When Drake’s team won the championship of his Sanctuary Basketball League (SBL) earlier this year, he likened himself to Kobe Bryant. “I did what Kobe did in Game 7 against the Celtics,” he said. “Shots not falling, you play f*cking defense.” Nevermind the differences between the NBA and a rec league that Drake owns for him and his buds to hoop it up in, you still gotta love the pomp. Now it seems as though Drake has been working on his jumper to channel his inner-Steph Curry. A video he posted shows the “God’s Plan” star draining 12 three-pointers across a series of pick-up games at New York’s ritzy Summit Gym.
“My bad I thought it was office hours… work,” he wrote on Instagram. The video indeed shows a smooth stroke from beyond the arc by Drake as he nails triple after triple. NY rapper Rowdy Rebel was also on the court and NBA trainer Chris Brickley was there presumably on Drake’s behalf.
Drake is feeling his outside shot for sure and even takes the ball to the rack a couple of times. But the defense in these games is uhhh.. lacking? There’s nary a hand in Drake’s face when he shoots, it’s like he’s paid everyone to go low when he rises up for a J. Some of the players look like Murray Hill bros who were afraid they might hurt the 6 God. But hey, whatever gets them scooped up by his squad so they can share in the spoils of those $100K championship rings, right?
Newly emerged rapper Ice Spice, who rose to fame off of her song “Munch,” is in the news again. A sex tape was recently leaked, leaving many fans to speculate on who leaked it and if it’s really in her in the video. Is That Ice Spice? A sex tape allegedly featuring the Bronx-born drill […]
Bleu has released his anticipated new song, “Love in the Way,” which features Nicki Minaj. The song is the first time the two artists have worked together and blends Minaj’s emotive lyrics and Bleu’s slick, velvety vocals on the upbeat track.
Last week, Bleu let his fans and followers know the value of hard work. Hitting Instagram, the young star released a video handling business on a private jet that he now owns, letting people know anything is possible.
“It took me 10 hard years to get here,” Bleu wrote. “We’re can I start. I used to day dream all day when I lived with my mama. I used to tell people everyday Ima be successful. Some people believed some didn’t. I just Kept going ! On my road to success I fell off bout 4 r 5 times . Lost Alotta loved ones . Gave away Alotta money blowed a lot to . But I dnt regret !”
He added, “IM PROUD OF MYSELF ! U A FUCKING BEAT. I not even owning a car to owning a plane! I couldn’t afford to buy Corbin diapers now to owning my own private jet.”
Drake and music critic Anthony Fantano appear to be having a war of the words. Earlier this week, Drake took to his Instagram story to share a series of messages he sent to Fantano, mocking the rating system he uses on his YouTube channel to rate and review albums.
“Your existence is a light 1,” said Drake in an Instagram DM to Fantano. “And the 1 is cause you are alive. And cause you somehow wifed a black girl. I’m feeling a light to decent 1 on your existence.”
@champagnepapi/Instagram
Fantano, who has been openly critical of Drake’s music for years, had taken to YouTube earlier to share a video called “Drake Slid In My DMs.” In the video, he shares screenshots of fake DMs of a vegan recipe. Drake’s actual messages seem to be a response to this.
Later this evening, Fantano shared a video called “The Drake Situation,” in which, he assures viewers that while he maintains his stances on Drake’s music, he has no animosity toward the rapper.
“I really do not have anything personal against Drake,” Fantano said. “Do I think he’s made some very mediocre records over the years? Yes. He’s made some really good and great ones as well. It’s always the negative [reviews] that stick out in people’s minds the most, I guess. But that’s kind of the nature of reviews, kind of the nature of criticism, I suppose.”
Fantano continues, reiterating that the fake recipe screenshots were meant as a lighthearted joke, and expressed hope that the two could “bury the hatchet in private.”
Toward the end, Fantano said he’s “looking forward to more Drake music in the future.”
