Over the course of his career, Kendrick Lamar has been more than happy to call out fellow rappers whenever he sees fit. There was his iconic verse from Big Sean's "Control" back in 2013, for instance, and of course, there was his recent and massive beef with Drake.
If there's one rapper in the game right now that you don't want to provoke, it's gotta be Kendrick. He is likely to respond, and when he does, he will execute it well. Yet another rapper is learning that the hard way, as Young Thug has now gotten name-checked.
Kendrick took the opportunity to poke fun at Thugger during one of his two features on his cousin Baby Keem's new album, Ca$ino. What did Kenny say, and why did he decide to address Young Thug in this manner at all? Looking back at these two's history over the past year makes the answer obvious.
Breaking down Kendrick's jab at Young Thug
The diss comes on the fourth track off of Ca$ino, entitled "Good Flirts." In the midst of this love-focused song, Kendrick delivers a targeted line in his verse: "S**t, I gossip with my b***h like I'm Young Thug too."
On its own, this is a pretty funny bar that references the slew of leaked Young Thug jail calls we got last year. Young Thug was revealed to be quite the gossip through those calls, with the Atlanta rapper bad-mouthing everybody from Glorilla to André 3000.
What makes this reference especially notable is that Kendrick and Baby Keem were also among those being disparaged in the jail calls. So, this bar by Kendrick is more than just a harmless reference. It's a response.
Young Thug said several things in the call that would have bothered Kendrick. For one, Thug was upset that Kendrick wouldn't give him a feature and accused him of being stingy with his features instead of blessing fellow rappers. Thug said that's why Kendrick "will never be bigger than Drake."
Thug also asserted that Kendrick had never put anybody on. According to Thugger, that included his cousin Baby Keem, whom he referred to at one point as "bulls**t-a** Keem." Knowing that this is how Young Thug spoke of him and Keem, it's no wonder that Kendrick chose to clap back at Thug.
The way in which Kendrick went about this was honestly masterful. It's only a single bar, but that's all it needed to be. Given the context of their history, a funny, one-off jab by Kendrick at Young Thug after all the smack that Thugger talked is a boss move for sure.
To do it on a Baby Keem track, who was also catching strays from Young Thug, is the cherry on top. There was no better feature placement to put this punchline onto. It makes total sense, and it also managed to fit into the love narrative of the track really well.
It's impossible to say whether or not Young Thug will ever fire back at Kendrick at this point. But for now, Kendrick clearly has the upper hand, and he was able to do so by saying way less.