At one point, you know, the woman he loved came into my life. I did what any decent man would do and treated her with respect, so she’s not out there badmouthing me. I have nothing but love and respect for her; I see her as family more than anything.
ASAP Rocky has chosen his side in the Kendrick-Drake feud, and it’s definitely not Drake’s. Kendrick might have said he hates everything about Drake, but if there’s one person who dislikes Drake more than Kendrick, it’s Rocky. Honestly, I’d be upset too if Drake kept singing about my baby mama years after their fling ended. And the worst part is, Rocky knows all of Drake’s secrets. Allegedly, Drake traumatized Rihanna back in the day, which is why she wants nothing to do with him now. Instead of moving on, Drake decided to throw shade at Rocky and Rihanna, and then dragged them into his beef with Kendrick for no reason. Drake really crossed the line with that one. ASAP Rocky immediately went to the studio to defend his woman and warn Drake to back off or face the consequences. It’s about to get really messy, so let’s get into it.
The collaboration and history we share make our records better because there’s something real there. We’re not forcing a story on people. The music and the energy we bring are genuine, reflecting the real connection between us.
We all know Drake can be pretty sensitive, but he really showed it in his 2023 album “For the Dogs.” He dissed Rihanna because she hurt his feelings. In one of the songs, “Fear of Heights,” Drake raps, “Why they make it sound like I’m still hung up on you? That could never be. Gyal can’t run me. Better him than me, I’m anti, I’m anti. Yeah, and the intimacy was average with you.”
Drake probably thought he was being clever with his wordplay, but it’s obvious he was talking about Rihanna. Her last album is called “Anti,” so it’s clear he’s referring to her. He tries to deny still having feelings for her while saying she couldn’t be with him anyway because she’s in charge in her relationship with Rocky. Then he calls her “mid,” which is just crazy. It’s like when guys realize the woman they wanted has moved on to someone better, so they act like they weren’t that interested in the first place.
It gets even crazier. In that same verse, Drake says, “And I had way better [expletive] than you, to be honest. Yeah, that man, he’s still with you, he can’t leave you. Y’all go on vacation, I bet it’s Antigua.” You can just picture Drake with tears streaming down his face when he recorded that part, throwing in “Antigua” since Rihanna is from Barbados, which is also in the Caribbean. And he didn’t stop there. He even name-dropped ASAP Rocky in another late-night track, saying, “I ain’t pretty flacko, [expletive], this [expletive] getting really rocky.” “Pretty Flacko” is one of Rocky’s nicknames. It’s obvious at this point that Drake has a serious issue with Rihanna and ASAP Rocky. Dedicating three songs on his album to dissing them is a bit much. Seriously, Drake needs to get a grip. Is he really saying all that when it’s clear he’s still hung up on Rihanna, believing she was the best fling he ever had?
For those who might not know the backstory, let’s rewind to 2005 when Drake and Rihanna first met in Toronto. Rihanna was filming the music video for her hit “Pon de Replay” at a restaurant there when she was introduced to Drake. They didn’t get close at that time. Fast forward to 2009: Rihanna was just coming out of a messy relationship with Chris Brown. In May of that year, she and Drake were spotted at Lucky Strike bowling alley in NYC, reportedly making out all night. It was interesting because many thought this was just a rebound fling for Rihanna, who was still very much in love with Chris Brown, whom she later described as her first love. By the end of the year, Rihanna clarified that she and Drake were just friends. But for Drake, it was more. He fell head over heels for her, even referencing that first date in his 2010 song “Fireworks,” where he rapped, “I could tell it wasn’t love, I just thought you would [expletive] with me. Who could have predicted Lucky Strike would have you stuck with me?”
From that point on, Drake couldn’t stop talking about Rihanna. It was clear he was hurt that she wasn’t taking their relationship as seriously as he was. In an interview with the New York Times, Drake shared that a song he wrote for her was never released: “You know what she was doing to me? She was doing exactly what I’ve done to so many women throughout my life, which is show them quality time then disappear. I was like, wow, this feels terrible.” Rihanna really had a strong hold on him, and he kept expressing his feelings in other interviews.
It seemed like Rihanna gave Drake another chance when they worked together on the video for “What’s My Name.” Their collaboration sparked rumors that they were back together, especially after their steamy performances at the 2011 Grammys and the NBA All-Star Game halftime show. But after those performances, Rihanna ended things again, leaving Drake hurt once more.
In an interview with Elle magazine, Drake admitted he was Rihanna’s rebound and that she unintentionally hurt him: “At the time, it hurt, but she didn’t mean to. I’ll never put that on her. I was hurt because I started to slowly realize what it was. I guess I thought it was more. That was the first girl with any fame that paid me any mind. You spend days reading about this person in the magazines. All of a sudden, you have this number-one song, and you’re at some birthday party, and there she is. And you’re just some naive kid from Toronto staying in some wack hotel who got invited to this party on a whim. That’s just how it happened.”
