The gloves are officially off in the battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. After surprising rap fans by releasing “Euphoria” without warning on Tuesday morning, Kendrick, 36, has dropped another diss record aimed at Drake in less than a week.

On Friday morning, Kendrick, released “6:16 in LA.,” a single that’s noticeably restrained compared to “Euphoria,” a record that lists all the many ways the Pulitzer-winning rapper “hates” the Canadian-born GRAMMY winner.

Kendrick used “Euphoria” to poke fun at Drake’s legacy as a hip-hop artist and numerous feuds over the years — including his unforgettable beef with rapper Pusha T that led to the reveal that Drake had a son with adult film star Sophie Brussaux, Adonis, now six years old.

In “6:16 in LA,” Kendrick is more malevolent, planting the idea of betrayal in Drake’s head and rapping, “Have you ever thought that OVO was working for me? / Fake bully, I hate bullies / You must be a terrible person. Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it / Can’t Toosie Slide up outta this one / It’s just gon’ resurface.”

Kendrick alleges that a fifth of the people on Drake’s payroll want him “as a casualty,” and goes as far as to claim that “one of them is actually next to you.”

He implies that even media personality DJ Akademiks, arguably one of Drake’s biggest fans, is looking suspicious, rapping, “Yeah, somebody’s lyin’, I could see the vibes on AK’ / Even he lookin’ compromised, let’s peel the layers back / Ain’t no brownie points will be on your chest / Harassin’ and f**kin’ with good people.”

He also references Drake’s affinity for memes, also a point of contention in “Euphoria.”

“You’re playin’ dirty with Zack Bia and Twitter bots / But your reality can’t hide behind Wi-Fi / Your lil’ memes are losing steam, they figured you out,” Kendrick raps on “6:16 in L.A.”

Kendrick says he was having “fun” with the tit-for-tat until Drake put “money in the streets” for dirt against him, which he claims the For All the Dogs rapper “lost money ’cause they came back with no receipts.”

“I’m sorry that I live a boring life / I love peace / But war ready if the world is ready to see you bleed,” he raps.

The lyrics aren’t the only pointed insults against Drake, even the album art and the track’s title are jabs against the “First Person Shooter” rapper. “6:16 in L.A.” not only refers to the time the record was released on the West Coast, it also mimics Drake’s timestamp series from previous releases, including “6PM in New York” from If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late to “8am in Charlotte” from his recent album, For All the Dogs.

The title could also be referencing the date June 16, which happens to be Father’s Day and Tupac Shakur’s birthday. Drake recently got in hot water with the late rapper’s estate after releasing a diss track aimed at Kendrick that appeared to feature an AI-generated version of Tupac’s voice. According to Rolling Stone, Drake removed the song, titled “Taylor Made Freestyle,” under threat of legal action from Tupac’s estate.

The art for “6:16 in L.A.” is a simple photo of a glove, which features the Maybach logo. This could be a reference to Rick Ross, founder of the rap label Maybach Music Group and another rapper who recently tangled with Drake with his diss track, “Champagne Moments.”

The glove could also be a reference to Michael Jackson, whom both Drake and Kendrick have mentioned in their respective diss tracks against one another, and was known for sporting a single glove.

In March, Kendrick featured on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” a song released as part of the pair’s new collaborative album, We Don’t Trust You.

Kendrick took a direct shot at Drake, comparing the “One Dance” rapper to Jackson and himself to Prince. “What? I’m really like that / And your best work is a light pack / N—-, Prince outlived Mike Jack’ / N—-, bum,” Kendrick raps. “‘Fore all your dogs gettin’ buried / That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see Pet Sematary.”

The late King of Pop returns in Kendrick’s latest, in which he raps to Drake, “Before you figure that you’re not alone / Ask what Mike would do.”

While Kendrick’s release of “6:16 in L.A.” came as a surprise to many fans, it probably shouldn’t have. In “Euphoria,” the rapper mentioned that he liked Drake’s 2015 diss track aimed at Meek Mill, “Back to Back,” itself a back-to-back diss. Kendrick vowed to “get back to that, for the record,” and did exactly that three days later.

The six-minute diss track Kendrick released on Tuesday and his Friday follow-up is the latest offerings in a month-long rap beef that seemingly pits Drake against several industry heavy hitters.

The rapper has been in a lyrical war over the past month, catching heat from Kendrick, Future, Metro Boomin, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd and Rick Ross.

While it all began with Drake and J. Cole’s October 2023 release of “First Person Shooter” — in which Cole called him, Drake and Kendrick the “Big 3” of rap — Kendrick’s response in “Like That” is what seemingly ignited the lyrical war against Drake.

The track was followed by the release of We Don’t Trust You, which features appearances from The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky, and even Cole himself.

The Weeknd seemingly takes a shot at Drake on the track “All to Myself,” in which he sings: “They could never diss my brothers, baby/When they got leaks in they operation/I thank God that I never signed my life away.”

On the song “Show of Hands,” A$AP seemingly hits back at Drake after the OVO label founder seemingly took a dig at the father of two and his lady love, Rihanna, whom Drake dated on and off between 2009 and 2018.

“Call up Pluto, Metro, should’ve put me on the first one / N****s swear they b**ch the baddest, I just bagged the worst one/ N****s in they feelings over women, what, you hurt or somethin’? / I smash before you birthed, son, Flacko hit it first, son,” A$AP raps.

Drake got his lick back against his adversaries with his diss track, “Push Ups,” in which he refers to Kendrick as “pipsqueak” and claims the Compton-born rapper wears a “size 7” shoe.

Not surprisingly, the cover art for “Push Ups” is a size 7 shoe sticker.

Drake even names Kendrick’s wife, Whitney, while referencing Whitney Houston’s role in the 1992 film The Bodyguard. He raps that SZA, 21 Savage and Travis Scott hold more weight than Lamar does in the music business.

“Pipsqueak, pipe down/ You ain’t in no big three, SZA got you wiped down/ Travis got you wiped down, Savage got you wiped down/ Like your label, boy, you in the scope right now,” Drake raps.

Drake also jabs at Rick Ross, whom seemingly picked a side when he filmed himself playing “Like That” on social media upon its release.

“Can’t believe he jumpin’ in, this n–a turnin’ fifty/ Every song that made it on the chart, he got from Drizzy,” Drake raps on “Push Ups.”

Ross was quick to respond with his track, “Champagne Moments,” which was also teased on Akademiks’ Twitch stream. On the track, Ross accuses Drake of having “ghostwriters,” claims he got plastic surgery on his nose, and declares that Young Money Entertainment CEO Lil Wayne “gave [Drake] the juice.”

Ross even took to social media to get a rise out of Drake, using the hashtag “#BBLDrizzy” on X (formerly Twitter) and posting an illustration of a nose with the hastag #NOSEJOBPAPI, a reference to Drake’s Instagram handle, champangepapi.

Drake has not responded to Kendrick’s release of “6:16 in L.A.”

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