Drake and Kendrick Lamar really don’t like each other. Last night, right after Drake dropped “Family Matters,” a song that accuses Kendrick of domestic violence, among other things, Lamar returned with “meet the grahams,” a brutal diss track that alleges Drizzy is hiding an 11-year-old daughter and doing all kinds of other awful stuff. Things have gotten ugly, and they’re only going to get uglier. Nobody can look away.
“meet the grahams” is formatted as a series of letters to Drake and members of his family. Kendrick aims the first verse at Drake’s son Adonis, whose existence was famously first revealed in Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon.”
I’m sorry that that man is your father, let me be honest
It takes a man to be a man, your dad is not responsive
I look at him and wish your grandpa woulda wore a condom
I’m sorry that you gotta grow up and then stand behind him
Life is hard, I know, the challenge is always gon’ beat us home
Sometimes our parents make mistakes that affect us until we grown
The second verse is addressed to Drake’s parents. In one especially scathing set of lines, Kendrick insinuates that Drake, who’s biracial, uses his father’s Blackness to enhance his own credibility.
Dear Dennis, you gave birth to a master manipulator
Even usin’ you to prove who he is is a huge favor
I think you should ask for more paper, and more paper
And more, uh, more paper
I’m blamin’ you for all his gamblin’ addictions
Psychopath intuition, the man that like to play victim
You raised a horrible fuckin’ person, the nerve of you, Dennis
What’s more, Kendrick charges Drake with harboring sex offenders at OVO and possibly partaking in extremely shady activities himself.
And we gotta raise our daughters knowin’ there’s predators like him lurkin’
Fuck a rap battle, he should die so all of these women can live with a purpose
I been in this industry twelve years, I’ma tell y’all one lil’ secret
It’s some weird shit goin’ on and some of these artists be here to police it
They be streamlinin’ victims all inside of they home and callin’ ’em Tinder
Then leak videos of themselves to further push their agendas
In the third verse, Kendrick raps to the 11-year-old daughter he claims Drake has abandoned. As with the Adonis verse, Lamar insists that Drake is a bad man who does bad things, and that his children deserve a better role model.
I’m sorry that your father not active inside your world
He don’t commit to much but his music, yeah, that’s for sure
He a narcissist, misogynist, livin’ inside his songs
Try destroy families rather than takin'’care of his own
Should be teachin’ you time tables or watchin’ Frozen with you
Or at your eleventh birthday, singin’ poems with you
Instead, he be in Turks payin’ for sex and poppin’ Percs, examples that you don’t deserve
The fourth verse is a message to Drake himself. In the closing lines, Kendrick accuses him of being a complete phony whose only real enemy is himself.
You lied about your accent and your past tense, all is perjury
You lied about your ghostwriters, you lied about your crew members
They all pussy, you lied on ’em, I know they all got you in ’em
You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh
You lied about them other kids that’s out there hopin’ that you come
You lied about the only artist that can offer you some help
Fuck a rap battle, this a long life battle with yourself
There’s obviously way more to this song. It goes on for 6:32. Read all the lyrics on Genius now.
