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Music · The beef, settled · Take No. 037

Drake or Kendrick?

The biggest streaming artist of the era against the most decorated rapper of it, and in 2024 they went to war on record. The charts picked a winner. Did they get it right?

The case for each side, then the verdict. Then the floor is yours.
The case for

Kendrick Lamar

Compton · 2011–

  • PulitzerThe only rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, for DAMN. in 2018.
  • 5Grammys for 'Not Like Us' in one night, including Record and Song of the Year. The diss track won the awards.
  • 2025Super Bowl halftime, solo, the first rapper to headline it alone. Played the diss to 130 million people.
vs
The case for

Drake

Toronto · 2009–

  • No. 1Most-streamed artist in Spotify history, and the most Billboard Hot 100 entries of anyone, ever.
  • 15Years at the top without a flop album. Nobody has stayed this relevant this long in rap.
  • SoundHalf of modern pop-rap, from melody to mood, is a copy of what he built.

Cast your take

——
The verdict

It's Kendrick. Drake owns the charts; Kendrick owns the moment, and the pen.

Drake's case is the numbers and they're staggering: the most-streamed artist in history, the longest run of hits in rap, and a sound most of the genre borrowed. Being that popular for that long is its own kind of greatness.

But the question is who's better, and Kendrick wins on every axis a rapper is judged by: writing, albums, live performance, and the one head-to-head the two actually fought, which he won so completely it got him a Super Bowl. Kendrick.

Disagree? That's what the buttons are for.

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