In honor of the 2024 NBA Finals, Drake and the worldwide leader have linked up. Drake’s October’s Very Own brand and ESPN have collaborated to create a special varsity jacket. The robust OVO x ESPN jackets, which fuse the worlds of sports, music, and fashion, are certain to become collector’s items. Furthermore, only 175 were made, and the retail price was $698. Drake gifted the cast of ESPN’s NBA Today with their own personal letterman to kick off the network’s NBA Finals coverage.
With a golden outline, the October’s Very Own and 2024 NBA Finals insignia stand out on the sleek breastplates of the jacket. Also of note, the rear of the stylish sleeves. They are made of superior leather and have the NBA On ESPN logo on them. Additionally, the style combines the ESPN trademark badge with the iconic OVO owl. Additionally, the model number out of the 175 produced is imprinted inside the coats. Malika Andrews, Kendrick Perkins, Richard Jefferson, and the rest of the crew got their hands on special jackets from Drake himself.
Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson had a good time laughing at Perk’s jacket size. The jackets will be extremely hard to get for Drake super fans, and the reselling market is probably a wild palace right now. Through his collaboration with Stake, Drizzy was able to post two $500,000 gambling slips. “Dallas cause I’m a Texan Oilers are self explanatory Picks are in @stake,” he captioned the post featuring the six-figure betting slips. He wagered $500,000. Furthermore, with the Dallas Mavericks, he will win $875,000. It will be a total payout of $1.375 million if they beat the Boston Celtics for Kyrie Irving’s second Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Drizzy is rooting for Canada on the ice. He is hoping that Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers may win the Stanley Cup. Drake is betting $500,000 to win $525,000, making them a small underdog with a combined payout of $1.025 million. Additionally, the OVO CEO’s luck with his bets hasn’t been as good lately. Furthermore, he bet $565,000 on boxer Tyson Fury in May, but the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk prevailed. Overall, Drake is making bets and brand deals with all the postseason sports going on right now.
Drake has officially begun his post-beef era with the recent outing “Wah Gwan Delilah.” The track is a bizarre parody/remix of the Plain White T’s 2005 hit “Hey There Delilah.” It’s been turning heads all across social media. To create “Wah Gwan Delilah,” Drake linked up with a virtually unknown artist by the name of Snowd4y. This left many fans to believe that the song was created using artificial intelligence. As it turns out, the song is all too real. That’s right, Drake really crooned lyrics about being “so cheesed” in an extremely odd fake patois. The track serves as the second release Drake has put out since the Kendrick Lamar feud settled down. The first post-beef track was another poorly-received collaboration with Sexyy Red, titled “U My Everything.”
So who exactly is Snowd4y? How did he get the chance to craft “Wah Gwan Delilah” with one of the biggest artists on the planet? With fans far and wide looking into the TikTok troll, it seems that this song may be his big break into the mainstream. Here, we’ll examine what we know about Snow, and try to understand what compelled him and Drake to produce and release this incredibly misguided track.
Before landing this massive Drake feature, Snowd4y was primarily known for his skits and jokes across social media. Users on Drake’s official subreddit were quick to track down the “Wah Gwan Delilah” vocalist’s socials. Through their research, they confirmed that Snowd4y is a Toronto native. As such, the internet comedian produces a lot of content relating to everyday life in Toronto. He often utilizes characters satirizing the people of the Canadian city. Most of the skits on Snow’s TikTok page consist of different situations involving “Toronto man.” Others lean on common local stereotypes and tropes of the city.
While Snowd4y was not well known outside of Toronto before the release of “Wah Gwan Delilah,” the social media personality does have a solid base of fans, with nearly 40,000 followers on TikTok alone. This number is expected to keep growing, particularly if the Canadian humorist continues to collaborate with big name entertainers like Drake.
While most Americans likely aren’t aware of Toronto’s mixed cultural diaspora, the city does have a large portion of residents of Caribbean descent. This explains why Drake and Snowd4y approached their “Wah Gwan Delilah” track with such a heavy island-inspired accent. Jamaican patois is even used within the title of the song. “Wah gwan” is island shorthand for “what is going on.” There are multiple bars across the song that lean on this gimmick, including Drake’s strange admission that he is “so cheesed” at the notion of Delilah having been sexually active with other men in her past.
