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When an Italian soccer club was staring down bankruptcy, an unlikely hero showed up at Venezia FC’s doorstep ready to lace up his shinguards.

According to GQ Italia, Drake played an integral role in helping raise $40 million for the Venice soccer club to stay afloat in Serie A. The franchise was looking at filing for bankruptcy heading into the 2023-2024 season and possibly being demoted to the lowest Serie D with a poor performance.

“I got a call from Brad Katsuyama, co-owner of Venezia and a good friend of mine,” said Drake’s CBO Matte Babel, who also works in management. “He laid out the problem to me in a simple way: Venezia has to raise €10 million in a couple of weeks, and then at least €30 million in a few months, or the club will go bankrupt.”

Babel gave Drake a call and the ball was immediately rolling to help Venezia FC get back on its feet. It only took two weeks to raise the money needed to hang up the phone on bankruptcy thanks to Drake and his team mobilizing efforts. Billboard has reached out to Drake’s reps for comment.

“Venice is an incredible city and Venezia has always been a special club. I spoke to Drake, then Brad and I discussed the details of how we could help. Within two weeks we had a deal, raised the money needed to pay the salaries and avoid bankruptcy.”

GQ Italia continues to report that the $40 million came from a group of North American investors and heavily credited the 6 God’s involvement. The new ownership crew formed an Operating Committee to “oversee the strategic direction of the club.”

“Matte was my first call when I knew the club needed help,” Katsuyama said. “Drake’s value to any football club is undeniable, given his scale as a global superstar and the reach of his brand. This intersection of culture and sport is exactly where we want to be, and the chance to collaborate with a brand like NOCTA, who is moving along the same lines, is incredibly valuable.”

Venezia FC also struck an apparel partnership deal with Drake’s Nocta line, who help design their new uniforms. The club has made a €315 investment into building a new stadium, indoor arena with state-of-the-art facilities, which the team hopes to open in Venice for the start of the 2027 season.

Latto made her return on Friday (Aug. 9) to serve up her anticipated Sugar Honey Iced Tea album. The 25-year-old’s fiery LP closer “S/O to Me” generated chatter among fans online as she sniped at potential targets with her lyrical barbs.

Apple Music’s Ebro Darden saw Latto trying to get into her “Jay-Z bag” while others thought “S/O to Me” was inspired by something in the vein of Drake’s famed timestamp series.

As far as Latto’s rhymes go, over smooth Saint Mino production, fans believe she took more shots at Ice Spice ,as it doesn’t look like this feud is stopping anytime soon.

“Bye sis, funny thing about it, you can’t look me in my eye, sis,” she raps in an apparent jab at Ice using her government name, while later spewing: “Ice is just water when it melts/ Wipe you down, I got plenty towels on the shelf, it’s easy.”

Another bar that could be a stretch when related to Ice ties in the name of her 2022 “Karma” collaboration with Taylor Swift. “Karma will deal with you, though, I promise, your judgment awaits,” Latto ominously spews.

In another lyric, Latto raps, “You fighting for radio play, he fighting a government case,” which some took as a Nicki Minaj diss. Minaj has voiced her frustration with a lack of radio support and her husband, Kenneth Petty, is still dealing with the ramifications of a 1994 sexual assault case.

A fan wrote to X after hearing the menacing track: “Latto is at it again coming for the rap girls. Wordplay on Ice Spice name and another sub for her and Nicki. Latto takes me out she don’t care!”

However, Latto told Ebro Darden on Apple Music that she’s “exhausted” by the rap feuds she’s been entrenched in. “I’m exhausted. For real, I’m so over the beef. I’m gonna put this out there, Latto don’t got no problems with nobody,” she said.

When Ebro named some of the aforementioned lyrics that could be taken as shots at Ice Spice, Latto said she doesn’t look at the jabs as real “beef.” “That’s not beef though, that’s art to me. I think art is up for interpretation and that’s the beauty of it,” Latto added.

Ice Spice addressed the rumored feud in her Rolling Stone cover story, but she didn’t think there was any real static between Latto and herself. “I feel like if we ever spoke and I asked her, ‘What’s the issue?’ it’d be like a blank stare,” she stated. “It’d really be no issue whatsoever. Especially from me. I can understand a friendly competition, but I just feel like at this point it’s a joke that she’s just dragged out, and it’s just not even funny.”

Latto said she didn’t think Ice Spice was the kind of rapper who would want to engage in a rap battle that involved them exchanging full diss tracks. “If I was to do [a battle], it would have to be with somebody I feel like Imma go tit for tat with,” Latto told Billboard in her July cover story. “I really don’t mean it as shade. Would she even want to do that?”

Listen to “S/O to Me” below.