Credentials: Became the most decorated rapper in hip-hop by defeating Drake in a rap battle
; dropped three No. 1 singles and one No. 1 album; named Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show headliner; nominated for seven 2025 Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year.
The question isn’t whether Kendrick Lamar deserves the Best Rapper Alive title—it’s whether anyone’s ever deserved it more.
From the moment he dissed Drake in a guest appearance on Future and Metro Boomin’s
“Like That” last March, Kendrick seized control of hip-hop with a combination of audacity, electricity, and execution, turning a rap battle into gladiatorial theater and a trampoline to an undisputed crown. While others have worn it, few commandeered it in such a multifaceted way. Over the course of nine months, Kendrick found time to dominate hip-hop in the most extreme terms imaginable. He came, he saw and he conquered. Again and again and again.
The coup d'etat began with a sneering Trojan horse of a guest verse: “Motherfukk the big three, n*gga, it’s just big me.” It was both a declaration of war and a first strike—an emphatic challenge to the whole
“Big 3” thing. J. Cole
famously bowed out. Drake decided he wanted the smoke, offering Kendrick the most coveted gift for any great warrior: a worthy opponent.
