The Drake and Kendrick Lamar Rap War Is Full of Style References

From: Kendrick Lamar
Track: "Euphoria"

Before the beat kicks in on "Euphoria," Kendrick Lamar is essentially warning Drake not to take it there with him. One of the bars was used to challenge Drake's Blackness and his struggle for acceptance within hip-hop, something we've seen Rick Ross also lean into heavily for his disses towards Drake. At face value, Kendrick is saying that Drake preferred Tommy Hilfiger over FUBU back in the day. Peeling back the layers a bit reveals the deeper meaning behind why Kendrick may have referenced these brands specifically. Since the '90s, rumors have circulated that Tommy Hilfiger was racist and did not approve of the hip-hop industry's embrace of his brand in '90s and 2000s (the rumors were debunked). On the other hand, FUBU (For Us By Us) was conceived by Black designers to cater directly to the Black community. Kendrick is saying Drake isn't an authentic member of the culture and never has been. 

From: Drake
Track: "Family Matters"

On "Push Ups," Drake rapped that they "got me out here talkin' like I'm 50." For the "Family Matters" visuals, he doubles down on channeling 50 Cent by showing off his legendary G-Unit spinner chain. It makes sense why Drake would want to give a nod to 50 during this beef. The rap legend was notorious for his incredibly personal attacks during his battles with the likes of Ja Rule, The Game, and Rick Ross throughout his career and was always victorious. 50 Cent even co-signed the move by posting the clip from the "Family Matters" video that featured the iconic chain along with a caption that read, "I told you 🥷🏾’s leave him alone, now he spinning on all yall," so there's a chance that 50 loaned him his piece for the video since he appears to be on Team Drake. 

As is the case with many of the bars in these diss tracks, there could be some symbolism with this one. The spinner chain was infamously stolen and it was feared that it would make its way to Ja Rule's camp during their beef in the 2000s. While concrete details surrounding these events have never been confirmed, the chain eventually made its way back to 50 Cent. Drake spinning the chain around his neck could be his way of saying that he will also be able to weather all of the shots Kendrick is throwing his way and still come out on top when all is said and done.

From: Drake
Track: "Family Matters"

He didn't melt them after all (we didn't really think he did, but what a relief). In the video for "Family Matters," the slew of Pharrell's iconic chains that Drake paid around $3 million for and flexed in the "Jumbotron Shit Poppin" video resurfaced. This was Drake's response to Kendrick Lamar's bar in "Euphoria": "I don't like you poppin' shit at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef." When the chains flash on screen in the "Family Matters" video, Drake raps, "You wanna take up for Pharrell? Then come get his legacy out of my house." In case you forgot, Drake really collects these rap relics like Infinity Stones. This was a nice reminder. 

From: Kendrick Lamar and Drake
Track: "Euphoria" and "Family Matters"

Both rappers have shown their affinity for Tupac throughout their careers. The late rapper has also been referenced various times by both Drake and Kendrick throughout their rap war, most notably when Drake used voice altering software to sound like he was Tupac rapping to Kendrick on the since-deleted "Taylor Made Freestyle." After that, Kendrick Lamar brought up a custom ring that formerly belonged to Tupac. Drake purchased it for roughly $1 million at auction in 2023. Frankly, Kendrick seems pretty disgusted that Drake owns it. He'd even pay double just to get it back from him as to not tarnish Tupac's legacy. He rapped, "Somebody had told me that you got a ring, on God, I'm ready to double the wage." Drake gave his rebuttal to the line in the "Family Matters." The ring in question flashes on the screen as he raps about Kendrick allegedly calling Tupac's estate to get "Taylor Made Freestyle" taken off the internet: "You called the Tupac estate and begged 'em to sue me and get that shit down."

From: Drake
Track: "Family Matters"

This one is likely nothing more than some clever wordplay. On "Family Matters," Drake raps, "Two separate albums dissin', I just did a Kim to it, n***a, skim through it." This is a reference to Kim Kardashian's massively successful shapewear brand Skims. This one is actually directed at Metro Boomin and Future's recent albums that sparked this entire beef and not a jab at Kendrick Lamar, but "Like That" lives on We Don't Trust You, so we're going to mention it. 

If you want to dig a little deeper, this could potentially be a way to get under Ye's skin. Some called out how Drake just chose to ignore Ye's "Like That" remix and not serve him up any bars on "Family Matters." It has been long-rumored that a situation with Kardashian was at the root of Ye's disdain for Drake. We could be reaching here, but we've seen some crazy coded messaging from both sides of the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef, so who knows. 

From: Drake
Track: "Family Matters"

Drake wasn't just focusing on Kendrick Lamar on "Family Matters." He also offered up a response to ASAP Rocky's jabs on "Show of Hands." We'll stick to the style-focused lyrics here. The first one is, "I ain't even know you rapped still 'cause they only talkin' 'bout your 'fit again." It's no secret that Rocky is a hip-hop style icon. Drake is implying that Rocky's fashion ventures are all that people care about and his music is an afterthought. He doubles down on this a few bars later with the lyrics, "Even when you do drop, they gon' say you should've modeled 'cause it's mid again." Rocky's project Don't Be Dumb appears to finally be on the way, so only time will tell. 

From: Drake
Track: "Family Matters"

At the end of the "Family Matters" video, Drake can be seen flashing a diamond ring. It's being speculated that the ring is supposed to match the engagement ring that Kendrick Lamar gave his longtime girlfriend Whitney Alford in 2015. They have yet to get married. Drake refers to the relationship between Kendrick and Alford throughout "Family Matters,"  speculating infidelity and domestic abuse as potential causes for the delay. He raps, "Proposed in 2015, but don't wanna make her your actual wife/I'm guessin' this wedding ain't happenin', right?/'Cause we know the girls that you actually like," and ends the track with the line, "They hired a crisis management team to clean up the fact that you beat on your queen." Domestic violence is a serious issue and nothing has been proven as of yet, but the closing bar (and Kendrick's "Meet the Grahams") clearly indicates that we've gotten to a point in this altercation where nothing is off limits.

From: Kendrick Lamar
Track: "Meet the Grahams"

Frankly, this cover is one of the eeriest pieces of this entire beef. We got a tease of this photo when Kendrick Lamar released "6:16 in LA." All we saw at the time was a pair of women's Maybach riding gloves. When Kendrick dropped "Meet the Grahams," the rest of the photo was revealed. The gloves, still new with tags, two pill bottles, some receipts, and a box of Ozempic were arranged on top of a vintage button-up shirt from the brand Arctic. The receipts both indicate purchases from Popular Jewelry, a hot spot shop in New York City. There is also a business card from fine jeweler Nadine Ghosn, who created multiple custom pieces for Drake in 2023 like the diamond-encrusted dog leash featured in the "First Person Shooter" video. The shirt features a dog graphic, which falls in line with the canine references that Drake was making with his wardrobe throughout the promotion of For All the Dogs. The receipts make it likely that whoever took this photo came did so during Drake's stint in New York City for the It's All a Blur tour in July 2023. He paid a visit to Popular Jewelry around that time. According to Akademiks, the items in the photo came from a suitcase stolen from Drake's father, Dennis Graham, but this hasn't been confirmed.