Breaking Down All of Drake’s Shots at Kendrick (and Half the Rap Game)

First, Drake responds directly to Kendrick's threat about “snatchin' chains and burnin’ tattoos” on “Like That” by claiming, “You won't ever take no chain off of us.” Then he pokes fun at Kendrick’s short stature, asking, “How the fuck you big steppin’ with a size 7 men’s on?” (Sidebar: How did Drake find out Kendrick’s shoe size? Did he estimate based on Kendrick’s height? According to research from the Complex Sneakers team, Kendrick’s real shoe size is actually 8.5 or 9.) 

Next, Drake raps, “Extortion baby, whole career you been shook up/’Cause Top told you drop and give me 50 like some push-ups (huhh).” He makes a point to repeat this “drop and give me 50” lyric throughout the song, which pokes fun at a recent Instagram post of Kendrick doing push-ups, while playing into rumors that Dot is stuck in unfavorable record label deals. By rapping “drop and give me 50,” Drake is alluding to the idea of TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith taking 50% of Kendrick's publishing splits and "extorting" him throughout his career. 

Drake goes on to say that Mr. Morales and the Big Steppers “bricked” and that rap fans “make excuses for you because they hate to see me lit.” Then he references Kendrick’s contract again and blasts Dot’s collaborations with pop stars like Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift: “Pull your contract ‘cause we gotta see the split, aye/The way you doing splits, bitch, your pants might rip/You better do that muthafuckin' show inside the bitty/Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty/ Then we need a verse for the Swifties/Top says drop, you better drop and give him 50.” For years, people have been trying to discredit Drake as a rapper by labeling him as a “pop star,” so he's cleverly pointing out that Kendrick isn’t immune from the same criticism. Despite being known as a lyrical rapper, Kendrick has made multiple off-brand pop hits with the likes of Taylor Swift and Maroon 5, possibly at the encouragement of his label.

A few bars later, Drake digs at Kendrick with some Big 3 lyrics, rapping, “Pipsqueak, pipe down/You ain't in no Big 3, SZA got you wiped down/Travis got you wiped down/Savage got you wiped down.” Here, he’s implying that major artists like SZA, Travis Scott, and 21 Savage have been more successful recently and should all be counted in the “Big 3” ahead of Kendrick.  

Drake comes after Kendrick’s financial situation again on the next bar, rapping, “Like your label, boy, you in the scope right now/And you gon' feel the aftermath of what I write down.” The first line is a double entendre about Kendrick being in Drake’s scope now that they're exchanging shots, while also making fun of Dot’s allegedly unfavorable situation with Interscope Records. Then Drake references Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Records, an Interscope-distributed label that Kendrick signed to early in his career, while simultaneously boasting about the effects of his own disses on Dot’s career. 

Two bars later, Drake delivers a sharp response to Kendrick’s “Prince outlived Mike Jack” line by rapping, “Big difference between Mike then and the Mike now [...] What’s a Prince to a King, he a son nigga?” Pointing out that a prince is literally the son of a king might feel obvious, but Prince Jackson is also the name of Michael Jackson’s literal son, which gives the bar extra significance. Drake also claims that he “gets more love in the city that you from, nigga,” arguing that he receives more respect in LA than Kendrick does.

Later in the song, Drake responds to Kendrick’s "Like That" line about him and Cole bringing “three switches” by rapping, “Hugs and kisses, man, don't tell me 'bout no switches/I be rockin' every fuckin' chain I own next visit,” before referencing Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard  (“I be with some bodyguards like Whitney”) in a line that doubles as a namedrop of Kendrick’s wife, Whitney Alford. (Did Drake not learn anything from his Pusha-T beef and the “Virginia Williams” line?!) Then he calls Kendrick a “midget” and falls back on his “I’m richer than you” tactics by bragging: “Numbers-wise, I'm out of here, you not fuckin' creepin' up/Money-wise, I'm out of here, you not fuckin' sneakin' up.”

Drake finishes his jabs at Kendrick by calling “Like That” “weak as fuck” and clarifying that the song didn’t “start the beef with us,” pointing out that “this shit been brewin' in a pot, now I'm heatin' up.” Clearly, the animosity between Dot and Drake has been bubbling for years now.

Drake opens the whole song by rapping, “I could never be nobody number one fan/Your first No. 1 I had to put it in your hand,” which is seemingly a response to Future’s line on “We Don’t Trust You” where he rapped, “You a nigga number one fan, dog/Sneak dissin', I don’t understand, dog/Pillowtalkin,' actin' like a fed, dog.” The second half of the bar is a friendly reminder that Future never had a No. 1 song until Drake helped him top the Hot 100 chart for the first time in 2021 with “Way 2 Sexy.”

Metro Boomin has been at the center of this feud the entire time, but he’s not a rapper, so he can’t air out his grievances with rhymes like Future, Drake, and Kendrick can. Still, it’s hilarious that despite how much Metro has fanned the flames of this war, Drake only gives him one line. It’s very effective and quotable, though, so it will likely be the main line that fans chant if this song is ever played outside: “Metro, shut yo hoe ass up and make some drums, nigga.”

