NEWS
Drake has been accused of trolling Kendrick Lamar in a new Instagram story he posted.
In a photo posted on Friday (April 26), the 6 God can be seen wearing a shirt that reads “Compton Community College,” a real institution that is located in Lamar’s home city.
Drizzy and Kendrick, of course, have been feuding publicly since the latter’s shots at the former on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.”
Drake responded directly with “Push Ups.” That was shortly followed by “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which used the computer-generated voices of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg. The track was taken down following legal threats from Pac’s estate.
Akademiks speculated that Drake’s choice of attire in his new photo was a swipe at Lamar’s wife, Whitney Alford, who Ak said “allegedly” attended Compton College.
However, Us Weekly reported that Alford, who shares two children with Lamar, went to California State University Long Beach, where she studied accounting.
Check out Drake’s story below.
This isn’t the first time that Akademiks has talked about Drake’s motives.
Speaking on his Off the Record podcast, the media personality said that he’s been in touch with the 6 God in recent weeks amid his reignited beef with Kendrick Lamar. Ak shared snippets of their conversations.
“From what he’s told me, he’s been waiting for this for 10 years,” he said. “He’s watched the pattern. He specifically told me, ‘Yo, I’ve watched this guy do the same bait and switch every time. He drops a verse that people are hyped up about, that people are like, “Oh, he’s coming at you.” I’m always ready to defend myself. I’m always ready to engage… and then he goes ghost and nothing happens.’”
Akademiks also claimed that Drake is aware of a rumored diss track that Kendrick has had in the stash for years, which he theorized is why the Toronto native has been repeatedly taunting his rival.
“You can tell he wants the showdown to happen now and not for everybody to go back to their corners and reconvene another time,” Ak added. “He wants it now.”
The podcaster, who has been critical of Kendrick’s silence over Drake’s diss songs, also wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Now if Kendrick Lamar mans up and finally drops I’ll change my tune especially if its good.
“But im hearing that n-gga tryna sell his next album with the Drake diss.. to me thats WEIRD asf. imagine Drake said he wasn’t responding to Like That til his next album.”
Ghostface Killah is a legend in any time period. He's dominated other artists for over three decades, and he's gone head-to-head with the likes of Biggie and Nas. Ghost's reputation is bulletproof (insert wallets joke here), which would probably intimidate any rapper who attempted to collaborate with him. Kendrick Lamar is the exception to the rule, apparently. Ghostface Killah talked about his 2022 song with Lamar, "Purple Hearts," and how impressed he was with the latter's work ethic. He was so impressed, in fact, that he upped his game.
Ghostface recounted the collab during a recent appearance on the Juan Epstein podcast. He was asked about the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar (because everybody is these days), and he redirected the convo to "Purple Hearts." The Wu-Tang rapper was "honored" to contribute to Lamar's double album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. "He put his call in and it was like, 'Yo, okay. This is one of them names,'" he recalled. "I ain’t take him lightly because his wordplay, his style, y’know what I mean? Now, I just gotta do what I feel."
Ghostface knew that he couldn't phone in a verse, however. He put down his bars for "Purple Hearts," then decided to write and record a second verse just in case. He wanted to make sure Lamar was happy with the final product, so he gave him multiple options. "[These young guys] can really, really rhyme," he explained. "That’s why when I did the record with Kendrick, it was like, 'Okay… I sat with it and was like — I sent him two verses. I sent him a 'just in case' one. Like, 'N**ga, if that don’t go, this one [will].'"
This isn't the first time Ghostface Killah has praised the Compton rapper. During a 2022 interview with Billboard, Ghost gave Kendrick Lamar his flowers and singled him out as one of the best of his generation along with J. Cole. "For a lot these [fans] in the younger generation, [their favorite], it’s either Kendrick or J. Cole," he noted. "I gave him his praises, and he boomeranged that sh*t back." This was well before the Big Three battle, but it's safe to assume Ghost's high opinion of Lamar is even higher now. The rapper's victory has even led to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers re-entering the Billboard 200.
