Drake isn't the type to forgive or forget easily. And, since it is said that keeping anger inside hurts, he, long Icemanone of the three albums he released at midnight on May 15, vents the accumulated tension and takes it out on his current list of enemies and adversaries.
There are a few recurring characters, though no shadow looms as large as Kendrick Lamar's as the rapper navigates post-Not Like Us. The raging feud between the two rappers flared up in 2024, culminating when Lamar took the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show and won five Grammys with his diss track. Meanwhile, Drake dealt with burned bridges and betrayals, even filing a lawsuit against UMG, claiming that the label had damaged his reputation by promoting Not Like Us.
Drake, in short, had a bit of something for everyone. Here are the ones he has it against Iceman — and the stories behind it.
Kendrick Lamar
Drake attacks headlong into Make Them Pay: “Fuck the big three anyway, there were too many cooks in the kitchen, it was a mess from the start/And now they got a new GOAT and we gotta test the position” (Lamar once rapped: “Fuck the Big Three, I'm just the big one”). But Drake is even more ferocious when he returns to the alleged manipulation of the streams of which he accused Lamar in his lawsuit against Universal Music Group. «Shit, who is this guy really? I would say a magician,” he raps. “One hundred million streams gone, no one's asking questions.”
Another shot comes in Janice STFUwhere Drake says, “White people listen to you because they feel guilty and that's how your soul finds satisfaction.” The rapper also borrows a phrase from Not Like Us for the title of his collaboration with Future and Molly Santana, Ran to Atlantadefending his ties to the city. And in Make Them Cry returns to the feud: “You keep asking me what he did to me, that's what he did to me,” he raps. “When I dig deep, they tell me to dig deeper/Tell us what it was like to meet death” – Larisha Paul
Lucian Grainge
In January 2025, Drake sued UMG, accusing the label of promoting Not Like Us of Lamar for “conveying the specific, unequivocal and false accusation that Drake is a criminal pedophile.” The lawsuit explicitly named the record company, but not Lamar himself, who is signed to Interscope Records, a label in the UMG orbit. The paper pointed the finger at Lucian Grainge — at the top of Universal Music Group as president and CEO for the past fifteen years — for publicly celebrating Lamar's Grammy Record of the Year win with Not Like Usalleging that the CEO had been instrumental in attempting to “devalue Drake’s music and brand to gain leverage in negotiations to renew” his contract.
Drake brings up the conflict again on Icemanbringing it up in B's on the Table: “I'm fighting the man, not suing a rapper,” he raps. “You guys aren't listening” — LP
Playboi Carti
Playboi Carti comes under fire in Whisper My Namea tone-deaf track in which Drake questions his former “brother”’s street cred and takes his temperature. Inspired by what Carti allegedly said behind his back to an anonymous third person, Drizzy makes a suggestive reference to a song from the album MUSIC of the Atlanta rapper as a clue to the target's identity, warning that there may be no mercy left the next time they cross paths. “Baby, please, I heard what you said to little brother about me,” he raps. «Yes, and when you meet the Iceman, what will you do but freeze/You're not about to shoot/You're not on the street» — Preezy Brown
A$AP Rocky and Rihanna
Drake and Rihanna had an affair before A$AP Rocky and the pop star found their happy ending with three children, and it seems that all of this is still a source of tension between the two rappers. A$AP Rocky explained it earlier this year: “The thing between us is not a real war, but I don't want to hang out with him,” he said. «We were friends once. I feel like it's because of women. I feel like he wasn't happy and he expressed it.”
Fans thought A$AP was addressing Drake in Stole Ya Flow when he said, “You stole my flow, so I stole your b**h/If you stole my style, I want at least ten percent.” Now Drake appears to respond in Burning Bridges: «Your baby mama didn't even post a single, damn, where is she?», he raps, returning to it shortly after: «You saw my brother, you were trying to fix things, then you release your album and go back to dissing» — Julyssa Lopez
DJ Khaled
The list of collaborations between Drake and DJ Khaled is long. There are Greece And PopstarsThen No New Friends, I'm on One and much more. But come on Icemanthe rapper turns his back on him.
“And, Khaled, you know what I mean/The beef was fully alive, you went halal and returned to your faith/And your people still wait for a free Palestine,” Drake raps in Make Them Pay. “But apparently not everything is black and white and red and fucking green/I'm seeing everyone's true colors, seriously, I feel a common thread.” Khaled — whose parents are Palestinian immigrants — has received fierce criticism for refusing to talk about Palestine. Fans pointed out that in October 2023, Drake's name appeared among the musicians who signed Artists4Ceasefire's open letter to Joe Biden, asking him to “call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost.” Khaled does not appear on the list. — LP
LeBron James
Although Drake and LeBron James had apparently had a close relationship in years past, things seemed to have soured when James attended Kendrick Lamar's concert The Pop Out: Ken & Friends at the Kia Forum in 2024, in the midst of the Drake-Kendrick feud. Evidently that was enough for Drake to feel that the LA Lakers star had officially chosen a side, and on Iceman he doesn't hold back.
In Make Them RememberDrake brings up the concert and throws a dig at James: “I shouldn't even be surprised to see you in that arena/Because you've always built your career on switching teams.” Later he makes a reference to James' shirt number: «Stop asking me what's going on between 23 and me/I'm a real guy and he's not, it's in my DNA» — JL
Pusha T
In the mood to rekindle old grudges, Drake also expresses his disdain for longtime foe Pusha T in Make Them Pay. Boasting that he owns pieces of Pharrell Williams' famous jewelry collection — purchased at auction and unveiled in 2023 — the rapper also references Pusha's alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein in 2 Hard 4 The Radioproving that he is not above calling out the alleged transgressions of his detractors. “You was island hopping back then, now your name is blacked out,” he raps on the track. — PB
From Rolling Stone US
