Matters” was hard.
There.
I said it.
One of the strangest things about what happened after this battle is that people started acting like Drake suddenly couldn’t rap.
Come on.
You can believe Kendrick won the battle and still admit Drake had records.
Those two thoughts can exist at the same time.
That’s actually one of my problems with how we discuss hip-hop now.
Once people pick a side, everything the other person does becomes trash.
If you’re Team Kendrick, Drake apparently hasn’t made a good song in his life.
If you’re Team Drake, Kendrick is suddenly an overrated rapper nobody listens to.
How did we get here?
“Not Like Us” Changed the Battle
Whatever you think about the individual records, “Not Like Us” changed everything.
Kendrick did something incredibly difficult in a rap battle.
He made the diss record the hit record.
That’s dangerous.
Because now people aren’t sitting at home studying the lyrics.
They’re dancing to your defeat.
Clubs are playing it.
Parties are playing it.
TikTok is using it.
Instagram Reels are using it.
Memes are everywhere.
People who don’t follow hip-hop closely know the song.
“Not Like Us” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and generated a massive first-week streaming total. It later returned to No. 1 after the music video dropped. (Billboard Canada)
Then Kendrick performed it at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2025.
The diss track had gone from rap beef to one of the biggest stages in entertainment. (AP News)
From a cultural-impact perspective, it’s hard to argue against Kendrick winning that moment.
But that’s where my digital marketing brain starts interfering with my hip-hop brain.
“Not Like Us” Was Basically a Case Study in Virality
Watching the beef as someone who works in search and digital marketing was fascinating.
The internet didn’t just discuss the battle.
It became part of the battle.
Think about what happened with “Not Like Us”.
The song became music.
Then a meme.
Then a TikTok sound.
Then an Instagram soundtrack.
Then reaction content.
Then YouTube breakdowns.
Then dance videos.
Then news coverage.
Then search demand.
Then more reaction content about the reaction content.
The audience became the distribution network.
That’s what brands spend ridiculous amounts of money trying to manufacture.
Kendrick didn’t just have a successful diss record.
He had a cultural object people wanted to participate in.
Every meme helped distribute it.
Every reaction video helped.
Every argument helped.
Every “Drake lost” post helped.
Even Drake fans arguing that Kendrick hadn’t won helped.
That’s the internet.
Attention doesn’t care whether you’re supporting something or arguing against it.
And once “Not Like Us” reached that level, Drake wasn’t only battling Kendrick anymore.
He was battling the algorithm.
Did Social Media Decide the Winner Before We Finished Listening?
This is where things get complicated for me.
Rap battles used to require a little more patience.
You listened.
Rewound.
Caught something.
Talked about it.
Listened again.
Realised a line meant something completely different.
Now a diss record drops and within approximately seven minutes, your timeline has decided who won.
Reaction channels are live.
People are clipping bars.
Fan accounts are creating memes.
Streaming numbers appear.
Charts appear.
Engagement numbers appear.
Suddenly we’re discussing analytics.
And look, I work in digital marketing.
I love data.
But I don’t know whether I want Google Trends deciding rap battles.
What Actually Determines Who Won a Rap Beef?
This is the question I keep coming back to.
Is it bars?
Is it the better diss records?
Is it public opinion?
Is it cultural impact?
Is it streams?
Sales?
Chart positions?
Memes?
Career success afterwards?
If we’re using numbers, Drake has spent years being one of the most commercially dominant rappers alive.
Does that mean he automatically wins every battle?
Obviously not.
If streaming numbers determine who can rap, we’re going to have to rewrite a lot of hip-hop history.
And that’s why I think the Kendrick-Drake conversation sometimes becomes confused.
There are different scoreboards.
Kendrick can win the battle while Drake remains an enormously successful artist.
Those aren’t contradictions.
Do We Still Dissect Bars?
Maybe I’m showing my age here.
But I miss when part of the fun was actually breaking the records down.
Not just:
“THIS GOT MORE STREAMS.”
Okay.
But what did he say?
What was the double meaning?
What was he responding to?
Was the punchline clever?
Did the rebuttal work?
Did he flip something the other rapper said?
Did the record change how you viewed the previous diss?
There was something fun about hip-hop fans being detectives.
A great diss record could take several listens before you caught everything.
Social media has made hip-hop conversation faster.
I’m not convinced it has always made it better.
Sometimes the meme wins before the bar has even had time to breathe.
