Super Bowl LIX: Will Kendrick Lamar continue his feud with Drake during the half-time show?

• It’s been a wild start to 2025 with regards to the Kendrick Lamar v Drake feud.
• From defamation lawsuits and clap backs, to GRAMMY Award wins and potentially blasts during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show.
• But how did something that started so innocuous lead to a battle between style vs substance - and can Kendrick perform Not Like Us at the Super Bowl?

Has it been game, set and match for Kendrick Lamar in his long-running feud with Canadian rapper Drake? Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, many fans of the rapper think it is.

When we last visited the feud, Drake had filed a lawsuit against Spotify and Universal Music Group and instead launched a new suit against UMG for defamation, owing to the lyrics Kendrick ‘spat’ in his song ‘Not Like Us’ - considered the final ‘shot’ towards Drake.

But has the damage been done after the 2025 GRAMMY Awards, when Kendrick Lamar swept the ceremony with ‘Not Like Us’ earning five awards - one for each of the categories he was nominated for.

So how did we get from subtle jabs almost a decade ago to what could now be another contentious music battle, and will Kendrick Lamar continue the feud as he performs at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday (February 9 2025) when the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles?

Let’s take a revised look at the feud, including the latest update since we last visited the beef.

Drake vs Kendrick Lamar - a timeline of their feud

2013-2014: Early tensions

Although it wasn’t overt, the rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar began to take shape during this period. In 2013, Kendrick Lamar’s verse on ‘Control’ by Big Sean, in which he called out several rappers, including Drake, was seen as an early public challenge. Lamar’s mention of “King of New York” and his call for fellow rappers to step up their game were interpreted as a challenge to the entire rap industry, including Drake.

One line in particular from the song that was noted as a shot towards Drake was “I’m trying to murder n***** / ‘Effin’ with the flow.”

In interviews, such as the one he conducted with Hot 97 in 2013, Drake acknowledged the challenge, but he downplayed the significance of Lamar’s remarks, choosing not to engage in direct conflict. However, his response to Lamar’s jabs in the years that followed continued to suggest some level of competition.

Kendrick didn’t address the issue head-on, but his “To Pimp a Butterfly” (2015) and interviews around the release hinted at his growing sense of superiority in terms of lyrical ability and authenticity.

2015: The "The Language" and The Subtle Shots

By 2015, tensions had been bubbling beneath the surface. In his mixtape “If You're Reading This It's Too Late,” Drake released the track “The Language,” which many fans speculated was aimed at Kendrick Lamar. Though the track didn’t contain direct disses, its lyrics about “real rap” and being above the competition were seen as part of the ongoing rivalry.

The line "I’m on my worst behaviour, don’t you ever get it f***** up" was interpreted as a response to growing tensions in the rap community, including Lamar’s implied challenges. While not a direct diss, the lyrics contributed to the simmering rivalry.

Kendrick’s entire album “To Pimp a Butterfly” reflected his belief in the importance of authentic, meaningful rap. Lines like “I’m the closest thing to God, so I can’t be modest” pointed to a larger commentary about his standing in the rap world, placing himself as a more 'real' figure compared to Drake’s perceived commercial success.

His lyrics, while not directly naming Drake, built on the notion that “real rap” is what Lamar embodied.

2018: The BET Cypher and The 'Real Rap' Challenge

The rivalry flared up again in 2018 when Kendrick Lamar appeared in the BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher. In his verse, Lamar subtly called out other rappers, including Drake, for participating in “mumble rap” and not maintaining the authenticity that Lamar himself embodied.

Lamar’s lines "I’m from the South / What’s that about? / It’s true" subtly referenced the perceived lack of lyricism in current rap, and although he didn’t name Drake, many fans believed he was targeting him as part of a broader commentary on authenticity.

This created an open space for public speculation. Drake, while not engaging in a direct back-and-forth, had a clearer stance on the rivalry, as his public interviews and lyrics began to reflect the growing tension.

