Feuds

On a monumental night for the Toronto Raptors and the team’s former star Vince Carter, the biggest news was about someone in the stands: Drake.
The hometown rapper and Toronto Raptors global ambassador sat courtside for the halftime retirement ceremony of Carter’s number Saturday night (Nov. 2), and joined TSN commentators Matt Devlin and Jack Armstrong for the broadcast of the game between the Raptors and Sacramento Kings.

After insisting the broadcast get a shot of fellow Toronto artist Jessie Reyez, Drake took some shots at his former friend DeMar DeRozan. The former Raptors star who now plays for the Kings appeared in the video for Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track “Not Like Us.”

Drake acknowledged the importance of Carter, the first Raptors player to have his jersey retired in Toronto, but said “unfortunate we’re playing this goof tonight,” referring to DeRozan.

Later, he said “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.”

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Drake violating Demar Derozan while commentating the game “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there & pull it down myself.” Called homeboy a “Goof” 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Mo38Y5sicb— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) November 3, 2024

In a post-game media scrum, a reporter asked the Sacramento Kings star about Drake’s comment. “He’s going to have a long way to climb,” he quipped. “Tell him good luck.” Then, he abruptly got up and left the podium.

DeRozan appeared in the music video for his hometown Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar’s hit “Not Like Us,” which included many veiled and overt shots at Drake. He also danced onstage during the performance of the song at Kendrick’s hometown Pop Out concert .

It seemed like the former Raptor had chosen his side in the Drake-Kendrick feud, but he later told the Sacramento Bee that he and Drake were still on good terms. “Drake’s still my man,” he said . “None of it changed.”

Apparently Drake doesn’t feel the same way.

It was a special night for the Raptors, who retired the number of its first franchise superstar Vince Carter. Carter played for the team from 1998 to 2004, and put the city on the basketball map. His electrifying dunks made him a global culture phenomenon. He was an investor in Toronto’s first nightclub with bottle service, and brought many celebrities to the city.

Carter and the team had a bitter breakup, and many fans never forgave him until recently. But his influence remains undeniable. Some have argued the popularity of Carter paved the way for stars like Drake to make an international impact from Toronto.

Carter gave a shoutout to Drake during his speech and relayed a story that he once threw his armband to him at a Raptors game when the rapper was a teenager. “How about that?” he said. “A freaking icon here that I threw my armband to! See I be knowing.”

Drake’s appearances at Raptors games are less frequent than they used to be, but he still has a way of making headlines every time he’s there.

Just about every aspect of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s artistry has been picked apart over the course of the months since their explosive feud in the second quarter of the year. As a hip-hop savant, RZA stopped by Complex, where he talked about the battle and whether he could see a possible reconciliation down the line between Kendrick and Drizzy, with the 55-year-old comparing the foes lyrically.
“Yeah, it just takes time,” he said. “First of all, Kendrick is the natural lyricist, and Drake is a trained lyricist. You could train a fighter and he could be good. Then you got those natural fighters who also then go through training. So that’s a different chamber there. And while Drake got bars forever, Kendrick’s bars’ potency was stronger.”

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The Wu-Tang Clan frontman believes Drake may have underrated K. Dot’s rapping ability coming into the battle.

“The battle bar-for-bar was something that was just not good advising on Drake’s camp in the sense of just getting in that fight without really taking some more training for that,” he added. “When Kendrick wrote the letter to his son or his daughter and to his [mother], Kendrick is going to come like that. Nas, Kendrick, Eminem, Raekwon, certain people are going to break your s–t down to the element.”

However, RZA made sure to give Drake his flowers as one of hip-hop’s trailblazers in the 21st century, crediting him with pushing the genre melodically and raising the next generation.

“[Drake] expanded it with his melodies and he raised a generation too, and you can’t take that away from him. And these two were at the top of the pinnacle at the end of the day. Nas and Jay-Z, that’s another good example, but it was tough,” RZA continued. “It took years for them to swallow that pill and then come and shake hands on it. So hopefully it is not the same. Hopefully this generation can take it as fun like how the beginning generation took it more for fun.”

As far as RZA’s music goes in his own decorated career, he returned in August to release his classical collaborative project called A Ballet Through Mud, which he crafted alongside Australian conductor Christopher Dragon and the Colorado Symphony. 

