The major feat occurred on Tuesday (June 18), just two months after it was reported that he was closing in on the milestone at 97 billion streams.

Chart Data reported the news, which was then confirmed via KWORB, which keeps track of streams and rankings for different platforms.

In other news, Pharrell has seemingly joined the bandwagon of artists taking shots at Drake, having possibly alluded to the 6 God on the new track “Double Life.”

The song is set to be featured on the Despicable Me 4 Soundtrack, which is due out July 3.

On it, he raps: “Lie detector time/ Hey, what are you hiding?/ Nothing wrong being private/ Make sure it ain’t wrong.”

Fans were quick to notice the bars, with one user commenting in a tweet about the song: “Drake about to stop Adonis from ever watching Despicable Me.”

Another added: “Not he turned his minions song to a diss [crying emoji].”

Others were quick to shut down the rumors.

“I think these lyrics have to do with Gru, not drake [skull emoji],” one wrote; while another said: “Pharrell doing anything to stay relevant after falling off over a decade ago [crying emoji].”

Drake is also being taken to court for using a phrase on his merchandise that also happens to be the name of an established apparel brand.

Last Tuesday (June 12), Billboard reported that fashion company Members Only filed a lawsuit against’s Drizzy’s Away From Home Touring Inc. in New York federal court for infringing their trademark.

The case pertains to the Canadian superstar selling merchandise online as well as on his It’s All a Blur Tour that has “Members Only” stamped on them. It is important to note that he isn’t being accused of distributing counterfeit products, considering the phrase in question is also the title of a song released on For All The Dogs last year.

To that point, the brand’s current owners JR Apparel World LLC have argued: “The fact that ‘Members Only’ is a song on Drake’s album ‘For All the Dogs’ does not obviate the likelihood of confusion or give [him] a license to use our client’s ‘Members Only’ marks in such a confusing manner, particularly on or in connection with apparel items.”

Police were called to the home about 2 a.m. local time Tuesday, where they found a wounded man who was taken to the hospital in serious condition, Inspector Paul Krawczyk with Toronto Police said during a press conference.

The security guard was working outside the gate at the home when he was shot, according to authorities. He remains hospitalized in serious condition.

Krawczyk declined to answer if Drake was at the residence at the time of the shooting, but said authorities are in touch with the artist’s team and they are cooperating with the investigation.

Drake performing in 2022.

Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images

When asked by journalists if the shooting had anything to do with the recent feud Drake has been embroiled in with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar, Krawczyk said no motive has yet been determined. He added there were multiple suspects involved, who left the area in a vehicle, and investigators are reviewing video of the incident.

Representatives for Drake declined to comment when reached by CNN.

He is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. A five-time Grammy Award winner known for hits like “Nice For What,” Drake was recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America last year for becoming the first artist to sell more than 200 million units.

The lyrical battle between Drake and Lamar intensified recently as each released songs about the other, with personal and professional jabs that have fueled online debate among their fans.

Representatives for Lamar were not immediately available.

The incident unfolded in the upscale neighborhood of Bridle Path shortly after 2am, as a 48-year-old man was rushed to hospital after being found in the street badly injured.

It is unclear if the artist was home at the time of the shooting. A suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, and reports indicate they are still at large.

Sources told the Toronto Sun that the victim was Drake’s security guard, and witnesses said he was shot multiple times during a ‘drive-by shooting.’

It comes amid his ongoing viral feud with rival rapper Kendrick Lamar. Although officials have not indicated any early link to the shooting, Drake is said to be ‘cooperating’ with investigators.

Many fans would agree that Drake and Kendrick Lamar operate in entirely different lanes.

Drake entertains with summery rap-pop jams such as “One Dance” and “Hotline Bling”, dabbling in trap, dancehall and R&B along the way, while Lamar has asserted himself as a deft lyricist capable of blending street smarts with a literary wit. Yet their once friendly relationship has descended into years of traded barbs and thinly veiled disses, fuelled by fans who clash over which one is the better artist.

In the past month, Lamar has managed to spark a fan frenzy with his latest rap feature on Future and Metro Boomin’s new release “Like That”, in which he directly responds to a verse by fellow rapper J Cole on Drake’s 2023 song, “First Person Shooter”.

Then, Cole rapped: “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.” (K-Dot is a nickname given to Lamar, while Drake’s birth name is Aubrey Drake Graham.)

On “Like That”, Lamar appeared to dismiss Cole’s suggestion that they are on the same level as artists: “Motherf*** the big three, n***a, it’s just big me,” he rapped. “N***a, bum, what? I’m really like that / And your best work is a light pack.”

Meanwhile, as Drake compared his commercial success to that of Michael Jackson, Lamar referenced the historic beef between the King of Pop and Prince during the Eighties: “N***a, Prince outlived Mike Jack.”

Lamar dropping not one but two diss tracks in the space of a week (”euphoria” and “6:16 in LA”) is the latest moment in a long-simmering feud between the two hip-hop titans, after they initially started out on friendly terms.

Here’s a look at their relationship over the years.

Lamar and Drake were once on relatively friendly terms, with the Canadian artist inviting Lamar out on his Club Paradise headline tour.

Lamar said in an early career interview that he and Drake “clicked immediately”, describing the fellow rapper as a “genuine soul” and revealing that Drake was the first person outside of his immediate team to hear his debut album Section 80. Drake later invited K-Dot to feature on his forthcoming second album, Take Care.

Around the release of Lamar’s critically acclaimed second album, Good Kid, MAAD City, on which Drake featured, tension appeared to begin brewing between the pair, seemingly in part due to their differing attitudes towards wealth and fame.

Where Lamar tends to avoid sharing details of his personal life on social media, Drake is known for sharing frequent posts about his lavish lifestyle to his millions of Instagram followers, from private jets to couture and luxury cars. Lamar discussed this openly in interviews, hinting that he believed bragging about money and fame was superficial, and his own music tackled deeper matters.

The two also seemed to grow colder towards one another as Lamar began to experience commercial and critical success, scooping major awards and receiving universal praise for Good Kid, MAAD City and being invited to star on tracks by other major artists.