Anthony Fantano refers to himself the internet’s busiest music nerd as he puts out music reviews from all genres daily. Fantano is well known for his scathing reviews and for albums that he thinks are in-between ratings, giving them a “light” rating. He has been hyper critical of every Drake album since Views and his reviews of Drake albums tend to include some of his most scathing criticisms and are some of his most watched videos.
Yesterday, Drake finally responded to Fantano, posting Instagram DM’s that he had sent him on his own story. “Your existence is a light 1. And the 1 is cause you are alive,” Drake DM’d Fantano. In the next message, Drake said: “And cause you somehow wifed a Black girl. I’m feeling a light to decent 1 on your existence.”
The two have never exchanged messages with each other before, however, prior to Drake actually DM’ing Fantano, the YouTuber had posted a video on his second account entitled “Drake Slid Into My DM’s.” In the video he shows fabricated messages between him and Drake where Drizzy sends him a vegan cookie recipe.
Fantano seemed ecstatic at the fact he was able to garner a response out of Drake. He hopped on Instagram live shortly after to share his thoughts on why Drake DM’d him and even gave a critique of the insult.
“Essentially what happened is that for reasons unknown to me, Drake was in his feelings, as he does tend to be.” He then described the shade as “a bit of a diss… a salty little DM. It was quite sad and unfortunate.”
Fantano then called the diss weak, saying how a diss like that comes from somebody who uses ghostwriters. “This is why he has ghost writers. Because this is the quality of insult when you get when that man is working solo dolo. If I wanted a good insult in my inbox, he would have had to have paid somebody else to come in and do it.”
“C’mon dude, you leaked your own DMs onto the internet. That’s sad. That’s pathetic. I don’t even have a million followers. How do you let me get under your skin like that?”
Fantano ended by saying that there are no hard feelings towards Drake, and that he thinks that Drake has made some good songs. “No hard feelings against Drake. I think Drake for the most part is an artist who has made some great tracks. He’s had some great records drop… He’s got a lot of fantastic hits… He’s got a lot of tracks and records that I don’t care for and that I don’t like. It’s a range.”
Drake gets into some beef every now and again, and now his latest feud is with Anthony Fantano, the music critic best known for his popular YouTube channel The Needle Drop. How it all happened is a bit confusing, though.
Last night (September 15), on his personal YouTube channel, Fantano uploaded a video titled “Drake Slid Into My DMs,” in which he shares a nice-spirited and clearly fake series of Instagram messages from Drake, in which the rapper shares a vegan cookie recipe. Not long after the video went live, Drake took to his Instagram Story to share a screenshot of the real DMs he actually sent to Fantano, which read, “Your existence is a light 1. And the 1 is cause you are alive. And cause you somehow wifed a black girl. I’m feeling a light to decent 1 on your existence.”
@champagnepapi/Instagram
Fantano took to Twitter to celebrate, sharing an image of a W and writing, “That b*tch shared the salty ass DM to over 100 million people. [crying laughing emojis].” He added in another tweet, “I made that man leak his own DMs. [crying laughing emojis].”
It’s not clear what exactly prompted Drake’s messages, but Fantano has often given the rapper’s album negative reviews, most recently with this year’s Honestly, Nevermind, which he deemed “not good.”
Once the dust had settled, Fantano took to Instagram Live to break down the timeline of how this all happened. Fantano said this situation started with him receiving an Instagram message request from Drake late Wednesday (September 14) night. In his explainer, Fantano throws shade back at Drake throughout, saying at one point, “A couple of things were running through my head. One: Why is Drake messaging me? I’m not 18 years of age. That’s kind of weird.”
Fantano also wasn’t impressed by Drake’s insults, saying, “This is why he has ghostwriters. That is the quality of insult you get when that man is working solo-dolo. If I wanted a good insult in my inbox, he would have to have paid somebody else to come in and do it.”
As for the progression of events from there, Fantano said he decided to make his video with the fake DMs (a “silly sh*tpost,” as he called it), then Drake shared the DMs on Instagram. In the screenshot Drake shared, Fantano had left him on read, although Fantano did note he has since responded to Drake’s message, saying he asked him, “When is the interview?”
