When Kendrick Lamar hits the stage for his Super Bowl halftime performance, his archenemy Drake will be doing the tootsie slide more than 9,000 miles away.
The “Hotline Bling” rapper, 38, got the hell out of Dodge and headed to Australia just in time to avoid Lamar’s performance, which will likely include the West Coast rapper’s Grammy-winning diss track “Not Like Us” on football’s biggest day.
Drake will be in his feelings onstage at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday, Feb. 9, while over 100 million people wait to hopefully hear Lamar drop the iconic line “Hey Drake, I heard you like ’em young.”
Drake revealed his return to Australia in November, confirming he was taking his “Anita Max Win Tour” Down Under for the first time since 2017.
“February 9th for anybody that’s watching from Australia, I’m coming back to Australia for the first time in eight years. Coming back to Australia on tour. Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast… February 9 ’til like… March something,” he shared two months after Lamar was announced as the Super Bowl LIX halftime performer.
Lamar is riding high, hitting the biggest stage this weekend after sweeping the Grammys last week, winning five gramophones for “Not Like Us,” the same track that humiliated Drake and torpedoed his reputation.
Drake and Lamar’s feud goes way back (explained in depth here). During March and May, the rappers exchanged blows with diss tracks that included Lamar accusing Drake of being a deadbeat dad and a “certified pedophile,” among other allegations.
Drake denied the accusations and filed a petition in November alleging his record label UMG and Spotify conspired to inflate streams of “Not Like Us,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and broke records on the Billboard rap charts.
In January, he sued UMG for defamation and harassment, claiming the company aided in spreading a “false and malicious” narrative about him by releasing and promoting “Not Like Us.”
Many anticipate Lamar will perform the diss track when he hits the stage at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, despite the legal battle.
He kept quiet on his setlist when he was interviewed at the Super Bowl LVIX Pregame & Apple Music Super Bowl LVIX Halftime Show Press Conference on Thursday. However, the hit was played when he walked out on the stage, an indicator he is likely to rap the Drake diss at the Super Bowl.
Days after Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Grammy wins for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Music Video, Drake kicked off his tour in Australia and seemed to respond to his rival’s victory.
“My name is Drake. I started doing music in 2008,” the rapper said during his show on Feb. 4 in a video shared on X.
“I come all the way from Toronto, Canada. The year is now 2025, and no matter what, Drizzy Drake is very much alive and that’s all thanks to you. I love you.”
Drake will continue touring through Australia until March 7, performing several shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane before heading to New Zealand for two concerts in Auckland at Spark Arena on March 15 and 16.