The Compton emcee got surgical on ’em.

Kendrick Lamar and Drake Mara Ocejo

Rap’s crown now sits in the West.

For more than a decade, Drake sat on the throne, as multiple rappers tried and failed to unseat him. Damage was done by Pusha T, but the Canadian MC was able to withstand the character assassination by his longtime nemesis. However, his recent beef with Kendrick Lamar feels different. “Not Like Us,” the current No. 1 song in the country, is a scathing diss record disguised as a party anthem. People dancing and screaming in unison that you might be a pedophile must be a surreal experience, especially for a beloved hitmaker like Drake. He clearly underestimated his opponent.

Kendrick Lamar was calculated and deliberate. He seemed to plot everything out in advance — from teasing a bit of the eventual Dennis Graham Dossier with the “6:16 in LA” cover art to revealing the full picture with “Meet the Grahams.” The Compton rapper refrained from posting on social media unless it was to drop a song, and didn’t leak records or information to popular streamers.

Drake took a different approach. Throughout this back and forth, he trolled and joked on his Instagram Stories, used popular streamer DJ Akademiks as an unofficial spokesman, and “leaked” songs unofficially. Unlike Kendrick, Drake also had to deal with a number of other beefs at the same time. His trolling may have went bit too far, though, as he had to take down “Taylor Made Freestyle,” in which he used AI to rap in the voices of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg, after the Shakur estate threatened legal action if it wasn’t wiped from Drake’s YouTube channel and social media accounts.

Kendrick used this all to his advantage, as he crafted some of the most personal diss records to date. Each song took aim at his opponent’s character and cultural standing, meticulously letting him know that he is not what the culture’s feeling. We broke down five ways Kendrick was able to win this battle.

Sneak AttackKendrick and Drake have been subbing each other since the former publicly claimed rap’s crown in 2013 on Big Sean’s “Control.” Fast forward 11 years, and when Future & Metro announced the name of their album, many assumed it was just a play on the popular saying, “If Young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you,” a Future bar turned into one of Metro’s producer tags. Instead, the titles We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You were seemingly referring to Drake from jump. So, when listeners got to the first album’s sixth track, “Like That,” they were taken aback not only by Kung Fu Kenny ziplining from the rafters like Sting, but also by the subject matter of his bars.

Relatively quiet since his Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers Tour broke records, hearing Kendrick Lamar claim the crown again in such fashion was both exciting and jarring. Fans sat back and got their popcorn ready and waited on a reply to Lamar’s surprisingly direct shots (“F–k sneak dissing, ‘First Person Shooter,’ I hope they came with three switches.”). The song went debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 and is still in the top 10 seven weeks after its release, while its parent album also topped the Billboard 200. It’s even been played during NBA Playoff broadcasts on TNT. All of which caught everyone by surprise — including the target of the verse, Drake.

The Waiting Game

Drake is the most battle-tested of the “Big Three.” The Canadian rapper has seen his fair share of rap beefs, and just like most rappers of his stature, he’s won some and lost some. Regardless of how you feel about him, even his biggest haters expected him to respond to Kendrick’s “Like That” verse. However, Drake was in a tough spot: Before he could respond to Kendrick, Future and Metro dropped another album that featured more artists (The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky) who presumably had a problem with Drake.

So, he dropped “Push Ups” — which was a valiant diss record, but didn’t force Dot to reply immediately. Then came his now-infamous “Taylor Made Freestyle,” featuring AI verses from 2 of Amerika’s Most Wanted 2Pac & Snoop. This song ended up costing Drake dearly: The Tupac Shakur estate threatened legal action, forcing him to take the song down, as many West Coast rappers as well as fans took exception with the way Drake used Pac’s voice. An attempt at trolling and forcing a quicker response out of the Compton rapper backfired.

All the while, Kendrick said nothing.

When Drake rapped, “You tryna let this s–t die down/ Nah, nah, nah, not this time, n—a, you followin’ through/ I guess you need another week to figure out how to improve/ What the f–k is taking so long?/ We waitin’ on you,” on “Taylor Made,” it was clear he really wanted Kendrick to respond — likely due to the fact that he had the song that would become “Family Matters” (which starts with the same “I was really trying to keep it PG” line that ends “Push Ups.”) ready to go. In the end, Drake may have that confused Kendrick’s silence for apprehension, when in actuality it was just the calm before the storm.

The Pusha T School of Character Assassination

After Kendrick dropped “Euphoria,” it was clear that this was going to be different from other rap beefs. Well, except for one: When Pusha T and Drake got into their beef, Pusha worked to methodically break down exactly why he believes Drake is not who he portrays himself to be. In an interview with L.A.’s Big Boy, Pusha said his disses against Drake were “speaking about the character of a man.”

Kendrick picked up with Pusha left off, putting everything on the table, including Drake’s predictability, his relationship with J. Prince, the women he chases, his mixed race and his character. Kendrick’s message to Drake was basically: stay on the pop side of things and leave this rap s–t alone, because you’re no longer welcome. The line “Keep makin’ me dance, wavin’ my hand, and it won’t be no threat” drives that point home.

This motif was used in every song Kenny dropped on Drake’s head. In “6:16 in LA,” Kendrick plays mind games, as he not only uses a timestamp and location for the song’s title like Drake does whenever he feels like being introspective, but he plants seeds about a mole inside his rival’s camp. There’s the song’s artwork, featuring a black leather Maybach glove, and then there are lines like, “Have you ever thought that OVO is workin’ for me?” as he warns Drake about his entourage. Lamar also alludes to the Canadian rapper offering money for intel on Kendrick, something Pusha T accused Drake of doing during their spat.

And we haven’t even gotten to “Meet the Grahams,” which includes artwork that is at the center of a very weird controversy as we speak, catapulting this beef into a rabbit hole of dark web conspiracies and connections to the NYC ballroom scene. This song itself manages to be even more sinister, as Kendrick speaks to each member of Drake’s immediate family (including an alleged hidden 11-year-old daughter) over haunting Alchemist production. Yet despite all that, what will be best remembered about “Meet the Grahams” was how Lamar used the track to spoil Drake’s “Family Matters” release, by tweeting out the YouTube link about a half hour after Drake posted his song and video.

The lore behind this record will be told to generations, and it will be remembered as one of the craziest, most evil diss records in rap history. Kendrick managed to create “Ether 2.0″: Rappers must now be worried about getting Meet-the-Grahamed out here. This was Omar walking down the block with the shottie hidden in the trench coat. This was the boogeyman in the flesh.

Out-Drakeing Drake

Each of the primary participants in this beef dropped four songs each: Drake has “Push Ups,” “Taylor Made Freestyle,” “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6” (plus the “Buried Alive” parody he posted on his Instagram feed), and Kendrick has “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.” While only two of Drake’s songs focus solely on Lamar, Kendrick’s tracks focus solely on Drake, which gave him an advantage.

There’s also the way he released them: Drake tried to use the same strategy he used on Meek Miil back in 2015 when he followed “Charged Up” with “Back To Back.” On “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” he was begging Kenny to drop, likely due to him having another song ready to go. But Drake clearly wasn’t prepared for what was to come: On “Euphoria,” the West Coast MC rapped, “‘Back to Back,’ I like that record/ Imma get back to that, for the record” and he wasn’t lying. When Drake didn’t reply right away, Lamar dropped “6:16 in LA,” as foreshadowing for what was to come.

Finally, when the Toronto rapper rolled out “Family Matters,” complete with an accompanying short film, Lamar was able to stop the song’s momentum in its tracks by dropping a nuke on top of a nuke with “Meet the Grahams” and the club banger “Not Like Us.” This was the same thing Drake did to Meek Mill: “Back to Back” was being played at parties and at clubs, encouraging everyone to party to the sounds of Meek’s demise. Now the same thing is happening to Drake.

Finishing the Job With a No. 1

Ebro Darden, the longtime Hot 97 morning show host and Apple Music’s resident hip-hop expert, took to Threads to let off about what he thought was an apt historical precedent for how this feud has unfolded. “Jay-Z dropped ‘Blueprint 2‘ after ‘Ether‘ … well after ‘Super Ugly,’” he said. And, after some… creative remembering, he concluded with, “[Jay-Z] went back to the clubs where Nas never really dropped tunes for… Jay got his footing back and went to work to move forward.”

On its face, the comparison makes sense. Drake, like Jay, has made a career in crafting indelible club hits that take over entire seasons. Kendrick, like Nas, has preferred to focus his efforts elsewhere. That’s not to say Kendrick’s music hasn’t seen the club: “Alright” had a crazy run; as did “DNA” and the Rihanna-featured “Loyalty.” But, sure, it’s very possible that Drake brushes himself off, takes some time away, and comes back with a smash hit makes most people forget about the fateful weekend in May.

The main difference here, however, is that unlike “Ether” — which never even reached the Hot 100, without a physical single release or much national radio support — Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” is the No. 1 song in the country. And it is a legit club banger: Infused with DJ Mustard’s signature bounce, “Not Like Us” is tailor-made for cookouts, clubs, football and basketball games, drop-top cruising — basically any activity that involves people wanting to feel good and have fun. It’s a song that will be played in public settings for years to come. Which is absolutely crazy considering the lyrical content of the record.

Kendrick did what Nas couldn’t. He did what, for whatever reason, Drake didn’t. He made a song that achieves the goal of lyrically dismantling his opponent and works as a standalone bop. Take Drake out of it, and the beat and chorus still knock. It’s going to be hard for Drake to put this whole thing behind him when this song is played at every party or sporting event for the foreseeable future. L.A. back up, and trust, they will be outside. — DAMIEN SCOTT