He later concluded, “He was so angry that he got left on read, he had to leak his own DMs. Leak his own DMs! That’s sad. That’s unfortunate. That is a sorry state of affairs. That is a sorry state of affairs, that you couldn’t bait me in the DMs, so you had to show the whole world, you had to show the whole… ‘Look, I messaged him…’ [laughs] What is he saying by sharing that? ‘Look look look, I messaged this man in the middle of the night yesterday to try to pick on him’ [laughs]. Like it’s the schoolyard. Like it’s school. This is not Degrassi [laughs]. […] We should both be adults, being adults, doing adult things. So, too funny. Silly. Silly, silly.”
Check out Fantano’s explanatory Instagram Live broadcast below.
The 2022 BET Hip-Hop Awards nominations have been released. Drake leads the pack with 14 nominations, and Kanye West comes in second with 10. The third most nominations go to Kendrick Lamar, who has nine.
Additional nominees for this year’s edition include Future at eight nods and the trio of Baby Keem, Cardi B, and J. Cole with six apiece.
Hip-Hop Album of the year nominees is Latto’s 777, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, Kanye West’s DONDA, Future’s I NEVER LIKED YOU, Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry, Nas’ King’s Disease II, and Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
Hip-Hop artist of the year nominees is Cardi B, Doja Cat, Drake, Future, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, and Megan Thee Stallion.
It’s almost time for the BET Hip-Hop Awards, the only awards show dedicated specifically to the world’s most popular genre. A week after announcing the host of this year’s show, Fat Joe, BET has announced the nominees for the awards on Twitter and Instagram. Drake leads the way with 14 nominations, Kanye West has 10, and Kendrick Lamar has nine. The show will air on October 9 at 9 pm ET.
Baby Keem
Benny The Butcher
Drake
J. Cole
Jack Harlow
Jay-Z
Kendrick Lamar
Best Hip-Hop Video Of The Year
ASAP Rocky — “D.M.B”
Baby Keem — “Family Ties” Feat. Kendrick Lamar
BIA — “London” Feat. J. Cole
Cardi B — “Hot Sh*t” Feat. Kanye West & Lil Durk
City Girls — “Good Love” Feat. Usher
Drake — “Way 2 Sexy” Feat. Future & Young Thug
Future — “Wait For U” Feat. Drake & Tems
Best Collaboration
Baby Keem — “Family Ties” Feat. Kendrick Lamar
Benny The Butcher — “Johnny P’s Caddy” Feat. J. Cole
Cardi B — “Hot Shit” Feat. Kanye West & Lil Durk
City Girls — “Good Love” Feat. Usher
Drake — “Jimmy Cooks” Feat. 21 Savage
Drake — “Way 2 Sexy Feat. Future & Young Thug
Future — “Wait For U” Feat. Drake & Tems
Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
Drake — “Churchill Downs” (Jack Harlow Feat. Drake)
J. Cole -– “Poke It Out” (Wale Feat. J. Cole)
J. Cole –- “London” (Bia & J. Cole)
Lil Baby — “Girls Want Girls” (Drake Feat. Lil Baby)
Kanye West- – “City Of Gods” (Fivio Foreign, Kanye West & Alicia Keys)
Drake –- “Wait For U” (Future Feat. Drake & Tems)
Jadakiss -– “Black Illuminati” (Freddie Gibbs Feat. Jadakiss)
Best Duo Or Group
42 Dugg & Est Gee
Big Sean & Hit-Boy
Birdman & Youngboy Never Broke Again
Blxst & Bino Rideaux
DaBaby & YoungBoy Never Broke Again
Earthgang
Styles P & Havoc
Best Live Performer
Cardi B
Doja Cat
Drake
J. Cole
Kanye West
Kendrick Lamar
Tyler The Creator
Producer Of The Year
ATL Jacob
Baby Keem
Hit-Boy
Hitmaka
Kanye West
Metro Boomin
Pharrell Williams
(@SaycheeseDGTL) 
classic Hip Hop albums 