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Drake Kendrick Beef Timeline: Every Diss Track and Date

The Drake Kendrick beef timeline runs thirteen years, from a guest verse in 2013 to a federal appeals court in 2026. Its centre is a two-week exchange in spring 2024 that produced seven diss tracks and ended with the biggest rap single of the decade. Everything since has played out in courtrooms, at the Super Bowl and on the Billboard 200.

This Drake Kendrick beef timeline sets out every dated event in order, with what was released, when, and what followed. It is updated as the case and the music develop.

Key facts

  • Started: August 2013, Kendrick Lamar’s verse on the Big Sean track Control
  • Main exchange: April 13 to May 5, 2024
  • Diss tracks: four from Drake, four from Kendrick, one from J. Cole that was withdrawn
  • Legal status: Drake’s defamation suit against UMG dismissed October 9, 2025, appeal pending at the Second Circuit
  • Latest: Drake released three albums on May 15, 2026, Kendrick has not answered them

Drake Kendrick beef timeline at a glance

DateEvent
Aug 2013Kendrick names Drake on Control
Oct 6, 2023First Person Shooter and the big three line
Mar 22, 2024Kendrick answers on Like That
Apr 5, 2024J. Cole releases 7 Minute Drill
Apr 7, 2024J. Cole apologises at Dreamville Festival
Apr 13, 2024Push Ups leaks
Apr 19, 2024Drake releases Push Ups and Taylor Made Freestyle
Apr 26, 2024Taylor Made Freestyle pulled after Tupac estate threat
Apr 30, 2024Kendrick releases Euphoria
May 3, 20246:16 in LA, then Family Matters, then Meet the Grahams
May 4, 2024Kendrick releases Not Like Us
May 5, 2024Drake releases The Heart Part 6
Jun 19, 2024The Pop Out concert in Inglewood
Nov 22, 2024Kendrick releases GNX
Nov 2024Drake files legal petitions against UMG and Spotify
Jan 15, 2025Drake files defamation suit against UMG
Feb 2, 2025Not Like Us wins five Grammys
Feb 9, 2025Kendrick headlines Super Bowl LIX halftime
Oct 9, 2025Judge dismisses the lawsuit
Jan 2026Drake appeals to the Second Circuit
May 15, 2026Drake releases ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR
Drake Kendrick beef by the numbers Four stat blocks: thirteen years of conflict, nine diss tracks, five Grammy wins for Not Like Us, and zero Kendrick responses to Drake’s 2026 albums. DRAKE KENDRICK BEEF BY THE NUMBERS 2013 to August 2026 13 Years of conflict 2013 to 2026 9 Diss tracks released in six weeks 5 Grammys Not Like Us, Feb 2025 0 Kendrick replies to the 2026 albums Drake’s defamation suit was dismissed on October 9, 2025. The appeal is pending at the Second Circuit. TSNVWRLD
The Drake and Kendrick Lamar dispute in four numbers.

2013: the Control verse

The Drake Kendrick beef timeline starts here. In August 2013 Kendrick Lamar appeared on the Big Sean track Control and named eleven rappers he intended to outrun, Drake among them. The two had collaborated as recently as 2012 and toured together. The verse did not start a war, but it set the terms both would return to a decade later.

The following ten years produced jabs rather than campaigns: pointed lines on album tracks, interview comments and awards-show subtext, with no direct diss record from either side.

2023: First Person Shooter and the big three

On October 6, 2023 Drake released For All the Dogs. On First Person Shooter, J. Cole framed himself, Drake and Kendrick as the big three of their generation. The line was intended as a compliment. Kendrick treated it as a ranking he had not agreed to.

Drake Kendrick 2024 diss track timeline Timeline of the ten diss tracks released between March 22 and May 5, 2024, with Kendrick Lamar releases above the line and Drake releases below it. DRAKE KENDRICK 2024 DISS TRACK TIMELINE Ten records in six weeks, in release order Kendrick above the line, Drake below J. Cole, withdrawn Like That Mar 22 Apr 5 7 Minute Drill Apr 13 Push Ups Apr 19 Taylor Made Euphoria Apr 30 6:16 in LA May 3 May 3 Family Matters Meet the Grahams May 3 Not Like Us May 4 May 5 The Heart Part 6 Sequence order, not spaced to scale. 6:16 in LA, Family Matters and Meet the Grahams all landed on May 3, 2024. TSNVWRLD
Every diss track of the 2024 exchange in release order, Kendrick above the line, Drake below.

2024: the diss track war

This is the stretch of the Drake Kendrick beef timeline most people mean when they use the phrase: nine records in six weeks, in this order.

1. Like That, March 22, 2024

Kendrick answered on Future and Metro Boomin’s album We Don’t Trust You, rejecting the big three framing outright. The song went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and turned a subtext into an open contest.

2. 7 Minute Drill, April 5, 2024

J. Cole replied on his mixtape Might Delete Later, then withdrew. He apologised to Kendrick on stage at Dreamville Festival on April 7 and had the track removed from streaming services days later, exiting the dispute entirely.

