The real reason everyone is taking shots at Drake
Drake has been one of the most prominent hip-hop artists for over a decade, but last year, he was knocked off the top spot by Compton legend Kendrick Lamar. The two MCs battled it out on the mic but the culture made sure to let it be known that Drizzy had lost his crown and, slowly but surely, he became a total pariah in hip-hop.
That said, Drake’s downfall didn’t just begin last year, and there are numerous reasons the Toronto native eventually fell from grace. However, one of the unanswered questions is “Why?” The reason why people hate Drake is slightly opaque, but many figures have spoken about it in their raps.
The Scorpion creator has had beef with a lot of hip-hop’s heavy-hitters. Last year, he had his spat with Kendrick Lamar, but what many fail to acknowledge is that the song that started the war, ‘Like That,’ featured Future, who has had issues with Drizzy for a while.
On the title track of We Don’t Like You, Future’s joint album with Metro Boomin’, the Atlanta rapper took several shots at Drake. On the title track, he raps, “Fake written all over you/Hate written all over you.” He then adds, “You a n*gga’s number one fan, dog / Sneak dissin’, I don’t understand, dog / Pillow talkin’, actin’ like a fed, dog / I don’t need another fake friend, dog / Can’t be ’bout a h*e, ’cause we sharin’, dog / In you feelings, n*gga, why you playin’, dog?”
Future and Drake’s under-wraps feud didn’t come out of nowhere as on his 2023 project For All The Dogs Drake had a verse referencing the ‘Mask Off’ emcee, rapping, “What would Pluto do? / He’d f*ck a h*e / So did it (Yeah, yeah).”
In addition to Future, Drake has had a well-known ongoing feud with Pusha T. The 2018 war of words, which culminated in ‘The Story of Adidon’, saw Pusha T destroy Drake, and the consensus across hip-hop was that Drizzy had been defeated.
The revelation that Drake had a son was a body blow for the Scorpion creator as he had not only hidden Adonis for years but also kept his previous relationship with Sophie Brussaux (a former adult film star) a secret.
As Joe Budden highlighted on his podcast The Joe Budden Show, Drake’s power and cultural capital were once so great that he could disrespect people without any pushback. Furthermore, Budden asserted that Drizzy did most of this behind-the-scenes. However, a lot of it has spilt over into the mainstream.
Drake has had issues with Joe Budden, Kanye West, Pusha T, Future, Pharrell, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky and many more. So, although some of his beefs were more public-facing than others, he has rubbed many people in the industry up the wrong way.
Another reason Drizzy is on the end of so much hate at the moment is due to his client podcasters. More specifically, DJ Akademiks. The Twitch streamer and cultural commentator is one of the most controversial and hated voices in hip-hop, and the fact that he actively promotes Drake and defends him has only added to people’s frustration with Drake himself.
The Views rhymer has started beefs centred around Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and, to a lesser extent, has been accused of being a culture vulture for attempting to steal the styles of musicians from various countries.
The downfall of Drake and the aftermath of shots we are seeing go his way was a somewhat inevitable result of his grandstanding within rap music. What goes up must come down and it appears the industry was beyond tired of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans the fans hear so much about.