It’s been months since Kendrick Lamar ignited a firestorm by taking aim at Drake and J. Cole with his verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” in the spring of 2024. The feud saw the rappers sling vitriol in the form of several diss tracks — with Cole momentarily joining the mix with “7 Minute Drill,” before apologizing to Lamar and taking down the song — and reached a peak with Lamar’s critically and commercially colossal “Not Like Us.”
Now, Drake is kicking off the new year with a new freestyle seemingly addressing the betrayal and fallout following the release of Lamar’s gut-punching track. Producer Conductor Williams dropped the new song on his YouTube page on Friday, but took it down shortly after posting. A representative for Drake verified the freestyle to Rolling Stone.
“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets/Seemed like they loved every minute, just know this shit is personal to us, and it wasn’t just business,” raps Drake in the first verse. “Analyzing behavioral patterns is somewhat suspicious/Niggas was never happy for me when I run up the digits/Or when I’m breakin’ world records, still as I guzzle the Guinness/Or when I get my fifth Maybach ’cause the color is different.”
While Drake doesn’t explicitly call out which events his former associates got “tickets” for, it’s likely a reference to Lamar’s Juneteenth concert in Los Angeles last year, which DeMar DeRozan and LeBron James attended. Notably, fans have dubbed Drake’s new freestyle “Fighting Irish,” the mascot for LeBron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary high school team.
It could also be alluding to Lamar’s stadium tour with fellow Grammy winner SZA across North America set to begin in April.
“Sure convinced the gang this shit is rooted in love when it isn’t,” continues the Toronto rapper in the freestyle. “I guess now you boys got to abandon your summer tradition/Cold shoulders I gave in the Hamptons, it come with the distance/Figured we was always gon’ be close, like ovens and kitchens/ I was sadly mistaken, the loyalty wasn’t a given.”
Drake also appears to address Lamar’s line in “Meet the Grahams” alleging the OVO founder has a drinking problem. “I don’t have a drinkin’ problem, I got a subtle addiction,” raps Drake. “I got my father’s habits and I got my mother’s permission.”
In November, Drake took his beef with Lamar to court, accusing UMG — the major label that both he and Lamar are signed to — of bolstering the widespread appeal of “Not Like Us,” including a claim that UMG and Spotify colluded to discount the streaming licensing rates on the track in exchange for increased audibility. Both UMG and Spotify denied the allegations.