3. Push Ups, leaked April 13, released April 19, 2024

Drake’s first response leaked online before he issued it officially. It went at Kendrick’s contract terms, height and label position, and drew in several other artists.

4. Taylor Made Freestyle, April 19, 2024

Posted to social media the same day, it used AI-generated vocals imitating Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg to goad Kendrick into responding. The Tupac estate threatened legal action and Drake removed it on April 26.

5. Euphoria, April 30, 2024

Six minutes across three beat changes, and the record that set the tone of everything after it. Kendrick moved the argument from competitive standing to authenticity and character.

6. 6:16 in LA, May 3, 2024

Released without warning on Instagram, borrowing the title format of Drake’s own time-stamped series and claiming there were informants inside his camp.

7. Family Matters, May 3, 2024

Drake replied the same evening with a three-part track and a video making a series of personal allegations about Kendrick’s private life.

8. Meet the Grahams, May 3, 2024

Kendrick answered roughly twenty minutes later, structured as a set of letters addressed to members of Drake’s family. The speed of the turnaround suggested it had been finished and held in advance.

9. Not Like Us, May 4, 2024

The decisive record. Produced by DJ Mustard, it worked as a diss and as a club single at the same time, went to number one, and became the most-played song of the entire dispute. The video followed on July 4, 2024.

Drake released The Heart Part 6 on May 5, disputing the allegations. It was his last record of the exchange.

Mid-2024 to 2025: the victory lap

The next phase of the Drake Kendrick beef timeline was not a diss record. On June 19, 2024 Kendrick staged The Pop Out: Ken & Friends in Inglewood, performing Not Like Us five times and bringing out a broad cross-section of the West Coast scene. On November 22 he released GNX without notice. It opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 319,000 equivalent album units.

The following February delivered the two moments that closed the cultural argument. Not Like Us won five awards at the Grammys on February 2, 2025, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. One week later, on February 9, Kendrick headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans with SZA and performed the song to the largest audience of his career.

The lawsuit, step by step

The Drake Kendrick beef timeline moved into court at the end of 2024. In late November Drake filed legal petitions against Universal Music Group and Spotify, alleging the promotion of Not Like Us had been artificially inflated. He then filed a defamation lawsuit against UMG in the Southern District of New York on January 15, 2025, arguing the label knowingly published and pushed false allegations about him.

UMG moved to dismiss on March 17, 2025. On October 9, 2025 Judge Jeannette Vargas granted the motion, ruling that the statements in Not Like Us are nonactionable opinion and that Drake had not pleaded facts making the promotional allegations plausible.

Drake appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in January 2026, arguing the judge relied on material outside the complaint and created what his lawyers called a dangerous categorical rule that rap diss tracks can never be actionable. UMG maintains the track is protected opinion. Drake filed his reply brief on April 17, 2026 and no ruling has been issued.

2026: ICEMAN and where the beef stands

On May 14, 2026 a track titled 1 AM in Albany leaked hours before the fourth episode of Drake ICEMAN rollout. It aims at Kendrick alongside several other names and revisits the 2024 exchange directly. It has not been confirmed as part of any commercial release.

The next day Drake released three albums at once, ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR, 43 songs in total. On the Billboard 200 dated May 30, 2026 they debuted at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 with 463,000, 114,000 and 110,000 units, the first time any act has held all three top positions in the same week.

Kendrick has not released a response. As of August 2026 the Drake Kendrick beef timeline has no new music on his side since GNX, and the dispute is being fought on two fronts only: the appeal in New York, and the charts.

See also our Drake artist hub, our coverage of the ICEMAN trilogy release and the Billboard 200 sweep. Chart data is published by Billboard.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef start?

In August 2013, when Kendrick named Drake among eleven rappers on the Big Sean track Control. The open exchange of diss records did not begin until March 2024, after the big three line on First Person Shooter.

How many diss tracks were there?

Nine in total. Drake released Push Ups, Taylor Made Freestyle, Family Matters and The Heart Part 6. Kendrick released Like That, Euphoria, 6:16 in LA, Meet the Grahams and Not Like Us. J. Cole released 7 Minute Drill and then withdrew it.

Who won the Drake and Kendrick beef?

By every public measure it went to Kendrick. Not Like Us reached number one, won five Grammys in February 2025 including Record of the Year, and was performed at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show. Drake has not conceded and continues to reference the dispute in new music.

What happened to Drake’s lawsuit over Not Like Us?

Judge Jeannette Vargas dismissed it on October 9, 2025, finding the statements in the song are nonactionable opinion. Drake appealed to the Second Circuit in January 2026 and filed his reply brief on April 17, 2026. No ruling has been issued.

Has Kendrick responded to Drake’s 2026 albums?

No. Drake released ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR on May 15, 2026, and a leaked track titled 1 AM in Albany aimed at Kendrick surfaced the day before. Kendrick has not answered publicly.