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Drake–Kanye West feud

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Kanye West at the Vanity Fair kickoff part for the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. (left) and Drake at The Carter Effect premiere in 2017 (right)

The Drake–Kanye West feud is an ongoing and highly publicized feud, or informally a "beef", between American rapper Kanye West and Canadian rapper Drake. The conflict has unfolded over several years and has involved public statements, social media exchanges, and musical releases.[1]

2009–2017: Background

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West and Drake had a fair share of interactions before their disputes. West directed the music video for "Best I Ever Had," Drake's 2009 debut single.[2] West also featured in Drake's 2009 single "Forever" alongside Eminem and Lil Wayne.[3] Furthermore, West also wrote for and produced Drake's 2010 single "Find Your Love," alongside Jeff Bhasker, No I.D. and Drake himself. During an interview with The Source Drake revealed he wanted to be better than West and surpass him one day.[4] In May 2011 Drake rapped in the song "I'm on One", "I'm just feeling like the throne is for the taking (watch me take it)",[5] referencing Kanye's joint album with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne that dropped in August 2011.[6] After this however, Drake and West would still on good terms at least until 2018, as both of them featured in Big Sean's "Blessings" in 2015, and West would have features on Drake's "Pop Style" along with Jay-Z and also on "Glow" in 2016 and 2017 respectively and also produce tracks from Drake's 2016 album Views with Drake also having writing credits on tracks from West's The Life of Pablo the same year.

2018: Escalation

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Pusha T and Drake beef, West involvement

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Pusha T performing in 2013

Drake and rapper Pusha T had been on bad terms from 2011 until that point.[7] Tensions rose between the two after Pusha T released his album Daytona, which was produced by West.[8] On the album's last track, "Infrared", Pusha T questioned Drake's lyrical abilities, suggesting Quentin Miller had been writing for Drake behind the scenes.[9] Drake responded with "Duppy Freestyle" calling West a "leech and serpent" for resenting his former collaborator Virgil Abloh, as he left West's company Yeezy to become creative director of Louis Vuitton.[10] He also questioned the extravagance of Pusha-T and his brother Malice's drug dealing background. Drake ended the song by denying the ghostwriting allegations brought up by Meek Mill in their 2015 rap beef, and name dropping the wife of Pusha T.[11]

Four days after the release of "Duppy Freestyle", Pusha T released "The Story of Adidon" over the instrumental to Jay-Z's "The Story of O.J.", mocking Drake's alleged insecurities about his race, the relationship between Drake's mother and father, Drake's longtime producer Noah "40" Shebib having multiple sclerosis, and revealing that Drake has a son with French model and former porn star Sophie Brussaux. Pusha T also revealed the scrapped Adidas collaboration with Drake titled "Adidon" was named after Drake's son, Adonis.[12]

Drake appeared on the second episode of LeBron James' HBO show The Shop and implied that West scheduled the releases of Ye, Daytona, and other albums to interfere with the release of Scorpion and seemed to believe that West told Pusha T about his son.[13] Later however Pusha T came forward and claimed Drake's producer Noah "40" Shebib was the one who revealed to him that the rapper has a child.[14] West also apologized to Drake for dropping the albums around the same time as Scorpion claiming he had a lot going on at the time. He also denied telling Pusha T about his son.[15]

"Lift Yourself" beat

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Main article: Lift Yourself

Drake revealed during his appearance on The Shop he was briefly invited to West's Wyoming sessions for the album that would become Ye, but instead of leaving with a collaboration, Drake revealed he loved the "Lift Yourself" beat, Drake also revealed later that he and West both had an agreement for Drake to buy the beat for $3,000,000. But instead of selling the beat, West kept it for himself and used phrases based around the words poop, scoop, and whoop. West's verse includes him saying, "Whoopdedy-scoop, whoopdedy-whoop-scoop-poop, poop, poop", and the song abruptly ends after the verse.[16]

In September 2018, West admitted Drake had some ill feelings towards him because he used the beat for "Lift Yourself" that Drake originally wanted.[17] West stated that he should have given Drake an opportunity before releasing the final version and also apologized to him over their falling out, which was led to by West's usage of the beat and his role in Pusha T's feud with Drake.[17]

"Sicko Mode"

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Main article: Sicko Mode

Between 13 December and 14 December 2018, West sent out a series of tweets where he called out Drake for what he labeled "sneak disses" on Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode". He followed up and urged Scott to apologize. West alleged that Drake threatened his life and the safety of his family.[18]

The following day his then-wife Kim Kardashian defended West and told Drake to stop threatening her family.[19]

2021: Social media and album conflicts

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On August 23, 2021, Drake reignited their feud by dissing West on the Trippie Redd song "Betrayal".[20] Later on that day, West shared what seemed to be Drake's Toronto address in an Instagram post he eventually deleted.[21] Drake referenced on the Certified Lover Boy track "7AM on Bridle Path".[22] Drake leaked Donda outtake "Life of the Party" featuring André 3000 during the Certified Lover Boy guest DJ mix on Sirius XM on 4 September 2021, where West originally dissed Drake by name.[23]

West and Drake released the albums Donda and Certified Lover Boy five days apart. Donda was released by West on 29 August 2021 and debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 selling 309,000 units in its first week. This was surpassed by Drake's Certified Lover Boy that released on 3 September 2021 and sold 613,000 units in its first week as well as replacing Donda as No. 1 as it dropped to second.[24]

On November 8th, West uploaded a video to his Instagram of him standing next to former Rap-A-Lot Records co-founder J Prince, reading a written apology to Drake in hopes for the two to put the beef aside for a benefit concert for incarcerated reformed gangster Larry Hoover, during West's ongoing effort and call for his release.[25] Days later, West uploaded a picture of him, Drake and J Prince, together outside of Drake's house, confirming the beef was squashed.[26] The Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert was announced to take place on December 9th, and was held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The two rappers were joined by West's choir, the Sunday Service Choir and was attended by 70,000 fans. The concert was livestreamed via Amazon Prime Video and Twitch, and was broadcast in IMAX theaters.

