Kendrick Lamar has closed in on Drake‘s streaming stats on Spotify thanks to their recent multi-song battle.
In metrics shared by HipHopNMore‘s Navjosh via Chartmetric, Drizzy had a strong lead out of the gate with the J. Cole-assisted “First Person Shooter” back in the fall, but K. Dot quickly caught up to the streaming numbers with his appearance on Metro Boomin and Future‘s “Like That” in March.
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The songs are both sitting at over 300 million streams, with Drake holding a slight lead at around 319 million to Kendrick’s 309 million.
The next exchange was Drake’s “Push Ups,” followed by Kendrick’s “Euphoria.” Kendrick holds the lead on that one with 135.3 million streams, compared to 93.7 million streams on “Push Ups.”
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The next two, “Family Matters” and “Meet The Grahams,” are just about tied around the 50 million mark, but it’s the Mustard-produced “Not Like Us” that really has Kendrick Lamar in the lead.
With already 217.7 million streams since its release less than a month ago, he outpaces Drake’s final release “The Heart Part 6” completely – as Drake didn’t put the song on streaming services.
Drake vs. Kendrick numbers (via Chartmetric) pic.twitter.com/mgUKPFqikB
— Navjosh (@Navjosh) May 29, 2024
Drake also released the Kendrick Lamar diss “Taylor Made Freestyle” amid the battle, but he soon had to remove it from all platforms – as 2Pac’s estate did not take kindly to the use of the late rapper’s likeness with AI.
The song, which featured AI vocals from both ‘Pac and Snoop Dogg, was officially been removed from Drake’s social media pages after the “Dear Mama” rapper’s estate gave Drizzy 24 hours to take down the controversial track.
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In a cease and desist letter issued in April, ‘Pac’s estate said: “The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality. Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights, it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. The Estate would never have given its approval for this use.
“The unauthorized, equally dismaying use of Tupac’s voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately, compounds the insult.
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“If you comply, the estate will consider whether an informal negotiation to resolve this matter makes sense. If you do not comply, our client has authorized this firm to pursue all of its legal remedies including, but not limited to, an action for violation of […] the estate’s copyright, publicity and personality rights and the resulting damages, injunctive relief, and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.”
The battle has been quiet since earlier this month, but fans are speculating there may be more on the way thanks to Drake’s longtime producer Boi-1da.
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The OVO Sound hitmaker, who co-produced all three of Drizzy’s officially released diss songs, sparked something of a fan frenzy on Tuesday (May 28) when he wrote on X: “Tap, tap tap tap.”
Boi-1da also posted a picture on his Instagram Stories of Drake whispering in his ear, leading the imaginations of listeners to go into overdrive.
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One user reacted to the suggestive posts by writing: “Drake comin with more fire. Confirmed,” while another asked: “Round 2??”
A third user excitedly added: “Something is up when boi-1da is tweeting [flushed face emoji].”
Others speculated that Boi-1da was hinting at being involved with Eminem’s new single “Houdini,” which drops this Friday (May 31), or NAV’s upcoming album On My Way 2 Rexdale.
Boi-1da appeared to throw cold water on the rumors, however, by leaving a comment on Akademiks‘ Instagram post that said: “Guys LOL cmon man.”
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Others speculated that Boi-1da was hinting at being involved with Eminem’s new single “Houdini,” which drops this Friday (May 31), or NAV’s upcoming album On My Way 2 Rexdale.
Boi-1da appeared to throw cold water on the rumors, however, by leaving a comment on Akademiks‘ Instagram post that said: “Guys LOL cmon man.”
