Drake has made many key career decisions that have increasingly launched him into megastar status. Back in 2009, he signed a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money after an intense bidding war among various record labels. He launched his own record label, OVO Sound, in 2012, and has dipped into many different ventures: liquor, candles, merch, a book, restaurants and more. However, in the nearly four months since his battle with Kendrick Lamar ended in May, Drizzy has made public choices that many rap fans and critics consider to be the bad or wrong moves altogether.
While entering lyrical warfare with Kendrick Lamar would have likely caused a lesser MC to fade into obscurity, Drake has certainly remained a hot topic in hip-hop all summer. With the rap community dissecting every new song, social media post and even his fashion choices, there is no question he continues to be one of the most relevant artists in the music industry. However, with that, the 6 God has moved in some ways recently that Drake fans and naysayers alike perceive to be less than godlike.
Here’s a look at all the bad moves Drake has made since the battle with Kendrick Lamar ended.
- In June, just weeks after Kendrick essentially ended the battle with the scathing track “Not Like Us,” Drake switched gears musically and hopped on a song with Toronto artist Snowd4y titled “Wah Gwan Delilah.” Since this was the first song Drizzy dropped right after the beef with K-Dot all eyes were on this release. The track interpolates Plain White T’s 2005 pop rock smash “Hey There Delilah,” and features Drake singing in a Jamaican patios accent, which many people found cringe-worthy. Through memes and social media comments, Drizzy was roasted relentlessly for adopting the inauthentic accent. This song wasn’t well-received.
Listen to Snowd4y’s “Wah Gwan Delilah” Featuring Drake
- Kendrick Lamar put on The Pop Out – Ken & Friends concert in Los Angeles on June 19. K-Dot performed multiple diss tracks aimed at Drake at the event. In the early morning hours following the show, the Toronto native posted a nonchalant selfie to his Instagram Story with the caption “Summer League.” The implication from Drizzy was that he was unfazed by being the focal point of the Kendrick show and the beef in general, but some K-Dot fans weren’t here for the subliminal response. Social media users were quick to blast Drake for trying to play it too cool.
- After ScHoolboy Q inferred that Drake may have had something to do with Q’s Toronto show being abruptly canceled on July 18, Drizzy seemingly trolled Q about the cancellation on Instagram the very same day. Drake co-owns the venue that Q was set to perform at. In a move of perceived pettiness, Drizzy posed for a mirror selfie while wearing a “Free Yayo” T-shirt, which was made famous by G-Unit while member Tony Yayo was incarcerated in 2003. Many saw the selfie as a reference to an interview Yayo recently had with VladTV, during which he implied that anyone who has beef with Drake “can’t go to Canada.” In the photo, Drake was also rocking a pair of blue boots, which was also seen as a mockery aimed at ScHoolboy in reference to “Blueslides,” a track on Q’s Blue Lips album.
Watch Tony Yayo’s Interview on VladTV
- On Aug. 6, Drake surprised fans by dropping three previously unreleased songs via his @plottttwistttttt finsta account: “Housekeeping Knows” featuring Latto, the solo track “Blue Green Red” and “It’s Up” featuring 21 Savage and Young Thug. The tracks, all of which sound reminiscent of styles Drake has scored hits with in the past, were officially released later that week on streaming services. However, none of the songs were the usual chart-topping hits Drizzy is known for. Despite each of the songs landing on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart following their release week, all three have rapidly declined in popularity. In one week’s time, “It’s Up” plummeted from its debut position of No. 28 down to No. 46 while “Housekeeping Knows” and “Blue Green Red” failed to chart for a second week at all and dropped off the chart completely.
Listen to Drake’s “Housekeeping Knows” Featuring Latto
Listen to Drake’s “Blue Green Red”
Listen to Drake’s “It’s Up” Featuring Young Thug and 21 Savage
- Also on Aug. 6, Drake uploaded 100 gigabytes of behind-the-scenes content throughout different eras of his career to a website. The move seemed to be part of a hard drive dump. It also showed a bit of his toxic side during a conversation with his mother, Sandi Graham. In the clip, Drake plays his 2016 song, “Too Good” featuring Rihanna, while he openly admits the song is about his ex-girlfriend, professional tennis icon Serena Williams. After explaining that if he’s going to make music about soured relationships, he “can at least do them the justice of making a song they like.” Many viewers of the video didn’t take kindly to Drake being so petty. Others highlighted the fact that six years later, on 2022’s “Middle of the Ocean,” Drake dissed Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian by calling him a “groupie.”
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Listen to Drake’s “Too Good” Featuring Rihanna
Listen to Drake’s “Middle of the Ocean”
- Drake returned to his Instagram burner account on Aug. 23 with three more previously unreleased songs. Dropping the tracks on IG appears to be an attempt to check the temperature of the room regarding his music. While two of the tracks, “Circadian Rhythm” and “No Face” featuring Playboi Carti, were more well-received by fans, Drizzy once again stirred up some controversy with the third track released via plottttwistttttt, “SOD.” Initially set to be a Lil Yachty song featuring the Toronto rap-crooner, Boat is nowhere to be found on the latest iteration.
- Given the fact that “SOD” has never officially been released due to sample clearance issues with internet sensation Mr. HotSpot, Lil Yachty’s absence sparked rumors of a rift between the two friends and frequent collaborators. The rumors were further fueled by social media users who noticed that Yachty had unfollowed Drake on Instagram before following him again hours later. Regardless of whether or not Lil Yachty is upset with Drake, the last thing Champagne Papi needs is more beef with any rappers at the moment.
Listen to Drake’s “Circadian Rhythm”
Listen to Drake’s “No Face” Featuring Playboi Carti
Listen to Drake’s Version of “SOD” Without Lil Yachty
Listen to Lil Yachty’s Version of “SOD” Featuring Drake
- On Aug. 25, Drake’s 100gigs.org website was updated with even more behind-the-scenes content, some of which included old videos of Drizzy interacting with current foes such as Mustard, The Weeknd and Ye in 2013. The footage left viewers looking a little sideways at Drake for continuing to taunt the artists he has beef with after carrying on as if he was unfazed for months following the battle with Kendrick.
- The first clip in question finds YG and Mustard very excited to be recording with Drake on their 2014 track, “Who Do You Love.” Drizzy made the video public just two days after Mustard declared the two would never work together again because Drake is a “strange guy.” Two more clips find Ye and Drake showing mutual respect for each other in 2013, despite their lengthy feud in the years since. As for The Weeknd, Drake shared a video from backstage at the 2013 OVO Fest. Many fans were quick to point out that the 6 God snubbed The Weeknd while acknowledging everyone else in the room. The thought is that Drake is pulling up these videos as another petty move to show that despite these current issues other artists may have with him, they all wanted to be part of his circle at some point.
- Aside from using more behind-the-scenes footage to seemingly taunt the opposition, Drake also appeared to imply on Aug. 25 via his finsta account that he may be gearing up to go toe-to-toe with Kendrick Lamar for a second round of battle. He shared a 2004 video clip of former NBA player Rasheed Wallace adamantly declaring that his Detroit Pistons would win game two of that year’s Eastern Conference Finals despite their loss in game one. Drake also hit up the burner account with a screenshot from the 1987 film A Better Tomorrow along with the number “2” as the photo’s caption. As fans appeared to pick up on the subtle hints, many found it foolish that Drake would consider engaging K-Dot in another rap battle.
None of Drake’s recent decisions appear to be of any sort of detriment to his legacy as one of the GOATS of the rap game. In fact, it could very well be that everything the Toronto MC is currently doing is all part of some master plan to rejuvenate his image among fans. However, at the moment, it’s clear that in many instances, fans think he’s moving in the wrong way post-beef with Kendrick Lamar.