Kendrick Lamar Finally Talked About the Drake Beef in New Super Bowl Interview

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet for the past year, you know about Kendrick Lamar’s rap beef with Drake. You also know how it ended—with the Compton rapper emerging as the clear victor.

Now, Kendrick is opening up about trading diss tracks with Drake and offering some insight into why he chose to engage.

“My intent from day one was to keep the nature of it as a sport,” Kung-Fu Kenny explained during a new Apple Music interview. “I don’t care how motherfuckers look at it as far as like a collaborative effort. That’s cool too, but I love when artists grit they teeth.”

Kendrick Lamar Says Drake Beef Was Just ‘Sport’

“I still watch battle raps, I still watch Smack URL, from Murda Mook to Lux to Tay Roc, my bro Daylyt. This always been the core definition of who I am,” he added. “It’s been that way since day one so I don’t think it was a thing for this year. It was always a continuum.”

Kendrick then offered, “What I will say about this year is that it was more from a space where I think a lot of people was putting rap to the back and you didn’t see that grit, you didn’t see that bite anymore.”

Kendrick and Drake’s beef started when Kendrick took some shots at Drake and J. Cole on Future and Metro Boomin’s song “Like That.” After J. Cole bowed out of the beef, Kendrick and Drake began trading shots back and forth over several diss tracks, one of which was “Not Like Us.”

The track went on to be one of the biggest songs of 2024 and won every single award it was nominated for at the 2025 Grammy Awards.

While there had been some speculation over whether or not Kendrick would perform “Not Like Us” during the Super Bowl Halftime Show this weekend—due to Drake’s numerous lawsuits around it—it’s since been confirmed to be on his setlist.