Since the start of the rap genre, lyrical feuds have been a staple for the culture. It comes as no surprise Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J Cole, regulars at the top of the rap chart, have fallen into the rap-battle limelight. With all three averaging over 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify, they have landed themselves as hip hop’s biggest stars. Could it all come crashing down because of one verse?

Drake, a Canadian actor-to-musician, has had a skyrocketing career since he came onto the scene in 2006 with his  unique mix of Rap and R&B. This success has crowned him as the most commercially successful hip-hop artist of the 21st century, garnering him multi platinum hits on records like “Hotline Bling,” “Hold On We’re Going Home” and “One Dance.”

Kendrick Lamar is a Compton-born rapper whose riveting lyrics and abstract point of view led him to become the first hip-hop artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for music in 2018. Through his music, he discusses topics such as police brutality, the struggle of African Americans, and his own internal struggles and battles. 

Cole was born in Germany but was raised in North Carolina. Cole was mentored by Jay-Z at the start of his career. Through his teaching he was able to grow quickly in the music industry with songs such as Middle Child. Soon, Cole became uninterested in commercial success and the cage that came with it, he began to write his own path and hit on heavier topics. This decision to bring more individuality to his music resulted in a few of his most successful hits like Heavens EP and p u n c h i n’  .t h e . c l o c k.

Recent issues surfaced as a start of bringing the trio together rather than division. In October of last year, Drake released his eighth album For All The Dogs, which featured the artist J. Cole on the track, “First Person Shooter.” In one verse, Cole suggested that he, Kendrick and Drake were the “big three” of the current era of hip-hop: “Love when they argue the hardest MC/ Is it K. Dot [Kendick]? Is it Aubrey [Drake]? Or me?/ We the big three, like we started a league.” 

The song premiered at the top of the US single’s chart, becoming Cole’s first number-one-song and Drake’s 13th. This milestone meant that Drake tied with Micheal Jackson for the most number one singles by a male solo artist. About a week later, Taylor Swift passed them at number one with Cruel Summer. At the beginning of the month, producer Metro Boomin’ and rapper Future released a collaborative album titled, “We Don’t Trust You.” Within the track list was a song called “Like That” with an uncredited verse by Kendrick Lamar. Within his verse, he took a hit at Drake, stating “big three- it’s just big me”. Lamar continued, calling Drake and Cole’s best verses insignificant, “a light pack,” and declared he was the “Prince to Drake’s Michel Jackson.” Not only did the verse have a significant impact on social media, but Metro Boomin’ is a former Drake collaborator. 

After, Drake addressed Kendrick’s verse during a Florida Concert: “ A lot of people ask me how I’m feeling/ “I’ma let you know how I’m feeling. I got my [expletive] head up high, my back straight, I’m 10 [expletive] toes down in Florida and anywhere else I go. And I know that no matter what, it’s not a [person] on this What’s Kendrick Lamar’s beef with Drake and J Cole? Earth that could ever [expletive] with me in my life!”

Two weeks later, J. Cole added his own fuel to the fire with a track called 7 minute Drill.

“I got a phone call, they say that somebody dissing / You want some attention, it come with extensions,” he rapped. “He still doing shows but fell off like The Simpsons.” Two weeks after the release of the song, J. Cole told an audience at the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina that he caved into the pressure to respond to Kendrick. Vowing to “take it on the chin” if Kendrick was to respond. Most thought this was a mature approach. Following this the drama seemed to die down in the public eye.