Has Drake Reopened The Kendrick Diss Battle?

Despite losing his rap battle against Kendrick Lamar (at least when it comes to the charts), Drake looks like he’s back to his shade-throwing ways. 

• The Most Notable Lines In The Drake Vs Kendrick Diss Track Saga

Dropping a whopping 100 gigabytes of unreleased content on socials and his website on August 6, Drake included three new songs for fans to enjoy.

But only one of those songs have caught the eye of the public. 

It’s Up, which features Young Thug and 21 Savage, seemingly disses Lamar in a few lines. The song at face value looks like a generic clapback at all of Drake’s haters, including “I don’t care ‘bout my opps”. But some fans are theorising that 21 Savage’s verse goes a bit deeper than that. 

“Made a couple songs, think he hot now / Hit his ass up, he think he Pac now.”

“I move to L.A., I’m a Clipper.”

Reactions to the song flooded social media, with fans of Lamar, Drake, and 21 Savage reigniting the battle. 

21 throwing shots at Kendrick lesgoooo

— 🎀 (@lilyassheis) August 7, 2024

Nobody's tripping over this music. 21 Savage has the most interesting performance. Drake is doing what Kendrick predicted. The truth is Drake will never win against Kdot 1 on 1. That ship has sailed. Wish them both the best in the future.

— dawn harden (@dawnharden1) August 7, 2024

Kendrick said “You run to Atlanta when you need a check balance” and Drake drops three songs with Atlanta artists on 😂 read the room man

— one stone. (@_lrmusic) August 7, 2024

Some, however, didn’t believe the song even referenced Lamar.

Unless 21 mentally stunted there’s no way that bar can apply to Kendrick

— Dwayne (@GL4Slum4s) August 7, 2024

Why in the world would 21 diss Kendrick ppl crazy

— KB (@Pvymeingold) August 8, 2024

21 Savage’s manager, Justin “Meezy” Williams apparently agrees. According to DJ Akademiks, Meezy confirmed that It’s Up does not throw shade at Kendrick. 

Speaking on a livestream, Akademiks said, “I talked to 21’s people. 21 is not dissing Kendrick. That is not at Kendrick Lamar at all... [Meezy] said, ‘That is definitely no shot at Kendrick.’ He literally said, ‘That s**t would make no sense ’cause Kendrick got more than one hit or whatever.’”

The release of It’s Up comes after Lamar’s epic Pop Out show in LA in June, where he added a brutal verse to Not Like Us: “Give me Tupac’s ring back, and I might give you a little respect,” referencing one of Drake’s notable purchases, Tupac’s iconic ring, bought at auction last year.

Sotheby’s auction house called the sale “the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold at auction”, going above and beyond the projected estimate of selling at up to $300,000. Drake bought the ring for over $1 million.

In addition to the extra line added to Euphoria, Lamar performed Not Like Us - his most vicious diss against Drake - a whopping five times, to the ecstatic response of the audience.