Drake and Kanye West.Photo: Mike Marsland/WireImage; Brad Barket/Getty
It’s been more than a decade sinceDrakeandKanye Westwent from friends to collaborators to rivals — and if the lyrics on Drake’s latest album are any indication, the rappers' feud is showing no signs of slowing down.
Drake, 34, released his long-awaited sixth albumCertified Lover Boyon Friday, and fans were quick to dissect the lyrics to the album’s 21 tracks, many of which appeared to take aim at West.
On the track, Drake appears to reference West and his Yeezy clothing brand, as well as the fact that much of their feud stems from the fact that West produced aPusha T song in 2018that revealed Drake had fathered a son.
“Told you I’m aimin' straight for the head, not aiming to please / I could give a f— about who designing your sneakers and tees / Have somebody put you on a Gildan, you play with my seed,” he raps, seemingly alluding to the practice of putting someone’s photo on a Gildan T-shirt as a tribute after they die.
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Later in the song, Drake raps, “And look at the heroes fallin' from grace in their older ages / If we talkin' top three, then you been slidin' to third like stolen bases.”
On another track called “No Friends in the Industry,” Drake appears to take a shot at West’s label GOOD MUSIC, which has lost several artists in recent years, including John Legend in 2016, as well as West’s frequent tweets.
“Your circle shrinkin', see some boys escapin',” he raps, later adding, “And all them tweets and all them posts / Ain’t got the type of time to be playin' with you folk.”
Though West’s estranged wifeKim Kardashian West, 40, haslong denied rumors that she and Drake were romantically involved, Drake seems to hint at the possibility in a verse on the song “Pipe Down,” which also appears to allude to his rivalry with West.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.Kevin Mazur/Getty
“Why does your ex think we beefin', is that man alright? / That n– can’t even look at me, he fell off twice,” Drake raps. “So much s— I wanted to say, straight to your face / ‘Cause you’re so two-faced, that I don’t know which face.”
The release ofCertified Lover Boycomes just one week after West releasedDonda, his long-delayed tenth studio album.
The weeks leading up to the albums featured the two men feuding publicly, beginning with Drake calling out West in his feature on the Trippie Redd track “Betrayal.”
“All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know / Forty-five, forty-four (burned out) let it go / ‘Ye ain’t changin’ s— for me, it’s set in stone,” he raps.
In response, West appeared to post — then quickly delete — Drake’s home address on Instagram, which then prompted Drake to share a video of himself laughing hysterically.
The incident resurfaces on “7AM on Bridle Path,” with Drake rapping, “You know the fourth level of jealousy is called media / Isn’t that an ironic revelation? / Give that address to your driver, make it your destination / ‘Stead of just a post out of desperation.”
Drake.Rich Fury/Getty Images
The pair’s relationship wasn’t always strained — in the early years of his career, Drake often praised West, atone point calling him"the most influential person as far as a musician that I’d ever had in my life."
West even directed the music video for Drake’s breakthrough single “Best I Ever Had” in 2009, and the two later collaborated on several tracks, even sparking rumors that they’d team up for a joint album.
The healthy competition turned into something more sinister in 2018, when Pusha T released “The Story of Adion,” the lyrics to which revealed the existence of Drake’s son before he’d made the news public himself.
West apologized to Drake on Twitter later that year, saying he was sorry for “stepping on” Drake’sScorpionrelease date, and also that he “should have spoken” to Pusha about dissing Drake on “Infrared,” but denied telling Pusha aboutDrake’s son Adonis, now 3.
“I did not have any conversations about your child with Pusha,” he wrote. “I don’t play with the idea of people’s children after I spoke to Wiz [Khalifa] a few years earlier,” West wrote at the time.
Weeks later, however, West switched gears in a series ofsince-deleted videos that fired backat the rumors that Drake had previously hooked up with his then-wifeKim KardashianWest.
“People making rumors or thinking you f— my wife and you’re not saying nothing… that don’t sit well with my spirit,” West said. “You know, if I had a girlfriend from Chicago, her name was Renita, and you was married toRihanna, I wouldn’t make no song called ‘Riri.’ So when you’re like, ‘I don’t know where it came,’ you too smart for that bro.”
In December 2018, West called Drake “faker than wrestling” in a series of tweets, and asked him to apologize for several diss lyrics he’d recorded that seemed to be about West.
Reflecting on the drama in a 2019 interview withRap Radarpodcast, Drake said that the situation “just is what it is.”
“I could never ever ever ever turn my back on the things that I’ve said about him in a positive light, and I still feel all those same things,” he continued. “He’s still my, obviously with the exception of Lil Wayne … and if I look at Hov as the guy who truly shaped the majority of my thinking, skill set, all those things,Kanye Westwould be my favorite artist all around. And that’s just facts. I have no problem saying that. Things have changed. I’m not just some kid that’s a fan anymore. Now we have personal situations, and like I said, a lot of his issues with me, I can’t fix them for him.”
source: people.com