J. Cole offered up his response to ducking the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud with his “Port Antonio” track last week, which sparked plenty of debate on X and other social media platforms. One person not feeling Cole’s reply was Joe Budden, who ripped into the Dreamville boss during the Oct. 13 Joe Budden Podcast episode for his alleged lack of accountability when it came to the “big three” and the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef that he played a role in.
“What do you mean you finally free? That dismisses all accountability from the part that he has played in the big three debacle,” Budden stated on his show. “What do you mean you finally free as if you never wanted parts of the big three conversation? That is a load of crap and I’m not going to let you n—-s just piss on me and tell me it’s raining. Get the f–k out of here.”

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But he wasn’t done there. “Don’t pop back up and say, ‘If I would’ve I could’ve, but then I would’ve lost a [bro].’ N—a, no, not over ‘Dead Presidents.’ You ever heard ‘Dead Presidents?’” the rapper-turned-podcaster continued. “The n—a was holding his man’s hands at the hospital bed saying, ‘I’m going to kill them n—-s for you.’ Get the f–k out of here with this soft s–t. I hate this soft hip-hop s–t. It’s soft.”

Budden’s caveat being that Cole is rapping at an exceptionally high level, but the points are made separate of each other.

It’s been just more than six months since J. Cole initially jabbed at Kendrick with his “7 Minute Drill” diss track in April, before taking the stage at his Dreamville Festival days later and apologizing.

Budden compared the move to a UFC fighter throwing a punch and leaving the ring seconds later. “He did get in the octagon and do it,” he said on his podcast. “And climbed out. If we saw it in a UFC fight, we’d laugh at the n—a… He don’t get to come in and repurpose some s–t and reframe what we forgot about.”

Cole opens up about the feud with added perspective on “Port Antonio,” which arrived Oct. 9, claiming he wouldn’t have lost the battle, but lost “a bro.”

“I pulled the plug because I seen where that was ’bout to go/ They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow/ They see this fire in my pen and think I’m dodging smoke/ I wouldn’t have lost a battle, dog, I woulda lost a bro/ I woulda gained a foe,” he raps.

Cole then even showed love to Drake while looking to inspire him to keep his head up. “They say I’m pickin’ sides, don’t you lie on me, my n—a to start another war/ Ay, Drake, you’ll always be my n—a/ I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n—a/ F–k all the narratives/ Tapping back into your magic pen is what’s imperative,” he rhymes.

Watch the episode below. The J. Cole discussion starts around the 37-minute mark.

It’s been just over six months to the day J. Cole waved the white flag at his Dreamville Festival to withdraw from the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud.
With the added perspective from watching how it all played out, Cole addressed bowing out of the beef on a new track titled “Port Antonio.” The Dreamville boss released the track via his Instagram account on Wednesday night (Oct. 9).

“I pulled the plug because I seen where that was ’bout to go/ They wanted blood, they wanted clicks to make they pockets grow/ They see this fire in my pen and think I’m dodging smoke/ I wouldn’t have lost a battle, dog, I woulda lost a bro/ I woulda gained a foe,” he raps.

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Cole went on to show love to Drake, as he appreciated his “First Person Shooter” collaborator’s support while having enough of people trying to paint him taking a side. “They say I’m pickin’ sides, don’t you lie on me, my n—a to start another war/ Ay, Drake, you’ll always be my n—a/ I ain’t ashamed to say you did a lot for me, my n—a/ F–k all the narratives/ Tapping back into your magic pen is what’s imperative,” he rhymes.

With the jarring allegations made by both sides in the Drake and Kendrick feud, Cole believes they crossed lines that shouldn’t have been. “I understand the thirst of being first that made them both swing/ Protecting legacies, so lines got crossed, perhaps regrettably/ My friends went to war, I walked away with all they blood on me,” he continues in the track.

Instead of opting to feud, Jermaine explains his approach to rapping and pushing the culture forward rather than beating one another down. “Reminding these folks why we do it/ It’s not for beefing, it’s for speaking our thoughts/ Pushing ourselves, reaching the charts/ Reaching your minds, deep in your heart/ Screaming to find emotions to touch/ Somethin’ inside to open you up/ Help you cope with the rough times and s–t,” he finishes on the track.

Just a couple of days after releasing his “7 Minute Drill” Kendrick Lamar diss track, J. Cole immediately expressed regret for doing so while on stage at his Dreamville Fest in his home state of North Carolina back in April.

“I’m so proud of [Might Delete Later], except for one part. It’s one part of that s–t that makes me feel like, man that’s the lamest s–t I did in my f–king life, right? And I know this is not what a lot of people want to hear,” he told fans. “I was conflicted because, one, I know my heart and I know how I feel about my peers, these two n—as that I just been blessed to even stand beside in this game, let alone chase they greatness. So I felt conflicted ’cause I’m like, bruh I don’t even feel no way. But the world wanna see blood. I don’t know if y’all can feel that, but the world wanna see blood.”

He eventually removed “7 Minute Drill” from streaming services, and Cole’s side-stepping led to Lamar and Drake battling, which played out over the course of the next month into May.

Listen to “Port Antonio” below.

Drake rapped about having “No Friends in the Industry” on 2021’s Certified Lover Boy, and he’s continuing to see it play out years later.
Drizzy took the stage at Tyrone Edwards’ Nostalgia Party in Toronto on Saturday night (Oct. 5), where he went on a cryptic rant regarding his “real friends” and those who have switched up on him and stabbed him in the back recently.

“My real friends are definitely in the building,” he began. “But let me tell you that you’re going to come to a point in life where people you thought were friends, people you thought were close to you switch up.”

The 6 God continued to snipe at his opps: “They might try to move funny with you. They might stab you in the back. They might do a lot of things to you. You’ll come to that realization, wherever you’re at in life. You’ve probably been there and you’ll be there again. That’s how life is. Sometimes it’s you and you alone by yourself.”

Drake spoke on “real friends” last night 🤔“People you thought were friends, or people you thought were close to you… they might switch up… they might stab you in the back.” pic.twitter.com/pkCwAgxU1t— Kurrco (@Kurrco) October 6, 2024

Drake continued to have the DJ press play on a couple of records that could be tied to his rant, such as 50 Cent’s “Many Men,” and then finished up with Beyoncé’s 2003 independence anthem “Me, Myself and I,” per XXL.

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Drake is still dealing with the fallout from his feud with Kendrick Lamar, which also saw him spar with The Weeknd, Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross and more.

Last week, Drizzy reportedly slammed the unfollow button a few of the aforementioned artists, including Future and Playboi Carti. He also unfollowed a couple of NBA stars he was previously tight with, such as LeBron James and former Toronto Raptor DeMar DeRozan, who appeared in K. Dot’s “Not Like Us” video and his Pop Out concert in June.

Charlamagne Tha God was taken aback after hearing the audio of Drake’s Toronto rant, as he didn’t realize how “hurt” Drizzy was in the months following his battle with Kendrick.

“I thought that Kendrick’s execution of this battle was flawless, the strategy, the songs, everything,” The Breakfast Club co-host said on Monday (Oct. 7). “But I didn’t think that it had that much of an impact on Drake. Drake’s hurt. Oh my God, he is hurt … When I tell you Kendrick Lamar put his foot all the way up Drake’s a–, he put his foot all the way up Drake’s a– and he is wiggling his toes.”

Fans are still awaiting Drake’s next move on the music side as the calendar flips to his birth month of October. He’s previously stated he and Partynextdoor are teaming up for a joint project, but there’s no release date imminent.

Cardi B and Offset‘s relationship issues spilled over publicly onto social media on Wednesday night (Sept. 25).
The Migos rapper set things off during Cardi’s Instagram Live when he accused her of cheating on him while pregnant with their third child. (She gave birth earlier in September.) “U f–ked with a baby inside tell the truth!!” he wrote in a comment on her Live session.

She tweeted, “AND DID !!!!!!,” which left some fans on X wondering if she was confirming her estranged husband’s accusation. (Billboard has reached out to Cardi and Offset’s reps for comment.)

Cardi — who is in Paris for Fashion Week — then carved out some time to blast her estranged husband on Instagram Live. “All weekend you was blowing up my phone, I blocked you … You tryna get me mad, ‘Let me show you the b—-s I’m f–king,’” she said. “I don’t care. … You’re f–king lame.”

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Cardi continued to explode on Offset, from whom she filed for divorce over the summer. “I’m too much woman for you. I’m too much of a boss b—h for you. And I always been too good for you … I don’t make you feel like you’re that n—a in this home,” she said. “I make you look good.”

While she’s thankful for her three kids with Set and credited him as a father, Cardi admitted she regrets her relationship with the Atlanta native. “All three of them — I don’t regret none of them, but I regret you,” she claimed. “I don’t regret my kids. You a good daddy. You aight. I don’t regret none of them. … But f–k you. I regret you. I’m too good for you. I’ve always been too good for you, n—a.”

Offset fired back in the comment section of her live, as captured by DJ Akademiks. “Insecure,” he wrote. Another captured by Akademiks saw the Migos rapper write: “The fact u keep going shows you hurt leave along don’t you got a n—a ain’t we divorced.”

Cardi and Offset married in 2017. She filed for divorce the first time in September 2020, but quickly called it off. The former couple share three kids — Kulture, 6, Wave, 3, and welcomed their third on Sept. 7.

