In the midst of the ongoing clash of hip-hop giants, Kendrick Lamar has unleashed “Euphoria” as a countermove following Drake’s “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
In this latest track, Lamar delivers a barrage of verses addressing the aftermath of his lines on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” igniting diss responses from Drake, J. Cole, and Rick Ross. With a focus squarely on Drake, Lamar kicks off over a mellow beat, proclaiming, “You not a rap artist, you a scam artist with the hopes of being accepted / Tommy Hilfiger stood out, but Fubu had never been your collection. Know you a master manipulator, and habitual liar, too / But don’t tell no lie ’bout me, and I won’t tell truths ’bout you.”
Clocking in at six minutes, “Euphoria” sees Lamar calling out Drake for employing AI to manipulate Tupac Shakur’s vocals on “Taylor Made Freestyle.” Lamar challenges Drake’s integrity with the words, “Somebody had told that you got a ring, on God, I’m ready to double the wage / I rather do that than let a Canadian n—a make Pac turn in his grave.”
Midway through the track, Lamar succinctly states his stance, emphasizing, “This ain’t been ’bout critics, not about gimmicks, not about who the greatest / It’s always been about love and hate, now let me say I’m the biggest hater / I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk /I hate the way that you dress I hate the way you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct.”
Lamar’s response arrives over a month after “Like That,” a song that shook the hip-hop scene with its shots at Drake and J. Cole for their collaboration “First Person Shooter,” where the latter included Lamar in “the big three.” Since then, J. Cole dropped his response track “7 Minute Drill,” only to later retract it from streaming platforms. Meanwhile, Drake countered with “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” the latter getting pulled from social media after Shakur’s estate threatened legal action.
