The final six weeks have seen the long-simmering feud between the Compton, Calif.,-born rapper Kendrick Lamar and the Canadian rapper Drake flip right into a full-fledged beef, with confrontations delivered within the type of diss tracks.
However the squabble didn’t boil over till April 30, when Mr. Lamar launched “Euphoria,” a six-and-a-half minute dressing down of the “Good for What” rapper. On Friday, Drake replied to “Euphoria” and one other observe, “6:16 in L.A.,” with “Family Matters,” which has greater than 15 million views on YouTube.
Caught in the course of this culture-consuming rivalry is New Ho King, an unassuming restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown. The restaurant, which has served dishes like hot-pot grouper and tofu, and sweet-and-sour pork with pineapple to Torontonians for almost 50 years, was briefly name-checked in “Euphoria.” (“I be at New Ho King eatin’ fried rice with a dip sauce and a blammy, crodie,” Mr. Lamar raps, ending the lyric with a spin on native Toronto slang.)
The point out from Mr. Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, led to a flood of five-star opinions on Yelp and Google for New Ho King, lots of them written by individuals who had by no means set foot within the restaurant.
“By no means eaten right here nevertheless it’s getting 5 stars from me as a result of Kendrick is the GOAT! From California w/ Love,” wrote one Yelp reviewer. (Yelp has since hooked up an “uncommon exercise alert” to New Ho King’s web page.)
It’s not the one restaurant within the combine. In his “6:16 in LA,” Mr. Lamar mentions the pizza restaurant Lucali, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn: “My visa, passport tatted, I present up in Ibiza, Lucalis dwellings in Brooklyn simply to ebook me some pizza.”
There are a number of fan theories as to why Mr. Lamar selected to reference the Chinese language restaurant in such a withering diss observe, together with that it could be associated to a 2009 incident by which Drake was robbed at gunpoint in a Toronto restaurant, although that connection is unconfirmed.
Whatever the subtext or fast evaluation by rap followers, Johnny Lu, the restaurant’s proprietor, was blissful to be talked about. “We often obtain 20 to 30 orders of fried rice a day,” Mr. Lu told The Toronto Star two days after Mr. Lamar’s “Euphoria” was launched. “At the moment we made thrice as a lot.”
On Friday, Drake put the restaurant proper again on the heart of the rivalry with the music video for “Family Matters,” his response to “Euphoria.” The ultimate minutes of the video characteristic Drake and members of his entourage eating at an empty New Ho King. The video then flashes between pictures meant to dig at Mr. Lamar, together with a shot of a hoop that when belonged to Tupac Shakur, one of Mr. Lamar’s idols, which Drake purchased in 2023 for $1 million at auction.
The music video was presumably shot and produced within the three days between the discharge of “Euphoria” and “Household Issues,” highlighting how shortly the rappers are working to fireplace diss tracks backwards and forwards. Whether or not Drake or Mr. Lamar will come out on high remains to be up for dialogue, however to this point the simple winners on this transcontinental rap feud are Mr. Lu and New Ho King.
