The Kendrick Lamar VS Drake diss track involves more and more big names in the US rap scene afterwards J. Cole also Kanye West and Rick Ross. It's full Civil War.

Someone must have told Drake about Salmo's comment on the times of American diss tracks because he finally decided to respond to Kendrick, not with one but two diss tracks, also inconveniencing Tupac and Snoop Dogg for the occasion.

So yes, it would seem that after a period of stalemate, the earth has started to shake again due to this civil war between the big names in American rap. Kendrick, Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, J. Cole, Drake and now also Kanye West… Are you not understanding anything anymore?

Here's a recap of the most followed diss track of the moment: Kendrick vs Drake's Rap Civil War

March 22 - The beginning: Kendrick Lamar disss Drake and J. Cole

It all begins on that quiet Friday of March 22nd. Future and Metro Boomin's joint album We Don't Trust You is released and everyone starts listening to the hits contained in it, but the public's attention is captured by track n.6 Like That feat. Kendrick Lamar.

It is Kendrick Lamar himself, in his latest bars, who unloads a machine-gun attack on Drake and J. Cole, accusing them of having made an inappropriate dissing in the track First Person Shooter, contained in Drake's album For All The Dogs (October 2023), and re-establishing the hierarchy of the big three, a podium that J. Cole had tried to put himself on top of as the GOAT, comparing himself to Muhammed Ali.

“Love when they argue the hardest MC
Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?
We the big three like we started a league,
but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali
Huh, yeah, yeah, huh-huh, yeah, Muhammad Ali"
- J.Cole in First Person Shooter

“Ah, yeah, huh, yeah, get up with me
Fuck sneak dissin', first person shooter
I hope they came with three switches
I crash out, like, "Fuck rap," this Melle Mel if I had to
Got two T's with me, I'm snatchin' chains and burnin' tattoos
It's up, lost too many soldiers not to play it safe
If he walks around with that stick, it ain't Andre 3K
Think I won't drop the location? I still got PTSD
Motherfuck the big three, nigga, it's just big me
Nigga, boom, what? I'm really like that
And your best work is a light pack
Nigga, Prince outlive Mike Jack
Nigga, boom, 'fore all your dogs gettin' buried
That's a K with all these nines, he gon' see Pet Sematary
Nigga, boom”
- Kendrick Lamar on Like That

In short, it could be said that K-DOT doesn't bark, but bites and when he does he responds well over the top, in this case, unleashing a real Civil War of American rap to respond to J. Cole's slight "diss" - come to think of it, even Drake could have taken it out on Cole for not being Muhammad Ali.

April 5 - J. Cole releases the surprise mixtape Might Delete Later, which includes the diss track 7 Minutes Drill

All is silent for more than a week. If it's true that we Italians respond suddenly - and it's true, as Salmo also says, he and Luchè churned out 6 pieces in 3 days - Americans must be used to taking their time and responding calmly.

On the night between April 4th and 5th, the first response to Kendrick Lamar comes as a surprise and the first to respond is the author of the "sneak diss" J. Cole, inserting a last track into his fourth mixtape Might Delete Later on fire, 7 Minutes Drill.

7 Minutes Drill - J. Cole's response to Kendrick's diss and retirement, complete with an apology

In the 12th track of the surprise release, the founder of Dreamville records responds to K-DOT's diss without being too subtle.

“It's a cold world, keep the heat under your seat
I got a phone call, they say that somebody dissin'
You want some attention, it come with extensions
My dog ​​like, "Say the word," he on bullshit, he itchin'
Done put in so much work in these streets, he got pension
I told him chill out, how I look havin' henchmen?
If shots get to poppin', I'm the one doin' the clenchin'

I came up in the Ville, so I'm good when it's tension
He still doin' shows, but fell off like The Simpsons
Your first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic
Your second shit put niggas to sleep, but they gassed it
Your third shit was massive and that was your first
I was trailin' right behind and I just now hit mine
Now I'm front of the line with a comfortable lead”
- J. Cole on 7 Minutes Drill

J. Cole doesn't miss an opportunity and in the short outro track, he not only warns Kendrick that if he seeks attention there will be consequences, but he also tries to reiterate his position as leader, dismantling Kendrick's entire career and commenting on it as inconsistent and fluctuating between classic, boring, exaggerated and tragic projects.

