The effects of last summer’s rap feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake continue to reverberate through the music industry, and the careers of its two combatants. Earlier this month, Drake made headlines for bringing a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for its role in the back-and-forth, while Lamar prepares for the biggest gig of his life—headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl LIX on February 9.

It's hard to imagine how the 37-year-old Lamar, who for much of his career has been seen as a critical darling with a cult-like following, would have been chosen by halftime show executive producer Jay-Z and his Roc Nation for music’s biggest stage were it not for the beef and series of diss tracks it produced. “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s anthemic takedown of hip-hop’s best-selling artist, hit more than a billion streams on Spotify in 2024 and spent a record-setting 21 consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s hot rap songs chart.

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