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Drake has never been afraid to take subliminal shots at other rappers, on songs or in Instagram captions. Since the release of Metro Boomin and Future’s We Don’t Trust You, it appears that feeling is mutual.
In the days that have followed Future and Metro dropping their chart-topping album—which included a possible sub from Future on the title track and a fiery diss verse from Kendrick Lamar on “Like That”—it’s become clear that they might not be the only rappers potentially feuding with The Boy.
In addition to Future, Kendrick, and Metro, longtime collaborator Rick Ross and now possibly Nav are also on a list of other rappers that Drake is potentially on bad terms with. Not to mention Ye and Pusha T, who still catch subs in his music to this day.
Drake hasn’t directly responded to any of the We Don’t Trust You shots through music yet, but he has made several cryptic Instagram posts with captions that imply he wants all the smoke. Given the laundry list of artists that Drake might be ready to war with, here are all the rappers that he is potentially feuding with right now.
Future
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People began to speculate that Drake and Future were beefing after We Don’t Trust You dropped and the title track appeared to have shots for the Toronto rapper. Specifically, on the second verse Future raps about having problems with a fake friend who’s been pillow-talking. Future has not said anything outside of the music that confirms this, but a closer look at the history of issues between the two might suggest that these theories could be true. The fact that Future even allowed Kendrick Lamar to diss him on his own album speaks volumes. Given the tumultuous relationship between Drake and Metro, it seems like Future is staying loyal to his go-to producer.
Kendrick Lamar
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Likelihood of beef: DID PRINCE OUTLIVE MIKE JACK?
Kendrick Lamar has been the most direct about wanting smoke with Drake since Pusha T in 2018, sending direct shots at the rapper on his verse on “Like That.”
Drake and Dot’s contentious history dates back over a decade now, reaching its first boiling point in 2013 after Kendrick dropped his verse on Big Sean’s “Control” and Drake seemingly responded shortly after on “The Language” when he rapped, “I don’t know why that they been lyin’/But your shit is not that inspirin’.” Kendrick followed that up in the same year by sending a shot at Drake during TDE’s 2013 BET Cypher when he said, “And nothing’s been the same since they dropped ‘Control’ and tucked the sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes.”
While things remained relatively calm between them for a few years, Dot made clear that the smoke was still there on “Like That” by refuting the idea of their being a “Big 3” of himself, Drake, and J. Cole, and sending other shots about Drake’s discography and affinity for Michael Jackson.
Metro Boomin
Likelihood of beef: Likely
Metro Boomin has gone on record saying that he does not have issues with Drake, but the recent developments on We Don’t Trust You would suggest otherwise. It’s unclear where Drake and Metro’s issues first began, possibly when Metro passed on letting Drake get a verse on Heroes & Villains. However, back in December the Atlanta producer tweeted and deleted criticism about awards shows, pointing to Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss specifically as not deserving more accolades than Heroes & Villains.
“Her Loss still keeps winning rap album of the year over H&V,” Metro tweeted. “Proof that award shows are just politics and not for me. Idc about awards honestly, the true award and REWARD is knowing that the music I spend so much time on brings joy to people’s everyday lives.”
This prompted Drake to seemingly bring up these comments during a livestream shortly after, calling out all of the tweet-and-deleters. “And to the rest of you,” he said at the time, “the non-believers, the underachievers, the tweet-and-deleters, you guys make me sick to my stomach, fam.” The two have since unfollowed each other on social media.
Rick Ross
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Likelihood of beef: Likely
Drake and Rick Ross have worked together for over a decade. Drake is on both of Ross’ only Top 10 Billboard chart entries, “I’m on One” and “Money in the Grave,” so it came as a surprise to many when the Bawse recently posted a video of himself on Instagram driving around to Kendrick’s “Like That” verse. This came after speculations that Drake invited Ross’ ex Cristina Mackey to his tour stop in Sunrise, Florida last week.
Neither Ross nor Drake has addressed each other directly since his appearance on We Don’t Trust You, but the rapper spoke fondly of Drake during his November visit to 360 With Speedy when he and Meek Mill were discussing their previous beef, with Ross saying that he knew Drake and Meek would eventually find common ground. Maybe Ross and Drake can do the same.
ASAP Rocky
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Likelihood of beef: very likely
Drake and ASAP Rocky have known each other for over a decade, and Rocky even credits the Toronto rapper for being “the only person that put on for me when I ain’t have nobody.” But rumors began to swirl in 2018 (around the same time as the Push-T vs. Drake beef) that Rocky been intimate with Drake’s baby mother Sophie Brussaex.
These rumors come to a head on “Show of Hands,” where Rocky raps: “Call up Pluto, Metro, should’ve put me on the first one/ Niggas in they feelings over women, what, you hurt or somethin’?/ I smash before you birthed son, Flacko hit it first son/ Still don’ trust you, it’s always us, never them/ Heard you dropped your latest shit/ Funny how it just came and went.” Rocky’s bar about how Future and Metro “should’ve put [him] on the first one” has fans speculating that the duo called in even more artists to send shots at Drake on this new album, and his “I smash before you birthed son” line is being interpreted as a hint that he slept with Brussaex before the birth of Adonis. Rocky goes on to throw shade at Drake’s last album, For All The Dogs, before he closes the song with, “Fuck keepin’ this shit hip-hop/ I wanna see a fuck nigga bleed out.”
