Kendrick Lamar’s newly released Drake diss “Euphoria” has fans speculating that Drizzy and J. Cole asked him to be on For All the Dogs standout “First Person Shooter” and Kenny declined.
On “Euphoria,” Lamar raps, “Surprised you wanted that feature request/You know that we got some shit to address.”
This seems like a nod to all the subliminal jabs K.Dot and Drake have exchanged over the years, with their issues going unresolved—something that Lamar directly addressed on "Like That" last month: "Fuck sneak dissin', first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches."
Fans also surmised that Lamar came in hot on “Like That” because he might have felt slighted by J. Cole and Drake on their collab. Many mentioned the 6 God’s first verse as case-in-point: “I'm like go on 'head, say it then, who the GOAT?/Who the GOAT? Who the GOAT?/Who the GOAT, who you bitches really rootin' for?/Like a kid that act bad from January to November, n***a, it's just you and Cole.”
Fans thought Drake deliberately said that only he and Cole are goated and no one else, with some considering the “kid” line a nod to Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. It's also hard to forget that Cole outright asks on his verse: "Love when they argue the hardest MC/Is it K.Dot, is it Aubrey, or me?"
Others point to lyrics at the end of Drake’s second verse on “First Person Shooter," which also seems to refer to Lamar.
“N***as talkin' 'bout when this gon' be repeated/What the fuck, bro? I'm one away from Michael/N***a, beat it, n***a, beat it, what?” Drake raps.
Lamar appeared to flip that reference on “Like That,” saying, “And your best work is a light pack/N***a, Prince outlived Mike Jack / N***a, bum.”
There's also the fact that veteran hip-hop journalist Rob Markman said in March, "Somebody very close to one of [the Big 3's] camps told me that a collaboration was close to happening. Apparently that's all dead now."
Check out some reactions to the idea that Drake and Cole sought Kendrick's participation on "First Person Shooter" below.
