Over the past week or so, hip-hop has turned into a battle royale in which rappers from New York, led by Joey Badass, have been embroiled in a free-for-all back and forth with a bunch of LA rappers, largely represented by TDE rapper Ray Vaughn.

Joey was the one who kicked it all off with his song “The Ruler’s Back” in January, calling out Kendrick Lamar, who had spent the nine prior months whaling on Drake. Instead, he got responses from Ray Vaughn and Daylyt, two TDE affiliated rappers who clapped back with songs such as “Crashout Heritage” and “HIYU.”

After things cooled off in the intervening months, Joey stoked the embers of the competition with his freestyle for Red Bull Spiral, prompting another response from Vaughn, along with a slew of diss tracks from more LA natives like AZ Chike and Reason, while Joey’s fellow New Yorker CJ Fly backed him up. After yesterday’s flurry of songs, fans received a new batch of fiery invectives today; see below for the latest updates.

Joey Badass — “My Town” feat. Loaded Lux & “Crash Dummy”

Joey’s day started with the release of “My Town,” bringing in battle rap veteran Loaded Lux as a hired gun to help him dispense disrespectful missives to Ray and Daylyt, sowing dissent between the two Californians. He ended the day the way he started, borrowing a decidedly West Coast aesthetic on “Crash Dummy,” accusing Ray of participating in the battle at the behest of Top Dawg to help him gain a buzz. He also continued calling out Kendrick, his true target, but the more the Pulitzer winner ignores him, the more one wonders if any of this will end up not being worth it.

Ray Vaughn — “Golden Eye”

Technically, Ray dropped last night, but late enough that he missed yesterday’s roundup. Over a 50 Cent flip, Ray declares “Pro Era don’t exist” as a result of having few Billboard hits over the past decade, taking aim at Joey’s crew alongside him.

Daylyt — “Ayo,” “ICantHoldUThisA,” “WordIsBon”

The most prolific participant in the “fair fade,” Daylyt dropped three separate tracks across the past eight hours. “Ayo” employs a series of beat sketches, putting the focus on his polysyllabic rhyme schemes, then on “ICantHoldUThisA,” he goes for a “Not Like Us” approach, turning a “Careless Whisper” interpolation into a turnt-up party song. Meanwhile, “WordIsBon” is a surprisingly heartfelt storytelling track in which Daylyt acknowledges Joey’s late friend and collaborator, Capital Steez, making it clear that all this is simply for sport.

Kai Cash — “KNICKS IN 6,” JaeWon — “Bobby Mercer,” Hitta J3 — “The Last Supper”

Okay, so, these guys all get their own section because they weren’t technically involved to begin with, but they’ve involved themselves. Kai Cash, hailing from Brooklyn, makes it clear that his contribution is pure team spirit. Meanwhile, JaeWon, best known as the offspring of The Lox’s Jadakiss, puts in his two cents over a track from his pops. It’s a little disconcerting how much he sounds like ‘Kiss, but even though he doesn’t have many personal jabs that land, it’s an impressive display of wordplay.

Meanwhile, Hitta J3, whom you may remember from his guest appearance on Kendrick’s GNX title track, contributes another voice from Los Angeles, offering a slightly different perspective from his more lyrically-focused brethren over the beat from Kenny’s Kendrick Lamar EP cut, “Rigamortis.”

There you have it, now that we’re all caught up, who do we think is the winner of the latest round, and do we think Kendrick Lamar will deign to put in an appearance? With the hometown dates on his GNX Tour coming up this week, it certainly would be an opportune time for him to acknowledge the ballyhoo. On the other hand, now that we’ve heard a number of lazy homophobic “jokes” in this battle royale, perhaps it’s time for everyone to take a beat to reflect and pivot to promoting whatever projects they’ve got out, rather than kind of a pointless conflict.