In public, Drake continued to congratulate Lamar for a number of his successes, until 2013, when Lamar dropped a verse on Big Sean’s track “Control” that made it clear he considered himself above other rappers… including Drake.

While rappers such as A$AP Rocky, who was also name-checked, seemed pleased to be namechecked by Lamar at all, believing his competitive nature to be healthy for hip-hop, Drake seemed less enamoured.

“Was that real or was that just for the people?” he asked in an interview on Hot 97 after Lamar’s guest verse came out. “Those were harsh words, right? It’s like, you can’t just say that and then see me and be like, ‘Yeah man…’ pretending like nothing ever happened. That’s not real, man.”

Drake doubled down on this stance in a later interview where he implied that Lamar was more about a “moment” than creating bodies of work, questioning whether he would release something that could top Good Kid, MAAD City.

He then released his third album, 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, in which he appeared to take aim at Lamar on “The Language”, rapping: “F*** any n***a that’s talking that s*** just to get a reaction.”

On the same track, he referred to himself as “the kid with the motormouth / I am the one you should worry about.” He also seemed to mock Lamar’s attitude towards wealth, rapping: “N***as downplaying the money but that’s what you do when the money down.”

On a recent episode of the What’s the Dirt YouTube show, in which host Matt delves into beefs between prominent hip-hop artists, it was suggested that Drake was being contemptuous of Lamar’s rapid-fire delivery, and felt that his own music had more substance.

“It’s clearly about Kendrick,” he said, citing instances where Lamar appeared to laugh at Drake’s expense during interviews and suggesting K-Dot might have said something behind the “Hold On” singer’s back, which later made its way to him.

Drake’s resentment might have grown after Lamar seemingly mocked Drake for being “sensitive during a freestyle with ScHoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab Soul and Isaiah Rashad: “Nothing’s been the same since they dropped ‘Control’/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pyjama clothes.”

Fans were convinced he was talking about Drake, given he’d cited the title of the fellow rapper’s recent album, Nothing Was the Same.

Drake then got personal a few weeks later on Future’s track “S**t”, where he pointed out that Lamar played his biggest shows at the time around his hometown in Los Angeles while supporting Drake on tour in 2012: “Took n***as out the hood like I’m from there / So you know it’s all good when I come there / I hear you talk about your city like you run that / And I brought my tour to your city, you my son there, n***a.”

By the end of 2013, the relationship between the pair had grown distinctly chilly; they appeared on the same track for the last time with A$AP Rocky on “F**kin’ Problems”.

A few months after Drake appeared on Future’s track, controversy erupted at the Grammy Awards when rapper Macklemore won Album of the Year over Lamar, who was nominated for Good Kid, MAAD City, now widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop records of all time.

Macklemore, real name Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, then shared a text on Instagram that he sent to Lamar after the win, in which he confessed that he felt the fellow rapper was “robbed” and that he’d been rooting for Lamar to win.

Drake was unimpressed by this, calling Macklemore out in an interview with Rolling Stone where he said the apology felt “cheap”.

If Macklemore was going to hand out apologies, Drake said, he should have offered one to other nominees: “That s*** made me feel funny,” he said. “No, in that case, you robbed everybody. We all need text messages!”

Lamar and Drake continued to take subtle swipes at one another on guest features, but K-Dot seemed to dismiss fan speculation and suggest they were “digging too far” in a radio interview that aired later that year.

In What’s the Dirt, the host notes that despite this, Lamar continued to make digs about what he perceived to be the difference between his artistry and Drake’s, leaning into the public perception that Drake was a glorified pop artist, rather than a credible hip-hop star skilled in the art of lyricism.

“Comparing these projects makes zero sense,” Matt said, referring to Lamar’s Grammy-winning album To Pimp a Butterfly and Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, both released in 2015.

“Drake’s project was great for club DJs, gym playlists, cruising in the car… whereas Kendrick’s album touched on real-world issues, was chanted during protests, and is looked at today as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time,” he said.

In summer that year, controversy was sparked after rapper Meek Mill accused Drake of using a ghostwriter for his guest verse on Mill’s recent LP, leading to a number of barbed exchanges in diss tracks.

Drake defended himself against the allegations in September, telling The Fader: “I need, sometimes, individuals to spark an idea so that I can take off running. Music at times can be a collaborative process, you know? Who came up with this, who came up with that – for me, it’s like, I know that it takes me to execute every single thing that I’ve done up until this point. And I’m not ashamed.”

However, this didn’t stop fans scrambling to point out that Lamar had hinted at a fellow rapper using ghostwriters in his hit single, “King Kunta”, which featured on To Pimp a Butterfly: “I can dig rappin’, but a rapper with a ghostwriter? / What the f*** happened? / I swore I wouldn’t tell…”

Both artists seemed to cool down as they focused on their respective projects, with Drake dropping his fourth studio album, the Jamaican dancehall-influenced Views, in April 2016. The record spawned a number of major hits including “One Dance”, “Hotline Bling” and “Controlla”, leading to the Canadian star becoming the most-streamed artist of the year. It also resulted in Drake achieving his first ever UK No 1 album, as it also debuted at the top of the US Billboard 200.

However, Drake couldn’t resist making a few digs around that time, rapping with The Game on his track “100” about the perception of him as a pop artist: “I would have all of your fans if I didn’t go pop / And I stayed on some conscious sh**.”

A year later, Lamar released his own fourth album, DAMN, and received considerably more critical praise than Drake had for Views. Where reviews of Drake’s album were mixed, critics lavished praise on DAMN, even directly pitting it against Views. “It’s Mr Lamar’s version of the creeping paranoia that has become de rigueur for midcareer Drake,” Jon Caramanica wrote for the New York Times. “And yet this is most likely Mr Lamar’s most jubilant album, the one in which his rhymes are the least tangled.”

Drake seemed to try and squash any past beef, however, the month Lamar dropped DAMN, posting a comment on the Instagram page of Tidal’s editorial director Elliot Wilson showing that DAMN had out-sold Drake’s More Life mixtape in its opening week by 100,000 copies.

“Amazing to see our music moving!” Drake wrote, also liking a comment by a fan who suggested he, Lamar and J Cole collaborate on a track.