So why does Rocky have smoke for Drake? Well, fans originally speculated that Drake had dissed Rihanna and Rocky on 2023’s “Fear of Heights” when he sang about his past experiences with Rih: “Why they make it sound like I’m still hung up on you?/ That could never be/ Gyal can’t run me/ Better him than me/ Better it’s not me/ I’m anti, I’m anti/ Yeah, and the sex was average with you/ Yeah, I’m anti ’cause I had it with you/ Okay, I’m auntie like your daddy’s sister/ Auntie like a family picture/ And I had way badder bitches than you, TBH/ Yeah, that man, he still with you, he can’t leave/ Y’all go on vacation, I bet it’s Antilles.” And on “Another Late Night,” Drake even mentioned Rocky by name, rapping, “I ain’t pretty flacko, bitch, this shit get really rocky.” With this context, “Show of Hands” might be Rocky’s way of responding to that verse, implying that he was with the mother of Drake’s child first, after Drake
Likelihood of beef: likely
Drake and The Weeknd have a long and complicated relationship that dates back over a decade. On his 2019 song “War,” Drake even rapped about how they just had to “fix things,” alluding to on-again-off-again tensions over the years, and fans are speculating that Abel is taking advantage of this moment on Future and Metro’s album to express his persisting frustrations with Drake.
Instead of making his potential subs at Drake sound venomous, The Weeknd does what he does best and sings the disses like an angel on the fluttery “All to Myself,” which samples The Isley Brothers’ “Let’s Lay Together.” On the track, Abel croons, “They could never diss my brothers, baby/ When they got leaks in they operation/ I thank God that I never signed my life away/ And we never do the big talk/ They shooters makin’ TikToks.”
The first portion of the verse (“They could never diss my brothers, baby”) is likely a reference to Drake inevitably retaliating against Future and Metro, while the line about being thankful that he never “signed [his] life away” could be alluding to the fact that he chose not to sign with OVO back in 2011 and instead helped to write much of Take Care. Fans are also speculating that the line about “shooters makin’ TikToks” is a jab at Drake’s mob persona being a farce, as some have pointed to his old bodyguard/artist Baka Not Nice making TikToks.
Likelihood of beef: 100% Confirmed
The smoke between Pusha T and Drake is never clearing, with the two rappers feuding for several years now. People point to different moments for when their beef began—from Lil Wayne tweeting, “fuk pusha t and anybody that love em,” in 2012 to Push’s “H.G.T.V. Freestyle” in 2016. Either way, direct shots were sent in 2018 when Pusha dropped “Infrared” and called out Drake for using a ghostwriter. Drake would respond with “Duppy Freestyle,” and Pusha hit him with the haymaker of “The Story of Adidon.”
Drake never directly responded to “The Story of Adidon,” but has sent a plethora of subliminal disses at Push in the years that followed. Most recently, on his verse on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown,” Drake raps, “I melt down the chains that I bought from ‘yo boss/Give a fuck about all of that heritage shit/Since V not around, the members done hung up the Louis, they not even wearing that shit.”
Likelihood of beef: Very Likely
Drake and Ye have been on-again-off-again friends for longer than most people can keep up with at this point. Drake made it clear he had issues with the artist formerly known as Kanye West on “Duppy Freestyle” in 2018. They seemingly made up thanks to J Prince puppeteering behind the scenes (one menacing finger-gun photo op at a time) in 2021.
But peace between the two never lasts long. Drake dissed Ye again on “Circo Loco” off Her Loss when he rapped, “Linking with the ops, bitch, I did that shit for J Prince.”
He sent more subliminals to Ye on “Stories About My Brother” off For All the Dogs when he said, “I can’t wait for the day that you choose to retire your stuff/Takin’ off the sneakers ’cause you tired of tyin’ ’em up/That one day you wake up and tell ’em ‘Enough is enough’/That’s how you gon’ find out you not Kobe Bryant to us/Man, you not Kobe Bryant to us, at all.”
These bars came around the same time as photos were surfacing of Ye walking around barefoot, and the Kobe line is likely in reference to his song “24,” a track that Drake performed during their Free Larry Hoover show as well.
After his song “Carnival” went No. 1, Ye shared a lengthy message where he sent out a lot of “fuck yous,” with one aimed a Drake when saying, “And it’s fuck Drake for taking Durk right at the beginning of the Vultures role out I’ll come back to yall if I think of more fuck you’s.” Drake then hilariously responded by reposting a 50 Cent meme questioning why he was being looped into things again. Even more recently, Ye called himself the GOAT in an Instagram post and said, “Everyone knows I washed Drake at the Free Hoover concert.”
Likelihood of beef: Not Likely
It’s hard to understand why these two Canadian brothers might be feuding. Drake trolled Nav by quoting him for the first Instagram caption he made following Kendrick’s “Like That” verse. “I ain’t picking up I’m in Turks lil baby,” wrote Drake, on a post that included shots of him on tour. Fans also noticed that Nav had recently unfollowed his fellow Toronto rapper as well.
People are speculating that the unfollow is reflective of Nav taking Metro Boomin’s side in their feud since Nav and Metro have worked together closely. However, in 2022, while on the Full Send Podcast, Nav said that he and Drake “hang out all the time in Toronto.” So it’s unclear what the status of their relationship is now.
