Tom Hanks sought the help of his son, Chet Hanks, for the inside scoop on the fiery feud between rap giants Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The Hollywood royalty’s curiosity over the hip-hop drama had the internet chuckling.
The 33-year-old son shared screenshots of the text messages from his famous father, who addressed him as “Big Main” and asked about the weeks-long battle between the two rappers.
“Big Main, can you explain the Drake/Kendrick Lamar feud to me?”
Tom Hanks addressed his son as "Big Main" when he asked for a breakdown of the fiery feud between the rap titans
Image credits: chethanx
The younger Hanks then went on to explain that the most recent conflagration in the beef between the two rap titans was spurred by a lyric from the track First Person Shooter, which Drake and J. Cole collaborated on.
“Yeah, so Drake and this other dude J Cole been saying they along with Kendrick are the ‘Big 3’ in Rap. Then Kendrick put out a song saying, ‘F— the Big 3, it’s just big ME.’ initiating the beef. Then Drake was like, “you got small feet cuz you’re like 5 foot 5 or whatever,” the young musician and actor said in his response to his dad’s query.
The Oscar winner is a father to four children: Colin, Elizabeth, Chet, and Truman Hanks
Image credits: tomhanks
Chet then went on to briefly explain how two of the biggest names in contemporary hip-hop have been taking a shot at each other by releasing diss track after diss track.
"Kendrick was like you’re a dead beat dad and made fun of his Canadian accent. So Drake came back and was like, 'oh yeah? Well I heard you beat your wife' but literally like 30 seconds later Kendrick put out a diss overshadowing Drakes diss where he pretty much methodically dismantled Drakes entire psyche and called him a pedophile for flirting with young girls and revealing Drake had another kid that he was hiding from the world, which turned out to be false," he said.
The Hollywood veteran was given a quick lesson from his son on the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar
Image credits: tomhanks
Chet then took an experience from their own life to break down the lyrical warfare for his Oscar-winning father.
“Drake came back and was like ‘hahaha I gotcho a-- I had people give you false info to make you look stupid’ but it didn’t even matter cuz then Kendrick just dropped another West Coast banger where he really went in on labeling Drake a pedophile that was pretty much the sonic equivalent of when you took me to your high school in Oakland and we walked in on the basketball game and everybody started going nuts,” Chet said.
"Holy cow!" the Forrest Gump star said as he reacted to Chet Hanks' response
Image credits: chethanx
"Like if you heard it you would just automatically know how to Crip walk with a stank face while clutching an Oscar in each hand with Marshawn Lynch, then dap him up and tell him ‘Town Bidness’ which solidified the win not only for Kendrick but the entire West Coast," he continued.
After the 33-year-old provided a condensed version of the saga to his father, The Terminal actor responded by saying, “Holy cow! These are fighting words. People taking sides?? Who’s winning?”
The younger Hanks seemed hilariously exasperated after his famous father responded to the hip-hop drama
Image credits: chethanx
“Did you not just read what I said,” an exasperated Chet asked in return, adding three laughing emojis at the end of his text.
After the junior Hanks shared screenshots of the text messages on Instagram, the internet found it amusing that the Hollywood veteran was trying to do his hip-hop homework. The exchange was widely shared online, making the name Tom Hanks trend for a while on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, May 20.
Chet Hanks wondered if his father even read his long-winded text message
Image credits: chethanx
Fans remarked on the exchange between the famous father-son duo.
“Tom Hanks knew exactly which child to go to with that question,” one said, while another wrote, “The best part of this is Tom Hanks calling his son 'Big Main' lol absolutely love that.”
“Tom Hanks calling Chet Big Main tells me that Tom loves and accepts his ridiculous son for who he is,” read a third comment.
Another said, “Tom Hanks earnestly attempting to engage with his weird son is actually incredible. Like he didn’t read all that but said ‘holy cow.’”
The internet was obsessed with the amusing exchange between the two about the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud
Image credits: tomhanks
Tensions between Canadian musician Drake and Compton-born Kendrick first escalated when the latter named Drake alongside 11 other rappers in Big Sean's 2013 track "Control."
"I got love for you all but I’m trying to murder you n----/ Trying to make sure your core fans never heard of you n----/ They don’t want to hear not one more noun or verb from you n---- ," he rapped.
Since then, the two rap titans have exchanged lyrical jabs at each other in different ways. However, the latest flare-up in their feud was sparked last year by a line from First Person Shooter, as Chet pointed out to his dad.
In the song, both Drake and J. Cole tout their dominance in the music business, with the latter heralding himself, the Hotline Bling artist, and Kendrick as the "Big Three."
But in March 2024, Kendrick laughed off the “Big Three” idea in his guest verse on Metro Boomin and Future's collaborative track Like That.
There is no "big three -- it's just big me," he said as he ridiculed the One Dance vocalist.
The two rappers have been locked in lyrical warfare as they take shots at each other through diss tracks
Image credits: Kendrick Lamar
The rift continued as Drake fired back with the diss track Push Ups, in which he called his rap nemesis a “pipsqueak.”
“How the f--- you big steppin’ with a size-seven men’s on?” he rapped.
Kendrick then unleashed a full-blown six-minute diss track titled Euphoria at the end of April, in which he called Drake a "master manipulator" and a "habitual liar.”
The message was loud and clear: he was not a Drake fan.
"Let me say I'm the biggest hater," he rapped. "I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress."
Within the next 72 hours, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper released another diss track targeting the Canadian artist with a song called 6:16 in LA.
Allegations of domestic abuse, infidelity, and pedophilia have been made by the rappers in the musical sparring
Image credits: Drake
Drake’s response came in the form of Family Matters, a diss track spanning almost 8 minutes, accusing Kendrick of domestic abuse and infidelity.
More diss tracks were released by the rivals as their musical sparring continued while loyal supporters helped fan the flames on either side.
“Rap beefs mean money,” Tia Tyree, a professor of communication studies at Howard University, told NBC News. “Because those streams make money.”
Some called Chet Hanks' explanation of the rap rivalry to his father the best so far