Three years after DAMN’s release, Lamar would become the first rapper in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, marking the first time a non-classical or jazz artist had won the distinguished award.

Through this time, however, Lamar goes quiet with new music releases (with the exception of the Black Panther film soundtrack in 2018, which spawned a few extra Grammy nominations including Song of the Year for “All the Stars” with SZA).

Meanwhile, Drake continues to dominate the charts with a string of releases including his Scary Hours EP and his fifth album, 2018’s Scorpion, which included the singles “God’s Plan”, “Nice for What” and “I’m Upset”.

By this point, the public interest in comparing the two artists was so pronounced that even the then-president, Barack Obama, was asked to declare which one he favoured.

While Drake has seemed to make occasional attempts to hand Lamar an olive branch, the Compton rapper remains tight-lipped unless he’s taking swipes on a track. But after K-Dot took almost five years to release the follow-up to DAMN, his 2022 album Mr Morale & the Big Steppers, Drake apparently couldn’t resist an opportunity to lash out.

“I know it’s summertime, I’ve gotta give you s***!” he told fans during a show for his It’s All a Blur tour in 2023. “I don’t know about these guys that go away for three, four, five years and wanna chill out and all that s***. That’s not me.” Drake then announced the forthcoming release of his 2024 album, For All the Dogs.

Drake had previously been criticised by some for his relentless string of singles, EPs, mixtapes and studio albums, while Lamar is notorious for leaving long gaps between releases…

…Which brings us to the present day, after Lamar made a surprise appearance on “Like That”, which appears on Future and Metro Boomin’s collaborative album, We Don’t Trust You.

K-Dot appeared to directly respond to J Cole’s verse on “First Person Shooter” from Drake’s For All The Dogs, where Cole raps: “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.”

“Motherf*** the big three, n***a, it’s just big me,” Lamar raps on “Like That”. “N***a, bum, What? I’m really like that/And your best work is a light pack.”

Drake appeared to brush off Lamar’s diss at a recent concert while on his tour with Cole, in support of It’s All a Blur.

“A lot of people asking me how I’m feeling… listen, the way I’m feeling is the same way I want you to walk out of here feeling tonight about your f***ing self,” Drake told his audience, footage shared to social media on 25 March shows.

“Because you know how I’m feeling? I got my head up high, my back straight, I’m 10 f***ing toes down… and feeling like anywhere else I go… and I know no matter what, there’s not a n**** on this Earth that can ever f*** with me in my life,” he shouted. “And that’s how I want y’all to walk out of here tonight…”

“But,” he continued, “you know, you can get yourselves gassed up, riled up and move towards the future… Sometimes you’ve got to acknowledge the mistakes you’ve made in the past… right? So that’s what I want you all to do. Everybody in here.”

Lamar turned to openly naming Drake in his track “euphoria”, seemingly a nod to Drake’s role as a producer on the hit HBO teen drama, which he dropped on a random Tuesday, 30 April.

The six-minute track sees Lamar open fire on Drake’s racial identity, alleged use of ghostwriters, and recent remarks and behaviour that have led to accusations of misogyny.

One widely discussed moment on the track has been linked to a notorious interview with late rapper DMX. Asked whether he liked Drake in the interview, he simply said, “No.”

Pushed to elaborate, he said: “I don’t like anything about Drake. I don’t like his f***ing voice, I don’t like nothing he talks about. I don’t like his face. I don’t like the way he walks. Nothing. I don’t like his haircut.”

Lamar echoes this as he raps: “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk/ I hate the way that you dress/ I hate the way you sneak diss, if I catch flight, it’s gon’ be direct.”

In other searing lines, Lamar dismisses rumours he has been looking for “dirt” on Drake: “Why would I try to call around and try to get dirt on you? You think my life is rap? That’s ho s***. I got a son to raise. But I can see you don’t know nothing ‘bout that,” he raps.

The bars hark back to the now-infamous diss track from US rapper Pusha T, “The Story of Adidon”, which revealed that Drake had fathered a son with French former adult actor Sophie Brussaux. Drake confirmed he had a son, Adonis, a month later when he released his fifth album, Scorpion.

Just a few days later and before Drake had properly responded, Lamar dropped another incendiary track, “6:16 in LA”, on his Instagram. The title is once again pointed as it nods to a favoured theme in Drake’s work, seen in songs such as “9am in Dallas”, “8am in Charlotte” and “4pm in Calabas”.

Fans have also noticed that 6/16 happens to be both Father’s Day and Tupac Shakur’s birthday. In another master stroke, the track was produced by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, the latter best known for his collaborations with pop titan Taylor Swift.

Drake’s last diss against Lamar was “Taylor Made Freestyle”, in which he mocked Lamar for supposedly using his collab with Swift on 2016’s “Bad Blood” to gain mainstream popularity.

With Antonoff, Lamar has ensured that his latest track is, in fact, “Taylor Made”.

Over a lush, mellow sample of Al Green, he regales listeners with the things he is thankful for before he turns to Drake.

“Are you finally ready to play Have You Ever? Let’s see/ Have you ever thought that OVO was working for me?/ Fake bully, I hate bullies, you must be a terrible person/ Everyone inside your team’s whispering that you deserve it,” he raps.

Then, Lamar goes darker as he tells Drake he has moles in his camp, and that the people he views as close allies are actually working against him: “No, you can’t sleep/ These images trouble you/ No, the wires in your circle should puzzle you/ If you were street smart then you would have caught that your entourage is only to hustle you/ A hundred n****s that you cut on salary/ And 20 of ‘em want you as a casualty/ And one of them is next to you…”

On Saturday (4 May), the Canadian artist released “Family Matters”, made up of three parts, in which he accuses Lamar’s pro-Black activism of hypocrisy. In the track he also accuses him of alleged domestic violence, and of “begging” the Tupac estate to sue Drake for his use of AI versions of the late rapper in a diss track.

“You the Black messiah wifin’ up a mixed queen,” he says referring to Lamar’s childhood sweetheart and fiancée, Whitney Alford who is of mixed heritage.

