Here are all the Toronto mentions and strays so far in the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud
The Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef is quickly becoming the rap feud of the decade, and Toronto is catching a mix of shoutouts and strays as the city's culture is dragged into the heated drama.
Several music publications have already broken down the long-simmering beef between the two hip-hop heavyweights, and we are not going to even attempt to do that here today.
Instead, here is a brief summary of every key Toronto-related mention since the feud's major escalation last week and the rapid onslaught of diss tracks that followed.
Perhaps the biggest Toronto mention came last Tuesday when Kendrick Lamar released diss track "Euphoria," which criticized Drake and Toronto hip-hop culture, name-dropping late-night Chinatown restaurant New Ho King in the process.
The track, itself a response to a mid-April Drake diss track, resulted in the restaurant being showered in five-star reviews as its name trended on multiple social media platforms.
New Ho King was even part of Drake's return-fire diss track, which will be touched on more in a moment.
Toronto slang was another target in Lamar's "Euphoria," which featured the rapper delivering hyper-local phrases like "tell me you're cheesin', fam" and "crodie" in an exaggerated caricature of the regional dialect.
Drake attempted to take ownership of the New Ho King mention, releasing a return diss track "Family Matters" on Friday night with an accompanying video featuring scenes shot in the Chinese restaurant and on the Gardiner Expressway.
DRAKE
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) May 4, 2024
FAMILY BUSINESS
KENDRICK LAMAR
DISS TRACK
🚨OUT NOW🚨pic.twitter.com/hzeuWLz3kX
Drake went after fellow southern Ontario artist The Weeknd, a public salvo in what had been a vaguely referenced feud that has escalated since the latter's appearance on a track with Future and Metro Boomin where he referenced his decision to opt out of signing with Drake's record label OVO.
Drake refers to The Weeknd by his real name in "Family Matters," saying, "knew it was smoke when Abel hit us with the serenade, *** said, 'Uh, uh' almost started reachin' for my waist," before going on to attack the artist's falsetto singing style.
But Lamar wasn't finished with Drizzy, wasting zero time releasing another diss track directed at the Toronto rapper titled "Not Like Us." The cover art for the track features a satellite view of Drake's Bridle Path mansion covered in (U.S) sex offender registry map pins.
Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' cover is Drake's Toronto mansion covered with s*x offender app markers 💀 pic.twitter.com/eBd58HMBu1
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) May 5, 2024
Even people long removed from Toronto are catching strays, like a reference to former Raptors star Demar DeRozan in "Not Like Us," where Lamar says, "Deebo, any rap ****, he a free throw."
If it wasn't already evident that this feud has escalated to a level of notoriety well outside of hip-hop circles, hearing Dua Lipa pronounce Toronto's second "T" in a Saturday Night Live sketch was a painful addition to what was already a pretty rough night for the city.
Good Morning Greenville breaks down the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef pic.twitter.com/wSyHLvVghS
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) May 5, 2024
Sketch comedy parodies like SNL are just one sign of a story reaching that critical mass where even your 72-year-old suburban dad is aware of an ongoing rap feud.
Satirical '"news" site The Onion's spoof coverage of the Drake-Kendrick beef included a hilarious apology scenario where the two artists come together to work out their differences at a Toronto Tim Hortons location.
@champagnepagi/Instagram|Tinseltown/Shutterstock
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