There is debate as to which album is intended as “first shit” in Cole's diss track. If on the one hand Kendrick Lamar's first album is Section.80, many think that Cole means Good Kid, MAAD City (2012) as Kendrick's first successful album released with a major label, a classic. Following this reasoning, J. Cole continues by describing Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022) as a tragedy and compounding the matter with an opinion that is difficult to share, namely that To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) is a boring album - even if considered one of the best rap albums ever - and concludes with a reverence to Damn (2017), reminding K-DOT that that was his point of arrival and that now he is, mr. Dreamville, leading the scene.

A rather dull response, which seems to be a box cutter taken to a shooting, and which must have given its author a lot to think about after it was published, so much so that, after just two days, J. Cole decided to withdraw the track, announcing the chosen from the stage of his Dreamville Fest and describing it as "lame" (boring) with apologies to Kendrick.

“The last two days I've felt like crap… The world wants to see blood, and I've been behaving in a way that makes me feel bad spiritually. I think Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest rappers to ever touch a microphone."
- J. Cole from the Dreamville Festival stage

A nice retreat, if not a harakiri, which (at least for now) puts J. Cole offside.

April 19 - Drake responds to Kendrick Lamar (finally) and goes rogue-like on everyone

With J. Cole's exit from the games, Kendrick vs Drake remains in the ring, and if K-DOT has been in press silence since the release of Metro Boomin and Future's joint album, Drake instead took his time and finally unleashed, releasing not one, but two diss tracks.

With the first, Push Ups, Drake responds to his ex-protege with a diss track in which he makes fun of him both with fairly cringe and low-level references (like the cover and the reference in the lyrics to the size of his feet...) and with well-placed landmines regarding several issues related to his career. The first is the reference to the fact that, before Kendrick was Kendrick, Drake who was the big star at the time, gave space to Kendrick by including him in his second album Take Care (2011) and taking him with him on tour for the Club Paradise Tour (2012).

“I could never be nobody number-one fan
Your first number one, I had to put it in your hand
You pussies can't get booked outside America for nan'
I'm out in Tokyo because I'm big in Japan
I'm the hitmaker y'all depend on
Backstage in my city, it was friendzone
You won't ever take no chain off of us
How the fuck you big steppin' with a size-seven men's on?
This the bark with the bite, nigga, what's up?
I know my picture on the wall when y'all cook up”

Drake then turns to Kendrick's deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, where he produced from 2004 to 2021, taunting him about giving TDE 50 percent of all his music revenues and urging him to release his contract, still a secret to this day, to disprove it. He returns to this point several times in the track, continuing to put the knife in the wound with the bar “Top say drop, you better drop and give 'em fifty”.

“Extortion baby, whole career, you've been shocked up
'Cause Top told you, "Drop and give me fifty," like some push-ups, huh
Your last one bricked, you really not on shit
They make excuses for you 'cause they hate to see me lit
Pull your contract 'cause we gotta see the split
The way you doin' splits, bitch, your pants might rip”

Drizzy still has it and also attacks Kendrick's collaborations with pop artists (Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift) which he says are poor. But it would seem only to deny what J. Cole said in 2019 and delete K-DOT from the big three, defining it as now surpassed by SZA, Travis Scott and 21 Savage.

“You better do that motherfuckin' show inside the bity
Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty
Then we need a verse for the Swifties
Top say drop, you better drop and give 'em fifty
Pipsqueak, pipe down
You ain't in no big three, SZA got you wiped down
Travis got you wiped down, Savage got you wiped down
Like your label, boy, you in a scope right now
And you gon' feel the aftermath of what I write down
I'm at the top of the mountain, so you tight now
Just to have this talk with your ass, I had to hike down
Big difference 'tween Mike then and Mike now”

Having finished with Kendrick (almost), immediately afterwards Drake lashes out against all the rappers who have sided with K-DOT in this period, including obviously Metro and Future, but also The Weeknd, guilty of having participated in Metro Boomin's two albums and Future with different feats. and, heartbroken, even against her old bro, Rick Ross.

