Drake and Kendrick Lamar‘s rap beef has arguably been one of the biggest moments in hip-hop this year—so far at least. And the impact of the lyrical battle has transcended outside of the rap realm, garnering the attention of those adjacent to hip-hop and others who aren’t, but have also been captivated by the moment.
Celebrities Weigh In on Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s Rap Beef
While things kicked off back in March with Kendrick Lamar’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That,” things ramped up expeditiously once Drake delivered “Push Ups” three weeks later. After some taunting towards K-Dot from Drizzy by way of social media posts and an A.I.-generated diss track titled, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” Kendrick released “Euphoria.” That was a little over a week ago, but it seems much longer considering all that’s transpired since then. Hip-hop fans have been at the edges of their seats, activating their Twitter fingers and analyzing the verses line by line. And once five songs arrived within a three-day time timespan, opinions began emerging from non-hip-hop celebrities like actor Seth Rogen, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and WWE wrestler Shawn Michaels.
During Seth Rogen’s Smokes the Bowl, a benefit event for Los Angeles’ Netflix Is a Joke Fest, on Tuesday (May 7), Rogen gave his take on why he feels Drake lost the battle. “I would say as soon as you are asserting in a rap song that you should not be a registered sex offender, you’ve lost the rap battle,” the comedian says.
On The Stephen A. Smith Show on Tuesday, the commentator also shared his thoughts on Drake and Kendrick’s rap beef, saying that the bars should’ve stuck to skills and not personal matters. “This can’t be for the money, this is personal,” Stephen A. expressed. “And I ain’t gonna lie, it’s making both of them look bad.”
Two days prior, wrestler Shawn Michaels retweeted Kendrick’s post announcing the release of “Not Like Us” and offered Drizzy and K-Dot the opportunity to duke it out in the WWE ring, presumably following Kendrick’s mention of Micheals’ Sweet Chin Music move on “Not Like Us.”
Then, on May 5, actor Shia LeBeouf seemingly sided with Kendrick, tweeting, “Wop wop wop wop wop,” a line from “Not Like Us.” However, shortly after posting the tweet, LeBeouf’s abuse allegations against former girlfriend FKA Twiggs were revisited among X users.
Take a look at what some non-rap celebrities had to say about what’s become one of the biggest rap feuds in the history of the genre.
Celebrities React to Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s Rap Beef
Seth Rogan
Stephen A. Smith
Shawn Michaels
Shia LaBeouf
Bomani Jones
Tony Hinchcliffe