In 2018, after about a decade of hip-hop dominance, Drake ran into a problem: He got cocky. Really cocky.
He reeled it in a bit during an impromptu concession speech on the Rap Radar podcast in late 2019, when he admitted to losing his rap battle with Pusha T during the previous year. However, Drake played the situation as if it was a light tap on the chin. “I sleep well at night knowing I didn’t get out-barred and I didn’t get doned off by some crazy song,” Drake said.
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Fast forward to 2025, and Drake can’t make the same claims. I used to think “Not Like Us” kept him up at night. I still do. The eerie Mustard production is designed to linger in the air, and the accusatory bars themselves? Please. That man was definitely having night terrors.
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But really, his sleepless nights started with “Euphoria,” which dropped one year ago on April 30th. It was Kendrick Lamar‘s highly anticipated response to Drake, who had been taunting Lamar with diss tracks like “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” With these songs, which included insults like “pipsqueak” and AI “contributions” from Snoop Dogg and the late 2Pac, Drake essentially begged Lamar to respond. Drake even claimed he was going to “push the red button,” a promise that he would end Lamar’s career before the beef even started.
Well, folks — this is why they say be careful what you wish for. “Euphoria” has proven to be the immovable thorn in Drake’s side, and the anchor of the entire beef. It was Lamar’s opportunity to drop the barely-there veil and inform the world of his unrelenting hatred for Drake. From K-Dot’s accurate predictions of the unfolding of the beef to his impact on Drake’s perception of himself, “Euphoria” still stands as the most critical song of the whole pride-driven exchange. So what has the class learned since this moment? One thing is for certain: Drake has a peculiar relationship with defeat.
There were multiple points throughout this battle where Drake could, and likely should, have called it quits. Right after “Euphoria” would have been the perfect chance for Drake to reconsider his future. “We ain’t gotta get personal, this a friendly fade, you should keep it that way,” Lamar rapped partway through the song, presenting Drake with his options. Truly, it was an early olive branch, K-Dot’s way of warning Drizzy of the brouhaha that was to come. Lamar heard the inklings of full-blown beef on “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” and he assessed that he was in a position to take the situation to the highest heights. Instead of sprinting out of the gate with the most incendiary bars he could think of, Lamar gave Drake a chance to bow out early like J. Cole. (We know how that turned out.)
“Euphoria” was Kendrick Lamar’s way of telling Drake to scram like a stray dog, but he still took the time to explain why he wanted Drake to beat feet. K-Dot is “the biggest hater,” and he shouted it from the rooftops through bars like, “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.” Lamar is not a fan of frauds, phonies, or anything of the sort, and with these extremely direct bars, he put Drake squarely in those categories. Lamar overtly expressed his pure disdain for Drake, and he successfully convinced a swath of listeners to see his critiques as valid. From his convenient, chameleonic accents to his underhanded method of dissing his adversaries, Lamar put Drake on front street and placed himself in the position of unmasker and soothsayer.
Content shared from consequence.net.