It's not like Drake to keep quiet.
Following Kendrick Lamar's fourth diss track against the Canadian rapper, titled "Not Like Us," Drake upped the ante by releasing "The Heart Part 6" on Sunday evening. The song's title is a reference to Lamar's 2022 track "The Heart Part 5."
So far, the rappers have released dueling diss tracks in which they trade barbs about gossip and Ozempic, while also levying serious allegations of abuse, addiction, grooming and another hidden child.
Drake's nearly six-minute track also addresses Lamar's jabs at the rapper for previous grooming allegations. "Speakin' of anything with a child, let's get to that now / This Epstein angle was the (expletive) I expected / TikTok videos you collected and dissected / Instead of being on some dis-direct (expletive), you rather (expletive) grab your pen and mis-direct (expletive)," Drake raps.
In 2018, Drake received backlash after "Stranger Things" star Millie Bobby Brown, then 14, revealed she considered the rapper "a great friend and a great role model," despite their 17-year age difference. On social media, the rapper was accused of "grooming" Brown as a result of their texting relationship.
In his latest diss track, Drake bites back at Lamar's lyrical allegations of grooming and pedophilia. In the song, Drake brings up Lamar's "Mother I Sober" song, off his "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" studio album, in which the Compton rapper alludes to familial accusations of sexual assault.
"My mom came over today and I was like, 'Mother I, mother I, mother I … / Wait a second, that's that one record where you say you got molested," Drake raps. "I just made the whole connection / This about to get so depressing / This is trauma from your own confessions."
"I don't want to diss you anymore / This really got me second-guessing," Drake also raps.
Then once more, Drake denies Lamar's accusations that he has ever been involved with a minor. "I never been with no one underage / But now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with," he raps.
Listen to Drake's "The Heart Part 6" on YouTube.
The four-and-half-minute song, which Lamar dropped Saturday, seemingly skewers some of Drake's faux pas in the public eye, including the removal of his song "Taylor Made (Freestyle)." In April, Drake released the song featuring an AI-generated imitation of rap icon Tupac Shakur, only to later remove it after Shakur’s estate expressed disapproval.
"You think the Bay (gonna) let you disrespect Pac, (expletive)? I think that Oakland show (gonna) be your last stop," Lamar raps in the song.
"Not Like Us" follows the release of Lamar's previous diss tracks "6:16 in LA" and "Meet the Grahams" on Friday and "Euphoria" on Tuesday.
Listen to Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" on YouTube and stream on Spotify.
Lamar and Drake's feud goes back more than a decade to 2013, when Lamar rapped on the Big Sean song "Control" about how he wanted to "murder" Drake and other prominent rappers.
Earlier this year, Lamar appeared on Future and Metro Boomin's "Like That" and rejected the idea of there being a "big three" in rap, declaring on the track, "It's just big me." The lyric was a response to J. Cole referring to himself, Drake and Lamar as the "big three" on Drake's 2023 track "First Person Shooter."
J. Cole responded to Lamar on the song "7 Minute Drill" in April, rapping, "He still doing shows but fell off like 'The Simpsons.' " He also rapped that Lamar is past his "prime." But shortly after releasing the song, Cole apologized and said it was "lame" and "goofy" of him to do so.
"I ain't gonna lie to y'all the past two days felt terrible," he told the audience at the Dreamville Festival days later, going on to call Lamar "one of the greatest."
Drake subsequently fired back with two diss tracks directed at Lamar, "Push Ups" and "Taylor Made (Freestyle)," the latter of which was pulled from streaming services after Shakur's estate threated to sue. (On diss track "Family Matters," Drake claims Lamar "called the Tupac estate and begged 'em to sue me.")
Lamar references this on his follow-up "Euphoria" by rapping that Shakur is turning "in his grave."
Lamar continues on "Euphoria": "How many more fairytale stories about your life 'til we've had enough? How many more Black features 'til you finally feel that you're Black enough?"
In "Euphoria," Lamar compliments Drake's track "Back To Back" saying he "liked that record." The 2015 single was a diss track aimed at rapper Meek Mill and was Drake's follow-up to his first diss, "Charged Up."
Then, Lamar released a back-to-back of his own with "6:16 in LA." Lamar took a shot at Drake's label and team, rapping, "Have you ever thought OVO is working for me?" before calling Drake a "fake bully." He continues: "I hate bullies / You must be a terrible person / Everyone inside your team whispering that you deserve it."
The title had fans going down a rabbit hole to collect all the Easter eggs about Lamar's Canadian adversary. The song title is an obvious reference to a timestamp song format Drake has popularized, but it could also refer to June 16 (Father's Day), Tupac Shakur's birthday, the date of HBO's "Euphoria" series premiere and a Lamar concert in Drake's hometown of Toronto.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
Contributing: Edward Segarra, Anika Reed, Taijuan Moorman, Naledi Ushe, Brendan Morrow and KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY