On October 6th 2023 Drake released a song called First Person Shooter featuring J Cole.
On the track, J Cole raps the following lines:
"Love when they argue the hardest MC
Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?
We the big three like we started a league"
These lyric imply that Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and J Cole are currently the three most prominent artists in the rap game.
On March 22nd 2024 Producer Metro Boomin and fellow rapper Future release the album "We Don't Trust You".
The album featured the two specific tracks:
- We Don't Trust You
- Like That (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
On the first track, Future raps:
"You a n**** number one fan, dog
Sneak dissin', I don't understand, dog"
These two lines take shots as Drake for his song
What would Pluto do
where he hints at Future's lavish lifestyle.
(Despite dedicating the song to to him?)
Future therefore claims that Drake is in no position to talk behind his back when he is actually his biggest fan.
In the second track Kendrick Lamar raps:
"F*ck sneak dissin', first person shooter"
&
"Motherf*ck the big three, n****, it's just big me"
These two lines are directly correlated to the "First Person Shooter" track
Kendrick Lamar is stating here how he doesn't need to talk behind someone's back. He takes his shots at others directly.
Kendrick Lamar also directly refutes the claims of a "big three" stating that the only person at the top of the industry is him.
Fast forward three weeks, the sequel album We Still Don't Trust You is released with more tracks taking shots at Drake.
The album featured two more relevant tracks:
- All To Myself (feat. The Weeknd)
- Show Of Hands (feat. A$AP Rocky)
On the first track, The Weeknd sings:
"They could never diss my brothers, baby
When they got leaks in they operation
I thank God that I never signed my life away"
This references an incident where Drake's nude picture was leaked earlier this year.
The second part of the verse is a direct reference to Drake's music label OVO and how he wanted The Weeknd to sign a contract with them.
This did not end up happening.
In the second track A$AP Rocky raps:
"N***** in they feelings over women, what, you hurt or somethin'?
I smash before you birthed, son, Flacko hit it first, son
&
Heard you dropped your latest sh*t
Funny how it just came and went "
The line hints at A$AP Rocky's partner Rihanna whom Drake had interest in at some point
The second part of the verse is a direct shot to Drake's most recent album: For All The Dogs stating the public has already forgotten about it.
Although the track was leaked beforehand, Drake officially released his long awaited response
"Push Ups" on April 19th 2024.
The track immediately starts off with Drake saying:
"I could never be nobody number one fan. Your first number-one, I had to put it in your hand"
Here, Drake refutes Future's previous claims on We Don't Trust You.
He references Future's track "Way 2 Sexy" featuring him which was Future's first song to chart at #1. This implies that if it wasn't for Drake, the song would not have gone #1.
Drake continues to take shots by saying the following verse:
"Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty
Then we need a verse for the Swifties
Top say drop, you better drop and give 'em fifty"
This is an allusion to one of Kendrick Lamar's labels:
Top Dawg Entertainement.
Kendrick had made fun of Drake in the past for going "Pop" when Kendrick has also released songs in that genre.
Aditionally, this implies that his label controlled and exploited his career for money.
Drake throws his shots at Kendrick further by saying:
Pipsqueak, pipe down
You ain't in no big three,
SZA got you wiped down,
Travis got you wiped down,
Savage got you wiped down"
Drake claims here that Kendrick is actually not even in the big three at all. Not having released an album in almost two years he implies a lot of artists are more rellevant than him.
To clap back at The Weeknd. Drake says the following lines.
Cash blowin' Abel bread, out here trickin'
Shit we do for b*tches, he doin' for n*****"
Cash is the manager of The Weeknd's label XO.
These lines refer to when he purchsed an XO Chain with The Weeknd's money for Future.
Finally, Drake targets the man behind the production of all the tracks: Metro Boomin.
"Metro, shut your h* ass up and make some drums, n****"
This has the intention to joke about Metro's position in the industry as he does not rap and instead produces beats.
Therefore all he can do to diss Drake is play drums.