Kendrick Lamar has hit out at Meek Mill during a concert in New York, labelling his rivals “irrelevant”.
Lamar was performing in New York on Tuesday (September 12) and addressed his beef with Meek Mill, who has released two tracks criticising Lamar following his proclamation of being “King of New York” on Big Sean’s track ‘Control’. Since that track came out, Meek Mill has verbally attacked Lamar on his tracks ‘Ooh Kill ‘Em’ and ‘Kendrick You Next’.
Speaking onstage in Williamsburg on Tuesday, Lamar appeared to focus his attention on Meek Mill, saying: “I have no time for irrelevant niggas [or] new niggas,” he told the crowd, according to All Hip-Hop. “There’s one nigga in particular that needs to realise that there’s levels to this shit. I’m motherfuckin’ King Kendrick.” The “levels” mention possibly acting as a reference to Meek Mill’s new track ‘Levels’.
Many rappers have responded to Kendrick Lamar since ‘Control’ premiered on August 12. After proclaiming himself king of New York and himself, Jay Z, Nas, Eminem and Andre 3000 as the greatest MCs of all time, Lamar then goes on to pledge to “murder” his current competitors in the verse.
He raps: “I’m usually homeboys with the same niggas I’m rhyming with/But this is hip-hop and them niggas should know what time it is/And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale, Pusha-T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller/I got love for you all but I’m trying to murder you niggas“.
However, Drake recently said he was unmoved by being namechecked in the song. Asked for his initial response to the track, he said that he simply “went about my day, went and got dinner and kept it moving”.
Lamar has since said he may be forced to “dumb down” his lyrics due to the controversy his ‘Control’ verse generated. He added: “The irony of that line is that the people who actually understood it and got it were the actual kings of New York, you know, me sitting down with them this past week, and them understanding, it’s not actually about being the king of whatever coast, it’s about leaving a mark as great as Biggie, as great as Pac.”