So, an old friend reached out to me and said, “Hey, someone offered me 100 grand for information on you.” My latest song did have bots involved, well, most of it anyway, and the marketing was a mess—sloppy, dusty, soft. The nerve, the audacity. This Kendrick and Drake beef is far from over. Just because the diss tracks have stopped doesn’t mean the beef is settled. Turns out, the bot war is back on. Drake’s camp tried to call out Kendrick for using bots, but they ended up looking pretty stupid with their fake accusations. And then Pusha T spilled the beans on how Drake is still plotting against him and Kendrick, even putting a bounty on his head. So, what secret schemes is Drake working on behind the scenes? And what’s this about the OVO bots making a comeback? Let’s dig into it.
Not only do I not care that he used bots, but I knew he did. Recently, DJ Akademiks stirred the pot by inviting a botter onto his stream. The kid made bold claims that Kendrick’s record label hired him to use streaming bots to promote the song “Not Like Us,” alleging he was paid by Kendrick’s manager, Anthony Salah. However, the last song I used bots for, and most of the marketing, was “Not Like Us.” Apparently, the kid’s management firm, Imogen Entertainment Group, handled the promotion and streaming. The kid did his job, earning $2,500 for 30 million streams. But according to him, Kendrick’s team lowballed him by refusing to pay and tried to intimidate him with threats. “What’s your bank account, brother? Just speak your truth.”
“Hi, bro, it’s Anthony Salah. I’m speaking out because this concerns my safety. This is how I feel. That’s who paid me. I’m not saying I was in direct contact with him, but that’s the name on the account that paid me, and I’m scared. I’m not of age.” The kid didn’t just make allegations; he backed up his claims with screenshots of the payments wired from Kendrick’s team. He also created an Instagram account named Big Act Stream to address the allegations.
Rumors about Kendrick Lamar using bots have been floating around for a while. Akademiks first raised eyebrows when he noticed a suspicious number of dislikes on Drake’s songs “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part Six.” He speculated that Kendrick’s camp might be using bots to downvote Drake’s music. Drake even addressed this in his song “Family Matters,” rapping, “Anthony set up the plays, Kojo be charging you double for nothing.”
While fans were still arguing over these claims, Joe Budden seemed to have made up his mind. On his podcast, Budden confidently asserted that Kendrick was indeed using bots during his feud with Drake. But before Drake’s fans could celebrate, Budden also accused Drake of the same tactic. He said, “Not only do I not care that he used bots, but I knew he did. Okay, cool. What else is there? Y’all didn’t know Kendrick used bots? No, and I didn’t. You thought that this was just the first time, miraculously, that a Drake record ever had more dislikes than likes? Or you didn’t know that that was bots? Bots, to me, was a part of how you win the war versus Drake. Yeah, this new age, hey, if you didn’t do it, Drake was going to do it. He probably did. No, he didn’t. But because he lost in the fashion that he lost, there seems to be a select crowd out there that continues to not lose gracefully. Shut down.”
However, there’s a big problem with this whole story. Kendrick’s fans did some digging and found out that the allegations were based on shaky evidence. They discovered that Anthony Salah’s LLC, the company supposedly involved in the payments, didn’t even exist. Plus, someone pointed out that Zelle payments can be misleading since anyone can put any name they want on them. To make things worse, the screenshots provided looked doctored. One fan commented, “The same kid was turned away by Drake’s team ’cause they knew it was nonsense. Akademiks welcomed it on his stream. Now everyone knows Zelle payment names can be faked. Drake fans are still falling for it.”
It’s hard to believe that $2,500 for 30 million streams is a real deal. One person even said, “If that’s what it costs for 30 million streams, anyone could do it. You’re telling me a local band wouldn’t pull together $2,500 to get their song to 30 million streams? That would be life-changing for any musician.” And let’s forget the numbers for a second. People are making TikToks to “Not Like Us” and singing it in clubs, and you’re saying that’s all thanks to bots? Meanwhile, Drake’s “Family Matters” has 33 million views and 876k likes. But seriously, can you remember a single lyric from that track? One person commented, “I can’t remember a single line from ‘Family Matters.’ It’s just a bunch of nothing with a video. Bots must be working overtime for a song no one remembers.”
And get this: Kendrick had everyone’s attention when he returned to the stage for the “Pop Out Ken and Friends” show at the Kia Forum on June 19, 2024. He opened with “Euphoria” and performed “Not Like Us” five times in front of 16,000 fans. Dr. Dre opened for him, and Kendrick had Tyler, Steve Lacy, DJ Mustard, YG, and others joining him on stage during the encore. It was an incredible show, proving how powerful live performances and real fan engagement can be.