After The Weeknd fired at Drake on “All to Myself,” The Boy comes right back at him, rapping, “I’m a 6 God, I’m the front-runner/Y’all nigga manager was Chubbs lil blunt-runner/Claim the 6 and you boys ain’t even come from it/And when you boys got rich, you had to run from it.” Drake is implying that The Weeknd’s manager (presumably Wassim “Sal” Slaiby) was at one point his best friend Chubbs’ “blunt-runner.” Then Drake calls out The Weeknd by name and says that XO co-founder Amir “Cash” Esmailian wastes all of his money (“Cash blowin' Abel bread out here trickin'/Shot we do for bitches he doing for niggas”) before playing with the chorus of Future’s “Wicked” (“Jets, whips, chains, shit get wicked, wicked, wicked/Spendin' like you tryna fuck, boy you trippin”) to emphasize their poor financial decisions. All of Drake’s references to The Weeknd’s behind-the-scenes XO management team is a major clue that messy Toronto drama and personal issues might be lurking behind this whole beef.  

Drake sounds as surprised as the rest of us that Rick Ross involved himself in this war, rapping, “I might take your latest girl and cuff her like Ricky/Can’t believe he’s jumping in, this nigga turning 50/Every song that made it on the chart he got from Drizzy/Worry 'bout whatever going on with you and—.” The bar about taking “your latest girl” seemingly confirms that Drake did invite Ross’ ex Cristina Mackey to his recent concert. 

The fact that Drake took credit for Ross’ biggest songs while using his own ad-lib against him makes this one of the best shots on the whole track. In fact, it was so potent that Ross has already responded with a track of his own, where he calls Drake a “white boy” and claims that he’s had cosmetic surgery on his nose. The immediate return fire from Ross was surprising, but not as surprising as Drake also taking a shot at…  

Drake raps, “Shoutout to the hooper that be bustin’ out The Griddy/I know why you mad, nigga, I ain’t even trippin/All that little heartbroken Twitter shit for bitches.” Confused? Let’s break it down: “The Griddy” is Ja’s celebration dance, and while Drake doesn’t spell out why the NBA player would be “mad,” it could have something to do with rumors that Ja was dating his ex at one point.

Early in the song, Drake seems to give Travis Scott props by rapping, “Travis got [Kendrick] wiped down,” but fans think the Houston rapper might've still been hit with a stray later in the track when Drake raps, “Rolling Loud stage, y’all were turnt, that was slick as hell.” This seems to be a reference to Future and Metro Boomin’s recent Rolling Loud performance where they played a snippet of “Like That.” Footage from the concert showed Travis hyping up Future and Metro to play the song, and it’s still unclear if he had heard the final version of the song that included a diss from Kendrick, but some people are speculating that Drake is talking about Trav in the very next line when he says, “Shit’ll probably change if your BM starts to kiss and tell.” This line is admittedly a little vague, though, and it could be interpreted as a shot at either Travis or Future. Time will tell.

Drake name-drops J. Cole in the second half of the song when he raps, “I don't care what Cole think, that Dot shit was weak as fuck/‘Champagne trippin', he is not fuckin' easin' up’/Nigga called up 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.” Drake’s bar about how he “don’t care what Cole think/ that Dot shit was weak as fuck” is a reference to Cole’s speech at Dreamville Fest where he apologized to Kendrick and described “Like That” as a “bazooka.” And there's speculation that with the rest of these bars, Drake is revealing that Cole called Top Dawg in an effort to squash the entire beef.

Drake closes the song by spraying at everybody. First, he acknowledges that Metro and Future “done rolled deep to this” before boasting that “it's not fuckin' deep enough.” Then he name-drops Kai Cenat (“Beggin' Kai Cenat when you not fuckin' beatin' us”) as a way to reveal that some of his foes tried reaching out to the streamer in an attempt to bring more attention to their Drake disses.

Finally, Drake ends the track with an ominous hint that this whole song is just a warning shot: “This ain’t even everything I know, don’t wake the demon up/Drop and give me 50 all you fuck niggas teamin’ up.” Four minutes into its runtime, here’s a short beat switch at the end of the song, which feels like Drake’s way of teasing that he has a whole other track ready to go whenever someone responds next.

While it wasn’t “nuclear” like Joe Budden described, Drake still manages to take solid shots at nearly every rapper who has said something slick about him in the last two weeks. It’s impressive that Drake was able to address all of his foes while still making the song feel fluid, especially when going up against a long list of elite artists like Kendrick Lamar, Future, Rick Ross, and The Weeknd. I can’t lie though—Kendrick Lamar feels bulletproof. J. Cole already apologized, and all that Drake could use against Kendrick was that he’s short, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers was mid, and he has questionable business practices. None of these jabs feel damaging to Kendrick’s place in the rap hierarchy, and bars like this might not be enough when you’re going against a guy who won a Pulitzer but still does prison workouts in his front yard. Name-dropping Kendrick’s wife was a questionable move that will likely elicit some type of response from Dot, but it sounds like Drake is ready for whatever smoke might be coming his way. If this is just a warning shot like he alluded to, things might get a lot more serious (from both sides) in the next round. Drake has answered the opening shots, and it's now anyone's game to win this brawl.