Kendrick Lamar and Drake‘s culture-dominating beef has now spilled over into the world of video games.
The drama began last week when Kendrick’s chart-topping diss song “Not Like Us” was reimagined as a computer game by developer Richie Branson (no relation to the British billionaire).
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The 8-bit game, soundtracked by an arcade-inspired version of the Mustard-produced beat, allows users to play as a K. Dot and hit owls with a club — a nod to the piñata scene in the song’s accompanying video.
Days later, a rival video game based on Drake’s own diss song “Family Matters” was created in response, with the developers taking a shot at Branson’s “Not Like Us” game in the process.
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“Made by some real ones to prove a point. That Not Like Us game was trash. KBots backdooring the plays like Kendrick’s Spotify, haha,” the credits read, referencing the unsubstantiated rumors that Kendrick had used bots to boost the streams of “Not Like Us.”
The “Family Matters” game challenges players to aim as many Grammy Awards as possible into Kendrick’s mouth, inspired by Drizzy’s lyrical dig on the track where he rapped: “Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a Grammy right now.”
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After Branson caught wind of the game, the 8-bit beef ramped up as he hit back at the anonymous Drake fans on social media by teasing another game inspired by Kendrick’s earlier diss song “Meet the Grahams.”
“[S]hould I clap back with a ‘Meet The Grahams’ game or nah? lmao,” he teased on X (formerly Twitter).
should I clap back with a “Meet The Grahams” game or nah? lmao https://t.co/4cng7VNnbC
— Richie Branson (@richiebranson) July 22, 2024
Video games isn’t the only medium that has been infiltrated by Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s bitter feud.
Last month, the rap battle of the century was compiled into a cassette tape that features every diss track from the months-long back-and-forth.
The tape begins with Drake and J. Cole‘s 2023 collaboration “First Person Shooter,” which featured subtle jabs at Kendrick, and leads into Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That,” home to K. Dot’s blistering guest verse in which he declares: “Motherfuck the big three, n-gga, it’s just big me.”
After detouring through the subliminal shots on Future’s “We Don’t Trust You” and Cole’s since-retracted “7 Minute Drill,” the tracklist dives into Drizzy and K. Dot’s diss song duel of “Push Ups,” “Taylor Made Freestyle,” “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA” and so on.
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It also includes Rick Ross‘ “Champagne Moments” and Kanye West‘s “Like That (Remix),” both of which were aimed at the 6 God.
