• Blake Lively's past controversies resurfaced during a recent public backlash.
• The actor has been in the spotlight following the release of her movie "It Ends With Us."
• Lively has accused her costar and director, Justin Baldoni, of sexual harassment and damaging her reputation.

Blake Lively is no stranger to scandal.

The 37-year-old actor has attracted feud rumors since the start of her career, when she landed her breakout role in 2005's "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Public discourse about Lively's conduct reached a fever pitch during the promotional cycle for her latest box office hit, "It Ends With Us." Now, Lively has filed a lawsuit accusing her costar and director, Justin Baldoni, of sexual harassment and manufacturing outrage on social media to damage her reputation.

Here's a look at some of Lively's biggest controversies over the years.

Lively and her "Gossip Girl" costar Leighton Meester reportedly "avoided each other like the plague" while filming.

While their "Gossip Girl" characters swung wildly from the ultimate BFF duo to toxic frenemies almost every other episode, off-screen, Lively and Meester were said to have had a frosty relationship.

The CW teen drama ran for six seasons between 2007 and 2012. Lively played the effortlessly cool, free-spirited Serena Van der Woodson, the foil to Meester's controlling queen bee Blair Waldorf.

New York Magazine reported in 2008 that the two stars were said to "avoid each other like the plague" while on set shooting the show's early seasons, with tensions running so high that their castmates were forced to "choose sides."

"Blake and Leighton have never been best friends, and never professed to be. Blake goes to work, does her job, and goes home," a publicist for Lively said at the time, per Harper's Bazaar.

However, speaking to Vanity Fair for a retrospective on the series published in 2017, showrunner Joshua Safran said the pair got on fine on set.

"Blake and Leighton were not friends. They were friendly, but they were not friends like Serena and Blair," he said. "Yet the second they'd be on set together, it's as if they were."

In the same article, recurring cast member Michelle Trachtenberg denied rumors of a full-blown feud between the two.

"It's funny," she said. "Because when we were filming, there was, 'Leighton hates Blake, Blake hates Leighton, everyone hates Blake, everyone hates Leighton, everyone hates Chace,' and blah, blah, blah. It really wasn't. We were all chill. It was cool."

Incidentally, as of 2024, Lively and Meester do not follow each other on Instagram. Meester does, however, follow two of her other costars, Chace Crawford and Penn Badgley.

Rumors swirled that Lively was somehow involved in Armie Hammer's exit from "Gossip Girl."

Appearing on "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen," Armie Hammer was asked by an audience member to name the "biggest diva" on the set of "Gossip Girl."

Hammer had a four-episode arc on the series during its second season. He played Gabriel Edwards, a conman who briefly dated Lively's character.

In response to the question, Hammer diplomatically said: "Let me just say that was a tough show to film, and I didn't end up actually filming all of the episodes I was supposed to because it was such a tough film."

"Really? Literally, you said, 'Get me out of this'?" Cohen asked.

"It was also like, 'Get him out of here,'" the actor said.

Cohen followed that up by asking whose love interest he played in the series, prompting Hammer to drop Lively's name.

Chelsea Handler, who also appeared on the talk show, joked, "Sounds like she was the problem."

Cohen added: "It sure does, Chelsea. That's exactly what I was thinking."

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying," Hammer replied, laughing awkwardly.

In 2012, Lively and Ryan Reynolds married at a slave plantation in South Carolina. Reynolds said the couple didn't know about the venue's history until after their ceremony.

In 2012, Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, tied the knot at Boone Hall plantation in South Carolina. The plantation features nine slave cabins built between 1790 and 1810, which are referred to as "Slave Street."

Reynolds apologized for the decision in a 2020 interview with Fast Company after the couple was called out for the hypocrisy of a joint statement — accompanied by a $200,000 donation to the NAACP Legal Defense — they shared on Lively's Instagram following the murder of George Floyd by police.

Reynolds said they chose Boone Hall based on Pinterest photos and only realized it was a "place built upon devastating tragedy" after the event.

Reynolds added that after learning of Boone Hall's history, the actors had another wedding at home years later.

Lively has not addressed the backlash over her wedding venue.

Lively's now-defunct lifestyle website ran a fashion editorial that romanticized the Antebellum South in 2014.

Two years after her wedding at Boone Hall, Lively launched a lifestyle website called Preserve.

In just a matter of months, it attracted controversy when its fall issue featured a photo shoot and article that appeared to romanticize the monied world of the Confederate South.

Titled "Allure of Antebellum," the photo shoot featured a white, blonde-haired model in a floppy hat, high-heeled pumps, and a leopard-print mini-skirt.

In the accompanying article, the unnamed author wrote about the "innate sense of social poise" and "unparalleled warmth and authenticity" of the pre-Civil War era women.

"The term Southern Belle came to fruition during the Antebellum period (before the Civil War), acknowledging women with an inherent social distinction who set the standards for style and appearance," the Preserve article read.

