On October 6th, 2023, music listeners were left speechless after hearing a certain verse on Drake’s new song “First Person Shooter” . The song was released as the sixth song of Drake’s new album, For All The Dogs. The track featured two-time Grammy award winning rapper, Jermaine Lamarr Cole, also known as J. Cole.
Despite the song’s tremendous success, fans were left confused after hearing J. Cole mention the so-called “Big Three” during his featured verse. The lines read, “Love when they argue the hardest MC. Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?” In this verse J. Cole is currently restating the question on who the best rapper is. This thought has left the audience pondering for over a decade. Yet, with the help of himself, J. Cole determines the answer down to three main candidates, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and himself.
It is no doubt that these three artists have the right to consider themselves the best of the best. However, listeners began to wonder whether J. Cole would consider himself the best or not. Immediately after J. Cole’s “Hardest MC” verse, he rapped, “We the big three like we started a league. But right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.” J. Cole is by far the least decorated rapper of the three, and Muhammad Ali is often considered the greatest boxer of all time. So, J. Cole comparing himself to Muhammad Ali is just absurd, right? Maybe, let’s check out each individual rapper to determine this controversial topic?
Drake began his career with the release of his first album So Far Gone. However, he wouldn’t get recognized until the release of Thank Me Later in 2010. Thank Me Later went on to sell 447,000 copies in the first week, as well as going platinum in the same month of its release. This would not be the end of Drake’s incredible run, as he would go on to release the albums everyone loves such as, Views, Take Care, If Your Reading This It’s Too Late, Nothing Was The Same, and many more fantastic works. Drake has turned the rap game completely around over the past years. His ability to mix his rap skills with a melodic tone has shown the wide variety of music he can produce. Over the past couple of years Drake has shown favor to younger rappers such as 21 Savage, Travis Scott, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and4batz. Drake’s interest in new rappers has helped these rappers grow into the great performers they are today.
Like Drake, Kendrick started his career around 2010 with the release of his first studio album Overly Dedicated. This would go on to be the start of Kendricks outstanding career and would lead him down the path to win his 17 Grammy awards. Kendrick has been considered by most as the “lyrical king” in the rap game. His ability to get his message out while still producing an outstanding beat has shown listeners the true meaning of rap. He has gotten viewers to start listening to rap for not just the beat and flow, but also the words and meaning that he is rapping.
Cole is most often considered the least talented out of the three. His production isn’t given the glory that it deserves, and his albums aren’t given enough views anymore. His album 2014 Forest Hills Drive is often considered to be one of the greatest rap albums of all time. 2014 Forest Hills Drive gave J. Cole the opportunity to show off his versatility and how artistic he is in his works. Through the song “Love Yourz” he was able to show his ability to use rhythm and blues (R&B), as well as fast flows through the song of “No Role Modelz“.
So, with these three great rappers having excellent and overachieving careers, the important question remains. Who is the best out of the three? Most would determine it to be between Drake and Kendrick. That is mostly because of the controversy between the two legends in 2024.
As already stated, the rap beef started with Drake and J. Cole’s release of “First Person Shooter.” In this track J. Cole mentioned that Drake, Kendrick, and himself were currently the best rappers. However, shortly after saying this, he hinted that he thinks he is the best out of the three. This sparked hate into Kendrick Lamar and caused him to be featured on Future and Metro Boomin’s new album WE DON’T TRUST YOU. Kendrick’s feature came from the song “Like That“, where he gave his share by saying, “Motherf— the big three, n—-, it’s just big me.” Streamers were put into shock after hearing this verse.
“Like That” was released in March and was months after the release of “First Person Shooter”. Shortly after the release of “Like That”, J. Cole would go on to release “7 Minute Drill”. Ultimately, “7 Minute Drill” wouldn’t last long on streaming services, as J. Cole decided he would drop out of the beef. This meant that it was down to Drake and Kendrick to settle it between themselves.
Drake and Kendrick would go on for the next month releasing songs about each other. It started off with Drake releasing his single, “Push Ups“. It is clearly heard in this song, that it was meant to take shots at Kendrick. On April 30 Kendrick released “euphoria“. Then, on May 3 Drake released “Family Matters“. Kendrick did not take this lightly, and on the same exact day, he released “6:16 in L.A.” and “meet the grahams“. The release of “meet the grahams” distinctively showed that Kendrick was winning the battle, and that it would be hard for Drake to comeback. Yet, on the very next day, Kendrick Lamar released “Not Like Us“. “Not Like Us” would go on to become one of the best dis-tracks of all-time. It became the quickest rap song to reach 100 million views in history. The song is currently getting the attention of the Grammy committee in several categories, and his most likely going to win multiple awards.
So, after all this, it has become clear. Kendrick Lamar is the best of the Big 3.
