Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud explained as rapper performs 'certified p**dophile' song at Super Bowl halftime show
Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' stole the show during his halftime show at the Super Bowl on Sunday (9 February).
The savage diss track is of course aimed at Drake, and pretty much concluded Kendrick's win in the most historic rap beef since Tupac and Biggie.
Although the feud may have come as a shock for some, it has been brewing for a long time.
On the night, however, Kendrick left out the most controversial lyric from 'Not Like Us'.
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Kendrick and Drake worked together twice (2011-2012)
The pair had a lot of respect for each other back in the day when Kendrick featured on 'Buried Alive Interlude' from Drake's 2011 classic Take Care.
Drake also appeared on Lamar's 2012 track 'Poetic Justice' in good kid, M.A.A.d city, arguably both of their greatest ever albums.
The 'Control' diss track and the start of their rivalry (2013)
Kendrick flipped a switch in 2013 when he featured on Big Sean's 'Control' and promised to destroy anyone in his path to the top, including Drake.
The Canadian rapper responded dismissively, and the pair began sneak dissing in various tracks.
For those unaware, sneak dissing is when one artist disses another without actually naming them.
Sneak dissing (2013-2023)
Subtable digs were included in Drake's 'The Language' in 2013, and then by Kendrick in his BET Hip Hop Awards cypher.
They never named each other publicly, but fans have been reading between the lines for years.
From the outside, it seems Kendrick believes that Drake is a 'culture vulture', while Drake has accused his LA counterpart of not being the man he 'pretends' to be.
Public diss tracks (2024)
March 2024 was the month that changed hip hop forever when Kendrick featured on Future and Metro Boomin's 'Like That', directly challenging Drake.
Following a series of back-and-forth tracks, the audience was pretty much split on who was winning.
But when Drake thought his 'Family Matters' track would be the nail in the coffin for Kendrick, he dropped two back-to-back diss tracks in response.
This included 'Not Like Us', a scathing track accusing Drake of being a 'certified p**dophile'.
"Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any b**ch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him / They tell me Chubbs the only one that get your hand-me-downs / And Party at the party playin' with his nose now / And Baka got a weird case, why is he around? / Certified Lover Boy? Certified (missed out 'p**dophiles' lyric)," Kendrick rapped.
Drake has continued to deny the allegations, and responded in 'The Heart Part 6': “I never been with no one underage but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with / Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I’m too respected. If I was f**king young girls, I promise I’d a been arrested / I’m way too famous for this s**t you just suggested.”
Meanwhile, Kendrick continued to perform the track at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, as Samuel L. Jackson presented the rapper on stage.
You can't really blame him after 'Not Like Us' has now achieved over a billion streams on Spotify and has won multiple Grammy awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Legal action
Drake's legal team has filed a defamation lawsuit against his own record label Universal Music Group for releasing 'Not Like Us'.
Without naming Kendrick in the suit, it alleges that the claims in the song were baseless and harmful to his career.
Universal, which has been Drake's record label for over a decade, said: "Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist - let alone Drake - is illogical."
Topics: Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Super Bowl, Music, Celebrity
Anish Vij