“What the fuck is this, a twenty-v-one, nigga?
What's a prince to a king? Here I am, nigga
Get more love in the city that you from, nigga
Metro, shut your ho ass up and make some drums, nigga
Yeah, I'm the 6ix God, I'm the frontrunner
Y'all nigga manager was Chubbs lil' blunt runner
Claim the 6ix and you boys ain't even come from it
And when you boys got rich, you had to run from it
Cash blowin' Abel bread, out here trickin' (Out here trickin')
Shit we do for bitches, he doin' for niggas (What the fuck?)
Jets, whips, chains, wicked, wicked, wicked (Wicked, wicked)
Spend it like you tryna fuck, boy, you trippin', boy, you trippin'
Drizzy Chip 'n Dale, probably got your bitch Chanel
I just got 'em done, boy, don't make me have to chip a nail
Rolling Loud stage, y'all were turned, that was slick as hell
Shit'll probably change if your BM start to kiss and tell
Hugs and kisses, man, don't tell me 'bout no switches
I'll be rockin' every fuckin' chain I own next visit, ayy
I be with some bodyguards like Whitney
Top say drop, your little midget ass better fuckin'

Ayy, better drop and give me fifty, ayy
Drop and give me fifty, drop and give me fifty, ayy
Niggas really got me out here talkin' like I'm 50, ayy
Niggas really got me out here rappin' what I'm livin'

I might take your latest girl and cuff her like I'm Ricky
Can't believe he jumpin' in, this nigga turnin' fifty
Every song that made it on the chart, he got from Drizzy
Spend that lil' check you got and stay up out my business
Nigga, shout out to the hooper that be bustin' out the griddy
We know why you mad, nigga, I ain't even trippin'
All that lil' heartbroken Twitter shit for bitches
This for all the top dogs, drop and give me fifty, drop, drop
And that fuckin' song y'all got didn't start the beef with us
This shit been brewin' in a pot, now I'm heatin' up
I don't care what Cole think, that Dot shit was weak as fuck
Champagne trippin', he ain't fuckin' easy up
Nigga callin' Top to see if Top wanna peace it up
"Top, wanna peace it up? Top, wanna peace it up?"
Nah, pussy, now you on your own when you speakin' up
You done rolled deep to this, it's not fuckin' deep enough
Beggin' Kai Cenat, boy, you not fuckin' beatin' us
Numbers-wise, I'm out of here, you not fuckin' creepin' up
Money-wise, I'm out of here, you not fuckin' sneakin' up
Cornball, your show money merch-money fee to us
I'ma let you niggas work it out because I seen enough
This ain't even everything I know, don't wake the demon up
This ain't even everything I know, don't wake the demon up
Drop and give me fifty, all you fuck niggas teamin' up”

Push Ups ends with the promise of Champagne Papi to have more and in fact a few days later…

April 20 - Surprise release of Taylor Made Freestyle, the diss in which Drake annoys Tupac and Snoop Dogg

Drake's pen must have been hot because only a few hours later the Canadian rapper published the second diss Taylor Made Freestyle, in which he even bothers two sacred monsters of the West Coast such as Tupac and Snoop Dogg.

