Drake Releases Three Albums Referencing Kendrick Lamar Dispute

Drake has released three albums at once, titled Iceman, Habibti and Maid of Honour. The albums contain a total of 43 tracks and feature collaborations with Central Cee, 21 Savage and PARTYNEXTDOOR. The releases mark the first albums from the Canadian rapper since his dispute with Kendrick Lamar escalated in 2024.

" The albums also reference other figures who appeared to support Lamar during the dispute. Iceman focuses primarily on rap and hip-hop while Habibti has more of an R&B sound and Maid of Honour draws from dance music. BBC News reported that streaming services encountered crashes and slowdowns as listeners attempted to access the new music.

Music journalist and radio presenter Mary Mandefield told BBC Newsbeat that Drake would likely address the dispute in some form. " Mandefield noted that both artists benefited from the dispute as it increased public discussion and streaming numbers.

She added that fans had been awaiting Drake's response to events including Lamar's performance of the track Not Like Us at a major televised event last year. Fan Nathan Gibson told BBC Newsbeat he was "not overly impressed" after listening to the albums.

He said "Quantity doesn't match quality" and that Drake's reputation had taken a hit, though he expected the releases to perform strongly on music charts.

Drake promoted the albums through a series of livestreams that included new music, guest appearances and references to the forthcoming release. In the final episode he displayed an image of three hard drives and showed a scene depicting the destruction of equipment associated with streaming activity.

He also staged public events in Toronto including a decorated courtside seat at a basketball arena and a large ice installation containing the album release date. Fire crews later melted the installation after members of the public tried to break pieces from it.

The dispute between the two rappers had previously involved mutual accusations of using automated streaming to inflate listening figures. Drake had filed a related lawsuit against his label that was later dismissed.