Kendrick Lamar recently put another nail in the coffin of his 11-year beef with fellow hip-hop artist Drake at a recent performance celebrating Juneteenth.
The concert was titled “The Pop Out – Ken and Friends” at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. Lamar announced the concert on June 5 and many saw it as more than a Juneteenth celebration–instead it was a victory lap cementing the “Not Like Us” rapper as the winner in his ongoing feud with Drake.
Presale tickets were sold on June 6 and within minutes of the regular sale on June 7, the tickets sold out in the 17,500-seat Kia Forum. While the original ticket prices are unavailable on Ticketmaster, several reports described tickets selling from $270 to $1,500 on various resale sites such as SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, and Stub Hub. Amazon Music also streamed the concert.
If these prices are accurate, the show pulled in a substantial amount. No word on the amount of the Amazon streaming deal.
Lamar, who is worth a reported $140 million, is no stranger to selling out concert arenas. According to Forbes, Lamar is the eighth highest-paid hip-hop artist, earning an estimated $2 million per show.
Produced by Lamar’s creative company PGLang and Free Lunch, the Juneteenth event featured DJ Hed and Mustard as its opening acts. In addition, more than 25 artists from the West Coast including Ty Dolla Sign, Tyler the Creator, Dr. Dre, Dom Kennedy, Steve Lacy, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, YG, Ab-Soul, and Roddy Rich, performed at the three-hour concert.
Attendees included celebrities such as LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Rick Ross, DeMar DeRozan, Chloe Bailey, SZA, The Weekend and North West.
What’s The Beef
June 19’s performance cemented Lamar as the winner of the beef between himself and Drake. But how did it all begin?
Early in the two artists’ career, they collaborated often, with Lamar appearing on Drake’s song, “Buried Alive Interlude” in 2011. The following year, Drake invited Lamar to be the opening act on his Club Paradise tour alongside A$AP Rocky.
But by 2013, things had changed between the two lyricists. Lamar appeared on rapper Big Sean’s “Control” as he called out Drake and other rappers. That same year, Lamar charged at Drake again at the BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher. Drake respondEd to Lamar’s shots during an interview with VIBE magazine.
For the next several years, the two emcees would sometimes blatantly and other times subtly call each other out on songs. But it wasn’t until 2023, when J.Cole and Drake recorded “First Person Shooter,” that the beef took another turn. and by March 2024, Lamar was ready for the battle in his feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” That same month, Drake responded while performing during his recent tour in Sunrise, Fla.
For the next two months, Drake and Lamar released diss tracks. In April Drake released “Push Ups” on streaming services and “Taylor Made Freestyle” on Instagram. Meanwhile, Lamar released two diss tracks, “Euphoria” and “6:16 LA.” Drake followed up with “Family Matters,” and Lamar hit back with “Meet the Grahams” and the chart-topping “They Not Like Us.” Drake’s comeback, “The Heart Pt. 6,” was not readily responded to by Lamar.
However, Lamar’s recent concert, which included performing “They Not Like Us” several times along with other diss tracks made him the winner in the battle, according to fans and critics.
The beef has also given his music streaming a boost, according to Luminate, as per Unilad, Lamar’s musician’s entire discography also saw a huge spike in streams from May 3-6 of 50.62 million. This is up by 49 percent when compared to April 26-29, where the music was streamed 33.98 million times. And the Juneteenth concert most likely caused another increase in streaming.
