Kendrick Lamar Drops New Heat—Is He Dissing Drake Again?

Kendrick Lamar decided to drop a new single in the middle of the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday night (September 11). The track arrived via Instagram, just like the Drake diss “6:16 in L.A.” did in May, and is loosely titled “Watch the Party Die.” Over a sparse yet soulful beat, Kendrick does what he does best—raps.

Serving as the first song since his Drake killshot, “Not Like Us,” it seems Kendrick is in album mode and still has some things to get off his chest. There are several lines that could be interpreted as a Drake sub.

“If you parade in gluttony without giving truth to the youth, the graveyard is company/Just tell us what casket to choose,” he raps. “They party more than b######, tell me what are you working for?/They glorify scamming, you get chipped over this credit card.”

He continues, “I feel for the women that deal with the clown and nerd s###/Can’t blame them, today they ain’t really got much to work with/How many b###### harder than a lot of you n#####?/Would trade all of y’all for Nip, I can’t be proud of you n#####.”

Elsewhere, Kendrick bemoans American culture as he yearns for a better future.

“The flashy n#### with nasty decisions using money as a backbone/I want his head cracked before he’s back home/The radio personality pushing propaganda for salary/Let me know when they turn up as a casualty/I want agony
assault and battery/I see a new earth filled with beautiful people making humanity work.”

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“Not Like Us” landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Kendrick Lamar’s second Drake diss to top the chart following Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.”

The track followed “Meet the Grahams,” his response to Drake’s “Family Matters.” K. Dot called Drake a predator on “Meet the Grahams,” equating the Canadian’s alleged misdeeds to those of embattled movie executive Harvey Weinstein then doubled down on “Not Like Us.”

“Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young,” he begins. “You better not ever go to cell block one/To any b#### 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 playing with his nose now/And Baka got a weird case, why is he around?/Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles.

“Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, Dot, f### ’em up/Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, I’ma do my stuff/Why you trolling like a b####? Ain’t you tired?/Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”