Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar: A timeline of their feud, from 2024 on

The long-standing feud between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar hit a fever pitch in 2024 and has been incrementally escalating ever since.

In January, Drake filed an explosive defamation lawsuit against his own record label, Universal Music Group, on which Kendrick Lamar is also signed. In the lawsuit the Canadian rapper accuses UMG of prioritizing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists” by releasing Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” which accuses Drake of being a pedophile.

Drake amended the complaint on Wednesday, adding that UMG also capitalized on the song’s Grammy wins — it made history as the first and only diss track to ever take home a Grammy — and the performance of the song during the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show to further damage his reputation.

Here’s what happened in the past year that’s led us to this point.

March 22, 2024: Kicking off the latest chapter in their feud is the song “Like That” from Future, Metro Boomin and Lamar. In it, Lamar refutes the claim that he, Drake and J. Cole are the “Big Three” in rap music. “It’s just big me,” Lamar raps, referencing J. Cole’s verse on Drake’s 2023 song.

April 13, 2024: Drake responds to Lamar with the leaked track “Push Ups,” in which the Canadian rapper tells Lamar, “You ain’t in no Big Three,” before calling out Lamar’s features on pop songs of artists like Taylor Swift.

April 19, 2024: Drake hits back with another diss track while waiting for Lamar to respond. On “Taylor Made Freestyle,” the former Degrassi: The Next Generation actor uses AI-generated voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg — Lamar’s idols — to insult him. The song, however, was deleted after Shakur’s estate sent Drake a cease and desist letter. The track supposedly got its name because Drake accused Lamar of not responding to his original diss as to not interfere with the release of Taylor Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department on April 19.

April 30, 2024: Lamar reenters the chat with a song titled “Euphoria” — also the name of the HBO series Drake produces — that attacks Drake on all fronts, blasting his parenting and rap abilities. The “Not Like Us” rapper also accuses Drake of getting plastic surgery.

May 3-5, 2024: Diss tracks are exchanged. Lamar drops “6:16 in LA,” “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.” Drake releases “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6.” The rappers make explosive allegations of abuse, infidelity and false parenthood.

May 24, 2024: Drake appears on rapper Sexyy Red’s new mixtape, on the track, “U MY EVERYTHING.” Rapping over Metro Boomin’s “BBL Drizzy” — a song that spawned a slew of memes relating to rumors that Drake got a Brazilian butt-lift procedure — the track appears to be a way for Drake to reclaim the narrative.

June 19, 2024: During Lamar’s Juneteenth “Pop-Out” concert, he performs a version of his diss track “Euphoria” with new lyrics, saying, “Give Tupac’s ring back and I might give you a little respect.” Fans also believe Lamar’s performance outfit was a nod to Tupac.

July 4, 2024: Lamar releases his “Not Like Us” music video, which contains Easter eggs for fans who have been closely following the feud, including: Lamar’s partner Whitney Alford and their two children together, references to lighting in Drake’s “Family Matters” music video and a set modeled after a prison cell.

Sept. 8, 2024: Lamar confirms that he’ll be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. In his announcement, the “Money Trees” rapper takes a jab at Drake, saying, “You know it’s only one opportunity to win a championship — no round twos.” The line refers to Drake’s undelivered promise of rehashing their feud.

Nov. 22, 2024: Lamar releases his sixth studio album, GNX, which outlines the fallout of his feud with Drake. The Compton-born rapper uses this as yet another opportunity to further jab at the “Hotline Bling” hitmaker, suggesting he’s a pedophile once more.

Nov. 25, 2024: Drake accuses his record label UMG and streaming service Spotify of boosting streams of “Not Like Us” in an inorganic way to “deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality.” The rapper states in the New York court filing that he’d tried solving this matter with UMG privately, but the label had “no interest in taking responsibility for its misconduct.”

UMG quickly denies Drake’s accusations, calling them “offensive and untrue.” Spotify declined to comment on Drake’s allegations.