He denied ordering a cease and desist on Lamar, insisting such an order “is for h*es”. He raps: “You called the Tupac estate and begged ‘em to sue me and get that s*** down.”

In perhaps his most controversial lyric, heard over the end of the song as the music tails off, he adds: “They hired a crisis management team, to clean up the fact that you beat on your queen. The picture you painted ain’t what it seems.”

But Lamar hit back within minutes, releasing “Meet The Grahams” his third diss track this week, in which he accused the rapper of harbouring a secret daughter, and of having a series of addictions to gambling, alcohol, drugs, sex, and spending.

“You got gambling problems, drinking problems, pill-popping and spending problems, bad with money, whore house. Therapy’s a start,” he rapped.

“You lied about your son, you lied about your daughter, huh, you lied about them other kids that’s out there hoping that you come.”

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As Billboard was first to report, Drake has been informed by litigator Howard King that he has 24 hours to pull “Taylor Made Freestyle” or he will face legal action.

“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” the cease-and-desist letter allegedly reads.

“Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights, it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. The Estate would never have given its approval for this use.”

At the time of writing, Drake still has the track available to stream on his Instagram page, though he’s yet to release it on streaming platforms.

The track targets Kendrick Lamar, with whom the rapper has been beefing with since K Dot came for him in his verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” Pac’s estate took issue with using his likeness to target Lamar.

“The unauthorized, equally dismaying use of Tupac’s voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately, compounds the insult,” the letter continues.

Additionally, the late rapper and actor’s estate argued “Taylor Made Freestyle” has caused “substantial economic and reputational harm” by giving listeners the “false impression that the estate and Tupac promote or endorse the lyrics for the sound-alike.”

King wrote that the intellectual property of Pac’s discography was potentially “scraped to creat the fake Tupac AI on the record,” and as a result, Drake has been asked to detail “how the sound-alike was created and the persons or company that created it, including all recordings and other data ‘scraped’ or used.”

Drake has yet to respond, but Pac’s estate has said it will “consider whether an informal negotiation” can resolve the matter if he meets their demands.

“If you do not comply, our client has authorized this firm to pursue all of its legal remedies including, but not limited to, an action for violation of … the estate’s copyright, publicity and personality rights and the resulting damages, injunctive relief, and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees,” the letter concludes.

“Taylor Made Freestyle” also features an AI-generated voice of Snoop Dogg, who hasn’t announced plans to take legal action but did react to the track on social media.

“They did what? When? How? Are you sure? Y’all have a good night,” Snoop said in a video. “Why everybody calling my phone, blowing me up? What the fuck? What happened? What’s going on? I’m going back to bed. Good night.”

The song utilises a form of AI technology to make it appear as though Pac and Snoop are asking for Kendrick Lamar to respond to Drake and his “Push Ups” diss, which only officially hit streaming services on Friday, April 19.

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This happened while he was performing at the Nashville, Tennessee stop of his and J.Cole’s collaborative Tour after he saw a fan holding a sign that read, “Just Finished Chemo.”

“Listen, forget Drake, forget anybody else in this building right now. That’s a true soldier right there. I hope my manager doesn’t kill me ’cause I’ve never really done this much, but, listen, I want you to cash this in at the end of the night.

“We’re gonna give you $100,000. I love you and I wish you the best,” Drake said as the crowd roared.

The fan, Lauren Schwallier battled with breast cancer and has successfully completed her chemotherapy treatment.

Watch video below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lauren Schwallier (@liketoknowlauren)

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The ownership of the phrase, used in the popular Obrafour track, Oye Ohene, came under scrutiny after the rapper sued Canadian artiste Drake for using it in his track without the former’s permission.

In the suit, Mantse accused Obrafour of claiming ownership of the phrase and copyrighting it in the US in September 2022.

He stated that “his artistic work, in the form of a spoken word titled “Killer Cut”, was used on the song ‘Oye Ohene’ by 1st defendant (Obrafour) with permission, but without transfer of any rights, nor permission to 1 defendant to register the work as his own, or receive any payments from its subsequent use by anyone in any form.”

He added that “the “Killer Cut” which was used by the 1st Defendant in his song, is separate and distinct from the song recorded by Defendants. It was recorded separately and subsequently infused into the 1st Defendant’s song by the 2nd Defendant (Hammer), mainly to enhance/improve the song.”

Mantse said that after knowing of Drake’s request to use that part of the ‘Oye Ohene’ track, he called for a meeting with both Obrafour and Hammer, however, none of his requests materialised.

He noted that he later found out Obrafour had registered the track with the phrase inclusive in the US “robbing him (Mantse) of his intellectual property and seeking to receive payment for plaintiff’s work exclusively.”

The Chalewote founder called the rapper’s actions malicious with “clear nefarious intent” to divert and use royalties belonging to him.

He insists that he owns the intellectual property of ‘killer cut’ and thus, he is praying on the court to declare so.

In addition, he is calling on the court to restrain Obrafour from demanding and receiving payment for ‘killer cut’.

Mantse is also praying to the court to order Hammer to not only relinquish all his works to him but, also submit a record of all his works (with Hammer), including ones that have been used in other tracks.

Among other things, he is also demanding “general damages against 1st defendant for misappropriating Plaintiff’s work and actively seeking to profit from it whilst evading all calls and efforts to rectify his duplicitous conduct” and “costs including full indemnity for legal costs which could have been avoided.”

Meanwhile, although the suit was filed in July 2023, Mantse in a Facebook post revealed that Hammer and Obrafour had been evading being served by the court’s bailiff.

As such, his lawyers applied for an Order of Substitution, allowing them to serve the two on their personal WhatsApp, Facebook, and Notice Board of the High Court, Accra.

Background

In June 2022 Ghanaians woke up to a surprise when they saw Canadian rapper Drake had not only released an album but he sampled Obrafour, one of Ghana’s favourite artists.

On ‘Honestly Nevermind’ Drake sampled Obrafour’s Oye Ohene remix released in 2003 for his track ‘Calling My Name’.

The sample is found at 0:53 seconds of the Drake tune, where it transitions into a house music vibe sending the song into a different type of ambiance compared to its initial trajectory.