Watch Cardi’s explosive IG Live session below.

Metro Boomin has addressed the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud. While speaking at the Forbes Under 30 Summit on Monday (Sept. 23), Young Metro talked about his role being in the middle of rap beefs as a producer.
Metro believes the competition is ultimately a positive for the art form, but thinks the internet culture can take things out of hand when two sides are at odds.

“I feel like the competition is great for the game. Hip-hop has always been a competitive genre. Even if just keeping it on music it’s not serious how everybody tries to make it,” he said. “Also with hip-hop, there’s a lot of ego involved. You’re supposed to feel like you’re the best.”

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Metro continued: “When two of the top dogs in the game and you both feel like you’re the best, it’s like, ‘OK, now we gotta have a showdown.’ We saw it with Jay-Z and Nas before. I feel like more today it’s more stan culture makes it kind of weird. Back in the day, Jay-Z and Nas went at it, I was a fan of both of them. Most people were. It was like, ‘OK, it’s OK.’ It’s not like, ‘I had this side. I hate this side.’ The internet makes it a little too wild now.”

At the end of the day, Metro Boomin looks at the feuds as purely “entertainment” and believes with hip-hop’s innate competitive nature, it’s on artists and producers to “help push” the genre forward.

“As far as me being diplomatic, it’s just entertainment,” he added. “I have love and respect for all my collaborators. I just want to see everyone do the best and help push this forward. We’re all here to deposit in and uplift this genre.”

Metro Boomin played an integral role in the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud. He produced We Don’t Trust You‘s “Like That” featuring a nuclear assist from Kendrick, which lit the fuse for the battle after the hit topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Drake returned fire weeks later when he dissed Metro on “Push Ups,” and continued to take shots by calling out his government name later on “Family Matters.”

Watch the discussion below:

Nicki Minaj isn’t letting anyone play with her name. After voicing her frustration with the NFL for overlooking Lil Wayne for the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performer in favor of Kendrick Lamar, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith criticized her history of feuding while he defended Jay-Z.
“Who else you gonna get in a beef with. Lil Kim, Mariah Carey, Cardi B, Gucci Mane, Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato. Every time we turn around it’s something, Nicki,” the sports commentator began on the Stephen A. Smith Show Thursday (Sept. 12). “You disagree with the decision, you disagree with the decision. You got to talk about [Jay-Z] like that? And why are we talking about Jay-Z like he’s some sort of sellout or something?”

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The First Take host continued: “You know how hard it is for a Black man to pull off what Jay-Z has pulled off in terms of making sure Black folks get that kinda center stage to promote their brand and build their profile. How unappreciative can you be? It ain’t about you as an individual — it’s about all of us as Black people. And that brother Jay-Z has been front and center pushing envelopes.”

Minaj didn’t waste time getting back on the offensive, sharing harsh words with Smith on X Thursday, when she essentially called him a sellout.

“Oh look yall another paid laughy taffy alien who only comes off his knees to turn around & back dat azz up. LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Stephen, we don’t care. Ima tell u right now. We don’t care. If I say more it’ll be your fault. Sit down ugly,” she replied.

Oh look yall another paid laughy taffy alien who only comes off his knees to turn around & back dat azz up. LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Stephen, we don’t care. Ima tell u right now. We don’t care. If I say more it’ll be your fault. 🤨 Sit down ugly 😅🤣 #GagCityBUFFALO TONIGHT #Dtlr https://t.co/qFNq19DafN— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 12, 2024

Stephen wasn’t you just moanin & groanin on live in your bedroom ? LMFAOOOO. And since we here in women’s business…ladies; when should men just shave their full head? Should it take its normal course like SAS Sassy ass or should he look into lace fronts? #GagCityBuffalo TONIGHT— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 12, 2024

The rapper then appeared to sarcastically mix Smith up with his First Take partner Shannon Sharpe, who accidentally went on Instagram Live while getting intimate earlier this week. She also clowned Smith’s receding hairline.

“Stephen wasn’t you just moanin & groanin on live in your bedroom ? LMFAOOOO. And since we here in women’s business…ladies; when should men just shave their full head,” she added, insult to injury. “Should it take its normal course like SAS Sassy a– or should he look into lace fronts?”

Lamar was announced as the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performer Sept. 8, and Lil Wayne publicly spoke out about the NFL’s decision early Friday (Sept. 13), admitting that it “hurt” him to not be selected.

“It hurt a whole lot. I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position,” he told fans in a video posted to Instagram. “So I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt.”