Kendrick Lamar has finally responded to Drake’s diss, and I have never heard Lamar so violently angry in my life; as a long-time fan of Lamar, I am familiar with his entire discography. The six-minute track was dropped on Tuesday afternoon with no promotion or warning, and if I were Drake, I would be quaking in my boots. Lamar does not pull a single punch, once again proving his lyrical prowess and superiority to Drake in every way imaginable. Lamar switches up the beat three times, changes his flow accordingly, and practically flays Drake alive. Imagine Drake’s every insecurity and flaw is exposed with complex vernacular and complicated rhymes, making Drake’s diss track seem juvenile in comparison. My jaw was on the floor as I listened to the track. There is no question: Lamar won.
Even the title, “euphoria,” is a reference to Drake’s propensity to text underage girls. The title references HBO’s Euphoria, a gritty television show about American teenagers exploring drugs, sex, and relationships. This is the most subtle diss, as Lamar becomes bolder and bolder throughout each verse and makes his stance on Drake clear ‑ Lamar hates that Canadian rapper with every fiber of his being.
The lines “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress / I hate the way that you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct / We hate the b****** you f***, ’cause they confuse themself with real women,” is full of pure vitriol and loathing. Lamar is direct in his hatred for everything that Drake is. Lamar is not being sexist either, as “real women” are adult women, whereas the women that Drake interacts with are reportedly young girls who are underage. In fact, Lamar continues “I believe you don’t like women.” He is grilling Drake for being a misogynist.
The controversy surrounding Drake using AI to replicate the late Tupac’s voice on his diss track about Lamar led to a lawsuit filed by Tupac’s family estate, which Lamar brings up with a sharp wit. “I’d rather do that than let a Canadian n**** make Pac turn in his grave,” Lamar delivers with finesse.
Drake is never beating the deadbeat allegations either; Lamar, a loving husband and father who values his family above all else, reminds everyone that rap is not his entire life as he has a child to raise, and that Drake knows “nothing about that.” While Lamar does everything for his son and is intent on nurturing his child, Drake is not giving his child the same attention. Kendrick raps “I got a son to raise, but I can see you don’t know nothin’ ’bout that / Wakin’ him up, know nothin’ ’bout that / Then tell him to pray, know nothin’ ’bout that / Then givin’ him tools to walk through life like day by day, know nothin’ ’bout that / Teachin’ him morals, integrity, discipline, listen, man, you don’t know nothin’ ’bout that,” with conviction and flair.
The six-minute track is one knife twist after another, a brutal dragging of Drake’s mangled corpse. While these are only a few lines that stood out, the entire track is full of insults, truths, allegations, and genuine hatred. You have to truly hate someone to drop a track on a random Tuesday. Kendrick Lamar is not here to play games, oh no, he’s here to make Drake look like the foolish clown he is.
