With his repeatedly delayed album, Donda, still waiting in the wings, you would think Kanye West would be preoccupied with either completing the project or taunting his rabid fanbase with yet another tawdry listening party—this time in Chicago. But because Yeezus will always make time for his wounded pride, he’s instead set his sights on October’s Very Own, Mr. Aubrey “Drake” Graham himself, as their dormant civil war has officially been reinstated.
While media strategist Karen Civil recently assured us all that the former friends had squashed their complicated beef, their truce came to a screeching halt on Saturday when the Prime Minister of the Light Skinned Delegation let the chopper spray on his new Trippie Redd collaboration, aptly titled “Betrayal.”
During Drake’s verse, he casually spews:
“All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know,
Forty-five, forty-four (burned out), let it go,
Ye ain’t changin’ shit for me, it’s set in stone.”
That was not of God, Mr. Graham.
The last bar, in particular, is in reference to the release dates for both Drake and Kanye’s forthcoming albums, which has been a source of contention between camps. It’s been widely assumed that Drake will deliberately drop Certified Lover Boy—bonus points if you can say that out loud without laughing hysterically—on the same day as Donda, but Mr. Kardashian isn’t having it. Longtime collaborator Consequence, who was signed to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label in a past life, begged for the smoke in July, and Yeezus called out the 6 God himself while performing songs off his new album earlier this month.
“Move out of the way of my release,” he sneered.
But now that the bells of war ring true once more, the man who once delivered a fiery sermon with 2007’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” has responded in kind to Drake’s jab with…a screenshot.
On Saturday, shortly after “Betrayal” broke the internet, Mr. West gave Instagram a glimpse into one of his group chats that included a stern warning. After adding Pusha-T to the group, Kanye texted a picture of the Joker then wrote: “I live for this. I’ve been fucked with by nerd ass jock niggas like you my whole life. You will never recover. I promise you.”
Of particular interest are the participants in said group chat, with one being identified solely as “D”. Inquiring minds want to know: Could it be Drake?
Further fanning the flames has been Kanye’s decision to also share Drake’s alleged home address with his Instagram followers on Sunday—a cardinal sin among the celebrity sect and immediate grounds for an uppercut or seven.
But if you think Drake was going to allow another Grammy-award-winning rapper to knock him on his pedestal, you’re sadly mistaken. All the Toronto native had to offer in response was dismissive laughter.
Since an arm-wrestling match is out of the question, I guess the only way to resolve this lovers’ quarrel is to drop these albums and see who delivers the superior product. Drake has yet to announce a release date for Certified Lover Boy, but expect Donda to arrive somewhere around the return of either Atlanta or Christ.