What does '6:16 in LA' mean? Fans analyze Kendrick Lamar's latest Drake diss
Kendrick Lamar is clocked in.
Following a surprise drop of his brutal Drake diss track "Euphoria" on Tuesday, the Compton, California, native released "6:16 in LA" Friday morning on his Instagram, and it already has fans going down a rabbit hole to collect all the Easter eggs about the Lamar's Canadian adversary.
The song title is an obvious reference to a timestamp song format Drake has popularized, including "6PM in New York" from "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" and "8am in Charlotte" from his most recent album, "For All the Dogs."
However, fans across social media believe "6:16" is a quadruple, quintile or perhaps an infinite entendre.
June 16 is Father's Day
Some fans believe the number is in relation to June 16, which is Father's Day in the U.S. and Canada. That would be significant because in "Euphoria" Lamar seems to take a shot at Drake's relationship with his son, Adonis. "I got a son to raise, but I can see you don't know nothing about that," he rapped.
"6/16 is Canadian Father’s Day??? LMFAOOOOOO no way Kendrick is this diabolical," one fan remarked on social media.
June 16 marks Tupac Shakur's birthday
June 16 is also the late Tupac Shakur's birthday. Last week, Drake took down his reply diss "Taylor Made (Freestyle)" after the late "All Eyez on Me" rapper's estate sent a cease-and-desist letter to him over his use of an AI-generated imitation of Tupac's voice, calling it "a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time."
In a letter obtained by USA TODAY on April 24, the estate of Tupac and his mother, Afeni Shakur, says it's "deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac's voice and personality in the 'Taylor Made (Freestyle)' record."
'Euphoria,' executive produced by Drake, premiered on June 16
Pushing it further, the first episode of "Euphoria," which is executive produced by Drake, debuted on HBO on June 16, 2019.
"The first ever episode of Drake’s “EUPHORIA” tv series also premiered on the 16th of June. Kendrick is crazy," a fan tweeted at the realization.
Kendrick Lamar doubles downwith fiery Drake diss: Listen to '6:16 in LA'
Fans connect '6:16' to Corinthians 6:16
Other fans have alleged the "6:16" is a diss aimed at the mother of Drake's child Sophie Brussaux, a French artist and former porn star.
"6:16 is not a time stamp," one person posted on X along with a screenshot of Corinthians 6:16 that states: "Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, 'The two will become one flesh.'"
How does June 16 connect to O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson's funeral?
Lamar also questioned Drake's connection to the Black American community as a biracial man in "Euphoria," leading some fans to believe the "6:16" is a reference to Nicole Brown Simpson's funeral date.
The cover of "6:16 in LA" includes a glove, eerily similar to the one at the center of the late O.J. Simpson's murder trial, for which he was acquitted. "Kendrick is implying he murdered a white woman. Hence the glove," one person wrote.
Another commented, "Just so y’all know, the glove means he murdered a white woman. Hence the OJ glove.(Calling drake a white woman)."
June 16 was the apparent date of a Kendrick Lamar concert in Toronto
In the scope for more meanings, fans connected June 16, 2011, to the apparent date of Lamar's concert in Drake's hometown of Toronto. This would have been a month before the Compton rapper released his debut studio album "Section.80."
Whether or not Lamar intended for all the references to the number remains unclear, but fans are running wild with guesses.
What to know about Kendrick Lamar and Drake's beef
Lamar and Drake's feud goes back more than a decade to 2013, when Lamar rapped on the Big Sean song "Control" about how he wanted to "murder" Drake and other prominent rappers.
Earlier this year, Lamar appeared on Future and Metro Boomin's "Like That" and rejected the idea of there being a "big three" in rap, declaring on the track, "It's just big me." The lyric was a response to J. Cole referring to himself, Drake and Lamar as the "big three" on Drake's 2023 track "First Person Shooter."
Drake subsequently fired back with two diss tracks directed at Lamar, "Push Ups" and "Taylor Made Freestyle," the latter which was pulled from streaming services after Shakur's estate threated to sue.
Lamar references this on "Euphoria" by rapping that Shakur is turning "in his grave."
J. Cole also responded to Lamar on the song "7 Minute Drill" in April, rapping, "He still doing shows but fell off like 'The Simpsons." He also rapped that Lamar is past his "prime." But shortly after releasing the song, Cole apologized and said it was "lame" and "goofy" of him to do so.
"I ain't gonna lie to y'all the past two days felt terrible," he told the audience at the Dreamville Festival days later, going on to call Lamar as "one of the greatest."
Contributing: Brendan Morrow, KiMi Robinson, Taijuan Moorman