“Killa cut blood!” is the chant heard multiple times. That part was sung by Mantse Aryeequaye as an opener to the late 2003 remix of ‘Oye Ohene’ off the Ntete Pa album.

However, nearly a year after the song was released Obrafour sued Drake in a New York court to the tune of $10 million.

The rapper in court documents indicated that the ‘Hotline Bling’ hitmaker did not have his permission to sample the track.

The Ghanaian rapper indicated that Drake and other defendants following the release of ‘Calling My Name’ have greatly benefited from his work.

But, Mantse after knowing of the suit did not sit quietly.

In a series of tweets directed at Drake, Mantse, as he is popularly called, said that he is the sole owner of the phrase ‘Killa cut blood’ on Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ remix.

He stated that he did not relinquish his rights to Obrafour and Da’ Hammer, producer of the track and thus not only can Obrafour not claim sole ownership of the sample but he also cannot be given sole compensation.

Hammer has responded to agitations by Mantse Aryeequaye.

Speaking to Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, Hammer said everyone who played a role in the production benefits if the verdict goes in favour of Obrafour. 

He said that Mantse Aryeequaye had nothing to worry about. 

“It is everybody on the song against Drake. Obrafour is only leading the conversation. So I don’t know what the hullabaloo was about,” he said.

Asked how the writ includes all the actors when their names were not written, Hammer said “we are mentioned in the docket. The publishing of the song has Tina, Tinny, Mantse, me and Obrafour. Obrafour is the one leading because it’s his song. He owns the copyright.”

Hammer also indicated that Obrafour had a conversation with Mantse and everybody involved before he went in for the suit. 

“He spoke to everybody. I connected the conference call. We were all on the call. We all agreed and Obrafour went on with the suit,” he stated.

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Hammer has responded to agitations by Mantse Aryeequaye whose voice was used by Drake that Obrafour led the suit on behalf of every body who contributed to the composition of the song. 

Speaking to Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM‘s Showbiz A-Z, Hammer said everyone who played a role in the production benefits if the verdict goes in favour of Obrafour. 

In the wake of the controversy, Nii Mantse took to Twitter to assert that he should have been included in the suit because it was his voice that was sampled.

However, Hammer says that there is nothing to worry about. 

“It is everybody on the song against Drake. Obrafour is only leading the conversation. So I don’t know what the hullabaloo was about,” he said.

Asked how the writ includes all the actors when their names were not written, Hammer said “we are mentioned in the docket. The publishing of the song has Tina, Tinny, Mantse, me and Obrafour. Obrafour is the one leading because it’s his song. He owns the copyright.”

Hammer also indicated that Obrafour had a conversation with Mantse and everybody involved before he went in for the suit. 

“He spoke to everybody. I connected the conference call. We were all on the call. We all agreed and Obrafour went on with the suit,” he stated.

The chant ‘killer cut, blood’ on the 2003 remix of Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ is what Drake used for ‘Calling My Name’ taken off the ‘Honestly Nevermind’ album.

The Mantse controversy

In a series of tweets directed at Drake, Mantse wrote on Twitter (X) that he was the sole owner of the phrase ‘Killa cut blood’ on Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ remix.

He stated that he did not relinquish his rights to Obrafour and Da’ Hammer, producer of the track and thus not only can Obrafour not claim sole ownership of the sample but he also cannot be given sole compensation.

“I Mantse Aryeequaye maintain my intellectual property rights and claim over all my artistic works including the ‘Killer Cut’ sound you sampled off ‘Oye Ohene’ remix used on Obrafuor’s album My lawyer  Kofi Bentil esq. of Lex Praxis Incorporated  kbentil@lexpraxis.net who is pursuing this matter has informed me of a lawsuit against you solely in the name of @IamObrafuor,’ he wrote.

“This is to confirm I [Mantse Aryeequaye]  insist that although @IamObrafuor has an interest in the matter, he is not the owner of the right, and cannot assert it, definitely not alone, or make any demands for sole compensation for its use,” he noted.

In the meantime, Obrafour is seeking about $10 million in damages, among other things.

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The rapper is currently on his “It’s All A Blur” tour, and fans have been throwing bras at him during the tour to show their love for the artist in unconventional ways.

In a passionate display of affection, concertgoers from all walks of life have been throwing their bras onto the stage. However, Drake has chosen to celebrate this special expression of fan appreciation by posting pictures of the bras on social media because it has grown to be such a phenomenon.

Twitter user @Mayy_ayye tweeted, “Throwing my mama’s bra on stage and then talking ab it with you was the best thing ever!”

Drake has taken to his social media accounts to showcase his expansive collection of bras, with one image showing him seated on the floor, surrounded by bras of varying shapes, sizes, and colours.

The picture received over 5,000 likes in just one hour after being uploaded.

“Remember when we both forgot who the f**k I was in unison… that wavelength was def a foolish one,” Drake captions the photo.

Meanwhile, Drake’s fans have been amused by the gesture, and many have taken to social media to share their own photos and videos of bras being thrown at him.

Some fans have even contemplated starting a petition to get Drake to donate the bras to charity.

A fan commented: “Bruh got a library full of bras.” Another said: “Mans got more bras than Victoria’s Secret.”

Fellow rapper 50 Cent recently expressed his desire to be treated similarly to Drake, yearning for bras to be tossed at him during his own performances.

In an Instagram video that he uploaded on Wednesday, the rapper expressed envy over the way that Drake gets thrown bras while performing onstage.

50 Cent was filmed joking around with his crew backstage at one of his shows on “The Final Lap” tour, asking his team to “treat me like Drake” — all while wearing a shirt printed with Drake’s “Dark Lane Demo Tapes” album cover.

“Can somebody help me with my feet please,” the rapper can be heard saying to a crew member in the clip. “They don’t treat Drake like this. They don’t treat motherfucking Drake like this.”

“Drake, they throw him bras. What do I get? Could you please go get me some Drake fans?” the rapper said as his team started laughing. “This shit just don’t feel right. I need to feel special around here.”

FOR ALL THE DOGS, Drake, 36, captioned a post on Instagram on Monday. ‘Cover by Adonis,’ the Toronto-born talent added.

