May 10th, 2024, Christien Pheby
In the last couple of weeks, Kendrick Lamar and Drake have fired accusations of infidelity, inauthenticity, child trafficking, and domestic abuse at each other in a series of diss tracks. Commentators and social media users have taken sides and declare victory for their preferred MC – but on the whole, fans themselves aren’t quite as partisan.
YouGov Profiles US collects data on a rolling basis, and allows us to see how Kendrick Lamar fans feel about Drake, and how Drake fans feel about Kendrick Lamar. Just for clarity’s sake: as a rolling database that was most recently updated on 28 April 2024, YouGov Profiles provides an overall view into how fans of each musician feel rather than a window into the ongoing feud.
With that said, it's broadly the case that Americans who like one of these artists tend to like the other.
Seven in ten American Kendrick Lamar fans say they enjoy Drake, with just one in ten having a negative opinion of the Take Care rapper (72% vs. 10%). Drake fans are slightly less likely to have a positive view of Kendrick Lamar, but a majority still think he’s a good kid (69% vs. 14%).
Drake’s fans mostly like Drake’s haters
Kendrick Lamar isn’t the only artist feuding with Drake; the Canadian rapper has described the hip-hop melee that broke out this year as a “20-v-1”.
Again, our data shows that his fans mostly like his current and historic opponents.
In terms of the beef’s current belligerents, three-quarters are fans of fellow Torontonian megastar The Weeknd (77%) while two-thirds like Rick Ross (64%), who has been vigorously promoting the “BBL Drizzy” meme that Drake got cosmetic surgery on his abs. J. Cole, who entered the fray with a diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar before reversing into the hedge Homer Simpson-style, caught flak from Drake too, but three in five (62%) Drake fans like him.
Almost as many have a positive view of Future (59%), who released two albums full of subliminal disses towards Drake in collaboration with Metro Boomin earlier this year. Same goes for A$AP Rocky (59%) and Kanye West (55%).
Even Pusha T – whose “The Story of Adidon” revealed that Drake was “hiding a child” in 2018 – is more liked than disliked among this group. Some 48% of Drake fans are also fans of the Daytona rapper, and just 6% dislike him.
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YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for the US is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.