And let’s not forget the evidence that Drake used bots during their feud. He had bots manipulating public opinion through random Twitter polls. How else do you explain a tweet with 3.1k views getting 21,398 votes? Bots, obviously. The OVO bots were flooding the timeline with the same Kendrick disses. That’s why most Kendrick fans think the whole situation is just petty. One fan said, “The beef is over, Drake lost. OVO is now desperately trying to create a new narrative with fake screenshots and a non-existent LLC name.” Meanwhile, another fan pointed out, “Are you saying all the YouTube reactors who got hundreds of thousands of views on Kendrick’s tracks also used bots? Kendrick reactions had way more views than Drake’s, and for the bigger creators, they were in the millions. It’s hard to believe all of that was fake.”
Drake doesn’t just stick to using bots; he’s also willing to take more extreme measures, like putting a hit on his rivals. Back in 2022, during his beef with Pusha T, the Virginia rapper called out Drake’s dirty tactics in a tweet: “You got a 100K floating around for info. Can’t no amount of money create skeletons that don’t exist. I am upset.”
Pusha T shared more about it in an interview with Big Boy’s Neighborhood. He explained how someone from the streets, not even a close friend, tipped him off about Drake’s scheme. “An old friend reached out, saying, ‘Someone offered me 100 grand for information on you.’ He DM’d me, saying, ‘We need to talk tomorrow. Make sure you hit me.’ Even though we weren’t close anymore, I called him. He told me, ‘People are offering 100 grand because of this beef.’ At that point, I felt confident because I knew they were desperate.”
Despite the offer, no one was willing to betray Pusha T for the money. He added, “Talking to him, he put another guy on the phone, Fetty, who I wasn’t cool with either. They said, ‘No way we’re participating in this against you.’ There was also a girl pretending to be a friend, trying to get information to harm me.”
It was a female handler working for Pusha T who reached out to one of his associates to dig up dirt. But this associate was loyal to the rapper and only played along to find out what was happening. An old friend of mine told me, “Listen, someone offered me 100 grand for information on you.” I knew it was true because this person had no reason to know about certain details from a completely different time in my life, back in 2001.
What shocked me was that the intermediary was a woman named Cap, who had worked on all my projects, including Adidas campaigns. I even went to her baby shower. I couldn’t understand why she would betray me like that. It wasn’t just about money; I think it was about wanting to be close to the action and excitement of the industry. She’s an industry person, and that seemed to matter a lot to her.
The whole situation threw me off. I even called her husband and said, “This is what I’ve heard. I hate that I’m hearing this, but if it’s true, you need to know I’m not playing around anymore.”
I know Pusha. More importantly, Pusha wasn’t worried despite the money on his head. It wasn’t because he trusted the people around him, but because he had no skeletons to hide, and Drake was just wasting his time. Interestingly, Kendrick hinted at Drake spending money to dig up dirt on his rivals in his diss track “616 in LA.” He rapped, “It was fun until you started to put money in the streets, then lost money ’cause they came back with no receipts.” In the same track, Kendrick also exposed Drake for using bots, rapping, “You’re playing nerdy with Zach Bia and Twitter bots, but your reality can’t hide behind Wi-Fi. Your little memes are losing steam; they figured you out.” Kendrick reiterated this in his diss track “Euphoria,” rapping, “Why would I call around trying to get dirt on n-words? Y’all think all my life is rap?” This further proved that Kendrick was speaking facts throughout the beef. Maybe that’s why Pusha is a fan. Kendrick gave him a shoutout on “Euphoria,” rapping, “Let me see you Pusha T.” In an interview with Vulture alongside No Malice, Pusha was asked about the song. He responded, “Incredible, incredible display, incredible display of battle raps. Listen, man, if I didn’t know any better, he was channeling his inner Gaga. Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique.”
Remember when Pusha T’s name was trending on Twitter because of those crazy bot accusations? People were tweeting the wildest things, like “Pusha T collects salamanders and impregnates them during the summer” and “Pusha T sold Coke to my little cousin in third grade.” A lot of fans thought Drake was behind the attack since there’s bad blood between him and Pusha. One person even said, “Drake and Jim Jones behind those bot accounts spreading lies about Pusha T.” But let’s be real, Jim Jones didn’t hesitate to defend himself when it came to his beef with Pusha. Meanwhile, Drake was left licking his wounds. Drake and his OVO bots have a long history, and so do Pusha and Drake.
Pusha T and Drake’s feud goes way back to 2011 when Pusha was beefing with Drake’s mentor, Lil Wayne. Pusha called out Drake for not writing his own lyrics and using ghostwriters. He dropped a freestyle called “Don’t F With Me” over the same beat Drake used for “Dreams Money Can Buy,” rapping, “Rappers on their sophomores acting like they boss lords. Fame, such a funny thing for sure when n-words start believing all them encores.” Drake fired back with “Tuscan Leather” in 2013. They traded more diss tracks and callouts until Pusha landed the final blow with “The Story of Adidon” in 2018, rapping, “You are hiding a child. Let that boy come home. Deadbeat MF playing border patrol. Ooh, Adonis is your son,” revealing Drake’s secret son to the world.