2022–2024: Further exchanges

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On November 4th, 2022, Drake released Circo Loco on his collaborative album Her Loss with 21 Savage. On the song, Drake raps "linking with the opps, bitch, I did that shit for J Prince/Bitch, I did it for the mob ties", referencing back to the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert. West would respond to the lyric with a Tweet.[27]

ye Twitter logo, a stylized blue bird
@kanyewest

Enough already I done gave this man his flowers multiple times Let's really see who are real ops are in this music Imagine all the rappers on the game same side and everyone cleaning up each others contracts It's kingdom time Love Drake #lovespeech

November 4, 2022[28]

West with his then-wife Kim Kardashian at the 2019 Met Gala.

On April 7, 2023, Drake released "Search and Rescue" where Drake used an excerpt of a conversation between West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner about Kim's divorce from West: "I didn't come this far, just to come this far and not be happy", Kardashian told her mother in a clip from an episode of their reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.[29]

On November 17, 2023, Drake released "Red Button" as part of For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition. Drake called out West for being false when apologizing about their recurring conflict.[30]

On April 19, 2024, West previewed a remix of "Like That", which took aim at Drake and J. Cole, amidst the former's ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar.[31]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Skelton, Eric. "Kanye West and Drake's Recent Feud, Explained". Complex. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  2. ^ "Best I Ever Had by Drake Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
  3. ^ "Tale of the Tape | Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem's "Forever"". REVOLT. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  4. ^ "October 2011: Drake reveals his desire to surpass Kanye West's career". Capital XTRA. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  5. ^ "From Diss Tracks to Twitter Feuds: A Timeline of Drake and Kanye West's Complicated Relationship". Peoplemag. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  6. ^ "Jay-Z And Kanye's Watch The Throne Countdown Begins!". MTV. Archived from the original on December 21, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  7. ^ "The complete history of Drake & Pusha T's rap beef". Capital XTRA. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  8. ^ "Premature Evaluation: Pusha-T's 'Daytona'". Stereogum. May 25, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  9. ^ Daramola, Isaac (May 25, 2018). "Pusha T's "Infrared" Disses Drake and Lil Wayne". Spin. Archived from the original on May 25, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  10. ^ "Drake Takes Aim at Kanye West and Pusha-T on New Track "Duppy Freestyle"". Complex. May 25, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  11. ^ "Drake Hits Back at Pusha T's Diss Track With 'Duppy Freestyle': Listen". Billboard. May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  12. ^ Félix, Doreen St (June 1, 2018). "How Pusha T's "The Story of Adidon" Viciously Undercuts Drake's Celebrity". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  13. ^ Ahlgrim, Callie. "Drake thought Kanye West told people about his secret child but he was wrong — here's everything you need to know about the drama". Insider. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  14. ^ "Pusha T reveals who told him Drake had a son". The Independent. October 18, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  15. ^ "Kanye Apologizes to Drake". Pitchfork. September 5, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  16. ^ Fama, Amanda (April 28, 2018). "The Meaning Of 'Lift Yourself' By Kanye West Has Fans Questioning The Lyrics". Elite Daily. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  17. ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (September 5, 2018). "Kanye West Apologizes to Drake Over 'Lift Yourself' Beat, Pusha-T Diss Tracks". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  18. ^ Kaufman, Gil (December 14, 2018). "Kanye West Says He Has a Problem With the 'Sneak Disses' On Travis Scott's 'Sicko Mode' With Drake". Billboard. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
  19. ^ "Kim Kardashian Calls Out Drake for Threatening Her Family". Rap-Up. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
  20. ^ Peters, Mitchell (August 22, 2021). "Drake Seemingly Targets Kanye West on New Trippie Redd Song 'Betrayal': Listen". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  21. ^ "Kanye West appears to leak Drake's home address as feud continues". The Independent. August 23, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  22. ^ Woods, Aleia (September 3, 2021). "Drake Appears to Go in on Kanye West on New Song '7am on Bridle Path' – Listen". XXL Mag. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  23. ^ "Here's What's Going On With Drake, Kanye West and Andre 3000". GQ. September 5, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  24. ^ "Drake's Certified Lover Boy Unseats Kanye's Donda and Debuts at No. 1 With Biggest Week of 2021". Pitchfork. September 12, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  25. ^ "J. Prince Forces Kanye West to Apologize to Drake and End Their Beef". BlackSportsOnline. November 8, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  26. ^ "BEEF WITH DRAKE IS SQUASHED ...We're Chilling In Toronto". TMZ. November 16, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  27. ^ "Kanye West Addresses Drake's "Circo Loco" Lyrics About 'Linking With the Opps'". Complex. November 4, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  28. ^ ye [@kanyewest] (November 4, 2022). "Enough already I done gave this man his flowers multiple times Let's really see who are real ops are in this music Imagine all the rappers on the game same side and everyone cleaning up each others contracts It's kingdom time Love Drake #lovespeech" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. ^ Aswad, Jem (April 7, 2023). "Drake Samples Kim Kardashian Talking Divorce on New Song 'Search & Rescue'". Variety. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  30. ^ Brow, Jason (November 17, 2023). "Drake Disses Kanye West, Pusha T, and Joe Budden in New Songs". Us Weekly. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
  31. ^ Nevares, Gabriel Bras (April 20, 2024). "Kanye West Disses Drake & J. Cole On Alleged "Like That" Remix Leaked By Adam22: Listen". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
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