How Kendrick Lamar Won

How a Rap Battle Reveals the Principles Behind Every Great Achievement

You might have heard: there was a beef – a battle between two famous rappers, Kendrick Lamar and Drake, that culminated in the Super Bowl Halftime Show this past Sunday. I don't know how much you know about the history of this rap beef, ranging from being glued to the screen and listening to all the diss tracks, to having zero idea what's going on. You might be more familiar with "beef dish" than "beef" and "diss."

Full transparency, I'm not a hip-hop guy either, so forgive me for not getting every detail right. (I did write a couple of rap songs in my late teens, but it didn't go great. I spat no fire, only aerosol and regret.)

I am, however, an expert in dissecting achievements and finding strategies and tactics.

The Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef has been objectively one of the most prominent events in the music industry's recent history. That in itself is an achievement.

This rap beef reveals so much about how to achieve and win

Moreover, the scale of one rapper's (Kendrick Lamar's) victory over another (Drake) was stunning. This is music's version of the United States dropping the atomic bomb to end World War II, though luckily, other than Drake's ego, not a single person was harmed in this fight.

I looked at what happened and discovered fascinating strategies Kendrick Lamar used to win this very public battle, ones that belong to the Art of Achieving Ambitious Things.

So I am here to unpack Kendrick Lamar's tactics for you, so you can use them to win your own battle, whether it's over another rapper or your own business obstacles.

But before that, let me give you some background on what happened in the "beef." If you are already hyper-aware of it, feel free to skip to the next section.

Background

In the rap song industry, there is a "beef culture," meaning two rappers don't like each other and start writing songs to insult one another. It's like two boxers starting to box in the ring. But instead of jabs and hooks, they use lyrics and rhythms.

The listeners of the songs will react to the performance, and their reactions determine who's winning and losing. If public opinion overwhelmingly believes one rapper won, it's like a knockout punch. Game over.

These beefs can play out in different ways. Some can be freestyle battles like the famous scene in "8 Mile" between Eminem and his nemesis.

Rap battles can play out in different formats - in person or virtual

And some, as in the case of Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake, can be one rapper dropping a song, then the other rapper dropping a reaction song. And back and forth it goes.

In the world of hip-hop, no one had been more successful than Drake in the past ten years. The rapper from Toronto, Canada, is talented, good-looking, rich, popular, and a vicious diss track writer. Think of Drake like Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. In his beefing history, he KO'd one rapper after another, and no one seemed to stand a chance against him.

Until he met his version of Rocky Balboa, aka Kendrick Lamar, the rapper from Compton, California, who is of humble background and miniature in stature. But don't let his look and beginning fool you. He is one of the most talented rappers ever, and definitely the meanest in writing diss songs.

Let the battle begin!

Kendrick first wrote a diss track called "Like That," stating he's better than Drake. It was the spark that turned into a conflagration in the ensuing month and a half.

Drake came back with his own diss tracks attacking Kendrick Lamar, who then returned the favor. Back and forth it went. They attacked each other's characters, personalities, looks, race, shoe sizes, family members, parenting styles, and marriage fidelity. They even accused each other of domestic violence and being pedophiles – crazy stuff!

(I'm skipping over a lot of details of their history here, and they are not important to the discussion. Here is a full timeline if you are interested.)

Then, the nuclear bomb dropped. Kendrick Lamar dropped a song called "Not Like Us." The song was so catchy and artistically meaningful (I'll explain later) it blew up to be a mega hit.

And it was at this moment Drake wobbled. His return diss track called "The Heart Part 6" was relatively weak and defensive. He even hinted at ending the beef. This is the equivalent of Ivan Drago getting hit so hard that, instead of hitting back, he put up his hands and started tending his wounds and retreating to his corner.

The eagerly watching public sensed blood in the water right away and overwhelmingly turned against Drake. Remember, in rap beefing, public sentiment is all that matters. Drake later tried with another comeback song, but it failed harder than Google Glass, and he had to take down the song. The battle was all but over.

But here's the problem: even after Drake's defeat, "Not Like Us" got bigger and bigger. And because Drake is at the receiving end of the song, every time its publicity expands, Drake's reputation gets further charred. He made it worse by suing the people involved in the song, accusing them of making it bigger than it should. It only fueled the song's popularity and mockery toward Drake.

"Not Like Us" ended up not only sweeping all five categories at the 2025 Grammy's but also was the centerpiece of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, where over 133 million people watched live, and countless more watched it on YouTube later. All in all, this diss track was played and heard over 500M times in various forms.

This is like Rocky beating Ivan Drago in the ring, and Drago went home with a bad concussion. But every time the movie was replayed, Drago would be punched by an invisible fist. And he continued to get hit hundreds of millions of times sitting on the couch, in the shower, or in his sleep.

