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New Ho King, a Chinese restaurant, wins the Kendrick Lamar-Drake Beef
Economy

New Ho King, a Chinese restaurant, wins the Kendrick Lamar-Drake Beef

Over the past six weeks, the feud between Compton, California-born rapper Kendrick Lamar and Canadian rapper Drake has escalated into a full-blown feud, with confrontations delivered in the form of diss tracks.

But the feud didn’t erupt until April 30, when Lamar released “Euphoria,” a six-and-a-half-minute rebuke to the “Nice for What” rapper. On Friday, Drake responded to “Euphoria” and another song, “6:16 in LA,” with “Family Matters,” which has more than 15 million views on YouTube.

Caught in the middle of this culture-consuming rivalry is New Ho King, a modest restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown. The restaurant, which has served dishes like braised grouper and tofu, and sweet and sour pork with pineapple to Torontonians for almost 50 years, was briefly mentioned in “Euphoria.” (“I’ll be in New Ho King eating fried rice and gravy and a crodie, Mr. Lamar raps, finishing the lyrics with a twist on local Toronto slang.)

The mention of Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, sparked a flood of five-star reviews on Yelp and Google for New Ho King, many of them written by people who had never set foot in the restaurant.

“I’ve never eaten here, but I give it five stars because Kendrick is the GOAT! From California with love,” wrote one Yelp reviewer. (Yelp has since attached an “unusual activity alert” to New Ho King’s page.)

It’s not the only restaurant in the mix. In his “6:16 in Los Angeles,” Lamar mentions the Lucali pizzeria, in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn: “My visa, tattooed passport, I show up in Ibiza, Lucali’s homes in Brooklyn just to reserve some pizza.”

There are several fan theories as to why Lamar chose to reference the Chinese restaurant in such a bombshell track, including that it could be related to a 2009 incident in which Drake was robbed at gunpoint in a Toronto restaurant, although that connection is unconfirmed.

Regardless of the subtext or the quick analysis by rap fans, Johnny Lu, the owner of the restaurant, was happy to be mentioned. “We normally get 20 to 30 fried rice orders a day,” Lu told the Toronto Star two days after the release of Lamar’s “Euphoria.” “Today we won triple.”

On Friday, Drake once again put the restaurant at the center of the rivalry with the music video for “Family Matters,” his response to “Euphoria.” The final minutes of the video show Drake and members of his entourage dining at an empty New Ho King. The video then cuts between footage meant to dig into Lamar, including a shot of a ring that once belonged to Tupac Shakur, one of Lamar’s idols, which Drake bought in 2023 for $1 million at auction.

The music video was presumably filmed and produced in the three days between the release of “Euphoria” and “Family Matters,” highlighting how quickly the rappers are working to release tracks back and forth. Whether Drake or Lamar will emerge victorious remains to be discussed, but so far the undeniable winners in this transcontinental rap feud are Lu and New Ho King.