[2Pac (AI)]
“Killuminati
Dons rise again
You can see it in my eyes again

Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior
Engraving your name in some hip-hop history
If you deal with this viciously
You seem a little nervous about all the publicity
Fuck this Canadian lightskin, Dot
We need a no-debated West Coast victory, man
Call him a bitch for me
Talk about him likin' young girls, that's a gift from me
Heard it on the Budden Podcast, it's gotta be true
They told me the spirit of Makaveli is alive
In a nigga under 5'5", so it's gotta be you
I would beef the whole fucking game
It was me and Snoop Dogg, had my fuckin' shirt off in the House of Blues
K, you gotta fuck this nigga girl, he gotta get abused
All that shit 'bout burning tattoos, he is not amused
That's jail talk for real thugs, you gotta be you
Gotta leave this motherfucker broken and bruised before we really lose
You asked for the smoke, now it seem you too busy for the smoke
I won't lie, the people confused
Now you 'bout to give this shit another week?
And fall back to home girl who runnin' numbers up? I woulda refused
Fuck these industry relationships, she not in your shoes
You're supposed to be the boogeyman, go do what you do
Unless this is a moment that you tell us this isn't really you
In that case, there's nothing left to say, I'll just pass it to Snoop”

[Snoop Dogg (AI)]
“Nephew, what the fuck you really 'bout to do?
We passed you the torch at the House of Blues
And now you gotta do some dirty work, you know how to move, right? Right?
I know you never been to jail or wore jumpsuits and shower shoes
Never shot nobody, never stabbed nobody
Never did violent anything to no one, it's the homies that empower you
But still, you gotta show this fuckin' owl who's boss on the West
Now's a time to really make a power move
'Cause right now it's looking like you writin' out the game plan on how to lose
How to bark up the wrong tree and then get your head popped in a crowded room
World is watching this chess game, but are you out of moves?
Dot, you know that the DOG never fuckin' doubted you
But right now it seem like you posted up without a clue
Of what the fuck you 'bout to do”

[Drake]
“Yeah, unc', that's the truth
I'm definitely 'bout to come around the Lang gang and let my fuckin' bowel move
Shittin' on you niggas from a whole different altitude
High up in the sky like I'm Howard Hughes
The first one really only took me an hour or two
The next one is really 'bout to bring out the coward in you
But now we gotta wait a fuckin' week 'cause Taylor Swift is your new Top
And if you 'bout to drop, she gotta approve
This girl really 'bout to make you act like you're not in a feud
She tailor-made your schedule with Ant, you out of the loop
Hate all you corporate industry puppets, I'm not in the mood
I love it when you niggas talk loose like I'm not in the room
Since "Like That," your tone changed a little, you not as enthused
How are you not in the booth? It feel like you kinda removed
You tryna let this shit die down, nah, nah, nah
Not this time, nigga, you followin' through
I guess you need another week to figure out how to improve
What the fuck is taking so long? We waitin' on you
The rest of y'all are definitely involved, y'all gettin' it too
Soon as you get the courage to drop, I'm out on the loose, on the loose

Yeah, shout out to Taylor Swift
Biggest gangster in the music game right now
You know, I moved my album when she dropped, I said that already
You know, she 'bout to milli' run through a Milly Rock on your head top, well
She got the whole pgLang on mute like that Beyoncé challenge, y'all boys quiet for the weekend, like
Dot, I know you're in that NY apartment, you strugglin' ​​right now, I know it
In the notepad doing lyrical gymnastics, my boy
You better have a motherfuckin' quintuple entendre on that shit
Some shit I don't even understand, like
That shit better be crazy, we waitin' on you
Yeah”

Not even to say (but to be safe we ​​say it), the two legends do not really participate in the track but their voices are recreated by Drake with the AI ​​to make fun of his opponent by urging him through their voice to respond as the new rep of the West Coast, also giving him advice on where to strike to become “the savior of the West Coast”. A clever move to anticipate some themes that Kendrick could focus on in the possible diss response to these two blows thrown at him by the "fuckin' owl" and in the outro he directly urges him to respond. What will Kendrick Lamar do?

Meanwhile, someone else didn't wait long and responded in record time. Salmo will be happy about it (we are)...

(back to) April 19 - Rick Ross responds to Drake with Champagne Moments

A few hours after the release of Push Ups, in which Drake said Rick Rossa was among Kendrick's other supporters, the latter released the video clip for Champagne Moments, whose cover depicts a full-Caucasian Drake.

And it is precisely on this, among the many digs, that Rick Rossa criticizes Drizzy, his being a white boy not suitable for this game. For example, with the rhyme in which she accuses him of having had a nose job to make it smaller.

