“[Forget] the ‘Big 3,’ it’s just big me.” Those words, rapped by Kendrick Lamar on the 2024 track “Like That,” would ignite a firestorm in hip-hop, forever altering its landscape. Though Kendrick never named names, it was clear, he was taking aim at Drake, who had just teamed up with J. Cole for the hit song “First Person Shooter.” For nearly a decade, Kendrick and Drake had exchanged subtle jabs, each offering thinly veiled references, but this time, Kendrick had drawn a clear line in the sand. The stage was set for a rap battle. Rooted in hip-hop’s beginnings in the Bronx during the early 1970s, battling in graffiti art, breakdancing,and rap allowed neighborhood crews to compete without resorting to violence, testing their linguistic skills and clever wordplay. Rap battles functioned like political debates, where participants would point out each other’s flaws in pointed, often disrespectful ways. Ultimately, the crowd decided who won, and the “loser” would simply move on to make more music. This tradition had already given us legendary showdowns: The Fantastic 5 vs. The Cold Crush Brothers, Roxanne Shante vs. UTFO, KRS-One vs. MC Shan, LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee, Ice Cube vs. N.W.A., and Nas vs. Jay-Z. Rap battles, when done right, is like a sport that serves as a test of skill, credibility, and authenticity. Enter Kendrick Lamar and Drake. In the words of Drake, “Nothing was the same.” After the release of Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “Like That,” hip-hop fans and media went into a frenzy as the potential of a rap battle gave the genre energy. J. Cole would enter and quickly exist the rap battle after releasing the lackluster Kendrick Lamar diss, “7 Minute Drill,” apologizing to Kendrick at his “Dreamville Festival.” J.Cole realized early, some believe following a discussion with TDE’s Schoolboy Q, that he wasn’t the focal point in Kendrick Lamar’s verse on “Like That.” The main event would be Kendrick vs. Drake. On April 19, 2024, Drake struck first at Kendrick with the full-length diss track, “Push Ups,” where he joked about Kendrick’s height and shoe size; and his lack of creative freedom in his record contract with Top Dawg Entertainment. It was a jab that set the rap beef in motion and provoked discussion online over which rapper would be victorious. At the time, Drake appeared to be a favorite by some rap media outlets because he was rap battle tested having defeated Meek Mill in 2015, but losing to Pusha T in 2018. Kendrick took aim at his peers on 2013’s “Control,” but he had never engaged in a prominent one-on-one rap battle. Kendrick’s chances continued to appear uncertain, ever the strategist, he stayed silent for four weeks. Drake released a second diss, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” mocking Kendrick with the help of A.I.-assisted voices of Snoop Dogg and 2 Pac. Drake’s body guard Chubbs even took to social media, taunting Kendrick as “scared to drop.” On April 30, 2024, Kendrick would break his silence with the scathing “Euphoria” diss track that painted Drake as a liar and someone who was not of hip-hop culture. Kendrick also gave a stern warning to Drake to keep the battle “friendly,” and not involve families. On the first Friday of May, Kendrick followed with “6:16 In L.A.” which featured lyrics that hinted at an incident where Drake partied on a yacht where underaged girls were present. Kendrick also claimed that Drake had leaks in his camp that provided confidential information. Drake would respond hours later with the highly-disrespectful “Family Matters,” a song that claimed Kendrick physically abused his fiancée and that his business partner, Dave Free, fathered Kendrick’s son. Within 30 minutes, Kendrick crushed Drake’s momentum by releasing “Meet The Grahams,” a haunting diss track where Kendrick psychoanalyzed Drake by pointing out his insecurities and addictions while speaking directly to his family members. The following day, Kendrick would release the most critically-acclaimed diss track in rap history in “Not Like Us.” The uptempo song takes aim at Drake’s alleged affiliation with young women and his lack of a true connection to Black culture. The DJ Mustard-produced song instantly became the hit of the summer. Kendrick would celebrate his rap victory by hosting “The Pop-Out” concert in Inglewood,California on Juneteenth which featured multiple West Coast artists in show of unity that also featured a peaceful gathering of L.A. gangs on the same stage. The infectious “Not Like Us” broke streaming records and likely played a role in Kendrick being named as the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime performer. At the same time, Drake’s career began spiraling. He