"These women epitomized Southern hospitality with a cultivation of beauty and grace, but even more with a captivating and magnetic sensibility."

The publication of the editorial immediately attracted criticism, with Refinery29 arguing: "The authors use the word antebellum in a misty-eyed, nostalgia-tinged way that completely ignores the brutality endured by Southern women not lucky enough to be born into privilege."

A year later, in October 2015, Lively shuttered the site, explaining to Vogue in an interview that it was because she and her team had "launched the site before it was ready."

Lively is rumored to have had a falling out with her "A Simple Favor" costar, Anna Kendrick, although their costar denied any friction.

Lively and Anna Kendrick starred alongside each other in the 2018 movie "A Simple Favor."

According to reports, the two had a falling out on the set of the film.

Claire Parker, cohost of the popular podcast Celebrity Memoir Book Club, previously said in a TikTok video that by the end of the movie, Lively and Kendrick "were not speaking," citing an unnamed studio source.

While neither Lively nor Kendrick has addressed the rumors, their costar Henry Golding has denied the claims of a feud, saying he thought the two stars got on "reasonably well."

"Definitely no friction that I noticed," he said when asked about the rumors on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen."

Despite this, fans have continued to speculate about sensing tension between the two stars — who are set to reunite for a sequel next year— in joint interviews.

After a clip from a resurfaced 2016 interview went viral, Lively was criticized for being rude to a journalist.

Reporter Kjersti Flaa interviewed Lively and her costar, Parker Posey, about the film "Café Society" in 2016.

Flaa reshared the interview eight years later — at the height of Lively's "It Ends With Us" backlash — when she uploaded it to YouTube with the title "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job."

In the video, Lively offered a snarky response to Flaa after she congratulated the actor on her pregnancy.

"First of all, congrats on your little bump," Flaa said, kicking off the interview.

"Congrats on your little bump," Lively responded, although Flaa was not pregnant.

Later in the interview, Lively challenged Flaa for asking a question about clothes. The actor also seemed to ignore Flaa in parts of the interview and angled her body toward Posey.

"It actually took me a while to get over the experience," Flaa previously told Business Insider, adding, "I have met moody celebrities, but nothing like this interview."

Flaa told MailOnline that Lively's comment was particularly hurtful because she wasn't able to conceive.

"It's true that the comment hurt me because I was never able to have kids myself, but of course Blake did not know that so I can't blame her for the pain that I felt," she later told BI.

Lively sparked outrage among sexual assault survivors for defending Woody Allen.

Lively's 2016 film "Café Society" was directed by Woody Allen.

Two years before "Café Society" premiered, The New York Times published an open letter by Dylan Farrow, Allen's adopted daughter, reiterating the accusation that he groomed and sexually assaulted her as a child.

Farrow originally accused her famous father when she was 7 years old. At the time, a state's attorney in Connecticut said he had "probable cause" to prosecute but declined to file charges.

In the 2014 essay, Farrow called out Hollywood stars like Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, and Scarlett Johansson for working with Allen in recent years and ignoring the allegation against him.

"Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse," she wrote.

During the press tour for "Café Society," French comedian Laurent Lafitte cracked a joke about Allen dodging accountability during the opening ceremony for the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Later at the festival, Lively made it clear she disapproved of Lafitte's material.

"I think any jokes about rape, homophobia, or Hitler is not a joke," Lively told Variety. "It was more disappointing for the artists in the room that someone was going up there making jokes about something that wasn't funny."

At the same event, Lively also said she hadn't read Ronan Farrow's new op-ed in the Hollywood Reporter, in which the investigative reporter defended his sister and criticized powerful people for "sweeping aside her allegations."

"I don't want to speak on something I haven't read," Lively told Vulture. "I think that's dangerous. It's definitely something that being at the festival, the media these days, you come to a film festival about film and people talk about all different types of things. You know? That can be definitely tricky to navigate."

Lively continued to praise Allen throughout the press tour, describing his director style as "very empowering."

"It's amazing what Woody has written for women," she told the Los Angeles Times, adding that she did not consider Allen's personal life while shooting the film.

"It's very dangerous to factor in things you don't know anything about," Lively said. "I could [only] know my experience. And my experience with Woody is he's empowering to women."

In 2017, Farrow published another op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that questioned Allen's role in the #MeToo movement, casting Lively as a hypocrite for condemning Harvey Weinstein but continuing to support Allen.

In 2018, Lively posted in support of Hollywood's anti-sexual harassment initiative Time's Up, writing, "I'm honored to be a part of this movement. The time is NOW!"

Farrow replied, "You worked with my abuser, @blakelively. Am I a woman who matters too?"

Farrow's account of her assault has remained consistent over the years, most recently in the 2021 HBO docuseries "Allen v. Farrow," while Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Lively apologized for poking fun at Kate Middleton's "photoshop fails" after the princess went public with her cancer diagnosis.