“Fish tanks and marble floors, livin' big and bad
Niggas laugh until they hit with my official jab
Crack smoke is the exhaust from my pen and pad
Ghostwriters, they get to floss what you could've had
Record label takin' a loss, are you in your bag?
You a worker wantin' to chart, don't make me laugh
Get to mine, tell by my watch, this a different time
Livin' fine, I'm gettin' high as your shit decline
Who believes he movin' keys in his Louis V's?
Run up on you and snatch your chain, watch you bitches bleed
Feel the pain or just describe where you really laugh
Either you niggas gettin' money or ready to die
BIG or give a fuck if you Chi-Ali
You got it and you keep it tucked away if you are by me
Do the job, better known as the Charles Schwab
Double R's spread through the yard, and I swear to God

Pop a Perc' for the feel, go and count me a mil'
Kill you niggas for free, do it all for the thrill
Niggas leakin' they records when we speakin' directly
If we keepin' it gangster, when you see me, you check me

White boy, I see you, I see you
Yeah, check

Gettin' bullied, don't walk up on me 'cause the clip is fully
Niggas pussy, don't want to push me, I'm like, "Really, would he?"
Like his moves, but he never had to fight in school
Always ran, another nigga had to write your grooves
Flow is copy-and-paste, Weezy gave you the juice
Another white boy at the park wanna hang with the crew
Pulitzer Prize winner switchin' up like dyed denim
Get incentives for all the killings while we ride rentals
Look me right in my face, he beginnin' to shake
Told you niggas "Stay schemen'," I predicted my fate
"Got more money than you," fuck you want me to say?
Fifty mil' for the crib, where you want me to stay?
I could shoot up the block, I got pictures to paint
Let you DM my ho, but got bitches you can't
Let you get on my songs, it was good for your face
Now, bitch nigga, it's on, ain't no room for debate

Pop a Perc' for the feel, go and count me a mil'
Kill you niggas for free, do it all for the thrill
Niggas leakin' they records when we speakin' directly
If we keepin' it gangster, when you see me, you check me

By the way, I got a lot of respect for a lot of rappers, but I got one guy
He's my favorite person to rap with on any song, his name is Rick Ross
(Maybach Music)
You ain't never want to be a nigga anyway, nigga
That's why you had an operation to make your nose smaller than your father nose, nigga
I unfollowed you, nigga, 'cause you heard the motherfuckin' cease-and-desist to French Montana, nigga
You sent the police, nigga, hated on my dog ​​project
That wasn't the same white boy that I saw, nigga, when we were making them early records, nigga
When you were happy to be 'round niggas, seein' niggas holdin' them sticks, yeah
You owe motherfuckin' Stunna your life, nigga
Give Weezy some more money, nigga
Give Rap-A-Lot some more money, nigga
White boy
Yeah, biggest
It's Rozay, nigga
We can do it how you wanna do it, where you wanna do it, any time you wanna do it, I'm ready
I'm ready, white boy, huh?
I know you got your Dockers on with no underwear, white boy
Yeah, you had that surgery, that six-pack gone
That's why you wearin' that funny shit at your show, you can't hide it, nigga
White boy"

And what does Kanye West have to do with all this dissing?

Many might say that Ye had absolutely nothing to do with it, not questioned and not attacked, but perhaps it is precisely this not being considered that triggered him and when it comes to discussing who is number one, the GOAT, obviously, Kanye West certainly cannot stay and watch.

First in a post on IG, in which Kanye makes his position very clear: “There is only one GOAT: me. It's no coincidence that my friends call me Ye", saying that he had pulverized both Drake and Kendrick Lamar, then on the podcast The Download, lashing out with a remix of Like That and a meme of dubious taste (classic Ye) against poor J Cole, for some the only one to have shown some maturity. A random bar? “Play J. Cole, get the pu**y dry.” Ouch Kanye, ouch…

Now it's up to Kendrick to choose whether and how to respond. Will he do it as the spiritual leader of a generation or West Coast gangsta rap?