A rivalry between two of the world’s biggest rappers has simmered for years, flaring up again in May thanks to multiple surprise tracks. One is a chart-dominating artist who pops streaming records as frequently as he does champagne bottles; the other is possibly the greatest rapper of all time, with multiple Grammy wins and a Pulitzer Prize to his name. Many fans would agree that Drake and Kendrick Lamar operate in entirely different lanes. Drake entertains with summery rap-pop jams such as “One Dance” and “Hotline Bling”, dabbling in trap, dancehall and R&B along the way, while Lamar has asserted himself as a deft lyricist capable of blending street smarts with a literary wit. Yet their once friendly relationship has descended into years of traded barbs and thinly veiled disses, fuelled by fans who clash over which one is the better artist, and finally boiling over into a full-blown feud.

Here’s a look at their relationship over the years. Lamar and Drake were once on relatively friendly terms, with the Canadian artist inviting Lamar out on his Club Paradise headline tour. Lamar said in an early career interview that he and Drake “clicked immediately”, describing the fellow rapper as a “genuine soul” and revealing that Drake was the first person outside of his immediate team to hear his debut album Section 80. Drake later invited K-Dot to feature on his forthcoming second album, Take Care.

Around the release of Lamar’s critically acclaimed second album, Good Kid, MAAD City, on which Drake featured, tension appeared to begin brewing between the pair, seemingly in part due to their differing attitudes towards wealth and fame. Where Lamar tends to avoid sharing details of his personal life on social media, Drake is known for sharing frequent posts about his lavish lifestyle to his millions of Instagram followers, from private jets to couture and luxury cars. Lamar discussed this openly in interviews, hinting that he believed bragging about money and fame was superficial, and his own music tackled deeper matters.

The two also seemed to grow colder towards one another as Lamar began to experience commercial and critical success, scooping major awards and receiving universal praise for Good Kid, MAAD City and being invited to star on tracks by other major artists. In public, Drake continued to congratulate Lamar for a number of his successes, until 2013, when Lamar dropped a verse on Big Sean’s track “Control” that made it clear he considered himself above other rappers… including Drake.

While rappers such as A$AP Rocky, who was also name-checked, seemed pleased to be namechecked by Lamar at all, believing his competitive nature to be healthy for hip-hop, Drake seemed less enamoured. “Was that real or was that just for the people?” he asked in an interview on Hot 97 after Lamar’s guest verse came out. “Those were harsh words, right? It’s like, you can’t just say that and then see me and be like, ‘Yeah man…’ pretending like nothing ever happened. That’s not real, man.”.

Drake doubled down on this stance in a later interview where he implied that Lamar was more about a “moment” than creating bodies of work, questioning whether he would release something that could top Good Kid, MAAD City. He then released his third album, 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, in which he appeared to take aim at Lamar on “The Language”, rapping: “F*** any n***a that’s talking that s*** just to get a reaction.”.

On the same track, he referred to himself as “the kid with the motormouth / I am the one you should worry about.” He also seemed to mock Lamar’s attitude towards wealth, rapping: “N***as downplaying the money but that's what you do when the money down.”. “It’s clearly about Kendrick,” he said, citing instances where Lamar appeared to laugh at Drake’s expense during interviews and suggesting K-Dot might have said something behind the “Hold On” singer’s back, which later made its way to him.

Drake’s resentment might have grown after Lamar seemingly mocked Drake for being “sensitive during a freestyle with ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab Soul and Isaiah Rashad: “Nothing’s been the same since they dropped ‘Control’/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pyjama clothes.”. Fans were convinced he was talking about Drake, given he’d cited the title of the fellow rapper’s recent album, Nothing Was the Same.

Drake then got personal a few weeks later on Future’s track “S**t”, where he pointed out that Lamar played his biggest shows at the time around his hometown in Los Angeles while supporting Drake on tour in 2012: “Took n***as out the hood like I’m from there / So you know it’s all good when I come there / I hear you talk about your city like you run that / And I brought my tour to your city, you my son there, n***a.”.