released multiple songs post-rap beef, but struggled to gain the chart-topping success that he became accustomed to in prior years. Some media outlets suggested that Drake take a break from releasing music, but he chose to go down fighting, from a legal standpoint. On Nov. 25, three days after Kendrick Lamar released his latest album “GNX,” Drake filed a legal motion against Universal Music Group and Spotify, claiming that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the numbers of Kendrick’s diss record, “Not Like Us.” Drake would eventually drop the legal motion against UMG and Spotify on Jan. 14, 2025, only to file a lawsuit one day later against UMG that claimed the company distributed a song that defamed him in “Not Like Us.” According to the lawsuit, “‘Not Like Us’ was intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.” The lawsuit pointed to an incident in which a bodyguard was shot at his home, but curiously omitted the violent feud with fellow Canadian The Weeknd and his camp, which had escalated around the same time. The lawsuit also pulls several lyrics from Kendrick’s “Not Like Us,” a perplexing move considering that rap lyrics in court became a key issue in Young Thug’s YSL trial in Atlanta, an artist who Drake supports. Drake’s lawyers falsely claim that Kendrick grew up in Oakland and threatened Drake with violence if he returned for a show. But one of the most egregious segments in the lawsuit is the claim that Kendrick is disparaging Drake’s Jewish heritage with the lyric, “You not a colleague, you a colonizer.” In actuality, “Not Like Us” provides a history lesson to Drake who presented a questionable lyric on “Family Matters” when he rapped that Kendrick was rapping like he was “trying to get the slaves freed.” It was another example of Drake being out of touch with Black American culture. On “Not Like Us,” Kendrick schools Drake on the history of Atlanta, starting when it was once known as a railroad town called Terminus. Over the past 30 years, Atlanta has served as the epic center of hip-hop culture as artists have influenced the sounds and styles of popular rap for decades. Kendrick brings attention to Atlanta by suggesting Drake has profited from Atlanta by connecting to its culture for his own gain. But one of Drake’s goals in the lawsuit is to possibly prevent Kendrick from performing “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl. The lawsuit states, “UMG has made significant financial investments and leveraged its professional connections, via sophisticated and highly-organized publicity campaigns, to arrange for the Recording to be performed at one of the most significant (and viewed) cultural events of the year—the Super Bowl.” Drake’s lawsuit will primarily serve his own interests, potentially imposing restrictions on artists’ creative freedom, limiting media monetization in music reactions, and setting a troubling precedent for legal actions in rap battles. In hip-hop, you’re only as good as your credibility. Are you believable and authentic? As a Canadian, Drake has always been viewed as an outsider, but his talent and relationships with proven rappers (Lil Wayne, Future, Young Thug) allowed him to secure a space in rap and become the genre’s biggest star. But it was all an act. The former star of the teen show “Degrassi High” became rap’s best actor, delving into R&B, emo rap, and Trap. His raps became more aggressively violent as he collaborated with artists such as Future and 21 Savage, releasing songs that highlighted street codes when he never experienced that life. Most of his fans were sold lies that he presented in beautiful melodies and engaging rap hooks. Hip-hop’s emperor was void of any clothes and he’s faltering in epic fashion now that his truth has been exposed. Drake played the role, but was never really like the people who built and supports hip-hop culture. The filing of a defamation lawsuit over a rap battle that he decided to engage in, with his own defamatory remarks against Kendrick and his family, proves this point. In a genre that has witnessed multiple notable moments, Drake’s lawsuit stands as the most diabolical. Similar to the FBI informants who infiltrated and undermined the Civil Rights movement, Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party, and the inner-circle of Malcolm X in his final days, Drake infiltrated hip-hop, filed a lawsuit and betrayed the very culture that changed his life.   Read A.R. Shaw’s latest book, “Trap History: Atlanta Culture and the Global Impact of Trap Music.” The post Why Drake Suing Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Is The Most Diabolical Moment In Rap History: A Cultural Breakdown appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.