Drakewill release his new album,Iceman,on Friday in Toronto, a first full-length project since his highly publicised 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar, and the first real test of whether the Canadian star can rebuild his standing in hip-hop after what many in the industry regard as a decisive defeat.
The clash between Drake and Lamar dominated rap last spring, with the two trading diss tracks in rapid succession. It culminated in Lamar'sNot Like Us, a single so dominant it spilt far beyond hip-hop circles. Drake responded not only on record but in court, filing a defamation lawsuit against their shared label. That case was dismissed, and although an appeal is pending, within rap culture the verdict has already been delivered: Lamar won, and Drake's aura of invincibility took a hit.
Drake DISSED Kendrick Lamar in new ICEMAN song 👀"Imma show you what to do lil n****, imma show you what to do lil boy"pic.twitter.com/qT4lcIsQBM
In a genre where reputation is a kind of currency, the question now is simple and brutal: what is Drake worth after Kendrick? He remains a towering commercial presence, with music, fashion, sports, and online gambling ventures that keep him well out of the underdog bracket. Yet he has not produced a truly era-defining single in years, and that gap has started to matter in a scene that moves fast and rarely forgives creative stasis.
'The Kendrick battle absolutely dethroned Drake. Up until then, he was considered the leader of the pack, insofar as sales and hit records,' says Sowmya Krishnamurthy, author ofThe Blueprint: Inside the Business of Roc-A-Fella Records. 'He also just hasn't been able to recover with a hit record. I often like to say all is forgiven with a hit.'
Since the beef erupted, the numbers back up that sense of drift. 'Nokia' and 'What Did I Miss?' both climbed as high as No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, strong by most standards but not the domination associated with Drake's peak years.
Music journalist Peter A. Berry, who has written for XXL and Complex, is even blunter in his assessment of the Lamar episode. He argues that Drake's loss to Lamar on what he calls a 'national and global stage' is probably the most significant defeat any rapper has suffered in a major battle. Lamar then turnedNot Like Usinto something unprecedented: the first diss track to win record and song of the year at the Grammys in 2025, followed by a Super Bowl halftime performance that felt, to many, like a victory parade.
Drake's trademark weapons were used against him.Not Like Usis a diss built as an earworm, stacked with meme-ready lines and a hook that skirts the boundary between rap and pop. It is exactly the sort of crossover magic Drake perfected withIn My Feelingsand its instantly memed 'Kiki, do you love me?' refrain, or the 'YOLO' catchphrase fromThe Motto.
And yet, despite the bruising, his broader popularity looks oddly untouched. Just last month, Spotify named Drake the third-most-streamed artist in the platform's global history, behind only Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny. 'He remains this kind of immutable pop culture force,' says Berry, even though he has not enjoyed a long-running No. 1 hit since 2018, when 'Nice for What', 'God's Plan' and 'In My Feelings' crowded the charts.
Drake takes aim Kendrick Lamar in episode 4 of ‘ICEMAN’ 👀“Damn who is this guy for real, hundred million streams vanished, no one got questions for n****““What was the year you said you had slaps, cause I dont remember it going like that, I don’t remember one word of your…pic.twitter.com/ozsp7PpVH3
Source: International Business Times UK
