Illustrations by LUCIE WIMETZ
Rap beef has always walked a fine line between competition and chaos, but in 2025, that line was blurrier than ever. Once a matter of high-stakes lyrical sparring, feuds like Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s can now drive streams, hashtags, and brand visibility through the roof, bringing new questions along. Many observers have been left asking: Is beef a sport, a marketing tool, or something more dangerous?
“Social media has made everything more amplified,” says Trent Clark, head of TMZ Hip Hop. “Even a casual fan can have a weighty opinion with very minimal knowledge.” He points out that the sheer volume of conversation around these conflicts has turned rap beef into its own entertainment vertical that the industry and its algorithms eagerly exploit.
Rob Markman, Genius’ VP of music and content, agrees that the dynamic has shifted. “Now, the whole world is watching, listening, and egging it on,” he says. “Are you even invested in this culture? Or [just] the destruction that comes with it?”
Drake vs. Kendrick: Round Two
BY THE TIME Kendrick Lamar and Drake finished trading disses in the spring of 2024, their dispute had become the most profitable beef in rap history. Lamar’s “Not Like Us” dominated the charts and won five Grammys, including Record and Song of the Year, at the awards show this past February. “By the numbers, it’s the biggest beef of all time,” Clark says.
But the aftermath blurred the boundaries between performance and precedent. In January, Drake filed a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for promoting Kendrick’s track. Ten months later, a judge dismissed the suit, but the industry remains wary of how it could affect future diss tracks. “Can rappers even battle each other anymore?” Markman wonders.
While the lawsuit underscored the ways that conflict can boost streams, insiders say it also showed how these situations can complicate marketing campaigns, sponsorships, and tours. Kendrick and Drake’s feud ended up in court in part because both artists release music under Universal Music Group, and it’s hard to imagine that this tension was welcome behind the scenes. It may spark short-term attention, but it can also make long-term business messy.
Are fans driving the narrative?
THIS FALL, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj’s revived tension dominated headlines, but while the two traded plenty of jabs online, there was no official exchange of songs. “With Nicki and Cardi, there’s a portion of ‘I don’t like you.’ They just don’t like each other,” Markman notes.
He adds that the dueling rap queens were often seemingly reacting to what their fans told them happened. “The fan armies fuel the fire,” he says. “That has to have a psychological effect. The nature of the internet and fandom has changed the rules of engagement.”
That feedback loop — fans provoking artists, artists responding online, media outlets amplifying the response — muddies the line between competition and audience-driven drama. And for women in hip-hop, the scrutiny cuts deeper. “You’ve got to be hard enough to be convincing, but you still have to show some soft girl [qualities],” Clark adds.
After Minaj insulted her daughter, Cardi drew praise for mostly taking the high road. Their rivalry stayed online, and when Cardi’s album Am I the Drama? hit Number One in September, there wasn’t a single Minaj diss on wax.
When beef turns to bloodshed
SOME CONFLICTS, though, carry a heavier risk. The tension between NBA YoungBoy and Lil Durk, and their respective protégés, Quando Rondo and the late King Von, escalated into real-world violence five years ago. In 2020, Rondo’s associate Lul Timm shot and killed Von outside an Atlanta nightclub, claiming self-defense; charges were later dismissed. Durk is currently in prison after being arrested last November on charges he allegedly masterminded a 2022 plot to murder Quando Rondo in retaliation. (He pleaded not guilty.)
That background made YoungBoy’s recent Atlanta show especially charged. On the same night he told the crowd that he no longer carries weapons and that he’s “aiming to do the right thing,” YoungBoy brought Lul Timm onstage and performed his 2022 Durk diss “I Hate YoungBoy.” A subsequent Atlanta show was canceled. And weeks later, NLE the Great (formerly NLE Choppa) made headlines by lashing out at YoungBoy in a new track of his own.
Moments of reconciliation — like YFN Lucci and Young Thug squashing their decade-long feud this fall — often make less noise. “Audiences leave you high and dry when the drama’s over,” Clark says.
So is beef good for business? In cases like Kendrick’s and Cardi’s, where competition arguably ends up elevating the art, maybe. “Rap beef is good for the culture in some ways, in terms of giving people a voice,” says industry veteran Al Branch, who has worked on marketing for Jay-Z, Lil Nas X, and more. “[But] you’ve got to know how to take your losses.”
From Rolling Stone US.
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