The Certified Lover Boy artist included his son’s illustration, which depicted a four-legged creature with two ears that appeared to be a canine. The animal’s body was white and featured red eyes. It stood in front of a black background.

Adonis has been spending the summer with his father and has made several recent appearances including at a show and on social media as of late. On Aug. 12, Drake’s firstborn attended his first concert when the “God’s Plan” rapper had a tour stop in Los Angeles.

Fans at his Kia Forum show were in for a surprise when the Grammy-winning artist hit the stage with a little disclaimer. “Y’all keep your bras on,” Drake asked of the audience members for the night’s festivities, before revealing why he had the special request. “Look, to be honest with you, I can’t talk about titties tonight in L.A. because my son is at the show for the first time,” Drizzy said in a fan-filmed video.

Drake continued, “So we’ve got to keep this real PG tonight. Y’all keep your bras on. Throw them up here another night.” The crowd roared in excitement once they learned Adonis was present.

The “Hotline Bling” hitmaker sang a different tune in early July when he suggested that bras on stage would make him feel as though he exceeded his fans’ expectations.

“I would just like to say before I go onto this next song, this is the first stage where I don’t have no bras, and I’m deeply disappointed,” Drake joked in another clip captured by his fans during a concert in Montreal. He also warned that no one “start throwing shoes and phones and s—.”

A few days after Adonis attended the Kia Forum performance, Drake shared footage of his son jamming out to his song “Rich Flex” with 21 Savage. In the clip, the “Search & Rescue” rapper showed off his son’s artistic side.

“Dear Dad, I hope you have a great concert,” Adonis wrote on a sheet of paper along with a photo that he drew before handing it to his father. Next, he gave a concert of his own, hopping on a sofa, reciting the lyrics, “21, can ya do somethin’ for me?”

The previous week, Drake shared a sweet snap of the two having some father-son time as the “Money In The Grave” artist sat braiding Adonis’ hair in the same style as his. Fellow rapper Lil Yachty saw it as the perfect opportunity to have a bit of fun with his friend.

“It’s no way [you’re] sitting here acting like [you’re] braiding his hair for the internet,” the “Oprah’s Bank Account” collaborator, 25, jokingly wrote on the post. 

Adonis was born to Drake and French artist Sophie Brussaux on Oct. 11, 2017. The 5-year-old, who can often be spotted courtside at basketball games with his father, is bilingual, speaking both English and French. 

Drake teased FOR ALL THE DOGS’ title in late July during a performance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, saying it would drop in approximately “a couple of weeks,” The Associated Press reported at the time.

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The rapper shared a screenshot of his father’s DNA test results on his Instagram story. The test was posted on Ancestry.com, an American genealogy website.

The DNA analysis further discovered that Drake’s father has a multi-ethnic background, including roots in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Benin, and Togo.

His lineage in Nigeria surpluses all with 30% while Ghana and Ivory Coast share 11%, Cameroon, Congo and other Western countries with 28%, Mali with 7% and Benin and Togo sharing 4.

Drake seemed thrilled with the discovery, captioning his Instagram post with a question, “This is my dad’s result. Does this mean I am a Naija man finally?”

Drake joins the multiple westerners whose ancestry have traced them to Africa, especially West Africa.

According to him, the owner of the master tape, Obrafour, has the primary right to sue, adding that Mantse, who claims to also have interest as a collaborator, can only sue Obrafour who is the owner of the master tape of the recorded sound.

Rex Omar further advised the parties residing in the country including the producer of the Oye Ohene song, Hammer to refrain from speaking on the matter since it can jeopardise the case.

In another sense, Rex Omar said the record label that owns the master tape, Execution Entertainment, under normal circumstances should be the owner and have primary right to sue and deal with the rest of the interested parties.

Read his post below:

My take on the Obrafoɔ/Drake issue

1. The owner of the master tape of that recorded sound has the primary right to sue.

2. The creator of that particular sampled phrase ‘Killer cut blood’ also has interest, but his interest is within that of the owner of the master tape of the recorded sound.

It’s imperative for all interested parties to STOP commenting on the case as it can be used to jeopardize the case especially Mantse, Hammer and Obrafoɔ. For 1% of something is better than 100% of nothing. ??.

Nii Mantse doesn’t have a recorded or unrecorded song called ‘Killer Cut’.

The phrase Killer Cut forms part of Obrafour’s recorded song called OHENE.

The sample phrase ‘Killer Cut’ was taken from the song OHENE that was composed by Obrafour.

The record label that owns that master tape is called EXECUTION which under normal circumstances should be the owner of the master tape and should have the primary right to sue and then deal with the rest of the interested parties. [SIC].

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According to him, the voice behind the Killa Cut sound, Mantse, owner of Chale Wote Festival, has the right to claim the intellectual property used by Drake.

Speaking on Daybreak Hitz with Andy Dosty, Bulldog cited his reasons said: “Because it was only Mantse’s voice that was picked on the song. It was his voice texture, his coinage, if it was someone who wrote for him then we can debate, but this came from him.”

“Obrafour had no right to sue. If anyone has the right it’s Mantse… Because if you listen to the sample, it was only Mantse’s voice. Although it’s a body of work, it’s his voice that was sampled and an a cappella, and he wrote part of the song.

“So this is a straight IP matter and it is Mantse that owns the sole right. Then when he takes it he can give Obrafour and Hammer something out of the whole money.

“Obrafour cannot claim whatever especially when Mantse has come out now, they will do the right thing. He can ask Drake not to pay anything and settle for something else. I thought it was an opening for Mantse… they can get the money,” Bulldog said.

With industry players and lawyers who claim Obrafour didn’t register his intellectual property on time, hence Drake cannot be sued, Bulldog disagreed.

“Everybody gets theirs when it comes to intellectual property… whether you registered or not, you have some rights to it. If someone registers a product of someone else then it means it’s theft.”

Meanwhile, Robert Klah, one of the entertainment pundits on the Daybreak Hitz show disagreed with Bulldog’s statement that only Mantse had the right to sue.

He explained that Obrafour owned the masters of the song hence Drake needs to pay him if it becomes necessary.

