7 Ways Kendrick Stomped on Drake in His Size 7s on “euphoria”

Since Taylor Swift swept most of the Top 15 on the Hot 100, there’s no chart today, and the only noteworthy entry was Drake’s “Push Ups,” debuting at #19. We’ll see how Kendrick’s “euphoria” response charts next week. In other news today:

• 7 ways Kendrick stomped on Drake in his size 7s on “euphoria” 😳 

• Who is Tommy Richman? 5 things to know about the “Million Dollar Baby” artist 🤔 

• Discover new music with the Rap Index 🔥 

• Industry Insights 🔎 

7 Ways Kendrick Stomped on Drake in His Size 7s on “euphoria”

If we’re in the middle of a rap civil war, Kendrick just committed genocide on “euphoria” also known as Drake’s obituary. Choosing violence on a random Tuesday, Kendrick dropped his response to “Push Ups” and the AI Tupac-assisted “Taylor Made Freestyle” on YouTube.

On “euphoria,” Kendrick proclaims he’s “the biggest hater” and hate he did. He hated like it was a professional sport, and he was the Anthony Edwards to Drake’s Kevin Durant. He hated like he was DMX on the Breakfast Club in 2012, naming everything he doesn’t like about Drake. He hated like he was the Grinch and Drake was Christmas. 

Throughout six minutes and 24 seconds, we counted 37 poignant punchlines aimed at Drake.

Kendrick packs almost as many references and double entendres in each diss as the surgical six-pack he accuses Drake of getting. So many fans ran to Genius to decipher the disses that the website crashed. 

Frankly, trying to unpack all of this in your inbox would end up being the length of an APA-style English paper. So, in the spirit of this rap beef, here are 7 ways Kendrick put Drake 6 feet under his size 7s in 6 minutes.

#1 The intro

“Euret si em tuoba yas yeht gnihtyrevE” reversed is “Everything they say about me is true.” It’s from the 1978 remake of The Wizard of Oz and is said by Richard Pryor when his character as the Wizard is revealed to be a fake. 

Kendrick proceeds to point out all the ways in which Drake is a phony on “euphoria” from his gangster persona, performative fatherhood, and perceived blackness to his fake abs, ghostwriters, and fake accents.

#2 The title 

Kendrick alludes to Drake’s allegations of inappropriate relationships with younger women more than once, but the song’s title may be the biggest punchline to this diss. Drake is a producer of the hit show Euphoria, which has been widely criticized for its heavy sexualization of high school characters.

#3 Gunna, Pusha T & Pharrell

“I don't like you poppin' shit at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef / Yeah, fuck all that pushin' P, let me see you push a T”

This defends Pharrell from the shots Drake fired at him on “Meltdown” for taking over the late Virgil Abloh’s position at Louis Vuitton. He uses Gunna’s “Pushing P” as a double entendre for Drake pushing Pharrell and loops in Pusha T, who infamously beat Drake the last time they beefed.

“You better off spinnin' again on him, you think about pushin' me? / He's Terrence Thornton, I'm Terence Crawford, yeah, I'm whoopin' feet”

He warns Drake he’d have better luck testing Pusha again than going against him. Using Pusha’s real name (Thorton), Kendrick references how Pusha beat Drake but likens himself to the undefeated boxer Crawford.

“I know some shit about n*ggas that make Gunna Wunna look like a saint”

Kendrick implies Drake has bigger skeletons in his closet than Gunna’s “snitch” allegations, which were almost career-ending.

#4 Tupac

“Somebody had told me that you got a ring, on God, I'm ready to double the wage / I rather do that, than let a Canadian n*gga make Pac turn in his grave”

Echoing a sentiment similar to Tupac’s estate, Kendrick feels the AI used to mimic Tupac was disrespectful and not something the later rapper would approve of. He says he’ll double the $1M Drake paid for Tupac’s crown ring last year to keep it out of his hands.

#5 J. Cole & YNW Melly

“There's three GOATs left, and I see two of them kissin' and huggin' on stage [...] I pray they my real friends, if not, I’m YNW Melly.”

Flipping J. Cole’s mention of the Big 3 on “First Person Shooter,” Kendrick mocks how affectionate Cole and Drake were on their Big As The What? Tour and uses YNW Melly’s allegations of murdering two of his friends to say he’ll do the same to Cole and Drake if he deems them untrustworthy.

#6 DMX

“I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk / I hate the way that you dress / I hate the way you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it's gon' be direct / We hate the bitches you f*ck, 'cause they confuse themselves with real women.”

The first part is an interpolation of DMX’s 2012 interview (mentioned above) where he says he doesn’t like Drake’s voice, what he talks about, his face, the way he walks, or his haircut. 

On “Taylor Made Freestyle,” Drake said Kendrick better have a quintuple entendre on his response. Kendrick directly names 5 things he hates about Drake, matching the 5 DMX named and the 5 parts of a quintuple Drake asked for.

#7 Lil Yachty & Ghostwriters

“Yachty can't give you no swag neither, I don't give a f*ck 'bout who you hang with”

Two weeks ago, Yachty’s reference track for “Jumbotron Shit Poppin” leaked, and Kendrick essentially says no matter how much Drake culture vultures from other artists, he’ll never be authentic.