And now it looks like Kendrick Lamar is keeping the tradition alive by exposing Drake’s secret daughter in his track “Meet the Grahams.” Kendrick raps, “Dear baby girl, I’m sorry that your father not active inside your world. He don’t commit to much but his music, yeah, that’s for sure. He a narcissist, misogynist, living inside his songs. Tried destroying families rather than taking care of his own. Should be teaching you Tim T’ais or watching Frozen with you or at your 11th birthday singing poems with you. Instead, he being in Turks, paying for S and popping perks, examples that you don’t deserve.”
Drake might need some backup because it looks like Pusha T isn’t done with him yet. Word on the street is that Pusha plans to team up with Kanye to reveal Drake’s connections with the Kardashians. Drake has been linked to the Kardashian-Jenner family for years, with rumors swirling about him and Kylie Jenner after he attended her 16th birthday party. There have also been whispers about him having a fling with Kris Jenner. Recently, his interactions with Kim Kardashian have caused quite a stir. For years, speculation about Drake and Kim having an affair circulated online, and when Kim filed for divorce, rumors spread about Drake making a move on her.
According to one source, “As Kim recently announced her divorce from Kanye West after seven years of marriage, Drake reacted by saying he never understood what Kim saw in Kanye. He mentioned he had been telling Kim for years that Kanye wasn’t right for her and that it would end in tears. Drake was surprised it took her this long to realize it, and he messaged her as soon as the divorce seemed inevitable. He expressed confidence that it would happen soon.”
Kanye, unsurprisingly, wasn’t happy about these rumors. He criticized Drake, saying, “You know, it’s with Drake. That’s the whole thing. Morality and likability are not connected. Usually, the most immoral people are the most likable. If I say I like Drake, it’s not because he’s a good person. It’s because I like him, right? You understand? I like him. I got like for everybody. I’m not going to say love because the kind of love that weakens you compromises you. So I got like for everyone, right? And it’s just—I think this is a beautiful time. You know, it’s like we’re saving the world. Like, you take Drake and Lucian out, that just alters everything because that’s such a control thing. They had the algorithm, the way they work together to fix the numbers and all that. You know, those two are working together, absolutely. We’re going to name this after Drake, something demonic like Drake and all this type of stuff. We’re going to change it.”
Before that, he confirmed the rumors about Drake sleeping with Kris Jenner in an Instagram post, writing, “Drake a, your baby mama’s mama. That’s real war. FYI.” There are even reports suggesting Drake might have fathered Kylie’s second child. No matter how you look at it, Drake seems to have deep ties with the Kardashians. Nick Cannon even mentioned it during an interview, saying, “Man, I was so into—I think Drake smashed Kim K, no cap.” When someone tried to keep him on topic, he added, “That ain’t that far off—like, why are we not saying the obvious? This is as a fan, just stepping back. There’s something Drake holds over that whole family. At the time, Kanye called him out for it.”
Kanye publicly expressed his feelings, saying, “I just wanted to express some things that were not sitting right with my spirit. Now that I’m up about the sunken place, I can think, and I can just be Ye and express how I feel. There are a couple of things I want to address. First of all, I want to address Nick Cannon. I understand that you used to date my wife, but when you get in an interview, don’t mention my wife. If someone brings my wife up, you say, ‘Hey, I respect that man. I’m not speaking on that.’ Don’t be making suggestions like nobody [expletive] my wife.”
Lately, there’s a lot of talk that he’s changed his tactics. He’s no longer avoiding putting Drake and Kim’s names together. Instead, he’s ready to reveal what really happened between them, and it’s quite juicy. Rumor has it, Drake and Kim did have a thing, and they even had a child. Kanye is determined to bring all this to light, despite his legal troubles. Of course, he’s not planning to do it alone, and who better to join forces with than Pusha T, the guy who exposed Drake’s secret kid? Pusha is more than willing to team up with Kanye, and this supposedly has Drake pretty worried. When Pusha first aired Drake’s secrets, there were rumors Kanye fed him the info, although that was denied quickly.
To be fair, Drake has faced tough battles before. He barely made it out of his beef with Kendrick Lamar, so another feud isn’t something he can handle right now. Reports suggest Drake is secretly working on a plan to take down Kendrick and Pusha T to stop the threat before it grows. But most fans think Drake doesn’t stand a chance against this duo. He’s already been humiliated in the worst ways. One fan commented, “Drake suffered the worst types of losses in a beef: getting picked apart lyrically over multiple disses and having a bomb dropped on him right from the start. Whatever plans Drake has, he might want to drop them while he still can save face. His previous attempts against Pusha and Kendrick didn’t go well either.”
Another fan said, “Drake wanted legitimacy and thought beating Kendrick in a beef would give him that. He wasn’t scared because he has so many talented writers at OVO. The Meek Mill situation also inflated his ego.”
But what do you think about this situation? Is Drake really planning something behind the scenes? And are Pusha T and Kanye truly teaming up? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