“I am not even sure why Obrafour has to involve Mantse. If you realise that someone has infringed on your right you can also submit your suit. Obrafour has got rights to the song,” he said.

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The sample is found at 0:53 seconds of the Drake tune, where it transitions into a house music vibe sending the song into a different type of ambience compared to its initial trajectory.

“Killa cut blood!” is the chant heard multiple times.

That part was sung by Mantse Aryeequaye as an opener to the late 2003 remix of ‘Oye Ohene’ off the Ntete Pa album.

In a series of tweets directed at Drake, Mantse, as he is popularly called, said that he is the sole owner of the phrase ‘Killa cut blood’ on Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ remix.

He stated that he did not relinquish his rights to Obrafour and Da’ Hammer, producer of the track and thus not only can Obrafour not claim sole ownership of the sample but he also cannot be given sole compensation.

“I Mantse Aryeequaye maintain my intellectual property rights and claim over all my artistic works including the ‘Killer Cut’ sound you sampled off ‘Oye Ohene’ remix used on Obrafuor’s album My lawyer  Kofi Bentil esq. of Lex Praxis Incorporated  kbentil@lexpraxis.net who is pursuing this matter has informed me of a lawsuit against you solely in the name of @IamObrafuor,” he wrote.

“This is to confirm I [Mantse Aryeequaye]  insist that although @IamObrafuor has an interest in the matter, he is not the owner of the right, and cannot assert it, definitely not alone, or make any demands for sole compensation for its use,” he noted.

This comes after Obrafour sued popular Canadian rapper Drake for sampling his 2003 remix of ‘Oye Ohene’ on his song ‘Calling My Name’ off the Honestly Nevermind album.

In the documents presented to a court in New York, Obrafour stated that he “never granted Defendants permission to use the Copyrighted Work and the Infringing work was released mere days later.”

The Ghanaian rapper is seeking about $10 million in damages among other things.

Hours after the lawsuit went viral, Mantse also made a claim to the sound.

He stated that he was disappointed in Obrafour for seeking sole compensation adding “would be good to tell the public the truth about this matter or I will be forced to lay out how you’ve never paid a dime for any of my works on your songs over the last 20yrs.”

He is sueing Drake for $10, 000, 000 for sampling his 2003 remix of ‘Oye Ohene’ for his song ‘Calling My Name’.

In the writ of summons presented to a court in New York, Obrafour states that Drake infringed on his copyright when he sampled his song without permission.

“Defendants released the Infringing Work on June 17, 2022, despite the fact that an agent of one or more Defendants had previously contacted Obrafour seeking to obtain Obrafour’s permission for the use of the Copyrighted Work in the Infringing Work.”

“Obrafour never granted Defendants permission to use the Copyrighted Work and the Infringing work was released mere days later,” parts of the document read.

The Ghanaian rapper indicated that Drake and other defendants following the release of ‘Calling My Name’ has greatly benefited from his work.

The portion of Obrafour’s ‘Oye Ohene’ remix that Drake sampled is not a melody; it is the introductory chant done by Nii Mantse Aryeequaye.

The writ mentions that: “in the Sampled Phrase from the Copyrighted Work, a male voice with a distinct tone and accent is heard energetically repeating the following phrase: “Killer cut, blood, killer cut.”

“The phrase incorporates use of slang terms universally associated with hip-hop culture. In this lexicon, the Sampled Phrase can be understood as approximately saying, “Great song, brother, great song.”

“The copying of the Sampled Phrase in the Infringing Work is so direct in nature that the audio of the Sampled Phrase heard in the Infringing Work contains little or no audible manipulation, processing, or other alteration to its original character as heard in the Copyrighted,” it further reads. 

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It explains that “Killer,” used in this context, means “great.” A “cut” is a colloquial way of referring to a song or piece of music, deriving from the analogue era of music recording where music was primarily recorded to reels of tape that would be cut. “Blood” is a term of endearment or affection meaning “brother.”

However, a quick search on the internet for the lyrics of Drake’s ‘Calling My Name’, actually has “killa cop, blood” instead of “killer cut, blood.”

In the meantime, Nii Mantse Aryeequaye, who owns the voice of that intro has written on Twitter that Obrafour does not own the right to the portion of the song for which he has sued Drake.

Heart On My Sleeve is no longer available on Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal.

It is also in process of being pulled from TikTok and YouTube, but some versions remain available.

It follows stinging criticism from publishers Universal Music Group which said the song violated copyright law.

The music publisher said platforms had a “legal and ethical responsibility” to prevent the use of services harming artists.

The track simulates Drake and The Weeknd trading verses about pop star and actress Selena Gomez, who previously dated The Weeknd.

The creator, known as @ghostwriter, claims the song was created by software trained on the musicians’ voices.

Since being posted on a number of platforms on Friday, the track went viral over the weekend.

It was initially removed from Apple, Deezer and Tidal on Monday afternoon before TikTok, Spotify and YouTube were subsequently asked to remove it.

A link to an original version of the song on YouTube now says: “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Universal Music Group”.

On Spotify, it was streamed 629,439 times before it was pulled. At Spotify’s lowest royalty rate of $0.003 per stream, that means it earned about $1,888 (£1,500).

Universal Music Group, which publishes both artists through Republic Records, said it has been doing its own innovation around AI for some time.

But it added: “The training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation.”

“These instances demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists. We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues as they recognise they need to be part of the solution.”

Neither artist has responded to the song yet, but Drake recently expressed displeasure at his voice being cloned.

“This is the final straw AI,” he posted on Instagram, after stumbling across a fan-made video in which he appeared to be rapping the Ice Spice track Munch (Feeling U).

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Rapper Drake has won a whopping $2.7million after Israel Adesanya knocked out Alex Pereira at UFC 287 to reclaim the middleweight title this morning.

The Nigerian-born New Zealander won back the 185lb title just five months after he lost it to his bitter rival Pereira, who has previously beaten him twice in kickboxing.

Drake lost $1.6million after backing Adesanya to win in that fight but he made amends for the rapper in his rematch with Pereira.

