Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake: 'Not Like Us' gets record, song of the year Grammy nominations
Kendrick Lamar's beef with Drake just got him back on the Grammys stage.
Lamar is up for seven Grammy nominations at the 2025 award show, announced Friday morning. Lamar received five nominations for his hit Drake diss, "Not Like Us," including record and song of the year.
Meanwhile Drake, who has declined to submit to the Grammys over the last few years, didn't receive any nominations.
The nods cap off a tumultuous year for the former collaborators, who slung bars with serious allegations of abuse against one another. With his nominations, the Recording Academy seems to endorse Lamar's path to victory in the mudslinging beef.
Full list of 2025 Grammy nominations:Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, more make the cut
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The nominations come after a big year for the Pulitzer Prize winner, who broadened his reach in his since-cooled feud with Drake. The Compton, California, native reignited the long-brewing rivalry on his "Like That" guest verse in March. The track rounds out his other two nominations and will also compete with "Not Like Us" in the best rap song and best rap performance categories. He released four more diss records this spring, two of which were Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 tracks.
In August, the "Money Trees" rapper was also selected as the 2025 Super Bowl halftime headliner in New Orleans this upcoming February. That move drew disappointment from Drake's mentor and NOLA native Lil Wayne.
The upbeat, West Coast-flavored, DJ Mustard-produced track receiving one of the highest honors in music culminates a year of shots, rumors and jabs, proving not even the Recording Academy is above diving into the fray.
Grammy 2025 snubs:Who didn't get nominated that should have?
Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' is Grammy nominated: How Drake beef started
Years of subliminal shots proceeded "Like That," in which Lamar rapped, seemingly in reference to Drake: "It's time for him to prove that he's a problem."
But the beef officially started when Drake entered the ring with full diss tracks against Lamar in "Push Ups" and "Taylor Made Freestyle" in April.
Lamar responded with his first full diss track, "Euphoria," just over a week later, calling the rapper a "scam artist." Lamar followed up with "6:16 in LA" in early May. Fourteen hours later, Drake followed up with the diss track "Family Matters" that night, in a track that explicitly claimed Lamar physically abused partner Whitney Alford.
Minutes after, Lamar laid out Ozempic rumors against Drake amid serious allegations of abuse, addiction and a second hidden child in "Meet the Grahams." Then on May 4, he released "Not Like Us," slinging accusations of grooming girls:
"I hear you like (them) young. You better not ever go to cell block one," Lamar rapped. "To any (girl) that talk to him and they in love, just make sure you hide your (little) sister from him."
Lamar went on to perform all five tracks at his star-studded "Pop Out" concert, streamed live on Amazon Prime Video with 16,000 fans in person on Juneteenth.
All 9 Drake and Kendrick Lamar2024 diss songs, including 'Not Like Us' and 'Part 6'
Kendrick Lamar's nominations fuel rivalry: Drake vs. the Grammys
Lamar is a favorite to win in the rap categories, which won't go over well with Drake. Lamar's history as a Recording Academy darling came under fire from the "Jimmy Cooks" rapper earlier this year, when he declared in his "Family Matters" diss record: "Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now." Lamar has 17 Grammys out of 57 nominations, to Drake's five out of 55 nominations.
The move will also likely increase tension between the "Her Loss" rapper and the academy for nominating the Billboard No. 1 record that essentially called him a pedophile.
Kendrick Lamarexplains meaning behind Drake diss 'Not Like Us'
The Canadian MC has criticized the Recording Academy for its "disconnect," including shutting The Weeknd out of nominations at the 2021 ceremony. He later withdrew his studio album "Certified Lover Boy" from being considered for the 2022 Grammys.
A rap diss record getting a Grammy nomination isn't unprecedented. Drake's own Meek Mill diss record "Back to Back" was nominated for best rap performance at the 2016 Grammys. (You'll never guess who he lost to: Lamar, for his "To Pimp a Butterfly" single and modern-day protest anthem "Alright.")
And a bit of rap history: A diss record has won a Grammy before. LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" won best rap performance at the 1991 Grammys. The track is partly directed at rapper Kool Moe Dee, with whom LL Cool J had a long-standing feud.
Contributing: USA TODAY Entertainment staff
