Kendrick Lamar drops another diss track after Not Like Us – while Drake remains silent

Kendrick Lamar released his first song in four months, a follow-up to May 4’s Not Like Us, which cemented him as the victor in his rap feud with Drake.

The 37-year-old Compton native, who will headline Super Bowl LIX in February 2025, shared the untitled track via Instagram on Wednesday, and it is not available to stream.

Lamar’s latest effort doesn’t explicitly name the Toronto-born artist, also 37, but does reference the musical feud, opening with the lines: “I think it’s time to let the party die / This shit got too mean to apologize / This is different, get him hit and disqualified.”

Elsewhere in his new music, Kendrick raps about themes of hedonism, spirituality and the pitfalls of fame.

Earlier this week, the Loyalty singer teased his upcoming NFL performance, writing in a social media caption: “Super Bowl LIX. New Orleans. February 2025. #AppleMusicHalftime.”

The post included a single close-up photo of a pair of well-worn black Air Force 1 sneakers and has so far racked up more than two million likes from her 16.4 million followers.

Fans quickly flocked to the comments to pick apart the cryptic post, with one main note reading: “Bro just confirmed the era of the villain and in the postmodern world that makes him the hero.”

Another commenter referenced Kendrick’s ongoing tension with DJ Akademiks, who is a known Drake fan.

“The Akademiks are currently beating up ghosts,” commented one social media user under the handle @thermalvision_.

Some have interpreted certain rap lyrics in particular as being directed at the media personality: “Influencers talk bad ’cause I ain’t the basic type / But they don’t hate me, they hate the man that I represent / The type of man that never fucks ’cause I want a favor.”

If there was any doubt about who the host was talking to, he added another clue: “The radio personality who does propaganda for a paycheck / Let me know when she comes forward as a victim.”

Someone else speculated that the new song was a reaction to the music industry as a whole.

“This isn’t even about Drake, it’s about the entire industry and its effects on the next generation. He’s sick of it,” wrote @johnsdayoff.

And another person joked about Kendrick: “He wrote that with a sword.”

Along with announcing his Super Bowl halftime performance, Kendrick shared a separate post featuring a promotional video.

In the clip, he said, “Are you coming? I hope so. You know there’s only one chance to win a championship. No runoffs. Let’s go, boom! I wouldn’t want you to miss this. Meet me in New Orleans on February 9, 2025.”

He added: “Put on your best clothes too, even if you’re watching from home. Let’s go, yeah! That’s what I’m talking about, man. Now we can go for real.”

In the clip, Kendrick operates a football-passing machine on the field in front of a huge American flag.

Drake quietly ended his feud with Kendrick, which many understood as a concession.

In early August, he surprised his fans by releasing 100 gigabytes of never-before-seen footage from his personal archives.

The dump included behind-the-scenes content from studio sessions for some of his biggest hits.

Among the shots was a revealing moment that confirmed his 2016 song Too Good, featuring Rihanna, was written about tennis icon Serena Williams.