Kendrick Lamar even referenced this Toronto dialect in his Drake diss track “Euphoria” back in May. On “Euphoria” Kendrick raps “I be at New Ho King eatin’ fried rice with a dip sauce and blammy, crodie/ Tell me you’re cheesin’, fam/ We can do this right now on the camera, crodie.” These lyrics left many listeners baffled at first. Fans quickly determined from context clues that “cheesed” means confused, baffled, or angry, depending on its use.
While Snowd4y is known for his comedy skits, his release of “Wah Gwan Delilah” didn’t come completely out of nowhere. Just a few weeks ago the Toronto native released the track “Banned From Toronto,” which sees him humorously interpolating multiple flows and lyrics from Kendrick’s “Euphoria.” While his primary function is to craft jokes, the “Banned From Toronto” single is much more musically enjoyable than “Wah Gwan Delilah.” Clearly, Snow has some genuine musical talent, though it’s buried under a thick layer of sarcasm and post-ironic humor.
After creating “Banned From Toronto,” many content creators have asked if Snowd4y would like to work with prominent Toronto artists. In one particularly prophetic interview, a podcast host asks Snow point-blank if he’d like to collab with Drake on a track like “Wah Gwan Delilah.” Snowd4y played it cool, suggesting he would only do the collab if Drake comes with some heat. Still, it was obvious that the young comedian would be excited at the prospect of sharing the mic with Drake, leaving some to say that the interview manifested the collaboration.
Why Would Drake Release This Song Right Now?
While nobody is suggesting that Drake isn’t allowed to have fun with a silly parody record, the release of “Wah Gwan Delilah” does have fans scratching their head in confusion. You might even say that Drake fans are cheesed themselves, regarding the whole ordeal. Releasing the track so shortly after being clowned by Kendrick Lamar on wax makes Drake look quite unserious. It also seemingly strengthens Kendrick’s argument that the Toronto MC is simply an actor cosplaying in different cultures.
For now, it seems unclear when exactly “Wah Gwan Delilah” was initially recorded. It is entirely possible that Snowd4y could have released the song without directly consulting Drake first. Drake did repost the track on social media, which assured fans that it wasn’t made using AI (Even Plain White T’s were in disbelief). Still, little is known about “Wah Gwan Delilah’s” production outside of that. Either way, this parody seems 20 years too late, and more unintentionally funny than purposefully satirical. The only major upside of “Wah Gwan Delilah” is that Snowd4y’s internet comedy has been exposed to a whole new audience of potential fans.
Reference tracks have always existed in hip-hop. Few artists, however, have been associated with the concept of a reference track than Drake. He has become the poster child for this practice, much in the same way that he has for ghostwriting. It’s been a topic of debate since 2015, and it resurfaced after the Kendrick Lamar battle subsided. Reference tracks for “Ratchet Happy Birthday” and “Mob Ties” leaked online, furthering the narrative that Drake doesn’t write his own material. Another reference track has surfaced, but this time, Lil Wayne is on the receiving end.
The reference track leaked on June 6, and sees Drake lay down the basis for what would become the Lil Wayne song “I’m Single.” The reference track dates back to early 2009, when Drizzy signed to Wayne’s Young Money label. The most fascinating aspect of the the reference is not that Drake wrote it, but how much he was able to emulate Wayne’s signature flow. The Toronto upstart made it very easy for Weezy to hop on the song and make it a standout on his album I Am Not a Human Being. Drake was originally slated to be on “I’m Single” with Wayne, but it wound up being a solo effort.
Between Drake’s writing credit on the final version, and the production from Noah “40” Shebib, it’s no surprise to learn that “I’m Single” started out as an OVO joint. This is not the first time that the topic of Drake writing for Lil Wayne has surfaced. Karrine Steffans told VladTV that Drake penned lots of songs for Wayne during a 2015 interview. “[Lil] Wayne told me that Drake had written some things for him,” she claimed. “I was in the studio with Wayne listening to something that Drake had written, cause [he] can’t write like that. He’ll be honest about it. He only writes a certain way.”
Steffans asserted that Lil Wayne had no problem using Drake’s song ideas. “He was very honest,” she recalled. “So Drake was just kinda showing him how to take his ideas and turn them into a story and to make that story come back around. That’s a skill. That’s a storytelling skill. Not everybody can do that.” Drizzy seemingly borrowed Wayne’s tactics as he got bigger, if the PND and Vory reference tracks are anything to go by. The “I’m Single” reference track provides a unique glimpse at the working relationship between two legends, though. One that has come back to haunt one, and leave the other unscathed.
