Drake has reportedly been dismissed from all Astroworld lawsuits, according to TMZ. The publication shared that the “First Person Shooter” hitmaker was granted a motion for summary judgment and as a result, all the claims against him were dismissed.
Court documents obtained by TMZ noted that a judge in Harris County, Texas heard the Astroworld-related arguments and chose to dismiss all claims against Drake with prejudice.
Drake had been previously named a defendant in some lawsuits related to the Astroworld Festival tragedy of 2021. Plaintiffs had reportedly alleged that Drake, who performed on stage at the festival as a guest of the founder and creator, rapper Travis Scott, helped incite the crushing frenzy, which resulted in several deaths and injuries.
Drake reportedly argued that him showing up as a guest of Scott shouldn’t be grounds for legal action. Evidently, he added that he shouldn’t be held responsible for any injuries or casualties, as he wasn’t involved with planning the festival.
Scott, along with Apple, also reportedly asked to be removed from the lawsuits, suggesting that safety measures were not his responsibility. However, a Harris County judge denied both Scott’s and Apple’s request.
The Astroworld trial is scheduled to begin in May.
J. Cole apologized, but Kendrick Lamar and Drake are still set on beef. According to Joe Budden, the two titans are ready to drop “nuclear” diss tracks on each other.
Speaking on The Joe Budden Podcast, Budden revealed that “it’s up.”
“Whatever little rappy s–t you thought was going on, it’s not that and something’s coming,” Budden said. “I think that J. Cole knows that from either Drake, Kendrick or both. And it was time to bow out because we are no longer in the first round.”
He added that he had “good information” that the “nuclear” tracks would end speculation and debate.
“I been saying for a few pods that I’ve seen absolutely nothing from Drake to get me excited enough to think that he will be capable of doing what needs to be done against the likes of a Kendrick Lamar,” Budden said. “I’m here to say there is no longer any need for me to instigate anything. We’re here and apparently he did it and people heard it. I heard it’s bad.”
Ever since his debut, Vince Staples has been reliable for offering a unique viewpoint on the issues facing hip-hop. With seemingly everyone in the genre focused on the possible feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, he unsurprisingly had a skewed take that pointed out a huge problem when it comes to the business of selling rap beef.
Noticing that Spotify had begun running billboards in Times Square reading, “Hip-hop is a competitive sport,” Vince censured the streamer in the latest episode of the Joe Budden Podcast. When the host called the Long Beach rapper and asked about the supposed dispute between Drake and Kendrick, Staples called out both Spotify and the rest of the cast.
“We either with the coonin’ or we not, bro,” he said. “Once n****s get mad, we got billboards from streamers talking about ‘Hip-Hop is a sport’, but we ain’t never seen a billboard from a streamer that said ‘give that n**** his publishing back.’” He also made several salient points about the adoption of hip-hop in pop music and tech while cutting out as many of the craftspeople involved as possible. Naturally, those goofs argued with Vince, making fun of him for “always being on some cerebral sh*t,” but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s right.
Check out the clip below.
Vince Staples called into the Joe Budden Podcast to share some thoughts on the J Cole Kendrick and Drake Beef pic.twitter.com/x2NL0iuqaB
Fans have been waiting for a response from Drake since Kendrick Lamar went scorched earth on his verse from Future’s Metro Boomin-produced song “Like That.” After K. Dot declared, “Motherf*ck the Big Three / It’s just big me,” plenty of hip-hop heads have looked forward to seeing how Drake approaches any potentional reply — especially since the last time he was in a full-tilt rap battle, things didn’t exactly go his way.
Increasing the anticipation was the fact that J. Cole beat Drake to the counterpunch, dropping his own response track, “7 Minute Drill,” last Friday. Unfortunately, J. Cole has since issued a retraction of his RSVP to this battle, citing his discomfort with going against someone he admires. Drake, on the other hand, has been compared to and contrasted with Kendrick Lamar ever since both began making noise on the blog circuit, so fan investment in his reply is higher than it’s ever been.
While Drake hasn’t made any overt announcements as yet, he’s hinted that he’s working on something, and now, Joe Budden has gotten involved (of course). The podcaster — who has long had his own friction with the Canadian superstar — suggested on his show that both rappers have recorded diss tracks and that they’ll release them sooner than later.
“Actually, I have it on good information that both sides went in the booth and came out,” he said. “What I’m hearin’ about both sides is that it’s nuclear. It’s up-up.” While it could just be another case of Budden blowing smoke (how’s that “girl rap wave is over” pronouncement working out, I wonder), his sources might be onto something since Drake and Kendrick have been at each others’ heads for so long.
Joe Budden says he heard that Drake and Kendrick both have diss records ready
Last month, Kendrick Lamar kicked off the biggest story in rap music this year. He used his verse on the Future & Metro Boomin song “Like That” to challenge both Drake and J. Cole directly. The first response came from Cole himself who returned shots on his surprise-released new mixtape Might Delete Later. As many rap fans were digesting the response and labeling it underwhelming, Cole went back on what he said. During his Dreamville Festival set over the weekend he apologized for the diss. Throughout the entire time the drama has been unfolding, Joe Budden has been reacting.
