2023 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Source: GettyKendrick Lamar seemingly disses DJ Akademiks in new song (Image via Getty)

Kendrick Lamar dropped a surprise new track where he seemingly calls out internet personality and podcaster DJ Akademiks. The rapper took to his Instagram on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, to share an untitled song, which fans have unofficially named Watch The Part Die.

While not explicitly named, fans believe some of the lines reference DJ Akademiks, specifically when Lamar raps:

“The radio personality pushing propaganda for salary/ Let me know when they turn up as a casuality/ I want assault and battery.”

Needless to say, internet users were quick to react, with many questioning what radio show the podcaster hosted.

“What radio station Ak work for again?” one user asked.

Many critiqued Kendrick’s work on the song, while others expressed their opinions on Akademiks getting dissed. Here are some of the comments seen on X:

“Kendrick the poet that you are man,” a user commented.

“Now akademiks will go on a rant calling him a b*m lmao,” a netizen added.

“Song was mid but we here for Ak hate,” another fan remarked.

However, several netizens noted that DJ Akademiks is not a radio personality, and the narrative that Kendrick was referencing the internet personality is false.

“DJ Akademiks is not a radio personality. This reach is crazy,” one user wrote.

“We really just heard this man release music where he name drops the people he’s getting at… this song doesn’t have a direct target unless you force one,” another asserted.

“Ak isn’t radio nor gets paid a salary,” a user commented.

“Somebody clearly believe there is a Round 2”: DJ Akademiks responds to Kendrick Lamar’s new song

Kendrick Lamar’s latest track arrives just days after news broke that he would be headlining the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans next year. The five-minute song featured a photograph of black Nike shoes.

 

This is Lamar’s first release since he dropped the Drake diss track Not Like Us in May 2024. While the two rappers have been beefing since the early 2010s, the feud escalated earlier this year. They dropped diatribes one after another, targeting the other’s talents and personal life. This included Drizzy’s Push-Ups and Family Matters, and K.Dot’s Euphoria and Meet the Grahams.

Throughout the rap beef, DJ Akademiks supported the Toronto-born rapper, frequently stating the same in podcasts and social media posts. At one point in his track 6:16 in LA, Kenny goes on to name-drop the podcaster.

Despite no official confirmation, as news of Kendrick Lamar’s new song reached Akademiks, he took to his X account to respond. In one of his posts, he wrote:

“Somebody clearly believe there is a Round 2.”

In his tweet, the YouTuber is referring to Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl announcement, where he used the phrase “no round twos.” While it meant that there is no going back in a game, fans believe it was a subtle nod to his beef with Drake. In a separate post, Akademiks wrote:

“Lol dropping on 9/11 . Pop out concert on Juneteenth . Wait lemme guess. New diss song on Halloween/ thanks giving / drake birthday/ Christmas. Bruh drop a single.. u just got announced as the headliner of superbowl . No Round 2s. Just drop em hits.”

In addition to the internet personality, K.Dot also referenced his collaborator Terrace Martin and Christian rapper Lecrae, among others, in the nearly five-minute-long track.

Kendrick Lamar has not publicly reacted to DJ Akademiks’s posts yet.