Amid the social media storm that erupted after the release of a digitally manipulated portrait of the princess and her children following Middleton's mysterious retreat from the public eye, Lively jumped on the trend of mocking her "photoshop fails."

She shared an edited photo on Instagram to promote her beverage line. The photo showed Lively sitting in a chair by a warped pool with a comically enlarged thumb and a lemon floating above her head.

According to People, she captioned the photo: "I'm so excited to share this new photo I just took today to announce our 4 new @bettybuzz & @bettybooze products! Now you know why I've been MIA."

Middleton later announced that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.

Lively later deleted her post and shared a note on her Instagram Story apologizing to the British royal and her own followers.

"I'm sure no one cares today, but I feel like I have to acknowledge this. I made a silly post around the 'photoshop fails' frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I'm sorry. Sending love and well wishes to all, always," she wrote.

Lively faced backlash for the way she promoted "It Ends With Us," a film about a woman experiencing domestic violence.

"It Ends With Us," a film in which Lively plays Lily Bloom, a woman experiencing domestic abuse, opened in theaters on August 9, 2024.

It's based on a book of the same name by BookTok favorite Colleen Hoover; fans who already knew the story immediately began to question Lively's promotional approach.

In a promo video shared on the film's official Instagram account, Lively encouraged people to watch the film by saying: "Grab your girls, wear your florals!"

Lively also leaned into method dressing, opting for florals in almost every outfit she wore during the press tour, which some fans criticized as tone-deaf.

In a TikTok video that's been viewed more than 4 million times, a woman who identified herself as a domestic violence survivor accused Lively of promoting the movie like it's "the sequel to Barbie."

Elsewhere, the actor could be seen using interviews and events for the film to cross-promote her brands, including her hair care line, Blake Brown.

A promotional email for Lively's beverage line, Betty Buzz, also shared a recipe for making a cocktail using her husband's gin brand, The New York Times reported.

As fans noted, Lively's approach contrasted starkly with that of her costar and director, Justin Baldoni, who was praised for highlighting the movie's weighty themes during his interviews.

It didn't help that the two were also pitted against each other following rumors of a feud between them.

The charity Women's Aid also criticized the marketing around the movie, sharing a statement with the BBC that read: "Despite domestic abuse being a key theme of the film, much of the marketing has ignored this and viewers have not been warned about the potentially distressing content."

Lively has since accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on set and orchestrating a smear campaign to "bury her."

On December 21, Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni, accusing her director and costar of sexual harassment, retaliation, and coordinating attempts to damage her reputation.

According to the filing, obtained by Business Insider, Lively's strategy for promoting "It Ends With Us" — which drew backlash for making light of the film's themes — was "in accordance with the marketing plan created and delivered by the film's distributor Sony."

The marketing plan directed the cast to avoid discussing sad or heavy themes, in order to frame the film as "a story of hope."

At the same time, Lively alleged that Baldoni "abruptly pivoted" his talking points in an attempt to explain why he'd been unfollowed by much of the film's cast and crew on social media — apparently prompted by Baldoni's inappropriate behavior on set.

"To that end, he and his team used domestic violence 'survivor content' to protect his public image," the legal filing reads.

As Business Insider previously reported, Baldoni hired a public-relations crisis team, including veteran PR manager Melissa Nathan, as rumors swirled that he was on the outs with Lively and other castmates. According to Lively's lawsuit, Nathan's team helped Baldoni orchestrate an online smear campaign against Lively, partially to distract fans from speculating about his conduct on set.

"He wants to feel like she can be buried," a publicist working with Mr. Baldoni wrote in a message to Nathan, per the legal complaint.

"You know we can bury anyone," Nathan replied.

A rep for Baldoni called the allegations "shameful" and "categorically false" in a statement to Business Insider.

A rep for Lively told The New York Times, "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted."

• Drake and Kendrick Lamar have been embroiled in rap beef for the better part of 2024.
• Shortly after Lamar dropped his new album, Drake filed a petition against UMG and Spotify.
• Here's what you need to know about the feud that took over hip-hop this year.

Kendrick Lamar and Drake's long-running feud reignited in March when Lamar dissed Drake and J. Cole on Future and Metro Boomin's track "Like That" from their latest collaborative album, "We Don't Trust You." This spiraled into a diss-track war in April and May, with Cole, Drake, Rick Ross, and Lamar all releasing new songs.

At first, fans encouraged the beef between Lamar and Drake. Diss battles, which rappers use to prove themselves, are common in hip-hop, and it was seen as some friendly competition between the genre's heavyweights.

Feuds can also be a clever marketing tactic to help artists boost streams and sales. "Like That," for instance, topped the Hot 100 for three weeks, and "We Don't Trust You" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Lamar's "Euphoria" and Drake's "Push Ups" also climbed the Billboard chart in May.