Ray J has no problem giving his opinion. The R&B singer and pop culture force went on the Club Shay Shay podcast and spoke bluntly about a myriad of topics. He detailed what he think should be done to Diddy after seeing the Cassie footage. He claimed that his sex tape with Kim Kardashian may have led to the popularization of OnlyFans. Then, in an unexpected turn of events, he bodied Migos rapper Quavo. Ray J was asked what he thought about the rap beefs that had taken place in 2024, and he rated every emcee involved EXCEPT Quavo.
Club Shay Shay host Shannon Sharpe asked whether Ray J was a fan of the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar situation, or the Quavo vs. Chris Brown feud. The singer couldn’t help himself. Instead of giving flowers to all four artists mentioned, he drew a line between Quavo and the rest. “That’s not beef,” Ray J said in response to the Quavo vs. Chris Brown situation. “Quavo and Chris Brown, Kendrick and Drake. You got Chris Brown. You got Drake, and you got Kendrick Lamar.” Realizing how his comment had come off, the singer tried to clean it up. “And no disrespect to Quavo,” he added. Ray J’s view on Quavo was painfully clear. No addendum needed.
Ray J Was Not Impressed With Quavo’s Battle Skills
Quavo’s reputation has taken a hit in recent months. The Migos rapper was a worth adversary for Chris Brown on paper. Especially since he was a rapper, and Breezy’s day job is R&B singer. Nevertheless, the beef was one-sided. Chris Brown’s “Weakest Link” diss was scathing, and Quavo failed to keep up when he dropped the response “Over H*es and B*tches.” The mediocre bars disappointed fans. There was also confusion as to why Quavo featured a posthumous verse from Takeoff, who had nothing to do with the beef.
Ray J did, however, praise the other three rappers Sharpe mentioned. He was particularly complimentive of Drake. Their relationship stemmed from the fact that Drake sampled Ray J’s R&B classic “One Wish” on his blockbuster 2016 album Views. He thought both Drizzy and Kendrick Lamar handled themselves well during their recent battle. “That’s what I think a Hip Hop beef should be,” he opined. Ray’s remarks dropped the same day Drake decided to delete all his Lamar disses off Instagram, ironically.
All the way back in 2008, Kanye West released his 4th album 808s & Heartbreak. The project opted for neither the throwback rap style of West’s first two projects or the ultra-contemporary bling rap of his third album Graduation which it succeeded by just a year. Despite that shift, the album did have hits like “Heartless” and “Love Lockdown” but it was met with mixed reviews. In the years since, the record has been upheld as an influential early innovator of the trap stylings that would eventually go on to dominate the rap world. Through that lens the album has garnered much more critical acclaim in retrospect.
Now, producer Gordo thinks there’s another album that could follow a similar path to eventual acclaim. Honestly, Nevermind was met with much harsher criticism when Drake dropped the surprise shake up back in 2022. Fans called the project boring and forgettable despite his shift into an entire new style, house music. Like 808s, the album did produce some hits like “Jimmy Cooks,” “Sticky,” and “Massive.” During a recent interview with Complex, Gordo shared his full thoughts on why he thinks the album is destined to eventually achieve more acclaim than it currently gets. Check out what he had to say below.
He cited what he sees as the influence of Honestly, Nevermind after it dropped. “We all know that when Drake does something, everyone follows. Kanye does something, everyone follows. There’s a couple people who when they do something, everyone follows,” he began. “And that album, I feel like everyone ended up following, and people who don’t know house music and don’t know that type of vibe, especially the Afro-House vibe that was on that album, is the most popular sh*t out right now,” he elaborated.
What do you think of Gordo’s claims that Honestly, Nevermind will eventually be revered in the same way 808s & Heartbreak is? Do you agree with him that the house album turned out to be more influential than it currently gets credit for? Let us know in the comment section below.
Yesterday marked one month since hip-hop fans received the last entry in Kendrick Lamar and Drake’srapid fire rap beef that took a turn for chaos starting at the end of April. That last entry was Drake’s “The Heart Part 6,” which references Kendrick’s long-running freestyle series. Since that diss was released, fans and critics alike crowned Kendrick Lamar as the winner of the rap as he also went on hit No. 1 with “Not Like Us.” It remains to be seen if either rapper will toss out another diss, but it seems likely that it won’t be Drake after he removed all his Kendrick Lamar disses from his Instagram page.
