The Truth About Kendrick Lamar & Taylor Swift's Friendship

Kendrick Lamar is easily one of the most influential hip-hop artists working today, and he's received numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize for music for his 2017 album, "Damn." This made him the first hip-hop artist to receive the honor. On the other side of the music industry is Taylor Swift, who is also one of the most influential musical artists of her generation, with her record-breaking Eras Tour grossing over $2 billion.

Despite the wide gap in musical genres between the two artists, they're actually very good friends. More than that, they love each other's music and never miss a moment to lend their support. They've also collaborated professionally a little bit over the years, and it's tough to see either one too far from the other at an awards show like the Grammys.

Lamar performed at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, likely giving the two friends another opportunity to see one another, as Swift is dating Travis Kelce, the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. Outside of these brief public interactions, both Swift and Lamar have openly spoken about their friendship. They're often asked about the other in interviews, and they never shy away from praising their musical BFF. Here's the truth about Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift's friendship and how it's played out over the past few years in the public eye.

Even before Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar met, the latter was influencing the former's love of music. In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Swift spoke about everything related to her life and her music. The interview was conducted in public; as you might imagine, a crowd formed and began to snap pictures of the star. She didn't show any hesitation and was clearly in her own element, and she addressed this with her interviewer, who was a bit fazed by all the attention.

Swift asked, "You want to know a trick to immediately go from feeling victimized to feeling awesome?" She then handed over her phone and the earbuds, adding, "This is my go-to." She then hits play, and "Backseat Freestyle" begins to play as Swift proudly states, "I know every word." That's a pretty big compliment coming from one of the biggest musical superstars on the planet.

2014 seems to be the year Swift first addressed her love of Lamar's music, but that one interview wasn't the only instance. During the 2014 Grammy Awards show, Lamar performed alongside Imagine Dragons in a mashup of "Radioactive" and "M.A.A.D City," and the camera cut from the stage to show Swift and a friend dancing enthusiastically as they listened to Lamar. You might assume everyone was dancing along, but initially, few people enjoyed the music as much as Swift, remaining in their seats until closer to the end.

It doesn't go unnoticed when someone like Taylor Swift calls another artist's track her "go-to," so 2014 saw a lot of scuttlebutt about their friendship and whether or not it existed beyond their music. While it's true that some celebrities can't stand Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar cannot count himself among them, which was entirely obvious when he addressed her remarks with the Associated Press (via Billboard) backstage at the ONE Musicfest in Atlanta in 2014.

Lamar was appreciative of Swift's comments, saying, "I appreciate Taylor Swift for supporting not only my music but just the hip-hop culture. There's really no gap. It's music, and it feels good." At this point, the two artists hadn't met or worked together on anything, but Lamar's comments about Swift's appreciation of his music and hip-hop, in general, showed how he respects the genre that made him famous and his openness to other genres and musicians.

More would come out about their love for one another's music, with Swift firing the first shot as proof of her love of "Backseat Freestyle," the track she praised during her Rolling Stone interview. A couple of months later, Lamar freestyled over Swift's hit track, "Shake It Off," during a radio appearance, proving he enjoyed her work as well by singing over his favorite song of hers.

After Kendrick Lamar's love of "Shake It Off" was revealed during his freestyle, Taylor Swift told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2014, "I really wish I was best friends with Kendrick Lamar, and I'm not, and it makes me sad daily." She doubled down on her declaration of loving "Backseat Freestyle" by posting a video of herself lip-synching the track in her car. It wasn't the full song, but she clearly loves the track and knew all of the words.

After this back and forth between the two superstar musical artists, they finally met and came together to collaborate on a track together. Despite never meeting one another in person, Swift reached out to Lamar to ask him to work with her on a remix of her song, "Bad Blood," which features Lamar prominently throughout and was released as a single in 2015. Lamar spoke about it on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (via The Washington Post), explaining, "She reached out. I've always been a fan of hers, and she was a fan of my music, and she reached out, and we got it done".

The "Bad Blood" remix music video featured Lamar as well as a ton of talented women from multiple industries, including Selena Gomez, Cindy Crawford, Ellen Pompeo, Lena Dunham, and others. The real meaning behind Swift's "Bad Blood" doesn't have much of anything to do with Lamar, but his work on the track helped make it an instant hit, earning Swift the video of the year award at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Taylor Swift wasn't given an opportunity to buy the masters of her recordings, so, in 2019, when they fell into the hands of Scooter Braun, Swift decided to do something about it. Swift chose to re-record all of her older albums, while asking her fans to no longer buy any albums recorded previously. This gave her full financial ownership over her work and took it out of the hands of someone she truly couldn't stand having them.

Swift began dropping re-recordings of all her music, including "1989." That's the album featuring "Bad Blood," so Swift not only had to go back and record the song again, but she also had to get Kendrick Lamar to redo his work as well. While there are more than a few celebs who've come out swinging against Swift, Lamar remained close by her side and had no problem returning to the booth to lend his vocal talent to the new recording.

Upon his return, Swift took to Instagram to praise her collaborator, writing, "Watching @kendricklamar create and record his verses on the 'Bad Blood' remix was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life. I still look back on the collaboration with so much pride and gratitude ... Kendrick elevated the song and the way he treats everyone around him," and she concluded with many thanks.

After finalizing their collaboration with the "Bad Blood" re-recording, Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift could have gone their separate ways. It doesn't seem like that's in the cards, as they appear to be close friends who may collaborate again sometime in the future. Most recently, Swift was back to dancing to Lamar's music at the 2025 Grammy Awards, so she clearly hasn't abandoned her love of his music and is happy to show her support in public.

There is one musical artist who tried to use their friendship as ammunition in a diss track, which somehow makes Swift and Lamar's friendship seem even more real. Lamar's fans likely know he's been in a feud with fellow artist Drake for a long time. In 2024, Drake released a diss track that took aim at Lamar, using his friendship with Swift against him. Drake dropped his second diss track aimed at Lamar, but its title gives a hint as to what it's all about: "Taylor Made Freestyle."

The track includes the following lyrics: "But now we gotta wait a f*****' week 'cause Taylor Swift is your new Top / And if you 'bout to drop, she gotta approve / This girl really 'bout to make you act like you not in a feud." Drake's track brought Swift into the fray alongside AI versions of Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, garnering much backlash toward the Toronto rapper. Still, all the track really does is highlight Swift and Lamar's friendship more than anything else.