But as the beef has continued to intensify over several months, Drake has escalated his attacks legally, launching two legal actions against Universal Music Group (to which both Drake and Lamar are signed) and Spotify, accusing both companies of artificially inflating streams of Lamar's No. 1 hit "Not Like Us."

But how did we get here? Here's everything to know about the beef that took over hip-hop in 2024.

Hannah Getahun contributed to an earlier version of this story.

Drake and Lamar have been making digs at each other since 2013

Lamar and Drake started out as friends, with Lamar opening for Drake's "Club Paradise" tour in 2012. The pair's feud began when Lamar rapped that he was better than all the rising rap stars, including Drake and Cole, when he featured on Big Sean's 2013 song "Control."

"And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller / I got love for you all, but I'm tryna murder you n*****," he rapped.

Drake appeared to respond on the track "The Language" from his 2013 album, "Nothing Was the Same," rapping: "I don't know why they been lyin' but your shit is not that inspirin' / Bank account statement just look like I'm ready for early retirement / Fuck any n**** that's talking that shit just to get a reaction."

The two rappers last featured on the same song in 2013 and, since then, have made small digs at each other in their tracks and in interviews.

In 2015, many fans believe that Lamar accused Drake of using a ghostwriter, pointing to Lamar's 2015 track "King Kunta," where he raps, "I can dig rappin', but a rapper with a ghostwriter? / What the fuck happened?"

Lamar hasn't confirmed if the "King Kunta" lyric is about Drake.

Later that year, Meek Mill also accused Drake of using a ghostwriter in a since-deleted post on X, which Drake denied in a 2019 interview with Rap Radar.

The pair have also taken different paths artistically, with Lamar earning critical acclaim, including winning a Pulitzer prize for "Damn" in 2018 and 17 Grammys. Drake is more commercially successful, with 15 songs with over a billion streams on Spotify compared to Kendrick's five.

Cole entered the beef after appearing on Drake's 'For All The Dogs'

Drake's 2023 track "First Person Shooter," featuring Cole, is all about the two being the greatest rappers ever. Cole, who is friends with Lamar, references him in the song when talking about being the "Big 3" of the Hip Hop world.

"Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?" Cole raps, referring to Lamar's nickname, "K-Dot," and Drake's birth name Aubrey. "We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali."

Lamar was rumored to be featured in the song too, though that never materialized.

Drake ends the song by comparing his success to that of the late Michael Jackson, who is the sixth best-selling artist of all time. In October 2023, Drake scored his 13th Billboard Hot 100 No.1, tying with Jackson.

Lamar's verse in "Like That" alludes to those lyrics, the song title "First Person Shooter," and Drake's 2023 album title, "For All the Dogs."

"Motherfuck the big three, n****, it's just big me," Lamar raps, adding later. "Fuck sneak dissin', first-person shooter, I hope they came with three switches."

A week after the song dropped in March, Drake appeared to respond to Lamar during a concert in Florida as part of his "It's All A Blur Tour: Big As In What?" with Cole.

"A lot of people ask me how I'm feeling. I'mma let you know I'm feeling," Drake said in a video shared on X. "I got my fucking head up high, my back straight, I'm 10 fucking toes down in Florida and anywhere else I go. And I know that no matter what, it's not a n**** on this earth that could ever fuck with me in my life!"

Cole fired back at Lamar, then apologized two days later

Cole did not publicly comment on Lamar's "Like That" verse until April 5, when he released a 12-track EP, "Might Delete Later," featuring Gucci Mane, Ari Lennox, and others.

The first verse of the final track, "7 Minute Drill," appears to be a direct response to Lamar, who Cole implies is losing popularity. Rolling Stone's Andre Gee wrote that the title refers to a military drill in which officers have to explain how to respond to an enemy attack.

"He still doin' shows, but fell off like the Simpsons / Your first shit was classic, your last shit was tragic / Your second shit put n***** to sleep, but they gassed it / Your third shit was massive and that was your prime / I was trailin' right behind and I just now hit mine," Cole raps.

Fans believe Cole's bar about Lamar's second album references the critically-acclaimed "To Pimp a Butterfly," as most people don't count 2011's "Section.80" as his first. "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City," is Lamar's actual second album.

Two days after the song was released, Cole apologized to Lamar during his performance at the Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina. "I just want to come up here and publicly be like, bruh, that was the lamest, goofiest shit," Cole said in a video shared on X. "And I pray that y'all are like, forgive a n**** for the misstep and I can get back to my true path. Because I ain't gonna lie to y'all. The past two days felt terrible."

Cole said he felt conflicted because he respected Lamar but felt pressure from his peers and fans to respond.

Cole said his diss verse, and the discourse surrounding it, didn't "sit right with my spirit," adding that he hoped Lamar, who he describes as "one of the greatest motherfucker's to ever touch a fuckin' microphone," wasn't hurt by his words.

Cole was initially mocked by fans for backing down, but they have since praised him for stepping out of the situation before the beef intensified.

Representatives for Lamar and Cole did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Future and Metro Boomin stirred more trouble with 'We Still Don't Trust You'

On April 12, Future and Metro Boomin released their second collaborative album, "We Still Don't Trust You." While neither rapper directly dissed Drake, they enlisted The Weeknd and A$AP Rocky to do their bidding. Ross and Cole also appear on the album but don't diss Drake.

In the track "All To Myself," The Weeknd references declining to sign with Drake's OVO label, which has led to a frostiness between the two Canadian stars.

"They could never diss my brothers, baby / When they got leaks in they operation / I thank God that I never signed my life away / And we never do the big talk / They shooters makin TikToks / Got us laughin in the Lambo," The Weeknd rapped.

On the track "Show of Hands," Rocky references the rumor that he slept with Sophie Brussaux, the mother of Drake's child Adonis, before the "God's Plan" rapper.

"N****s in they feelings over women, what, you hurt or something? / I smash before you birthed, son, Flacko hit it first, son," Rocky rapped.

Rocky and Drake were also friends until the "Fuckin' Problems" rapper began to date Rihanna, who had an on-again-off-again relationship with Drake.

On the "For All the Dogs" track "Fear of Heights," Drake disses both stars, saying sex with Rihanna was "average" and that Rocky is now stuck with her since they have children together.

Drake fires back with another diss track

On April 13, after the release of "We Still Don't Trust You," another diss track recorded by Drake, "Push Ups," surfaced online.

Although Drake spends most of the four-minute track dissing Lamar, there are a few shots fired at The Weeknd, Ross, Cole, Future, and Metro Boomin.

Drake mocked Lamar's latest album, "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," his appearances on Maroon 5 and Taylor Swift's pop songs, and suggested that Lamar's former label, Top Dawg Entertainment, took 50% of profits from the "Humble" rapper's songs.

"How the fuck you big steppin with a size-seven men's on? / Your last one bricked, you really not on shit," Drake rapped. "Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty / Then we need a verse for the Swifties / Top say drop, you better drop and give him 50."

Drake also rapped that SZA, Travis Scott, and 21 Savage were bigger names in the hip-hop world than Lamar.

Later in the track, Drake references Cole's diss track and apology.

"And that fuckin' song y'all got is not starting beef with us / This shit brewin' in a pot, now I'm heating up / I don't care what Cole think, that Dot shit was weak as fuck," Drake rapped.

Later in the track, Drake raps that he gave Future his first No. 1 hit, referring to Drake's 2021 song "Way 2 Sexy," which he features on. Drake also says The Weeknd wastes his money, and Metro Boomin should "shut your ho ass up and make some drums, n****."

Taking aim at Ross, he says the 48-year-old rapper is too old to join the rap beef and owes his chart success to him. Drake also appears to reference Ross' friendship with Diddy, who was accused of sexual misconduct by four people in the last year.

"Spend that lil' check you got and stay up out my business / Worry 'bout whatever goin' on with you and…," Drake says, trailing off at the end.

Rocky was the only one spared from the track.

Ross quickly recorded and released a response, "Champagne Moments," where he calls Drake a "white boy," claims the rapper got a nose job, and stole his flow from Lil Wayne. Ross also repeats the ghostwriter allegations, and has continued to make fun of Drake's nose on social media.

On April 14, Drake shared a text message with his mother in which she asked about the nose job rumor. Drake responded in the message that Ross is just "angry and racist" and he'll "handle it."

Drake officially released 'Push Ups' and another track aimed at Lamar

On April 19, a week after the leak, Drake officially released "Push Ups" alongside a new diss track directed at Lamar called "Taylor Made Freestyle."

In the latter track, Drake taunts Lamar to respond to "Push Ups," mocks Lamar's complex rap verses, and says the rapper is a puppet of the industry and Swift.

For the track, Drake used AI to generate the voices of the late Tupac Shakur, widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, and Snoop Dogg, making it sound like they rapped the first two verses.

Drake's use of Tupac may be a reference to Lamar's track "Mortal Man," from his 2015 album "To Pimp a Butterfly." At the end of the track, Lamar samples a 1994 Tupac interview to simulate a conversation between the two rappers.

Some fans criticized the use of AI in "Taylor Made Freestyle" particularly as Tupac was unable to consent.

Snoop responded to the song on April 20 in a jokey Instagram video where he reacts to people messaging him about Drake using his voice.

"They did what? When? How? Are you sure?" he says. "I'm going back to bed. Good night."

On April 24, Billboard reported that Tupac's estate had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Drake for using his voice.

"The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac's voice and personality," the estate's lawyer Howard King said. "Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac's publicity and the estate's legal rights, it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. The Estate would never have given its approval for this use."

Two days later, Drake removed the song from social media and streaming platforms, though copies of the song are still available online.

Lamar spelled out the things he hates about Drake in the song 'Euphoria'

On April 30, Lamar released "Euphoria," a damning six-minute response to Drake.

In the track, Lamar calls Drake a "scam artist," "a master manipulator and habitual liar," mocks the Canadian rapper for imitating Black American culture, and claims that the "One Dance" artist has 20 ghostwriters. Lamar also says he is a better father than Drake.

Halfway through the track, Lamar raps: "I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress / I hate the way that you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it's gon' be direct / We hate the bitches you fuck, 'cause they confuse themself with real women."

'Fans also believe the lyrics "have you ever paid five hundred thou' like to an open case?" refer to Drake paying 532,000 New Zealand dollars in 2019 to a woman who accused him of sexual assault. Drake denied the claim at the time.

Later in the track, Lamar hits out at Drake's use of AI in "Taylor Made Freestyle."

"I'd rather do that than let a Canadian n**** make Pac turn in his grave," Lamar raps, later adding. "Am I battlin' ghost or AI?"

Lamar also implies that Drake sent a cease-and-desist letter to get "Like That," the song that reignited the beef, removed.

"Try cease and desist on the 'Like That' record? / Ho, what? You ain't like that record?" Lamar raps on the track.

In response to the song, Drake continued to taunt Lamar by posting a clip from "10 Things I Hate About You" on his Instagram story.

Lamar warned Drake about enemies in his own entourage in his latest track, '6:16 in LA'

"6:16 in LA," released May 3, is a shorter track than "Euphoria" and only features one verse.

Lamar begins the verse rapping about his success before turning his attention to Drake. Instead of insulting Drake, Lamar claims that the "Push Ups" rapper's circle has been feeding him lies, leaking information about him, and hoping for his downfall.

"Have you ever thought that OVO was workin' for me? / Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person / Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it," Lamar raps.

Later, he continues: "A hunnid n***** that you got on salary, and twenty of 'em want you as a casualty / And one of them is actually, next to you / And two of them is practically tied to your lifestyle, just don't got the audacity to tell you."

Fans believe Lamar's lyric, "It was fun until you start to put money in the streets / Then lost money, 'cause they came back with no receipts," implies that Drake tried to pay for dirt on the "DNA" rapper.

Later in the track, Lamar also calls out Drake for "playin' dirty" in his feuds by enlisting the help of Twitter bots and celebrities like Zack Bia to stir public opinion against his enemies.

"But your reality can't hide behind Wi-Fi / Your lil' memes is losing steam, they figured you out," Lamar added.

The diss track's layers go beyond the lyrics, as fans have been analyzing the cover art, the track's title, and even the producers. "6:16" was Tupac's birthday, but it is also Father's Day, which relates to Lamar's taunts about Drake's parenting skills. "6:16 in LA" also parodies Drake's song titles, which often feature location names and timestamps.

The song is co-produced by Jack Antonoff, Swift's longtime producer and friend, which is likely aimed at Drake's Taylor Swift disses.

Meanwhile, the cover art features a black leather glove with a Maybach logo on it. The black leather glove could refer to Drake's 2020 song "Toosie Slide," where the rapper compares himself to Michael Jackson in the line "Black leather glove, no sequins."

Meanwhile, the logo could refer to Rick Ross' music label, Maybach Music Group.

Drake ramped things up in 'Family Matters,' which he dropped alongside a music video

On May 3, Drake released "Family Matters," a seven-and-a-half-minute response to Lamar's back-to-back diss tracks, which appears to respond to some of "Euphoria," firstly Lamar's decision to question Drake's quality as a father.

"You mentioned my seed, now deal with his dad / I gotta go bad, I gotta go bad," Drake rapped in the first few lines of the track.

Later, he takes shots at Lamar's son, Enoch: "Why you never hold your son and tell him say cheese / We could have left the kids out of this don't blame me."

"I heard that one of them little kids might be Dave Free," Drake also raps, suggesting that one of Lamar's two children he shares with his longtime partner was fathered by one of Lamar's creative partners.

Drake ramps things up toward the song's end when he makes the unfounded claim that Lamar has domestically abused a partner. "They hired a crisis management team / To clean up the fact that you beat on your queen," he raps, "The picture you painted ain't what it seems."

On the track, Drake also addresses the cease-and-desist he was sent over "Taylor Made Freestyle," rapping that Lamar "begged" the family of Shakur to take legal action and have the song taken down.

At the song's close, he brings it back to their respective children and takes one final swipe at his opponent, rapping: "Our sons should go play at the park / Two light-skinned kids, that shit would be cute / Unless you don't want to be seen with anyone that isn't Blacker than you."

Drake also dropped a music video alongside the song, which shows a red minivan, similar to that on the cover of Lamar's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" being driven across the border to Canada and destroyed. Later in the video, Drake is shown having dinner at the same Chinese restaurant Lamar rapped about in "Euphoria."

Minutes later, Lamar responded, directly addressing Drake's son, mom, and dad on 'Meet the Grahams'

Lamar's "Meet the Grahams" arrived minutes after Drake's "Family Matters" dropped and saw the rapper directly address each member of Drake's family.

"Dear Adonis, I'm sorry that that man is your father, let me be honest / It takes a man to be a man, your dad is not responsive," he begins the track. "I look at him and wish your grandpa woulda wore a condom / I'm sorry that you gotta grow up and then stand behind him."

In the second verse, Lamar turns his attention to Drake's mom and dad, rapping that the pair "gave birth to a master manipulator."

"You raised a horrible fuckin' person, the nerve of you, Dennis," the track continues. "Sandra, sit down, what I'm about to say is heavy, now listen / Your son's a sick man with sick thoughts."

Another verse, addressed to a "baby girl," implies that Drake has fathered a second child beyond his son that he has kept secret, while the final verse brings things back to Drake himself, where Lamar justifies taking such personal shots at his rival.

"Dear Aubrey, I know you probably thinkin' I wanted to crash your party / But truthfully, I don't have a hatin' bone in my body / This supposed to be a good exhibition within the game / But you fucked up the moment you called out my family's name."

Lamar refuses to let Drake breathe and releases yet another track, 'Not Like Us'

In "Not Like Us," Lamar appears to directly respond to Drake's "Family Matters" diss, referencing the track's title in the song lyrics.

"The family matter, and the truth of the matter / It was God's plan to show you're the liar," Lamar raps, also giving a nod to Drake's 2018 track "God's Plan."

The art for the song is an aerial view of Drake's mansion near Toronto, Variety reported. The image also has pins on the mansion, resembling those used on sex offender maps, leading fans to believe Lamar is suggesting Drake's house is full of sexual predators.

On the track, Lamar said Drake is a "colonizer" and that he got his "street cred" with the help of other rappers, including Future, Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Young Thug, Quavo, and 2Chainz.

Lamar also made the unsubstantiated claim that Drake and his entourage are pedophiles.

"Certified lover boy? Certified pedophile," Lamar rapped, referring to the title of Drake's 2021 album. "To any bitch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him."

Drake responds to Lamar's accusations in 'The Heart Part 6'

On May 5, Drake released a response to "Not Like Us" and "Meet the Grahams" in the form "The Heart Part 6." The title is a reference to Lamar's "The Heart" song series.

The song denies many of Lamar's claims. Drake raps that the people feeding Lamar information about him are "all clowns" and says that Lamar was purposefully given false information about him secretly fathering an 11-year-old daughter. (In "Meet the Grahams" Lamar sings about a "baby girl" that he says Drake abandons.)

"We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information / A daughter that's 11 years old, I bet he takes it / I thought about giving a fake name and a destination / but you so thirsty you not concerned with investigation," Drake raps in his response.

Later in the verse, Drake denied the pedophile claims.

"Only fuckin' with Whitneys, not Millie Bobby Browns, I'd never look twice at no teenager," he rapped, referring to the rumor that Drake's friendship with "Stranger Things" star Millie Bobby Brown when she was a child was inappropriate.

He rapped later: "If I was fucking young girls, I promise I'd have been arrested / I'm way too famous for this shit you just suggested."

On June 5, Billboard reported that Drake had deleted the Instagram post promoting the song.

A security guard outside Drake's mansion is injured and three people try to break into the home

In the week following the release of "Not Like Us," a shooting took place outside Drake's mansion, and there were also reports of people trying to break into the property.

On May 7, Canadian publication CBC reported that a security guard was shot and seriously injured outside Drake's mansion at Park Lane Circle.

On May 8, CNN reported a person tried to enter Drake's mansion a day after the shooting. Then, on May 9, TMZ reported that a second person tried to enter Drake's property around 3:30 p.m. ET. On May 11, TMZ reported that a third person tried to break into the home but was stopped by Drake's security.

While officers never linked any of the incidents to the rap beef, tensions were high since they all occurred shortly after the release of "Not Like Us."

Amid the incidents, Drake complained on his Instagram Story about the media helicopters surrounding his home.

On May 11, Drake wrote in a post addressing Canadian news organization CP24, "Can we discuss the chopper flight times over the house 'cause I won't lie, I'm trying to sleep. Anytime after 3 pm works great for me," he wrote.

Drake appears to have stepped down from the beef, and Lamar's label says the 'battle is over'

Drake seemed to suggest he was bowing out of the feud with Lamar in "The Heart Part 6" when he said: "You could drop a hundred more records, I'll see you later / Yeah, maybe when you meet your maker / I don't wanna fight with a woman beater, it feeds your nature."

While some fans doubted this, it seems he was serious. On May 11, Drake posted an illustration of a samurai standing up against an army on his Instagram Story and captioned the post, "Good times. Summer vibes up next," which seemed to suggest he wouldn't release any more diss tracks.

Lamar performs 'Not Like Us' five times at his Juneteenth concert

On June 19, Lamar hosted a one-off concert to celebrate Juneteenth called "The Pop Out: Ken & Friends," which was live-streamed on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch.

The event featured up-and-coming West Coast rappers and major Californian stars including Dr. Dre, Jay Rock and Tyler The Creator. Lamar closed the night with his own set, opening with "Euphoria."

During the performance, Lamar added a new line, "Give me Tupac's ring back and I might give you a little respect," referring to reports that Drake had bought a ring that belonged to Tupac Shakur.

Later in the set, Lamar performed "6:16" and "Like That." Lamar ended the night performing "Not Like Us" five times in a row, beginning with an intro by Dr. Dre who joined Lamar onstage.

During the third "Not Like Us" encore, West Coast performers, athletes, and gang members also joined Lamar onstage to dance to the song. Lamar then stopped the performance to get a group photo.

Lamar then told the audience the real focus of the concert was to bring West Coast performers and gang members together and celebrate their loved ones who had been killed.

"For all of us to be on this stage together, unity, from East Side mother-fucking LA, Crips, Bloods, Pirus, this shit is special, man. We put this shit together just for ya'll," Lamar said, referring to rival gang members onstage.

"Everybody got fallen sons but we're right here, right now celebrating all of them, this shit is special," he added.

After his speech, Lamar performed "Not Like Us" one more time.

During the rap beef, Drake has continually mocked the West Coast rap community, which Lamar hails from, and said the community does not support Lamar.

Fans have dubbed the concert Lamar's "victory lap," saying he won the rap beef.

Lamar releases a music video for 'Not Like Us'

Exactly two months after releasing "Not Like Us," Lamar released a music video for the diss track on YouTube.

It stars with Lamar teasing an unreleased song before going into the "Not Like Us" track.

The music video appears to take numerous digs at his rival, including a recurring image of an owl, which is the logo of Drake's label.

The first time an owl appears, it is in the shape of a pinata, which Lamar breaks with a stick.

A disclaimer at the bottom of the screen reads, "No OVhoes were harmed in making this video."

Later in the video, Lamar puts an owl in the cage. Both scenes seem to suggest Lamar is declaring that he has defeated Drake.

Lamar's longtime partner Whitney Alford, their two children, and multiple other West Coast rappers, athletes, and dancers appear in the video, which was shot in Compton, California.

In November, Lamar surprised fans by dropping his new album 'GNX,' which included several references to his feud with Drake

After months of silence, Lamar surprise-released the 12-track album on Friday, November 22.

The rapper appeared to reference his beef with Drake in the album's opening track, "Wacced Out Murals."

He raps: "Snoop posted 'Taylor Made,' I prayed it was the edibles / I couldn't believe it, it was only right for me to let it go."

The lyrics reference how fellow rapper Snoop Dogg shared one of Drake's diss tracks, "Taylor Made Freestyle," to Instagram earlier this year (Snoop Dogg has said he would not be taking sides in the feud).

Elsewhere on the album, there is a track named "Heart Pt. 6," reclaiming the song name from Drake, who previously released his own song titled "The Heart Part 6" to mock Lamar's series of numbered "heart" tracks.

The surprise album has garnered positive initial reviews from critics, rounding off a transformative year for Lamar.

Shortly after Lamar's new album arrived, Drake's company launched two legal actions against Universal Music Group and Spotify

On Monday, November 25, Drake took his feud with Lamar into legal territory.

Drake's company, Frozen Moments, filed a pre-action petition in a New York court against Universal Music Group (UMG), the record company that owns Lamar's label Interscope and Drake's label Republic Records, as well as the streaming giant Spotify.

The petition accuses both UMG and Spotify of using illicit methods, such as bots and payola (otherwise known as "pay-for-play"), to inflate streams of Lamar's No. 1 hit "Not Like Us."

The filing also claims that "Not Like Us" caused Drake to suffer "economic harm."

Just a few hours after the filing made headlines, Billboard unearthed another action filed by Drake's company in Texas court. The second petition, also filed on Monday, claims that UMG "funneled payments" to the radio conglomerate iHeartRadio in order to boost spins of "Not Like Us."

Drake's lawyers also allege that UMG could've blocked "Not Like Us" from being released because it "attacked the character of another one of UMG's most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders and committing other criminal sexual acts," per Billboard.

A spokesperson for UMG told Business Insider: "The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue."

"No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear," the spokesperson added.

A representative for Lamar and Drake did not immediately respond to a comment request from BI. A representative from Spotify declined to comment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.