Fans noticed that Drake quietly removed the diss songs, which include “Push Ups,” “Family Matters,” and “The Heart Part 6,” from his Instagram page on Wednesday. The move also came with a new post and cryptic message. “The only yes man around me is my Rolex dealer,” Drake wrote under pictures of himself in his Toronto mansion. It’s not the first time that Drake deleted a song during his beef with Kendrick. Back in April, Drake was forced to remove his “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which featured AI rap verse from Tupac and Snoop Dogg, after the former’s estate issued a cease & desist letter that threatened to sue Drake for using Tupac’s voice without permission.
Coincidentally (or maybe not), Drake deleted the Instagram posts the same day that Kendrick Lamar announced “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” concert with pgLang and Free Lunch at LA’s Kia Forum on June 19, aka Juneteenth. That performance could add another page to Kendrick Lamar-Drake rap beef story.
What is a sporting event without a Drake bet? Ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Drake hit Instagram and revealed a massive bet on the Dallas Mavericks to win the series.
Drake dropped $500,000 on the Mavs as the series winner; the payout would be nearly $1.4 million. The Edmonton Oilers also got a bet for Canada in the Stanley Cup Finals, with another $500,000 paying out just over $1,000,000.
“Dallas cause I’m a Texan,” Drake wrote. “Oilers are self explanatory.”
Tonight marks the start of the NBA Finals as the Dallas Mavericks face the Boston Celtics in Game 1 at 8:30 PM ET on ABC. This year’s Finals promises excitement and high stakes as a new champion will be crowned for the sixth consecutive season.
The Celtics, who finished the regular season with the league’s best record at 64-18, are on a quest for their 18th title, which would break a tie with the Lakers for the most in NBA history. Boston’s dynamic duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, have been formidable this postseason, averaging 26.0 and 25.0 points per game, respectively.On the other side, Dallas is led by head coach Jason Kidd, who aims to secure the Mavericks’ second NBA title. Kidd, who helped the Mavs win their first championship as a player 13 years ago, now seeks success from the sidelines. The Mavericks, a No. 5 seed, are also attempting to become the first team of their rank to win the championship. Their leading stars, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, have been equally impressive, averaging 22.8 and 28.8 points per game, respectively.This Finals not only features top-tier talent but also a compelling storyline with Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum, both five-time All-Stars and 2023-24 Kia All-NBA First Team members, seeking their first NBA titles. As the action unfolds, fans are set for an electrifying series between two of the league’s most storied franchises.
Durand Bernarr is a staggeringly talented vocalist. He was the second place finisher on the BET reality competition The Next Big Thing in 2019. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry since. Bernarr has linked up with Kaytranada, Anderson .Paak, and the Internet. And he most recently got a chance to perform alongside the queen of neo-soul, Erykah Badu. Instead of covering a soul standard, though, Bernarr fooled around. He decided to cover Metro Boomin’s “BBL Drizzy.”
Bernarr posted the footage on his Instagram on June 3. He made it clear in the caption that the idea came about spontaneously, and that he was merely having fun with the audience. “Per usual,” he wrote. “We have no sense. It was good to be back with the crew.” The footage sees him absolutely lay into the chorus of the infamous Metro instrumental, adding tons of vocal runs in the process. The rest of the performers onstage are stunned by Durand Bernarr’s ability to squeeze passion out of such a silly phrase. Erykah Badu walks into frame towards the end of the cover, and practically falls out.
Badu wasn’t the only artist who was impressed by Bernarr’s rendition. The post was flooded with comments from other musical superstars. SZA commented: “My GYAAADDD.” The praise from her is especially meaningful, given that she just released a bold cover of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Summer Walker and Rapsody commented with a bunch of heart and laughing emojis, respectively. DUCKWRTH praised the pairing of Bernarr and Badu. “Best superhero team up honestly,” he commented. Isaiah Jaay, meanwhile, lauded the confidence to pull such a bold cover off. “It’s always the confidence for me,” he wrote. “You know you can sang and it makes it even better.”
