Obama predicted that Kendrick Lamar would beat Drake in a rap battle 8 years ago

Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s heated feud seemed to come out of nowhere a few months back, and things have escalated to unprecedented heights – but there’s one person who saw the whole thing coming.

Former president Barack Obama predicted that Lamar would beat Drake in a rap battle no fewer than eight years ago.

Of course, Obama knows his stuff when it comes to pop culture, posting a list of his favourite movies, books and music from the year every December.

He was asked about a hypothetical battle between Drake and Lamar during an interview back in 2016 – and it played out in real life.

Obama saw the whole thing comingGetty Images

Lamar and Drake have been hitting back at one another in a series of diss tracks. Things initially began when J Cole referred to himself, Drake and Lamar as the “big three” in rap. Then, Lamar featured on the track “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin in March and claimed he was the best rapper out of them all, rapping: “M********* the big three, n**** it’s just big me”.

Then, Drake clapped back at Lemar with the song ‘Push Ups’. Things really came to a head when Lamar shared a number of songs targeting his rival – titled ‘6:16 in LA' and ‘Not Like Us’ – where he called out Drake out for his alleged preference for younger women and even branded him a “certified paedophile”. Drake responded by saying Kendrick was spreading false information by “misdirecting s****” and defended himself by saying he is “too famous” to get away with such allegations.

Obama, seemingly, saw the whole thing coming.

Speaking to YouTube personality Swoozie in 2016, Obama said that should such a feud take place, he would side with Lamar.

Back in 2016, Lamar had released the critically acclaimed To Pimp a Butterfly, while Drake had released the hit album Views.

Obama said: “Gotta go with Kendrick. I’m just saying, I think Drake is an outstanding entertainer, but Kendrick, his lyrics, his last album [To Pimp a Butterfly] was outstanding. Best album I think of last year.”

Many would claim Obama made the right call, even eight years before anything kicked off for real.

Obama getting involved in the feud might be surprising, but perhaps not as surprising as Rio Ferdinand or WWE star Shawn Michaels wading in.

In a shocking turn of events, Toronto police have issued an update after a security guard was shot outside of Drake's house on Tuesday 7 May.

Police were called around 2am at the affluent Bridle Path neighbourhood in Toronto after a person shot the guard and fled the scene.

Authorities did not confirm whether Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was home at the time. His team is said to be cooperating.

Sign up for our free indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings