Will Drake respond to Kendrick Lamar and J Cole?

Hip-hop has been set alight ever since Kendrick Lamar popped up on a surprise feature of Metro Boomin and Future’s album WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU. His verse on the project was news enough until fans realised his lyrics went in on both Drake and J Cole. Since then, we haven’t slept. But where’s Drake’s response?

“First-person shooter, I hope they came with three... Mother**** the big three, it’s just big me” was what Kendrick said that many believed to be aimed at Drake, instantly setting off fireworks online.

The naming of “First-person shooter” was a direct reference to the song of the same name released by Drake and Cole just four months ago, in which the Canadian rapped about being the best: “not the three, not the two, I’m the U-N-O”.

This came before J Cole’s line on the same topic in which he mentioned Lamar by name: “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”.

Obviously these words from the pair hit a nerve with the Compton artist, who is openly hitting back with full force, arguably for the first time in his career, accusing Drake of “sneak dissing”. Drake and Lamar have had a long-running beef dating back to at least 2013, but it’s never been expressed out in the open like we’ve seen recently.

Back to Kendrick and his verse on the track, entitled Like That, which was interpreted as being a diss aimed at both Drake and J Cole, with the former coming under heavy fire.

What did Kendrick Lamar say about Drake?

While fans debated whether or not the previous lines were aimed at the No Role Modelz rapper, there was no discussion to be had as to whether or not Drake was in K Dot’s firing line: “clickin’ up, but cannot be legit, no 40 Water, tell ‘em..., Prince outlived Mike Jack’, bum ’Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried, That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary.”

The choice of using the number 40 is likely a reference to Drake’s long-term collaborator 40, while the line “’Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried” is a direct reference to Drake’s most recent project, For All The Dogs.

Mentioning Mike Jack (Michael Jackson) and Prince goes a little deeper: Drake regularly compares himself to Jackson while Kendrick is calling himself Prince; the former was more popular and sold more records however the latter is claimed by many to be the better musician - and literally outlived Jackson by a number of years.

What did J Cole say about Kendrick?

The first to respond was not Drake, but Cole, who dropped a surprise album on April 5 entitled Might Delete Later. On it was the song 7 Minute Drill, in which he said Kendrick “fell off like the Simpsons” before calling his first album (GKMC) “a classic”, his second (TPAB) “s***” and that it “put n***** to sleep” while labelling his last project (Mr Morale and The Big Steppers) “tragic”.

People are somewhat surprised at the J Cole beef - that’s not to say we’re unhappy about the new music - and it seems that the North Carolina rapper himself is somewhat reluctant to wade in on Kung Fu Kenny: “Lord, don’t make me have to smoke this n***** ‘cause I f*** with him But push come to shove, on this mic, I will humble him” he wrote in 7 Minute Drill.

Will Drake release a Kendrick Lamar diss track?

Long story short it feels like he has to. Whether or not he wants to be wound up in this whirlwind of the two top rappers alive as they battle it out, the reality is that he’s there and staying silent would undoubtedly be seen as chickening out.

Drake’s a certified hit-maker. With songs such as God’s Plan, One Dance and Hotline Bling, Aubrey certainly knows what buttons to press when it comes to popping up on your mother’s favourite radio station.

Some rumours online point to J Cole’s 7 Minute Drill only lasting 3 minutes 32 seconds, and that it’s Drake who actually has the remainder of the song. It makes sense, given that the pair recently worked together on First Person Shooter, the song that caused Kendrick to take to the mic and go to war.