In a new set of AI photos, Justin Bieber can be seen standing face-to-face with Kendrick Lamar inside the squared circle and fighting him.
There’s the back-to-back effect, and then there’s the unrestrained chaos of dropping long diss tracks, densely loaded with viciously personal power punches, within an hour of each other. On the first weekend in May, Drake commandeered everyone’s Friday night to turn up the heat in his beef with Kendrick Lamar with a three-part reply and accompanying music video—only for Kendrick to hit right back with what may be one of the most scathing diss tracks in rap history.
The low blows thrown during this weekend’s volley of diss songs have changed hip-hop’s rules of engagement forever—and may have shifted both Drake and Kendrick’s legacies in the bargain.
On March 29, Kendrick Lamar declared war, on an album that may be wholly dedicated to dissing Drake. Future and Metro Boomin’s decade-in-the-making new album We Don’t Trust You was already one of the most feverishly anticipated rap releases in some time, and on the song “Like That,” Kendrick delivers on that Christmas Eve energy with a guest verse that may as well be a “Control” sequel. But whereas that name-naming 2013 landmark was ultimately rooted in the spirit of competition, this time the gloves were off and the love was done.
Kendrick sets the tone early, declaring that he’s “choosing violence” and it’s time for an opponent to “prove that he’s a problem.” And though no names are officially named, a reference to Drake’s song “First Person Shooter” and the album it lives on, For All the Dogs, means we have to consider this something more than a subliminal. On “FPS” Drake brags about taking Michael Jackson’s mantle for having the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 songs, going as far as to hit the “Beat It” steps with a sequined glove in the video. Here, Kendrick finally, formally casts himself as direct opposition, ending his verse with a haymaker referencing MJ’s own logtime Cold War enemy: “Prince outlived Mike Jack.”