Girl, can you believe Drake admitted he used to obsess over Rihanna long before they even met? Honestly, you can’t blame him—half of us would probably react the same way if our celebrity crush suddenly agreed to go on a date with us. Even though Rihanna never admitted to having a thing with Drake at that point, he was still all caught up in his feelings about her. It got so intense that Drake ended up getting into a fight with Chris Brown over her at a club in NYC.
TMZ reported that sources confirmed Chris Brown and Drake were hanging out in the VIP section when Drake started pointing and yelling at Chris. Chris yelled back, and before you knew it, someone threw a bottle, and all hell broke loose. The incident resulted in multiple members of both crews needing medical attention, and even Chris Brown got injured. But by the time the police arrived, both Drake and Chris had left the club. They both denied being involved, but witnesses had a completely different story.
Later, Drake talked about his beef with Chris Brown and pretty much confirmed they fought over Rihanna. He said, “Look, for the media and any outlet listening, don’t ask me about that guy when I come up there. Leave him alone. Stop preying on his insecurities because his insecurities are that I make better music than him, I’m more popular, and at one point, the woman he loves ended up with me. I treated her with respect, so she’s not talking down on me. All these things together create someone who goes to your radio station and does dumb stuff. But it shouldn’t be about tearing him down. It shouldn’t be about wanting to see us tear each other apart. We have an issue, and it’s either going to drag out or maybe in 10 years we’ll laugh about it over drinks. Just let us handle it. No one wants to hear us rap against each other. I’m good. My life is great. I’m excited about music. I’m in the best place I’ve ever been, physically and mentally. I don’t care about the drama. My life is good.”
You hate that your name comes up with it, but what bothers me more is wondering what people even want to see from it. We’re just two young guys. Fast forward to 2012, and Rihanna is still not acknowledging Drake’s efforts. In fact, she flat out ignored him when he won the award for Best Hip-Hop Video at the MTV VMAs. While everyone else was cheering for Drake, the cameras caught Rihanna looking unbothered and whispering something to her friend. But that didn’t stop Drake from gushing about her on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2013. He did the same thing in a Rolling Stone interview, saying, “She’s the ultimate fantasy. I mean, I think about it like, man, that would be good. We have fun together. She’s cool and sh*t, but we’re just friends. That’s my dog for life.” However, Rihanna was likely getting the ick from Drake doing all these interviews about her and putting her name in the tabloids. In a 2015 Vanity Fair interview, Rihanna denied ever dating Drake. She stated her last official boyfriend was Chris Brown, when they briefly reunited three years after their first breakup. She also mentioned she’s willing to wait for her perfect man: “A very extraordinary gentleman with a lot of patience will come along when I least expect it, and I don’t want it right now. I will wait forever if I have to, but that’s okay. You have to be screwed over enough times to know. But now I’m hoping for more than these guys can actually give.” Looks like Rihanna knew exactly what she wanted in life, and Drake just didn’t fit the bill. But that has never stopped Drake from thirsting after her. He mentioned her in his song “Too Good,” saying, “Last night I got high as your expectations. Last night I came to a realization, and I hope you can take it.” He continued in the chorus, “I’m too good to you, I’m way too good to you. You take my love for granted, I just don’t understand it.” In typical Drake fashion, he even took out a billboard congratulating her in advance for winning the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 VMAs.
Honestly, I’m not sure what Drake was hoping for. When the big day came, he ended up confessing his love for Rihanna in front of everyone at the VMAs and even tried to kiss her. But Riri wasn’t having it. Later, in a 2018 Vogue interview, Rihanna talked about how awkward and uncomfortable Drake’s speech made her. She even winced when the interviewer mentioned his name. She said, “Waiting through that speech was probably the most uncomfortable part. I don’t like too many compliments. I don’t like to be put on blast.”
If it wasn’t clear by then that Drake gave Rihanna the creeps and she wanted nothing to do with him, it became obvious when she added, “We don’t have a friendship now, but we’re not enemies either. It is what it is.” After getting turned down so many times, you’d think Drake would have moved on by now. But no, he kept talking and rapping about her, even though she clearly showed no interest.
And to top it off, during his and J. Cole’s “It’s All a Blur” tour, Drake made his feelings super clear. On the first night, when their song “Work” came on, Drake said, “Yeah, I don’t sing this song anymore. You can sing it for me.” Talk about petty.
Fans quickly started calling out Drake, describing him as saucy and sassy. They wondered why he included the song in his set if he didn’t want to perform it. Meanwhile, Rihanna stayed completely unfazed by Drake’s antics. She only responded subtly on Instagram, saying, “None of my exes are married or in happy relationships, so it’s safe to say that I wasn’t the problem.” Classic Rihanna, known for her sharp comebacks when she was active on social media.
