Last night, Drake responded to Kendrick Lamar and the rest of rap’s anti-Drizzy cohort — sort of. During a stop on his Big As The What tour in Sunrise, Florida, Drake took a moment to get defiant amid the hysteria about Kendrick’s fiery verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” where the Compton rhymer took aim at Drake and J. Cole by rhyming, “motherfuck the big three, nigga, it’s just big me” (among other shots).
After the Kendrick verse, speculation that Future and Metro were also aiming at him on other tracks from their joint album I Don’t Trust You. Coupled with some curiously timed Instagram unfollows, some rap fans believe that Drake is on the proverbial ropes. But Drake’s apparently not bothered, telling the Florida crowd, “I got my head up high, my back straight, I’m ten fuckin’ toes down… and I know no matter what there’s not another nigga on this Earth that could ever fuck with me.”
The crowd roared with approval, though few could argue that his sentiment would probably sound better on a diss song to Kendrick. He didn’t quite take the high road, but it’s not the clap back that fans are hoping for. The Kendrick diss came on an album prefaced by Metro posting, “Once you pick a side stay there,” replete with clips of the late Prodigy that were repurposed to sound like shots at a mystery MC. There’s a lot of smoke in the air, and people are waiting for Drake to explicitly address it.
At Drake’s concert the night after I Don’t Trust You dropped, tour opener Lil Durk and Drake’s right-hand man OVO Chubbs walked out to Future’s “My Savages,” which seems like a sly dash of reverse psychology. Elsewhere on Instagram, Nav and Rick Ross (who showed out on I Don’t Trust You’s “Everyday Hustle”) have recently unfollowed Drake. Drake seemingly acknowledged Nav by posting lyrics to the rapper’s “Turks” song in an Instagram caption on Saturday. And a day after Ross’ unfollow spread on the blogosphere, the Miami rapper’s recent ex Cristina Mackey posted an Instagram story clip of her at Drake’s show with a handwritten, OVO-branded invitation. On Monday, Drake took to Instagram to salute his day one ally Lil Wayne, while changing his profile picture to the Young Money boss. And the most consequential response may have come from Drake’s father Dennis Graham, who basically accused Future and Metro of attempting to use Kendrick’s longstanding rift with Drake to boost their numbers. All of these instances could collectively be a big ball of nothing — or a calm before another storm.
In any event, it has all made some fans appreciate Kendrick even more. His straightforward verse was so lauded because it’s a departure from modern rap beef that often takes place everywhere but in the booth. So far, all of the “Like That” aftermath has followed form. For many observers, Kendrick is currently up in their ongoing saga, and Drake can only shift that sentiment with bars. The Toronto artist was recently spotted hanging out with Latto’s sister Brooklyn Nikole — hopefully, he’s taking some of her sister’s recent “Sunday Service” advice about the booth.