Nov. 26, 2024: In a second court filing, now in Texas, Drake accuses UMG of defamation for allowing the release of a song “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender.” Drake also accuses iHeartRadio of conspiring against him by playing “Not Like Us” on the radio.

Dec. 20, 2024: Spotify responds to Drake’s first filing with a motion to dismiss Drake’s complaint.

Drake’s legal team fires back at Spotify’s motion to dismiss the rapper’s claims. The rapper’s legal team wrote, in a statement to Billboard, “It is not surprising that Spotify is trying to distance themselves from UMG’s allegedly manipulative practices to artificially inflate streaming numbers on behalf of one of its other artists.”

Jan. 14, 2025: Drake and his legal team drop the legal petition against UMG and Spotify.

Jan. 15, 2025: Drake files an explosive defamation lawsuit against UMG. In the filing, Drake claims the label put “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists” through the release of “Not Like Us,” a song that hinges on “the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”

UMG denies the rapper’s claims of defamation. “We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual,” the label said in a statement.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Drake sues his label over Kendrick Lamar diss track ‘Not Like Us.’ Here’s what’s happening.

Jan. 17, 2025: Lamar’s “Not Like Us” officially surpasses one billion streams on Spotify, Billboard reports.

Jan. 23, 2025: Drake releases the song “Fighting Irish (Freestyle).” Here, Drake seems to hint at the legal action he plans to take against Lamar, saying, “I hate to see the empire crumble on judges’ convictions.”

Jan. 24, 2025: UMG strikes back, filing a motion to dismiss Drake’s Texas petition over a lack of evidence. The label claims that Drake has “no evidentiary support for his asserted need for pre-suit deposition of UMG.” UMG also requests the dismissal of all discovery related to the situation until the court rules on it.

Feb. 2, 2025: Lamar wins big for his song “Not Like Us” at the 67th annual Grammys, winning five awards including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The song becomes the first diss track to win a Grammy.

Feb. 9, 2025: A week after making Grammys history, Lamar takes the stage for his Super Bowl halftime performance in New Orleans. He delivers on his promise of rehashing the feud with Drake, rapping “Not Like Us” to the entire Caesars Superdome and global television audience. Lamar’s record-breaking halftime show averaged 133.5 million views across all platforms.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: How Kendrick Lamar’s feud with Drake got him to the top of his game for the Super Bowl halftime show

Feb. 14, 2025: Drake releases his collaborative album $ome $ongs 4 U with fellow Canadian rapper PartyNextDoor, on which he fires back at Lamar. On the track “Gimme a Hug,” Drake goes in on Lamar, at one point calling him “King Petty.”

Feb. 27, 2025: Drake and his legal team dismiss iHeartMedia, the parent company of iHeartRadio, from the Texas petition. Both parties reportedly reach a settlement.

Mar. 17, 2025: UMG files a motion to dismiss Drake’s defamation lawsuit, accusing him of trying to “save face” after failing to win his feud against Lamar.

“Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds,” reads the filing, according to Variety.

Drake’s attorney, Michael J. Gottlieb, accuses UMG of pretending that “this is a rap battle” in an effort to distract “its shareholders, artists and the public” from the fact that they’re profiting off “dangerous misinformation” that has resulted in “multiple acts of violence.”

Mar. 18, 2025: UMG submits a letter in the New York court case to halt the discovery of data in relation to Drake’s defamation lawsuit as it would cause “undue burden,” according to Variety.

April 2, 2025: In New York, Judge Jeanette Vargas denies UMG’s request to halt the discovery process of Drake’s defamation lawsuit. Drake is now allowed to access Lamar’s contracts with the label along with other documents.

April 14, 2025: Drake and his legal team quietly drop the Texas petition.

April 16, 2025: Drake files an amended complaint in his defamation lawsuit against UMG. His attorney says the amended complaint “makes an already strong case stronger.”