In previous episodes of his show, Budden has been calling on Drake to make some sort of response. But in a new episode, he makes a revelation that has fans following the beef closely on the edge of their seat. He claims to have verifiable information confirming that Drake has been in the booth. But Budden doesn’t just hint that there is a response track on the way, but that it could be a major event. He claims that “people who can rap” are using terms like “nuclear” to describe the next chapter in the beef. He even ends the segment off with a tease that the song could be coming as soon as later this week. Check out the clip from his newest podcast episode below.
A continuation of the diss is in line with a story that broke about Drake earlier this week. A picture of a whiteboard backstage during one of his recent tour stops made the rounds online. It featured a message about the competitive spirit of rap preventing there from ever being peace. Fans at the time took it as a sign that Drake wasn’t going to sit back and stay quiet and now that’s looking like the case.
What do you think of Joe Budden’s revelation that Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s beef will continue with new songs? Do you think Drake has a chance to come out on top? Let us know in the comment section below.
There’s a photo of a whiteboard of a message supposedly from Drake making the rounds. As XXL notes, Akademiks claims the whiteboard appeared backstage at one of Drake’s shows. The message reads, “The rap game will never be at peace. There will always be competition. And as long as there’s competition, there will never be peace. Everyone wants to be the one.”
In a livestream yesterday (April 8), Akademiks claimed he shared a video of Cole’s apology and got a response from Drake. Akadamiks said, “I sent the video of what this f*ck n**** did. I said, ‘Please, don’t do no sh*t like this. Please, don’t apologize and do no weird sh*t.’ [Drake] said, ‘I can’t f*cking believe you would pull up and say some sh*t like that to me. You must not know me.’”
So, at this point, who knows when or if Drake will come out with anything more concrete on the matter.
We have a bit of insight into Drake’s thinking amid his current beef with Kendrick Lamar. Mal of the New Rory & Mal podcast says he visited Drake’s It’s All a Blur tour in Newark, NJ, and had a quick convo with The Boy backstage.
“He might get mad at me for talking about it, but he know he my nigga,” Mal said. “I asked, ‘are you going to Dream[ville] Fest this weekend?’ and he gave me an answer that was kind of like, weird, Friday night hearing it but Sunday night made all the sense in the world.
He says, “‘I don’t know, should I? It’s weird right now. Are we performing the record. Can we ever perform First Person Shooter? He has to change the bar now. He has to shit on Kendrick. Are we going to shit on Kendrick everytime we perform the record? Nobdoy wants to hear us together unless we dissing Kendrick. That’s where we at right now.’”
Mal would go on to state how Kendrick and the world is looking for Drake to respond, Cole put out a “pillow fight” in “7 Minute Drill,” but may feel a way if Drake didn’t show.
Mal states the conversation came a hour after the Cole record dropped adding Drake said, “I don’t know if we should be seen together.”
You can hear the full details of the conversation beginning at the 15-minute mark.
However, many don’t believe it compares to Lamar’s brutal guest verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s track “Like That.” Joe Budden so happens to be one of those people. Today (April 7), in the latest episode of the mogul’s namesake podcast, he shared his unfiltered thoughts.
“This is not ok,” he yelled. “Cole, call Royce [Da’ 5’9″]. Call a killer. You’re just too nice. It’s the tone…That’s my issue with this narcoleptic-sounding sh*t. That is my issue. It sounds like if I was actively trying to cop fentanyl…[7 Minute Drill] is what I would put on.”
When asked what he wanted from Cole, Budden replied: “I want him to sound alive.”
But he did praise the beat selected for the track. “The first half [of the track] is giving me Latto,” he said. “The first half sounds like he was having a lot of fun on that tour with Drake. That first half sounds like a hit if he sounded alive, and then Drake came on right after.”
Watch the full episode of the Joe Budden Podcast above.
Drake held a recent concert at the Prudential Center in New Jersey and had some interesting words for a woman in the crowd after spotting her. According to Complex, it is still unclear how Drake got his sights on her, whether she had a poster or not — but he wanted to help out with her love life.
“I’m going to get you a good lawyer, and we gon’ pay for your divorce tonight,” he said as she flashed on the jumbotron responding back. “You gon’ be single and ready to mingle.”
The Toronto rapper went on to make it very clear he was interested once she is separated because he described her as “fine as hell” and thought she needed “to be single out here.” Even if he wasn’t the one to be with her, he offered to play cupid with anyone else in the crowd.
“Aye, and while you at it, you need to find you somebody to take you out on a date, too,” he added. “I’ll pay for the date, too.”
