The hip-hop music industry is a vast industry where thousands of artists have come, stayed, and gone with time. But two shining stars of the industry, Drake and Kanye West, are there and enriching the world of hip-hop even more. Undoubtedly, both artists have given some of the biggest hits in their successful music careers. However, over time, a rivalry started between Ye and Drake. Their rivalry can be explained as modern-day hip-hop drama. Whenever these two names come together, a unique blend of betrayal, competition, and ego comes together. Every now and then, their rivalry sparks and shifts everything in the music industry. Let’s find out the enmity between these two stars that is not coming to an end anyway-
The journey from appreciation to competition:
The Canadian singer and rapper, Drake, came to the industry in the late 2000s. His appearance made a huge change in the R&B and hip-hop scenario. When he started his career in the industry, he showed his admiration for Kanye West. In several places, the rapper said how Kanye’s work has influenced his music-making skills. Drake even said that ‘808s & Heartbreak’ is one of his loved music creations, which has also influenced his music. On the other hand, Kanye also had much appreciation for Drake’s sound creations. In 2009, he even directed a music video for Drake, which is known as ‘Best I Ever Had’.
Therefore, from this, it can be understood that both the hip-hop artists had much respect for each other from the very beginning. However, Drake captivated audiences with his unique music-making caliber, which helped him to grow at a large scale in his career. It can be said that Drake’s music career skyrocketed with each new release and made him one of the finest hip-hop artists of the generation. As he grew over time, a debate started among their fans and critics regarding who is best. And later that, the appreciation turned into competition, unknowingly, and it is still going on.
The unexpected and subtle mutual disrespect:
Both Kanye and Drake developed a disrespect for each other after a couple of years. In 2011, tension rose between them as Drake was seen with Kanye’s ex-partner, Amber Rose. The rumor of their hatred started during that particular time. In addition to that, at the same time, both of them collaborated with other rappers to drop new music. Drake addressed the collaboration of Kanye and Jay-Z as ‘I heard some other guys are coming out with an album, too’. He then even said, ‘There's two other rappers that are coming out with an album together. I don't know where they got that idea’ referring to his and Lil Wayne’s collaboration.
Right after one year, Drake also stated during an interview that ‘My goal is to surpass everything he's accomplished. I don't want to be as good as Kanye — I want to be better. Then, in 2013, Ye admitted that Drake's planned collaboration with Lil Wayne was indeed the spark that led to his wildly successful joint album with Jay-Z. Me and Hov would've never made Watch the Throne if [Drake] wasn't putting pressure on us like that’. This is how their competition and then the disrespect grew over time.
Sudden reconciliation:
Both artists became more competitive against each other for a specific time, but it also came to see that for a brief period of time, they thought about collaborating once again. During the time of 2015, Drake said ‘I think me and Kanye have wanted to express our respect for each other for a long time, and sometimes rap, the business, the competitiveness, and just the heart behind it forces you to not talk to the people you quietly admire’. Later, they came together and collaborated for Big Sean’s soundtrack, named ‘Blessings’. At that time, Kanye also gave a hint of their joint album. However, the joint album never came as the rappers again reached a breaking point.
The era of ‘The Life of Pablo’:
During the time of 2016, Drake and Future collaborated for the release of ‘What a Time to be Alive’. It wasn’t unknown to anyone how Drake got a massive response for his music and topped every chart. The hip-hop star came with back-to-back hits, which led him to achieve a huge response from his fans. On the other hand, Kanye had a tough time promoting his work, ‘The Life of Pablo’. He even expressed his frustration regarding how Drake got immense popularity. It was indeed a confrontation that he wasn’t happy about all the things that were happening, yet a little tense regarding his own success and popularity. It can be said that Kanye couldn’t hide his tension about his position in the hip-hop industry.
‘The Story of Adidon’ and Pusha T Factor:
In 2018, a huge event took place that impacted the whole hatred between Kanye and Drake. Pusha T signed with Kanye for G.O.O.D. He released ‘Infrared’, where he said that Drake uses ghostwriters. To state that, Drake came up with ‘Duppy Freestyle’, which generated a huge buzz. However, right after that, the event took a whole new turn as Pusha dropped the song ‘The Story of Adidon’ and revealed Drake’s secret child. Drake immediately blamed Kanye for leaking the information to Pusha that Kanye still denies. Right after that, there was no trust left between these two.
The continuation of diss:
The war between Drake and Kanye went on for years. Drake released songs like ‘Sicko Mode’ and ‘No Stylist’ where he referred to Kanye. Apart from diss songs from the artists, their fans have to go see their fight on social media as well. They didn’t leave any place where they didn’t show hatred for each other. It can be said that their continuation beef generated a huge spark in the industry. Many times in interviews, they denied the diss and beef, or sometimes they just enjoyed how things were taking a turn.
In 2021, both rappers came up with their new music albums, which created much anticipation among their fans. Kanye came with ‘Donda’ and Drake dropped ‘Certified Lover Boy’. As they released the albums, both of their fans created an enormous number of memes and spread them on social media platforms. Later, both albums broke all the records, topped the charts, and made the headlines. But their fight didn’t come to an end. In 2021, Kanye leaked Drake’s Toronto address on Instagram, which took everyone by surprise. No one expected that any of them would do such of thing. But, in response to it, Drake also made a few cryptic posts on Instagram with some disses.
The war between these two rappers has been going on for more than a decade. And that has always helped them to make it to social media even more. About their rivalry, there are many opinions. Many think that these are only stunts for the media, and some say it is real beef. If it were only the media, they might have come up with some collaboration over the years. It is quite difficult to say whether these are public stunts or real. But it can definitely be said that it is always going to be the biggest hip-hop drama of all time.