2023-2024: ‘First Person Shooter,’ ‘Like That’ and ‘Not Like Us’ clapback

In late 2023, Drake’s ‘First Person Shooter’ featuring J. Cole declared himself, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole as “the big three.” Kendrick responded sharply in 2024 on Metro Boomin and Future’s ‘Like That,’ dismissing the claim with the now-infamous line, "Motherf*** the big three, n****, it's just big me." Kendrick’s verse also compared himself to Prince, painting Drake as Michael Jackson—a nod to their respective legacies and rivalries.

Drake struck back in April with ‘Push Ups,’ mocking Kendrick’s height, collaborations, and even his persona, followed by ‘Taylor Made Freestyle.’ The latter used AI-generated voices of West Coast legends, resulting in a cease-and-desist from Tupac Shakur's estate.

Kendrick unleashed ‘Euphoria’ and ‘6:16 in LA,’ attacking Drake’s artistry, image, and team dynamics. The tension escalated with ‘Meet the Grahams,’ where Kendrick targeted Drake's family and alleged personal scandals.

Drake’s ‘Family Matters’ fired accusations about Kendrick’s private life, including sensational claims about his family and collaborators. This led to ‘The Heart Part 6,’ Drake’s direct parody of Kendrick’s ‘The Heart’ series, where he denied rumours and hinted at the feud's manufactured elements.

However, the most significant blow came in 2024 when Kendrick Lamar released ‘Not Like Us,’ which many considered the most direct diss track aimed directly at Drake to date, with lines such as “You ain’t like us / You never will be,” mocking Drake’s image of perfection.

“Not Like Us” quickly went viral, with reports indicating it amassed 96 million streams within its first week of release, reached number one on the US charts, and became a prominent hit on radio stations.

The song itself was considered the feud ‘ender,’ with many claiming that Lamar’s response “bodied” Drake in the process.

Some of the choicest shots aimed at Drake include “Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young [...] Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him,” heavily insinuates inappropriate behaviour and amplifying rumours (just rumours), while Lamar took aim at Drake’s brand, OVO, referring to Chubbs, PartyNextDoor, and Baka and claims of inappropriate behaviour by them too.

But one of the biggest strikes against Drake was Kendrick’s accusation of the Canadian rapper appropriating the Atlanta hip-hop scene for clout, going as far as to rap: “You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars [...] No, you not a colleague, you a f***in' colonizer.”

But that has now led to Drake filing a pre-action petition against Universal Music and Spotify, accusing them of manipulating the track’s streaming numbers through illegal methods such as payola and the use of bots to artificially boost the song's visibility.

2024 - now: GRAMMY success, defamation and Super Bowl LIX

Drake subsequently dropped his pre-action petition against Spotify and Universal Music Group, and instead on January 15 2025 launched a defamation lawsuit against UMG for defamation, stemming from some of the lyrical content in Lamar’s clapback, ‘Not Like Us.’

UMG on their part responded a day later regarding the new lawsuit, calling it “"Not only [...] untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist - let alone Drake - is illogical."

"Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth 'rap battles' to express his feelings about other artists," the label said.

"He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist's creative expression and to seek damages from [Universal] for distributing that artist's music."

But at the end of January, Kendrick Lamar’s diss track became a celebrated song at the 2025 GRAMMY Awards - the song earned five GRAMMY wins including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Kendrick Lamar was also announced as the headline performer at Super Bowl LIX’s halftime show.

But there are doubts if Lamar will be able to perform ‘Not Like Us’ at the halftime show; Kendrick Lamar might face pressure to skip performing it during the Super Bowl halftime show due to the defamation lawsuit filed by Drake, according to Billboard Canada.

However, legal experts believe the case is unlikely to prevent him from doing so, arguing the case is weak, as diss tracks often use exaggerated, hyperbolic language, and listeners typically don't interpret them as factual statements.

Since Drake is a public figure, he faces a high burden of proof, needing to show UMG acted with reckless disregard for the truth and given that both artists have exchanged provocative allegations in their feud, it’s even harder for Drake to prove the lyrics were defamatory.

As a result, Lamar is unlikely to face serious legal barriers in performing the song, but will he stop at just performing the track or has he once final coup de grâce in store?

Find out what bookmakers believe will be the amount of time Taylor Swift appears on screen during Super Bowl LIX in another of our articles, or learn how you can watch the final of the NFL season this weekend on TV.