Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Euphoria’ in Line With the Great Diss Tracks

May 2, 2024 19

The debate over the quality of Kendrick Lamar‘s “Euphoria” diss track has continued to rage on ever since it dropped yesterday. Some rap fans have clowned Kendrick’s response to Drake since it’s release on Tuesday (April 30), arguing that while K-Dot undoubtedly rapped circles around Drizzy in his 6-minute response, the MC didn’t reveal anything that Drizzy critics didn’t already know. On the other hand, Kendrick’s die-hard supporters are standing by their king’s response, digging up plenty of easter eggs the rapper scattered throughout the song to showcase his lyrical dexterity and creativity.

Is “Euphoria” a Good Diss Track?

With any new music from one of The Big 3 artists, it’s going to be dissected. So is “Euphoria” a legitimately good diss track? To answer this question, it’s important to go back in history and revisit some of rap’s most diabolical insults. While the young rap fan of today is used to diss tracks within the realm of Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon”—in which King Push revealed to the world that Drake was hiding a son named Adonis—many of the greatest disses in history were merely an assassination of character, rather than a shocking reveal of personal or industry secrets.

“It’s on n***a, f**k all that bickering beef/I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek/Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet/Thundering, shaking the concrete/Finish it, stop, when I foil the plot/Neighbors call the cops said they heard mad shots/Saw me in the drop, three and a quarter/Slaughter, electrical tape around your daughter,” The Notorious B.I.G. rapped with blistering intensity on 1994’s “Who Shot Ya?”

While Biggie never confirmed it, many believed the song to subliminally target Tupac Shakur, as the bloody East Coast and West Coast beef was in full swing. “Who Shot Ya?” never revealed any information about its targets, and it didn’t have to, instead Biggie relied on the disturbing imagery of his foe’s daughter being wrapped in electrical tape to get his point across. Big described his bars as “lyrical molesting” taking place, and painted a picture of “rashes on them a*ses” to imply sexual assault. All of it was deeply unsettling, but never exposing anyone’s secrets.

Ice Cube also used similar energy on his legendary “No Vaseline” diss all the way back in 1991. “You’re getting f**ked real quick/And Eazy d**k is smelling like MC Ren’s s**t,” Cube raps as he paints a very vivid picture of Eazy-E having sex with MC Ren.

Now that’s not to say that secret reveals didn’t pack a punch back in the day. On Jay-Z’s “Super Ugly,” which he released during his contentious feud with Nas from 1996 to 2001, Hov claimed that he had sex with Nas’s baby mother Carmen Bryan in the backseat of Nas’ Bentley. Jay-Z painted this picture by rapping, “Skeeted in your jeep/Left condoms on your baby seat.”

The violating bar shocked listeners everywhere, and whether or not that exact scenario actually happened, Carmen and Jay-Z were rumored to be seeing each other at the time of the feud. However, this tactic backfired, as Hov’s mom Gloria Carter called in to the Hot 97 radio station to demand her son apologize, before making her boy do it himself. When all was said and done, Nas’ “Ether” diss track aimed at Hov became the fan favorite, which once again merely insulted Jay’s street cred and validity as an MC.

“When these streets keep calling, heard it when I was sleep/That this Gay-Z and Cockafella Records wanted beef/Started cocking up my weapon, slowly loading up this ammo/To explode it on a camel, and his soldiers, I can handle/This for dolo and it’s manuscript, just sound stupid/When KRS already made an album called Blueprint/First, Biggie’s ya man, then you got the nerve to say that you better than big d*ck-sucking lips, whyn’t you let the late, great veteran live,” Nas raps.

The Qualities That Make Up a Great Diss Track

Keeping all this in mind, Kendrick’s “Euphoria” falls right in line with what made these diss tracks so great. He seemingly comments on Drake settling a lawsuit with a sexual assault accuser, clowns Drake’s style, in addition to Drizzy’s biracial background, the sound of his voice, his scamming tactics and the women he sleeps with. K-Dot picks apart Drake’s character by calling him a master manipulator that would make Tupac Shakur “turn in his grave.”

Those who wanted more out of K-Dot’s response clearly don’t understand the qualities that make up a great diss, or a great rap battle for that matter. Not to mention that Drake played a similar hand by insulting Kendrick’s shoe size on “Push Ups” and clowning how long it was taking him to respond on “Taylor Made Freestyle.”

Here are some qualities that make up a great diss track:

Comprehensive Lyrics: The diss track has to pack a punch and paint a picture with quippy bars getting the point across in a succinct way.
Replay Value: Appeal to fans and listeners on a musical front. The track has to be catchy so it goes into rotation both on people’s playlists and elsewhere.
Tap Into History: The diss should go back in time and bring embarrassing or damaging history about the foe to the forefront to remind listeners just how wack the targeted MC really is. Whether that be embarrassing love affairs, rumors or physical attributes, the diss has to surprise fans with just how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to the rapper’s strange qualities.
Brutal Energy: Tap into the competitive nature of rap music. The rapper has to deliver digs ruthlessly and without mercy, every bar and every syllable has to feel like a kill shot, whether it’s in the flow, delivery or elsewhere.
Deeper Meaning: A great diss track is packed with easter eggs and complex meanings that inspire the listener to dig deeper into a song so as to learn more insulting information about their foe.

With all of this in mind, there’s a lot more at play when it comes to making a great diss track rather than just revealing information. However, there’s still a chance the skeptics might get the secrets they’re asking for, as Kendrick and Drake have both implied on their diss tracks they’re holding back information.

“S**t will probably change if your BM start to kiss and tell,” Drake rapped at Kendrick on “Push Ups.”

“We ain’t gotta get personal, this a friendly fade, you should keep it that way,” Kendrick responds on “Euphoria. “I know some s**t about n***as that make Gunna Wunna look like a saint.”

The point is that the feud appears to be just getting started.