Kendrick Lamar, Drake 'Remove Copyright' From Diss Tracks

Kendrick Lamar and Drake have allegedly removed copyright stipulations from the diss tracks aimed at each other as the rap rivals' war of words continues to grip social media.

Lamar and Drake, whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham, have spent recent weeks lobbing insults and allegations at one another on a host of tracks as the long-established bad blood between the two reaches boiling point.

The current war of words got into full swing in March, when Lamar released "Like That," a cutting response to the Drake and J. Cole track "First Person Shooter." While J. Cole quickly bowed out of the brewing beef, Lamar and Drake have relentlessly attacked one another on tracks that have captivated fans of rap ever since.

Over this past weekend alone, the rappers ramped up their back-and-forth with the release of four new diss tracks between them. In the tracks, they have talked about each other's families and lobbed unsavory allegations at one another.

With the rap feud capturing the attention of fans and fellow celebrities alike, a host of influencers on streaming platforms have also been weighing in. However, as is the case with most commercially released music, they often face the issue of record labels issuing Digital Millennium Takedown Act (DMCA) takedown orders or copyright claims.

These DCMA orders can be issued by record labels on social media users even when a small snippet of a song is used. This can lead to the sound being removed from the offending clip, the video being taken down altogether, or potentially lucrative advertising revenue being diverted to the record label.

This poses an issue for the streaming influencers who post reaction videos, where they film themselves watching or listening to a new release to show their response in real-time. With Drake and Lamar's feud garnering much attention in recent weeks, such streamers have also been sharing their takes on the rappers' tracks.

On May 5, social media streamer FaZe YourRage took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce that the restrictions had been lifted from coverage of this rap beef.

"Kendrick removed all copyright away from all my reactions to his diss tracks & is [letting] me get paid for all of em," YourRage wrote. "No label has ever done that for me so I'm thankful."

Hours later, also on May 5, the influencer returned to the platform to say that the gesture had also been made on the other side of the battle.

"My Drake Reactions Are now also uncopyrighted," he announced. "WE EATING."

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Lamar and Drake via email for comment.

On his track "Meet the Grahams"—which was released on May 3, less than an hour after the unveiling of Drake's diss track "Family Matters"—Lamar accused his adversary of having an 11-year-old daughter that he had hidden from public view.

Canadian musician and actor Drake denied this in his May 5 track, "The Heart Part 6," claiming that he and his associates had purposely planted misinformation to trick Lamar into using it during their battle.

During a previous rap beef with Pusha T back in 2018, Drake was accused of having a secret son. Drake later confirmed that this claim was true weeks later on the track "Emotionless."

Despite occasional collaborations, Drake and Lamar's feud has been going on for more than a decade, with the rappers taking shots at each other through both their music and in the media. Drama between the two once again kicked up in late March, when Lamar hopped on "She's Like That," a track from Future and Metro Boomin's We Don't Trust You album, which was perceived as containing disses aimed at Drake.

After hearing Lamar's verse on the track—which includes lyrics directly slamming Drake by referencing his song "First Person Shooter"—Drake dropped "Push Ups" on April 13.

On his since-deleted track "Taylor Made Freestyle," which was released in late April, Drake made headlines for the use of artificial intelligence vocals from Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur.