Celebrities take sides in Drake, Kendrick Lamar feud

Drake and Kendrick Lamar are riding their famous feud to the top of the Billboard 100 chart this week.

The beef between the rap icons dates back to 2013, when Lamar called out the Canadian rapper—real name Aubrey Drake Graham—while featuring on Big Sean’s track “Control.” However, the feud has escalated in recent weeks, with the pair trading several diss tracks.

Lamar’s “Not Like Us” debuted at number one on Monday with over 70 million streams. The song calls Drake a liar, along with accusing the 37-year-old of liking underage girls. The tune was in response to Drake’s latest diss track “Family Matters,” released earlier this month, which currently sits at number 7.

Drake mocks Lamar’s 2-year-old son in the song, along with accusing the Grammy winner of abusing his wife, Whitney Alford. Other diss tracks the duo have thrown at one another since April include Lamar’s “6:16 in LA” and “Meet the Grahams,” as well as Drake’s “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.”

Fans have been taking sides in the dispute, but a number of music icons have also weighed in on the rivalry.

Rick Ross

The rapper and record executive became embroiled in the feud after releasing “Champagne Moments” in April. Targeting Drake, the diss track referenced rumors that the singer has had cosmetic surgery, dubbing him “BBL Drizzy.” “BBL” stands for “Brazilian butt lift,” where a doctor transfers fat from other parts of the body to create a larger behind.

Ross also claimed to be richer than Drake on the track, rapping: “I got more money than you.” Drake has yet to respond to the tune.

In a video shared to Instagram on April 30, Ross warned Drake not to respond to Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”

“White boy, white boy, white boy,” the 48-year-old began, referencing the rapper’s mixed heritage. “I know we not friends but let me give you this advice ’cause you ain’t got nobody ’round you[…]

“Stop. Don’t respond, don’t respond. Don’t do it.”

Rick Ross tells Drake not to respond to Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘EUPHORIA’

“Don’t do it. Don’t go write an 8 minute verse… Crodie” pic.twitter.com/k6pUvqzFs1

— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) April 30, 2024

21 Savage

21 Savage—real name Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph—collaborated with Drake on the 2022 album, Her Loss, and the It’s All a Blur tour, which ran from July 2023 to April 2024.

However, the British-born rapper has remained neutral in the battle between Drake and Lamar. In an Instagram Live session on May 12, the 31-year-old asked fans to stop asking his thoughts on the rivalry.

“Don’t keep coming on to my m************ Live talking about no m************ beef,” Abraham-Joseph told followers, calling Drake “his brother.”

“[They] are going to figure that s**t out eventually,” he added.

Ice Cube

The hip-hop veteran weighed in on the feud on May 9, telling Drake and Lamar to be “careful that a beef doesn’t turn into a murder.”

“Back in the day, you do a diss record, but it would stay kinda somewhat in the hip-hop community,” the 54-year-old said. “Now, it’s all over the world. All walks of life know what’s going on and you know, some people can’t really take that kind of humiliation.”

The “You Can Do it” rapper’s comments followed an incident outside Drake’s Toronto home on May 7. An unknown attacker shot the singer’s security guard, who was rushed to hospital with serious injuries. The next day, cops caught an intruder attempting to break into property.

Boosie Badazz

Boosie Badazz echoed Ice Cube’s comments. In a post to X, formerly Twitter on April 12, the “Set if Off” rapper said: “Everybody gassing up rap beef SMH. All excited, saying this hip-hop! Well, everyone in the crew not gon’ see it that way and when it pop ‘it really goes down.”

Questlove

Ahmir K. Thompson—aka Questlove—blasted the feud between Drake and Lamar. The Roots frontman slammed the rappers on Instagram on May 9, sharing a statement that read: “Nobody won the war.”

“This wasn’t about skill,” the 53-year-old wrote.” This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary — women & children (& actual facts) be damned.”

Pusha T

Drake’s rivalry with Pusha T—real name Terrence Thornton—actually predates his beef with Lamar. The rappers first butted heads in 2012, when Thornton appeared to slam Lil Wayne and stars associated with Cash Money Records—including Drake.

The duo have called each other out through multiple diss tracks. This includes Thornton’s 2018 song “The Story of Adidon,” in which he accused Drake of secretly fathering a child with former glamour model Sophie Brussaux. Drake later confirmed the rumor.

In April, Thornton weighed in on the feud between Drake and Lamar.

The 47-year-old responded to a post on X, formerly Twitter, that read: “I just wanted to point out that after all these years of mob talk from Drake, nobody ever laid a finger on @PUSHA_T.”

“Not a pinky nail…” Thorton commented, along with a laughing emoji.

Cam’ron and Ma$e

If anyone knows about feuds, it’s Cam’ron and Ma$e. The rappers were involved in their own decades-long spat, but now host the It is What it is podcast together.

The duo recently discussed the quarrel between Drake and Lamar several times on the show. Initially, the emcees suggested Drake was the front runner. However, they’ve since declared Lamar the winner following Drake’s diss track “The Heart Part 6.”

Released on May 7, the tune was Drake’s response to Lamar’s “Meet the Grahams.” Reacting to the tune on It is What it is, Killa Cam said: “I don’t like what Drake dropped last night, because…It wasn’t bad, but I don’t like the way it ended.

“He seemed like he [was] like, ‘This the last one I’m doing.’ You can’t end it when you just want to end it. He like, ‘Yo man, I’m tired of doing this.'”

Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder recently criticized the beef between Drake and Lamar, labeling it a “distraction” from more pressing global issues.

The 74-year-old singer and activist said “any kind of war is bad for the world,” suggesting that the energy and attention devoted to the feud could be better spent addressing real-world problems.