Over the last 13 years, Drake has ascended from a blog-era independent artist to a music superstar of the highest magnitude. This week, Spotify published that Drake is the third-most streamed act of 2022, tailing only leader Bad Bunny and #2, Taylor Swift. Drake has reached that distinction through catchy hit records and plenty of controversies. Last month, Drake and 21 Savage delivered Her Loss, a collaboration album that found Drake revealing he faked an armistice with Kanye West in late 2021. “Linking with the opps, b*tch, I did that sh*t for J Prince / B*tch, I did it for the Mob Ties,” Drake rapped on “Circo Loco.” “And I never been the one to go apologize / Me, I’d rather hit ’em up one more time.”

Hours after the song was released, Kanye responded. “Enough already I done gave this man his flowers multiple times,” Ye tweeted. “Let’s really see who are real ops are in this music game,” he added cryptically. “Imagine all the rappers on the same side and everyone cleaning up each other’s contracts. It’s kingdom time. Love Drake.”

Kanye West Details The Secret Warfare Drake Has Waged On Him

Drake’s lyrics arrived at a time when Kanye West is well-past falling from grace amid hurtful and dangerous comments made in the media and online and a deterioration of his business. Yesterday, that may have reached new ground as Kanye appeared on Alex Jones’ Info Wars, where he made some of his most inflammatory remarks to date. That same day, Kanye revealed that Drake may have made light of an affair affecting his former marriage. “Let’s break one last window before we get outa here. I caught this guy with Kim,” he tweeted “Good night.” In the following hours, West’s Twitter account was suspended for posting a symbol of hate.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Neighborhood Talk (@theneighborhoodtalk)

The guy Kanye is alleging Kim Kardashian may have been romantically linked to is Phoenix Suns basketball player Chris Paul. The 12-time all-star played in Los Angeles through much of the 2010s as a member of the Clippers. Paul, reportedly married to a high school sweetheart since 2011, has not responded to Kanye’s accusations. Notably, in the thick of a feud with Kanye, Drake had previously posted a photo of himself and friends wearing Chris Paul jerseys across various teams. He and the men are smiling, an apparent taunt to West.

Psychological warfare pic.twitter.com/Ygmp6b6lVo

— 500 ???? (@Kameron_Hay) December 2, 2022

Drake Dissed Kanye West Throughout Their Concert

Both men were attacking one another during the Donda and Certified Lover Boy campaigns, which Drake promoted in the caption.

Drake’s approach to foes is not new. Kanye has said before, “Drake don’t do a diss song where it’s an outright head-shot; he’s gonna set it up like war.” In a 2021 interview on Drink Champs, Kanye expounded on the OVO founder’s psychological warfare. “It’s all psychological. What button is someone gonna hit?” At the time, Ye likened Drake to Evander Holyfield, who allegedly head-butted Mike Tyson during the 1997 boxing match that ended with Iron Mike famously biting his opponent’s ear. Previously, Kanye took umbrage with Drake’s “Sicko Mode” lyrics, which allegedly referenced driving directions to West’s then-residence. Last year, on “7am On Bridle Path,” Drake menacingly warned, “You ni**as hot to them little kids, you ain’t famous to me / Told you I’m aimin’ straight for the head, not aiming to please / I can give a f*ck about who designing your sneakers and tees / Have somebody put you on a Gildan, you play with my seed.”

Drake Reveals He Faked Making Peace With Kanye West

Kim Kardashian has been central to this dispute before. In 2018, West wrote on Twitter, “[Drake] tried to used my family’s song to get at me,” as reported by HipHopDX. “He been trying to pick a fight since the pool line. He dodged me for months when I extended olive branches to talk and then called to threaten me. I’ve never mentioned or touched anything related to family when it came to Drake. He followed my wife on Instagram he mentioned Pusha’s fiancé in a song.” West added, “You could have been sat down with me. I don’t need to score no points off of Drake. If that was the case I wouldn’t have reached out in the first place. Ima focus on my family. And you keep my family out of all this wrestling foolishness. I don’t have beef with no one. Love everyone but don’t follow my f*cking wife on Instagram. Who’s bright idea was it to tell Drake to follow my wife on Instagram This person is not Drake’s friend.”

After Kanye and Drake made peace, at the urging of Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince, those shots continued. At the December 9, 2021 concert, Drake performed  “Wants and Needs,” “No Friends In The Industry,” and “Laugh Now, Cry Later,” songs that include literal mentions of West, as well as perceived disses.

Meek Mill Breaks His Silence On Drake, Game & Beans. He Has A LOT To Say. (Audio)

In the past, Drake has been calculated with other nemeses. In 2018, OVO invoiced Pusha-T for promotion surrounding his Kanye-produced Daytona album, calling it “career revival.” A day before, Drake referenced Pusha’s now-wife by name in his “Duppy Freestyle.” Later that year, Pusha alleged that Drake and OVO paid people to throw items at him while onstage during a Toronto concert.

Meek Mill, who since made peace with Drake, was candid about how Drake attacked him. In 2016, he told Taxstone, “[Drake] gonna go on camera and say I had something done to you. That’s enough to put me in jail. First of all, you go on an interview and say [he told me something about Nicki Minaj]. That was just trifling. So basically, you trying to send me to jail. You’re trying to screw [up] my relationship. You’re trying to get close to me—basically set me up, rob me, kill me, bring me harm. You’re trying to say you wrote my sh*t. You’re basically trying to destroy me.” Drake had chided Meek during their 2015-2016 offensive, which was complicated by the fact that Drake and Minaj were Young Money Cash Money label-mates and collaborators.

Joe Budden Discusses The Weird Direct Messages Drake Has Been Sending Him (Video)

That same 2016, Joe Budden had similar accounts of Drake’s taunts. The since-retired MC-turned media member spoke of text messages he received from Drake while speaking to Charlamagne Tha God. “He started off with ‘I would like to formally invite you to one of my four Madison Square Garden shows August 4, you and however many people you would like to bring.’ Then after that it says: ‘And I bet you can’t release 25 diss records between now and then.’ Then it was the laughing emoji. I use that emoji with my friends so I don’t know if he’s laughing or joking at this point. And then he followed that with ‘If you can I will give you $10,000 lol’ and then it said ‘Joey’ with a bunch of exclamation points. I didn’t know how to take it.” In 2021, Drake also chimed in as Budden had a dissolving relationship with former podcast cohost Rory Farrell.

Like Pusha, Budden encountered fan attacks that he attributed to Drake. In 2016, amid a Rap feud, young fans showed up at Budden’s home, before being confronted by the Slaughterhouse co-founder at their residence.

Drake Declares War On Pusha-T, Diddy & More In A Song Full Of Sneak Disses

#BonusBeat: A 2021 breakdown from Ambrosia For Heads’ What’s The Headline podcast of how Drake dissed Kanye West during their concert: