The Points Are In: Kendrick Wins

It’s official: Kendrick Lamar has won the diss battle against Drake, coming up top on the Billboard Hot 100.

This week’s Hot 100 finds Lamar’s track Not Like Us debuting at #1 on the Billboard chart with 70.9 million streams. Upon its release ten days ago, Not Like Us became Lamar’s most forward diss on Drake and included straight-out allegations of paedophilia. He rapped:

“Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any bitch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him.”

“Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles.”

“Why you trollin' like a bitch? Ain't you tired? Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor.”

His other diss tracks against Drake also feature prominently on the Billboard Hot 100. Euphoria is at #3 on the chart with 49 million plays, Like That with Future and Metro Boomin’ has gathered 34.2 million streams to hit #6 on the chart, and Meet The Grahams is at #12 with 27.7 million streams.

Drake, meanwhile, took #7 on the chart with Family Matters (38 million streams) and #17 with Push Ups (18.2 million streams).

Fans can continue arguing about who’s won the diss battle, but on the metric of chart positions, Kendrick Lamar has undoubtedly won the war.

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Last week, one of Drake’s security guards was “seriously injured” in a shooting outside the rapper’s Toronto mansion.

Toronto Police Inspector Paul Krawczyk revealed that police had recovered video footage of the shooting from surveillance cameras, and the security guard remains in hospital.

Krawczyk said it was too early to discuss motive when asked if Drake’s feud with Kendrick Lamar had played a part in the incident. However, Krawczyk revealed that there were multiple suspects to investigate after they left the area in a vehicle.

Lamar’s fifth album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, arrived in May 2022, following on from 2017’s DAMN. It absolutely dominated the ARIA Charts upon its release and was followed by a 10th-anniversary edition of Lamar’s debut album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.