For those heading to an upcoming stop at Drake’s It’s All A Blur – Big As the What? Tour, the odds of him setting you up for a date next have just increased by a lot.
Check out the viral clip of Drake offering to help with a fan’s divorce fees and getting her back out on the dating scene below.
Hip hop is a competitive outlet with many massive egos at the top of the ladder. From time to time, conflicts are sparked between artists that create a media zeitgeist, allowing fans a real-time window into the world of clashing titans. Some rap beefs unfortunately escalate to actual violence, while others result in classic tracks such as “Hit ‘Em Up” and “The Story of Adidon.” This year has already been big for hip hop beef, with multiple rappers feuding over the top spot in the game, as well as reviving old beefs that have long been considered dormant. Here’s a look into five of the biggest 2024 hip hop beefs currently raging on.
5. Eminem Vs. Benzino
It must be a shock to many fans that Eminem and Benzino are in a conversation about 2024 hip hop beef, as their original feud occurred over 20 years ago. In the years since Eminem’s career ballooned into one of the biggest in rap’s history, Benzino has languished in relative obscurity, resulting in the latter leaning on the beef to maintain relevance. Benzino has been bringing Eminem up in interviews for years, frequently flip-flopping about whether he respects the white artist and considers him emblematic of the culture or not.
Eminem kicked off 2024 by reigniting the hip hop beef with Benzino on wax, throwing numerous shots at the 58-year-old on the Lyrical Lemonade track “Doomsday Pt. 2.” Since then, Benzino has been on an all-out press tour, crying on Drink Champs and dropping lackluster tracks such as “Rap Elvis.” For now, it seems unclear whether or not Eminem will respond and keep the beef going, though he is rumored to be dropping an album this year, so more shots could be on the way.
While 50 Cent and Stevie J have not gone at each other on wax during their recent feud, the beef has seen them both making hilarious and vicious attacks on social media. 50 has been incessantly trolling Diddy during the mogul’s recent legal controversies and scandals, prompting Stevie to refer to the Get Rich Or Die Tryin rapper as an “Uncle Tom” who “wants to bring the Black community down.” Unsurprisingly, 50 Cent responded using his trademark humor and wit, deriding Stevie by calling him “Diddy’s boyfriend.” This discourse comes soon after Stevie J demanded 50 meet him in person so they could settle their differences face to face.
Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion have also kicked off 2024 with a massive hip hop beef, exchanging bars and social media posts with each other since January. Megan seemingly launched the feud with the track “Hiss,” which included pointed lyrics referencing Nicki Minaj’s support for her husband, who is a registered sex offender. While “Hiss” was the first track to bring the beef to the forefront of our timelines, Nicki and Megan have actually been throwing subliminal shots at one another since 2022.
However, there was nothing subliminal at all about Nicki Minaj’s response to the track, which saw her cracking wise about Meg’s dead mother, referencing the Tory Lanez shooting situation, and dropping an abysmal response track titled “Big Foot.” Fans of Nicki Minaj have taken the beef a step further by locating the burial plot of Meg’s late mom and threatening to commit acts of vandalism on the site, forcing the cemetery to increase security.
Ice Spice and Latto have become embroiled in something of a proxy war as a ripple effect of Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion. Though the pair have not committed to dropping explicit diss tracks aimed at each other, the talented femcees have each dropped several social media posts and lyrical hints loaded with shade. In January, Latto posted a snippet of her new track “Sunday Service” with an Ice Spice video playing in the background, causing some fans to theorize that the pointed lyrics “I just want a one on one, don’t know why she so nervous” are about her.
Ice Spice herself seems to believe this, referring to the video as a “weak ass snippet” and responding with more subliminal shots on her record “Think U The Sh** (Fart).” On the track, Ice Spice raps, “I got my foot on they necks, I can’t let up / She all on the floor, told her get up,” seemingly referencing Latto’s hit single “Put It On da Floor.” This 2024 hip hop beef has been quiet for the last few weeks, though fans assume more shots are likely incoming.
Kendrick Lamar is at the center of the biggest 2024 hip hop beef, which threatens to take on just about every name in the industry. When Kendrick dropped his landmark verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s recent record “Like That,” he took aim at J. Cole and Drake, rapping, “Think I won’t drop the location? I still got PTSD / Mother*** the big three, n**** it’s just big me.” Drake responded with some fiery words on stage during a tour stop, though J. Cole has not said anything publicly about the verse at this time.
Obviously, Future and Metro Boomin have co-signed Kendrick’s verse, placing themselves in the feud with Drake as well, while other rappers like Rick Ross, The Weeknd, and Travis Scott have seemingly thrown their support behind the PGLang founder by making appearances on We Don’t Trust You and refusing to speak on Drake’s behalf. Unsurprisingly, Kanye West felt compelled to include himself in the hip hop civil war of 2024, referring to himself as the one true GOAT and claiming to have “washed” both Kendrick and Drake in past collaborations.
(via 
(@lowkeymagee) 