"They're not even in the same class": Xzibit calls out Drake for underestimating and stepping on Kendrick's toes

Musician Xzibit (real name Alvin Nathaniel Joiner) addresses why Drake lost his rap beef with Kendrick Lamar. During his appearance on the Drink Champs podcast on Saturday, January 18, 2025, the rapper and media called out Drizzy for underestimating Kenny.

"What we're seeing now is the repercussions of stepping on somebody that you shouldn't have stepped to... They're not even in the same class."

While discussing West Coast hip-hop, co-host N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN ask him to opine on the feud. Xzibit remarked:

"I think Kendrick Lamar is a very special individual. I think he is a deep thinker. I think he is a big part of what is unifying and energizing the west coast right now. And I think he was severly underestimated."

For the unversed, the two rappers have been beefing since the early 2010s. However, last year things escalated with each artist dropping diss tracks after another, targeting the other's career and personal life. This included Drizzy's Family Matters and Push Ups and K Dot's Meet the Grahams and Not Like Us. Critics and fans believe the latter song won Lamar the feud.

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"Drake was damn near number one for (a) decade"- Xzibit about Kendrick Lamar winning his rap feud with Drake

Xzibit explained that Drake should have done what he usually does—"put out a massive hit for the women and went about his business." At one point, N.O.R.E. remarked that Drizzy let pride and ego get in the way.

When N.O.R.E. pointed out that during the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake rap feud, it was Kenny who sparked the beef. He is referencing Drizzy and J. Cole's song First Person Shooter, where they call themselves and Lamar the "big three" of hip-hop. In response, during his guest appearance on Future and Metro Boomin's Like That, the Compton rapper noted, "Motherf**k the big three, n**ga, it's just big me." Xzibit explained that people needed to "step back" as they don't know what's happening "behind the scenes."

He later noted that he had no teeth in the fight but belonged to the west coast community, adding that Kendrick was "ruling the pack" and "setting the tone."

Xzibit explained that the West Coast hip-hop music was rooted in the community, stating:

"Its strictly based on a tradition... It's like these things that come from our neighborhoods, your neighboorhoods... they are things that done from a real genuine roots-based, culture-based initiative."

He elaborated with an example: the dance moves, like crip walking or blood walking, came from the neighborhood. He explained that it isn't a dance but evolved into one. It started as a way to show affiliation to the respective gang (the dance involves moving one's feet to spell C-R-I-P).

At one point during the conversation, Xzibit described the Drake and Kendrick feud with David and Goliath (from the Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible about David, a shepherd, defeating the giant Goliath). Xzibit stated:

"Drake was damn near number one for (a) decade, if not more. And he felt untouchable... so it's very dope to see Kendrick come into his own."

He explained that it was "fantastic" to see what Lamar turned the situation into, adding that what he "represent(ed)" and what he "mean(t)" was "dope."

Xzibit also addressed Drake using AI-generated voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg in his Kendrick diss track, Taylor Made Freestyle. The TV personality explained that the whole "coast (loves) 2Pac" (later agreed with N.O.R.E.'s description of the West Coast thinking it was disrespectful). Eventually, Pac's estate issued a cease and desist and Drizzy took down the song.

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Neither Drake nor Kendrick Lamar has publicly reacted to the development.