“Ain't twenty-v-one, it's one-v-twenty if I gotta smack n*ggas that write with you / Yeah, bring 'em out too, I clean 'em out too / Tell BEAM that he better stay right with you / Am I battlin' ghost or AI? N*gga feelin' like Joel Osteen / Funny, he was in a film called "AI"

Kendrick cleverly flips Drake’s “20 v 1” bar against him and says he’s the one facing 20 of Drake’s ghostwriters. He namedrops BEAM, another artist and songwriter who appears on the credits for Drake’s Her Loss.

The best wordplay is Kendrick pointing out that Drake needs ghostwriters and AI to assist his responses before using internet pastor Joel Osteen and actor Haley Joel Osteen to get off a double entendre about the movie The Sixth Sense in which Osteen battles ghosts.

Who is Tommy Richman? 5 Things to Know About the “Million Dollar Baby” Artist

Last Friday, an artist by the name of Tommy Richman dropped the song “Million Dollar Baby.” It’s already become the #1 song in the US and #3 globally on Apple Music and is aiming for a Top 10 debut on the Billboard 200 which would be a first for Richman. 

A relatively unknown artist creeping onto timelines has two guarantees: industry plant allegations and Drake are not far behind. Is he an industry plant or is the song just that good? Find out below.

#1 He’s the first artist signed to Brent Faiyaz’s label

First things first, Richman has been releasing music since 2016, so no, he did not pop out of nowhere with little to no discography like 4batz. His solo releases caught the eye of Brent Faiyaz who signed him to his independent label ISO Supremacy in 2023.

Richman spent last year on the road with Faiyaz, opening for his Fuck the World, It’s a Wasteland tour, and he was featured on the song “Upset” from Faiyaz’s Larger Than Life mixtape.

#2 “Million Dollar Baby” racked up millions on TikTok

As with most viral songs these days, Richman teased a snippet of his song on TikTok a few days before its official release. The VHS-style recording of him and his friends vibing to the bass-heavy record already has 10.5M views and you can even peep Brent Faiyaz in the background.

This, in part, explains the song’s early success as soon as it dropped.

@tommyrichman

Ready to turn up wit yall, presave in bio.

#3 He’s from Woodbridge, Virginia

Like his mentor, Faiyaz, and one of his cited inspirations, Pharrell, he hails from the DMV—Virginia specifically. He grew up in a music-less household to a father that was a drum teacher and a mother who is legally deaf but began exploring music as a hobby. 

In an interview with Lyrical Lemonade he says he decided to pursue music seriously before his sophomore year of College. He made a song called “Pleasantville” that received enough positive feedback to convince him it was worth betting his future on music.

#4 He’s not really a rapper 

Dive into his last EP, The Rush, and you’ll quickly understand why Faiyaz signed him. He can nail the R&B crooning and vocal riffs just as easily as he can incorporate punk rock elements into his sound. 

His 2016 song “Ballin’ Stalin’” skews more alt rap, while the SoundCloud snippet “LIKETHATSHIT” sounds like he studied with Yeat and Fred again.

#5 He’s inspired by NBA Player Dennis Rodman and punk 

The tagline “Everything is punk” started out as a joke amongst his friends but has since become part of his brand. It appears in his YouTube bio and is the name of his underground concert series. 

Unsurprisingly, he looks up to Dennis Rodman, who embodied the rebellious spirit of punk. Speaking to Lyrical Lemonade Richman said, “During [Rodman’s] time, to be as metro, and athletic, and different, and fashionable and partying as hard as he did was ridiculous.”

“I mean, he played on the best basketball team ever, was defensive player of the year, and was outside f*cking Carmen Electra in Vegas every other night.”

The Rap Index ft. Future, Destroy Lonely, JT, Cash Cobain & More

The Rap Index is a way to follow and discover new music. Divided into 4 categories describing rap subgenres, songs are placed according to their style and sound—giving you a better idea of what songs will appeal to your musical taste. Only releases from the previous New Music Friday are included to help keep you up to date.

RapTV’s Ranking of Rap Index Songs

1. “S o r r y, B u t I’ m O u t s i d e” by Partynextdoor (Listen on Spotify)

2. “Back To Back” by Nardo Wick, Future (Listen on Spotify)

3. “President” by Southside, Destroy Lonely, Ken Carson (Listen on Spotify)

4. “Fisherrr - Remix” by Cash Cobain, Ice Spice (Listen on Spotify)

5. “Million Dollar Baby” by Tommy Richman (Listen on Spotify)

6. “OKAY” by JT (Listen on Spotify)

7. “Mike Jack” by Skilla Baby, G Herbo, Rob49 (Listen on Spotify)

8. “Knocka” by YG (Listen on Spotify)

• A$AP Rocky and Puma return with second motorsport-inspired collection. It includes the brand’s first sneaker under Rocky’s creative direction—a reissue of the Inhale OG.

• Quavo raises $50K for gun violence prevention at 7th annual Huncho Day. The sold-out affair saw Quavo lead a celebrity football game against Druski’s team.

• Trump wants to host an event at Madison Square Garden with rappers and athletes. The campaign rally is in hopes of securing support from Black and Latino voters.

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