Which Brings Me Back to Jay-Z and Nas
Maybe this is why I keep comparing the Drake-Kendrick beef with Jay-Z and Nas.
Jay-Z gave us “Takeover”.
Nas responded with “Ether”.
And hip-hop has been arguing about it ever since.
Most people will tell you Nas won.
“Ether” became so culturally powerful that the song’s title basically became slang for destroying someone in a battle.
But let’s zoom out.
Jay-Z’s career didn’t collapse.
He went on to sell records.
Build businesses.
Do enormous deals.
Become president of Def Jam.
And here’s the part that has always made the story hilarious to me:
Nas eventually signed with Def Jam while Jay-Z was president.
So…
Who won?
Nas won the battle?
Jay won the war?
Did they both win?
Did hip-hop win because we got great music?
That’s what makes the conversation interesting.
And notice what isn’t necessary to decide it:
A Spotify screenshot.
I Think Kendrick Won the Battle
If you force me to pick somebody based specifically on the 2024 exchange, I think Kendrick won.
“Not Like Us” became too big culturally to ignore.
He controlled the closing narrative.
He had the record of people associated with the battle.
The song topped charts, dominated conversation and eventually reached the Super Bowl stage. (Billboard Canada)
That’s a win.
But there’s a difference between saying:
“Kendrick won the battle.”
and:
“Drake is finished.”
The second statement has always seemed ridiculous to me.
And we’ve already seen why.
Drake kept releasing music. Kendrick kept making music.
The world continued spinning.
Yet the fan bases seem determined to keep fighting forever.
That’s Why I Think Hip-Hop Lost
This is the part I don’t enjoy.
The battle stopped being Drake vs Kendrick.
It became Drake fans vs Kendrick fans.
And now everything has to be interpreted through that divide.
Drake drops something?
Kendrick fans call it trash before the second verse.
Kendrick releases something?
Drake fans immediately start looking for streaming numbers that prove nobody is listening.
Someone praises Drake?
“OVO bot.”
Someone praises Kendrick?
“Kendrick glazer.”
It’s exhausting.
Even other artists have been dragged into choosing sides, and the effects of the feud have continued well beyond those few weeks in 2024.
The legal fallout around “Not Like Us” extended the battle even further. Drake pursued litigation against Universal Music Group over the song; the case was later dismissed, and he appealed that decision.
At some point, you start wondering what exactly we’re protecting.
These are two grown men who don’t know us.
I can listen to Kendrick today and Drake tomorrow.
Nothing happens.
The hip-hop police do not arrive at my house.
Maybe We Need to Learn How to Be Fans Again
I think fandom has changed.
Social media encourages us to turn artists into teams.
You don’t just enjoy someone’s music.
You defend them.
Their streams become our streams.
Their chart position becomes our victory.
Their enemy becomes our enemy.
It starts looking less like music fandom and more like football.
And trust me, as a football fan, I already have enough of that in my life.
Hip-hop doesn’t need to work like that.
I can think Kendrick is one of the greatest rappers of his generation.
I can also think Drake has had an incredible career.
I can think “Euphoria” is brilliant.
I can think “Family Matters” is hard.
I can believe Kendrick won the battle without pretending Drake suddenly forgot how to make music.
And I can listen to Jay-Z while admitting Nas made “Ether”.
That’s what being a fan of the culture should allow.
So, Drake vs Kendrick Lamar: Who Won?
If we’re scoring the actual 2024 battle?
Kendrick Lamar.
If we’re scoring streams and commercial success across their careers?
That’s a completely different conversation.
If we’re scoring bars?
Now we can actually have some fun.
If we’re asking, whose career will ultimately be greater?
Ask me again when both careers are finished.
But if we’re asking what happened to hip-hop afterwards?
That’s where my answer changes.
We got great records.
We got an incredible cultural moment.
We watched two elite rappers compete at the highest level.
For a brief period, everybody was talking about hip-hop.
That part was beautiful.
Then we turned it into tribes.
And now some fans can’t enjoy one artist without trying to tear down the other.
So maybe Kendrick won the battle.
Maybe Drake will have the last laugh.
Maybe we’ll still be debating it twenty years from now, just like Jay-Z and Nas.
But when enjoying music becomes less important than proving that the other side lost, I’m not sure anybody wins.
Kendrick won the battle.
The algorithms won the attention.
And somewhere along the way, hip-hop lost a little bit of the fun.
That’s my answer.
What’s yours?