When Rocky beats Ivan Drago, it was over. But Drake isn’t so lucky

Or it's like Celine Dion performed "My Heart Will Go On" in 1997, and the song played out billions of times around the world, but the theme of the song is "Drake sucks and is a pedophile."

You can argue that in history, no one has lost a PR+music battle harder and more prominently than Drake did that doesn't involve elections and scandals.

The Kendrick Lamar Principles

OK, now you are up to speed on what happened in this beef. Let's talk about what it has to do with the Art of Achieving Ambitious Things.

Namely, Kendrick used two principles that you, me, and everyone who wants to win can employ in their own battles.

Principle #1: Cause Over Person

Beefs, insults, and victories are fun. Two rappers write songs to tell each other "I'm bigger than you," "I'm prettier than you," "I'm richer than you." Great! But in the end, who cares? It's just entertainment infused with ego and PR tactics from the rappers.

But the song "Not Like Us" changed everything. Yes, it was artfully written and performed, but more importantly, it tells a story of Compton, California, which you will see throughout the music video. Compton is a relatively small city within Greater Los Angeles County, with less than 100,000 in population and predominantly African American.

Not Like Us invoked Compton, CA and the entire western Black culture

However, culturally its significance can't be understated, being the birthplace of the West Coast Hip-Hop scene, with countless artists and athletes from the city, including Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Serena and Venus Williams, DeMar DeRozan, and of course, Kendrick Lamar himself.

In a way, Compton represents history, art, identity, struggle, and resilience of entire West Coast Black culture, if not those of entire America. That's why countless influential figures joined the song and Kendrick Lamar's cause, both inside the music video and when the song was performed live at concerts. It's a song about them.

Yet, it's also a diss track against Drake.

So Kendrick Lamar wrote a song to turn the entire Black culture against his enemy, with countless celebrities and a huge population of America joining him.

Now that's art.

In the Art of Achieving Ambitious Things, I have a principle called Cause over Person.

Advocate for yourself alone, and your voice echoes in an empty room. But champion a cause greater than yourself, and your voice becomes a rally cry – one that transforms strangers into allies and skeptics into believers. When you fight for something bigger than yourself, you're no longer asking for permission; you're extending an invitation to join a movement.

This is called the "Mama Bear Effect" – you fiercely fight and protect something important to you, like the cubs to a mama bear. And you do it without fear and remorse. And in Kendrick Lamar's case, with art.

The next time you try to sell a product or convince someone of an idea, don't just advocate for yourself or the product itself. Do it for their customers and those your idea would benefit.

Principle #2: Love Over Talent

George Bernard Shaw once said “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”

It perfectly illustrates the second principle that Kendrick Lamar employed in his battle against Drake is often overlooked, yet the most potent weapon in the long-term – his love of the fight.

In one of his diss tracks called "Euphoria", Kendrick hinted that there was no way he would lose to Drake because he truly loves the beef, and all he wants to do is write diss tracks against him. He wrote "Ain't twenty-v-one, it's one-v-twenty," meaning there are twenty Kendrick Lamars writing songs vs. one Drake, showing his unmatched relentless effort due to his love of writing diss tracks against Drake.

Drake, on the other hand, couldn't match Kendrick's effort because he couldn't match his enjoyment. His heart was in winning and results, but not in the fight itself.

In one of my biggest findings in the history of great achievements, I found the unprecedented heights are often achieved by insanely talented people who were hopelessly in love with their work to the point of addiction. Look at Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, and in this case, Kendrick Lamar – all loved their work and craft above anything else.

Here's the thing about any battle: if you're placing bets, don't put your money on talent alone. Put it on the person who can't wait to get out of bed and fight. Talent might win you a highlight reel, but loving the fight wins you the championship. And when you find someone who has both? That's like finding the Michael Jordan of your field – someone who's not just gifted, but obsessed with the game. That person doesn't just win once; they build a dynasty.

So how does this apply to you? Well, in your work, you too can tap into your love of the work. That's the theme of my newsletter – use systems and tools to 1. Do what you love 2. Love what you do.

Conclusion:

Now, looking back at my own battles – whether launching products, doing 100 days of Rejection Therapy, giving talks or even writing this newsletter – I realize I've won most consistently when I followed Kendrick's blueprint: fighting for something bigger than myself and genuinely loving the process. The fights I lost? Those were the ones where I was focused only on the result, on proving something about myself rather than serving a larger purpose.

These aren't just hip-hop lessons. They're universal principles of achievement, discovered through beats and rhymes but applicable everywhere from boardrooms to classrooms. The next time you face your own Drake – whether it's a competitor, a challenge, or your own self-doubt – remember: your cause and your love of the fight are your secret weapons.