In the ongoing Hip Hop saga, "The Heart Part 6" is the latest entry in the ongoing lyrical battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The track is a response to Kendrick's heavy-hitting “Not Like Us” and "Meet The Grahams." Drake announced the song with the caption, "The Heart Part 6 out now. And we know you’re dropping 6 mins after so instead of posting my address you have a lot to address."
Drake's track is a clever inversion of Kendrick's own "The Heart" series, a collection of songs that have been a recurring theme throughout Kendrick's career. By naming his diss track "The Heart Part 6," Drake not only mocks Kendrick's series but also implies a continuation of the narrative, suggesting that he's now taking over the story Kendrick began. In this latest installment, Drake addresses head-on the allegations thrown at him by Kendrick in his last two diss tracks, "Meet the Grahams" and "Not Like Us." Moreover, he backs it up with his allegations of his own. However, Drake’s latest release isn’t sitting well with fans.
Kendrick's “Not Like Us” featured an aerial map view of Drake's mansion, splattered with red tags to imply sex offenders inhabit the house. Unsurprisingly, the cover art for Drake's response similarly intends to be provocative. It features a screenshot of an Instagram comment left by pgLang co-founder Dave Free, on a post about Whitney Alford’s children. Whitney Alford, who is the mother to Lamar's two children, does not follow him on Instagram. The cover art is thus a strategic jab at Kendrick. Drake is referencing his previous accusation on “Family Matters” that Alford had been unfaithful with Free, and fathered the son who Kendrick is now raising.
The Secret Daughter And The Mole
Kendrick accused Drake of having an 11-year-old secret daughter he wouldn't publicly claim in his previous track "Meet the Grahams." In "The Heart Part 6," Drake flips the script. He claims that OVO planted the story as bait to trick Kendrick. "We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information / A daughter that’s eleven years old, I bet he takes it / We thought about givin’ a fake name or a destination," he raps. This aligns with Kendrick admitting he received the information about Drake's alleged hidden child from someone close to Drizzy.
The Pedophilia Allegations
Kendrick also called out Drake and the OVO crew as child molesters on multiple of his diss tracks. Specifically, on “Not Like Us,” he referred to Drake and his crew as "certified pedophiles." Drake vehemently denies this, multiple times on “The Heart Part 6.” "I never been with no one underage but now I understand why this is the angle that you really mess with / If I was f**king young girls, I promised I’d have been arrested / I’m way too famous for this sh*t you just suggested," Drake insists.
He also suggests that the allegations were Kendrick's way of misdirecting the beef instead of focusing on music solely. "Speaking of anything with a child, let’s get to that now / This Epstein angle was the shit I expected / TikTok videos you collected and dissected / Instead of being on some dis-direct sh*t / You rather fu*king grab your pen and misdirect sh*t," Drake raps. Listeners would later point out that Kendrick had referred to Weinstein on his track, and not Epstein.
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Lamar And Whitney Alford
On “The Heart Part 6,” Drake also brings up Lamar's alleged domestic troubles. For example, he touches on Lamar’s relationship with his fiancee, Whitney Alford. Drake alleges she was cheating on and planning to leave Kendrick for allegedly physically abusing her. Drake questions why Whitney hasn't publicly denied the allegations. "And why isn’t Whitney denying all of the allegations / Why is she following Dave Free and not Mr. Morale / You haven’t seen the kids in six months, the distance is wild / Dave leaving heart emojis underneath pics of the child," he raps.
Elsewhere in the song, he continues to suggest that Dave Free is actually the father of his son, rapping, "Like if Dave really fu*ked your girl and got her pregnant, talk about breedin’ resentment." He also ties together his response to the allegations of grooming minors, specifically Millie Bobby Brown and Kendrick's speculated split from Alford. "I’m your baby mama's screen saver / only fu*king with Whitney's, not Millie Bobby Brown's."
Another Domestic Drama
Drake mocks Kendrick's signature series, "The Heart," by naming his diss track "The Heart Part 6." This move mirrors Kendrick's own mockery of Drake's AM/PM series with "6:16 In LA." However, he also took a shot at Kendrick by referencing another song from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. "My mom came over today and I was like/ 'Mother I-, mother I-, mother I-' / Wait a second, that's that one record where you say you got molested / Aw, f**k me, I just made the whole connection," he raps. "This is trauma from your own confessions / This when your father leave you home alone with no protection, so neglected / That’s why these pedophile raps is shit you so obsessed with, it’s so excessive."
This is a direct reference to Kendrick’s confessions from 2022's “Mother I Sober.” Here, he tells a story of his mom forcing him to admit to a sexual molestation by his cousin that never happened. Kendrick, who is a child at the time tries to convince his mother he hadn't been molested, but it’s futile. Kendrick explains her refusal to believe him as being a result of her own childhood trauma. Some argued Drake's reference attempts to make Kendrick relive the experience of not being believed. It’s a twist on Lamar’s pedophile accusations against Drake.
Conclusion
— Metro Boomin (@MetroBoomin) May 6, 2024
The release of Drake's "The Heart Part 6" has certainly made waves. As a result, the song garnered a wide array of reactions from fans, critics, and fellow artists alike. Metro Boomin reacted to the track with a meme of Chris Paul. This suggests that despite Drake's efforts, he is still trailing in the battle with Kendrick.
In the outro of "The Heart Part 6," Drake raps on the feud with Kendrick Lamar in the past tense, saying he got "some good exercise." This retrospective view hints at the possibility that Drake may be bowing out of the diss track exchange. Whether or not this puts the beef on pause is still unknown. Regardless, the public is still patiently waiting to see if Kendrick decides to retaliate or not. The ball, it seems, is in Kendrick's court to decide if this is the final chapter of one of Hip Hop's biggest beefs.