“BBL Drizzy” has proven to have legs. The instrumental spawned dozens of viral covers. Then it was sampled by the target of the diss, Drake, on the Sexyy Red song “U My Everything.” Drizzy tried to reclaim the trollish meaning of the original beat and flip it to his advantage, but fans didn’t buy it. “U My Everything” has more dislikes than likes on YouTube, despite the star power of both artists. To make matters worse, Drake decided to take down all his disses against Kendrick Lamar. The decision has led fans to do even more trolling online.
Metro Boomin has lots of friends in the industry. The producer has ascended up the food chain in the 2020s, and become one of the most popular collaborators in hip-hop. His solo albums are a who’s who when it comes to modern day superstars. Drake is the big exception to this rule. Metro declared war on the 6 God with “Like That,” and well, the rest is history. It’s hard to imagine Metro and Drake ever being cool again. The relationship that fans are worried about is between Metro and 21 Savage. Let Metro tell it, though, and things are good as ever.
Metro Boomin hopped on X (formerly Twitter) on June 5 to tease new music. He’s already confirmed that he has tracks cooking with The Weeknd and JID, but he teased the anticipated, hallowed Savage Mode III instead. The producer posted a video of an unreleased instrumental, and X user Crew Shiesty retweeted it. “I ain’t gonna hold you,” he wrote. “This sounds like Savage Mode III.” There hasn’t been confirmation from Metro or 21, but the internet did what the internet does and ran with it. DJ Akademiks reposted the X exchange on Instagram, furthering adding to the hype.
If this snippet is in fact from Savage Mode III, than Metro Boomin and 21 Savage have managed to dodge a bullet. The two artists came down on different sides of the Drake beef, with Metro being against and 21 trying to stand with both sides. The rapper even got on Instagram Live to assure fans that everything will eventually smooth over. “Don’t keep coming on my motherf*ckin’ Live talkin’ about motherf*ckin’ beef,” he told fans. “Metro my brother and Drake my brother. They gonna figure that sh*t out eventually.”
21 Savage and Metro Boomin got into a heated exchange during another Instagram Live. The latter went in the comment section and dubbed 21 “OVO Savage,” which led the rapper to kick him out. Savage then used the infamous Drake insult from “Push Ups,” and told Metro to shut his h*e a*s up and “make some drums.” This is the exchange that led fans to question whether the tension from the Drake situation had boiled over into their friendship. Hopefully the Savage Mode III rumors are true, and we get this dynamic duo back together.
Drake has repped his OVO crew since day one. He’s shouted members out by name, and praised their loyalty on clasic songs like “No New Friends” and “No Friends In the Industry.” The OVO camp really got rocked in the Kendrick Lamar battle, though. The Compton rapper repeatedly called out the loyalty of the 6 God’s closest friends on “6:16 In LA” and “Meet the Grahams.” Drake tried to ward off these claims on his own diss, but he addressed it again in a new Instagram post.
Drizzy returned to the social media platform on June 5. He posted a series of photos of himself smoking, drinking, and seemingly working on new music. Standard as far as Drake posts go. It was the caption that turned the most heads. Instead of teasing a release date or his upcoming collab with Camila Cabello, the rapper dismissed the notion that his OVO crew is sucking up to him. “The only yes man around me is my Rolex dealer,” he wrote. It does appear that Drake is wearing a Rolex watch in the photos, but in no way is it the focus. The rapper simply felt the need to tell fans that the people working around him are straight.
The caption seems tied to Kendrick Lamar’s aforementioned diss tracks. The rapper really made it seem as though Drake’s people were plotting on his demise, especially on “6:16 In LA.” “Have you ever thought that OVO is workin’ for me,” he rapped. “A hunnid n**gas that you got on salary, twenty of ’em want you as a casualty… Two of them is practically tired of your lifestyle. Just don’t got the audacity to tell you.” The concept resurfaced on “Meet the Grahams.” Albeit, in a much more accusatory context. “He got sex offenders on ho-VO that he keep on a monthly allowance,” he spit. “A child should never be compromised and he keepin’ his child around them. And we gotta raise our daughters knowin’ there’s predators like him lurkin’.”
Drake tried to deny these claims once before on “The Heart Part 6.” He claimed he fed Lamar fake info through his crew, who were still actually on his side. “My Montreal connects stand up, now fall down,” he explained. “The ones that you’re getting your stories fro, they all clowns. I am a war general, sеasoned in preparation.” Interestingly, the 6 God took down all of his Lamar disses from Instagram, minutes after he posted the “Rolex” photos.
Kevin
(@durandbernarr)