Kendrick Lamar’s Bad Blood With Drake Ends When Drake Shows Some Love
Drake’s annual OVO Fest surprised many when he welcomed the Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar as a new “king” in hip-hop. Although the two had a falling out earlier in the year, Drake clearly expressed his thoughts on Lamar Monday night, indicating that the two have no hard feelings.
Kendrick Lamar is an American hip-hop artist from California, famous for his critically acclaimed album good kid, m.A.A.d. city. His career began in 2004 when he signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, and in 2012, he signed a joint venture deal with Aftermath and Interscope Records. MTV listed Lamar as No. 1 Hottest MC in the Game. Lamar has also received a total of seven Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Best Rap Song.
“I want to shout out my n***a Kendrick Lamar,” Drake said on stage next to J. Cole, another “king”. “Kendrick was on my album. We went on tour together. That’s one of the hardest n***as alive right there. He’s legendary, so shout out to him. He should be standing right there. There’s a lot of kings in this sh*t, so shout out to Kendrick and shout out to my brother J. Cole.”
Interestingly enough, Drake was careful to give his shout out to Lamar while everyone “had their camera phones out.” It is evident that Drake intended his shout out to go public, most likely an attempt to return things to normal with Lamar.
The tension between the two began with controversial “Control” verse by Kendrick Lamar, to which Drake responded on Future’s Sh!t Remix. For a while, it seemed as though the two would never reconcile. Lamar was later featured on Drake’s Take Care album and Drake on Lamar’s “Poetic Justice.” The two also worked together on A$AP Rocky’s “F**kin’ Problems.”
According to AllHipHop, Kendrick Lamar and Drake have a history of being competitors and corroborators, but the two were never enemies. Drake respects Lamar and sees him as rap royalty, but it is unclear whether he feels the same way about Drake.
Lamar has yet to officially comment, but he will most likely respond in kind to Drake. The two may finally put the past behind them and work even more closely in the future.
