The pop star Tate McRae, who first caught the public's attention as a finalist on the 13th season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2016, has been bubbling up ever since. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for iHeartRadio hide caption
Drake Aubrey "Drake" Graham artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Drake
This week, a familiar face knocks Kendrick Lamar out of the top spot with an album debuting at No. 1 — Drake's $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Prince Williams/WireImage hide caption
Drake's album 'Some Sexy Songs 4 U' knocks Kendrick Lamar out of the top spot
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U, Drake's collaborative album with his OVO Sound signee PARTYNEXTDOOR, returns to the murky R&B sound that defined his breakout years. NORMAN WONG/Norman Wong hide caption
Kendrick Lamar is now the first hip-hop artist ever to land three top 10 albums in the same week. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images hide caption
Three of Kendrick Lamar's albums are getting a Super Bowl bump
Kendrick Lamar performs during the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show on Sunday in New Orleans. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images hide caption
Drake performs during Wicked (Spelhouse Homecoming Concert) featuring 21 Savage at Forbes Arena at Morehouse College on Oct. 19, 2022, in Atlanta, Ga. Prince Williams/Wireimage hide caption
Kendrick Lamar, performing in Los Angeles in June, was among the most important and inescapable voices in any genre of music in 2024. Timothy Norris/Getty Images hide caption
Drake poses at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 1, 2019. Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs during "The Pop Out — Ken & Friends," his June 19 concert event at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Timothy Norris/Getty Images for pgLang, Amazon/Getty Images North America hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs at a Spotify event in Cannes, France, during the Cannes Lions media festival in June 2022. Getty Images for Spotify/Getty Images Europe hide caption
Rapper Tupac Shakur performs at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in March 1994. Raymond Boyd/Getty Images hide caption
Drake onstage during Drake's Till Death Do Us Part rap battle in 2021. Amy Sussman/Getty Images hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs during the Rolling Loud hip-hop festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2023 and Drake performs during Day 2 of Lollapalooza Chile 2023. Last week, the two rappers' long-running feud exploded in a flurry of diss tracks. Jesse Wensing/ANP/AFP and Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images hide caption
Kendrick Lamar cannot stand Drake; "Euphoria" lists the ways. Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images hide caption
Metro Boomin and Future perform during 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The producer and rapper have linked for two sprawling new albums this year, released weeks apart. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for MTV hide caption
J. Cole and Drake perform during the 2023 edition of Cole's Dreamville festival in Raleigh, N.C., last April. Their collaborative track "First Person Shooter" recently touched off a war of words with fellow MC Kendrick Lamar. Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage/Getty Images hide caption
Drake and Makonnen celebrate during the former's 2014 birthday party at Dave & Buster's in Times Square, New York. Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images hide caption
ILoveMakonnen. Amanda Howell Whitehurst for NPR hide caption
When you realize your favorite new song was written and performed by ... AI
Despite the churlishness, or maybe because of it, Drake sounds, for the first time in a long time, like he's actually enjoying rapping. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, at the 'Chanel Cruise 2017/2018 Collection' at Grand Palais on May 3, 2017 in Paris, France. The magazine is suing rappers Drake and 21 Savage for a violation of trademark rights. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images hide caption
Drake and 21 Savage released an Instagram post on Oct. 30 promoting a fake Vogue magazine cover. Vogue's publisher Condé Nast is now suing both rappers for using the fake cover to promote their new album. Drake and 21 Savage/Screenshot by NPR hide caption