ASAP Rocky, on the other hand, usually kept his cool about Drake. But things got heated when Drake dragged Rocky and Rihanna into his beef with Kendrick. In his diss track “Family Matters,” Drake took shots at Rocky with lines like, “I ain’t even know you rapped still, ’cause they only talking about your fit again. Probably got to have a kid again before you think of dropping any sh*t again. Even when you do drop, they gon’ say you should have modeled ’cause it’s mid again.”
Drake didn’t stop there. He suggested Rocky should consult Rihanna before dissing him again, sure that she would warn him against it. He even rubbed it in by calling Rihanna his old pet name for her: “Smoking Fenty about it, should have put you on the first one trying to get it in. Ask Fenty if this a good idea the next time you cuddled in that bed again. She’ll even tell you, leave the boy alone before you get your head split again.”
It seems ASAP Rocky hit the nail on the head when he said Drake was “in his feelings.” Drake’s diss track definitely sounded like it came from a place of hurt. Rocky wasn’t going to let that disrespect slide, especially with what he knew about Drake’s past with Rihanna. There have been rumors for years that Rihanna broke up with Drake because he was abusive. Drake might have hinted at this himself in his 2010 song “Fireworks,” where he raps, “Damn, I kept my wits about me, luckily. What happened between us that night, it always seems to trouble me. Now all of a sudden these gossip rags want to cover me, and you make it seem like it happened that way because of me.” This suggests something significant happened between them that made Rihanna cut him off.
In his song “Virginia Beach” from the “For the Dogs” album, Drake says, “You say I could have treated you better or whatever, but I don’t know. I think I did all right, know what I’m saying. And you know how you get drawn conclusions like you got a Parsons degree or something. I could have treated you better, that’s crazy.” Rihanna has an honorary degree from NYC’s Parsons School of Design, which Drake references. It’s clear he’s admitting that their fallout was because he didn’t treat her right.
Sources also suggest that ASAP Rocky has dirt on other women Drake has been inappropriate with. It’s no secret that Drake has a history of being interested in young girls, a fact that Kendrick Lamar even called out in their beef. In “Meet the Grams,” Kendrick raps, “Sandra, sit down. What I’m about to say is heavy now, listen. Your son’s a sick man with sick thoughts. I think dudes like him should not be alive. Him and Weinstein should get effed up in a cell for the rest of their life. He hates black women, hypersexualizes them with kinks of a nympho fetish. He got offenders on the payroll that he keeps on a monthly allowance. A child should never be compromised, and he keeping his child around them. And we got to raise our daughters knowing there’s predators like him lurking.” Fans were quick to dig up Drake’s creepy past with young girls, bringing more attention to his questionable behavior.
Take Millie Bobby Brown, for example. Back in 2018, Millie revealed that she and Drake had been texting each other, saying things like “I miss you,” and Drake was even giving her advice about boys.
“So, what’s your relationship with Drake like? How did you two become friends?”
“I love him. I met him in Australia, and he’s honestly such a fantastic person. He’s a great friend and a great role model. We text each other. Just the other day, he was like, ‘I miss you so much,’ and I replied, ‘I miss you more.’ He’s coming to Atlanta soon, so I’m definitely going to see him. I’m so excited.”
“That’s awesome! What kind of advice does he give you about boys?”
“He helps me a lot.”
“What? Yeah, he’s great. I love him. But the advice about boys stays in the text messages.”
Mind you, Millie was barely 14 at the time, and Drake was over 30. Fans found their relationship creepy, especially considering their selfies on social media and Drake sending her merchandise from his “Scorpion” album. By the way, that album features a song called “Jaded,” where Drake says, “We could have waited, I wasn’t rushing. Differences in ages, you’re old enough but you’re still a baby.”
Drake also had a weird relationship with Kylie Jenner that supposedly started when she was only 16. Because he was close to the Kardashian-Jenner family for years, he had access to Kylie at a young age. Although they never confirmed the dating rumors, fans thought ASAP Rocky knew all the details since he was dating Kendall Jenner at the time. That’s why Rocky can’t stand Drake for dragging Rihanna’s name through the mud. Rocky even blasted Drake in his verse on Kid Cudi’s song “WOW,” rapping, “These dudes can’t stomach me, gotta go get a mint. Drake, and Drake is a herb used to treat stomach ulcers, colic, constipation, and other common ailments.” Basically, Rocky was saying Drake can’t stomach him because he got the girl of Drake’s dreams. He’s also telling Drake to get over Rihanna.
If that’s not enough, Rocky has made it clear he’s open to settling things the old-fashioned way if necessary. Fans are tired of Drake acting like a lovesick puppy around Rihanna because it’s getting super creepy. One fan said, “Drake is like an obsessed stalker with money. I remember that era. He was following her everywhere, trying to trap her publicly because he couldn’t handle being rejected. Even if she agreed, it felt forced. Why is Drake still talking about women he dated in the past when they’re now married or have families? They moved on, but he can’t.”
Now it’s your turn. What do you think about Drake’s behavior? Head over to the comment section and share your thoughts. And don’t forget to check out our next video before you go.