According to Mirror UK, the Canadian placed a $500,000 bet on Adesanya to win which returned $885,000, and a $400,000 bet for him to win by knockout, which returned a massive $1.8million.

‘Stylebender’ was asked about Drake’s bet after his fight, to which he said: “Shoutout to everyone that bet on me but you have to realise that when I step into the octagon I put my life on the line. That’s the biggest parlay you can ever do. I’m a betting man too so shoutout to stake, we are about to make another deal and get more money.”

The win over Pereira is Adesanya’s 24th in his career in mixed martial arts (MMA) and he had suffered just two losses.

Drake gained notoriety for his UFC bets when he backed Masvidal to beat Colby Covington in their grudge fight last March, but the rapper lost $275,000 on the fight. His bad luck continued just months later when Justin Gaethje was choked out by Charles Oliveira in their lightweight title clash, with Gaethje’s loss costing Drake $400,000.

After a bad few months of betting for ‘Drizzy’, he broke his poor run by winning $1m when Adesanya beat Jared Cannonier in their title fight last July. Drake’s six-figure bets paid off when Scouse duo Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann won their respective fights UFC London. Their wins pocketed Drake a $3.6m payday and he showed his appreciation by gifting Pimblett and McCann new Rolex watches.

The Canadian rapper backed Barcelona to win, and Arsenal to emerge victorious from their Premier League clash with Leeds.

He was in line to win £2.5million (CA$3,900,002) if his wager had come good, but Real Madrid picked up a 3-1 win at the Bernabeu.

Drake has a checkered past when it comes to gambling. Although he won a staggering £3m backing both British MMA superstars Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann earlier this year, he also lost £368k after Leon Edwards’ shock UFC 278 knockout of Kamaru Usman.

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Heading into Sunday’s match, Barcelona and Real Madrid were both unbeaten in LaLiga, but it was Carlo Ancelotti’s men who came out on top as they raced into a two-goal lead through Karim Benzema and Fede Valverde.

Ferran Torres pulled a goal back for Barcelona, but Rodrygo’s late penalty ensured that the hosts took all three points, much to Drake’s dismay.

Xavis’s side were unable to avoid the ‘Drake curse’ – an internet theory that the rapper is behind the downfall of several form sides and athletes across the world.

The La Liga giants are sponsored by Spotify but will replace the streaming service’s logo with the OVO owl logo of the Canadian rapper for El Clasico.

It is part of Barcelona and Spotify’s strategic aim to “bring football and music together”.

“This doesn’t feel real but it is,” 35-year-old Drake said on Instagram.

Xavi’s side will wear the special shirts with the four-time Grammy Award winner’s brand logo during the match, but for the warm-up will wear shirts depicting the Spotify logo on the front and ‘Drake 50’ on the back.

“Our alliance with Spotify goes beyond a mere commercial relationship. It is a strategic relationship through which we seek to bring together two worlds that can arouse emotion – namely music and football,” said Juli Guiu, Barcelona’s marketing vice-president.

“This initiative is another example of this desire and the innovative spirit of our collaboration.

“For the first time in our history, we are replacing the name of our main sponsor on the front of the jersey with an internationally acclaimed artist, Drake.

“This initiative shows our potential to become a unique platform to offer experiences that help bring us closer to our fans while reaching out to new audiences around the world.”

Spotify’s vice-president of partnerships, Marc Hazan, said: “We were really excited to celebrate one of the biggest games of the year and mark Drake’s milestone as the first artist to reach 50 billion streams.

“We’ve always said that we want this partnership to be a celebration of fans, players and artists on a global stage – and there’s no bigger stage than El Clasico.”

The young music talent, known for his music prowess, delivered a masterpiece in his recent rap freestyle, inspired by Drake. A team member from Jay Z‘s Roc Nation sent the freestyle piece to Drake.

It was said that Drake was impressed with XlimKid’s appreciation of his “5am in Toronto,” thus the inspiration for his impeccable freestyle, “5am in Kumasi.”

The young music lord also revealed that, in his early teens, he used to hear voices sounding like rhymes and melodies in his head which he said was very strange at that age.

“But I came to understand it sounded from music, I think that was music calling me and I couldn’t get rid of it and now it’s more serious than it was music chose me and I possess all the abilities every great musician possesses which makes me limitless.”

Aside from his beautiful and unique special qualities in singing and rapping, Xlimkid loves hearing the distinctive melodies from the guitar.

Additionally, he said he loves doing music he is able to tell his story through it, adding that, it also helps him to motivate and empower music lovers with his craft.

Xlimkid completed his second cycle of education in 2020 at, the Holy Trinity Cathedral Senior High School, he had his basic schools in Kumasi, where he was born and raised and he currently has two released songs to his credit namely; ‘Low key’ and ‘Goodheart’s’.

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It is a 14-track project released on Friday.

For his Ghanaian fans, it was a double surprise for them.

On Track 6, ‘Calling My Name’, Drake sampled a beloved popular song from one of Ghana’s best musicians alive, Obrafour.

The Grammy award-winning rapper sampled ‘Oye Ohene’ which features Tinny and was produced by Da Hammer.

The sample is found at 0:53 seconds of the Drake tune, where it transitions into a house music vibe sending the song into a different type of ambiance compared to its initial trajectory.

“Killa cut!” is the chant heard multiple times.

That part was sung by Mantse Aryeequaye as an opener to the late 2003 remix of ‘Oye Ohene’ off the Ntete Pa album.

The original song, however, was off of Obrafuor’s Time Out for Adhesion (TOFA) Album back in 2003.

In the 2000s, Mantse became a household voice behind ‘Last 2’ signees’ adlibs on many of the producer, Da Hammer’s works.

Mantse has also worked with other former ‘Last 2’ artistes including Sarkodie, Edem among others.

The reworking of the adlib into a 2022 record is another reason many Ghanaian music lovers are paying a closer attention at Drake’s fresh album for more subtle references.

The whole ordeal began on Tuesday night (May 3), when Drizzy commented on an Instagram post from an NBA shooting coach named Lethal Shooter, who was showing support for enthusiastic fathers of NBA players like LeVar Ball and Tee Morant. 

Drake then backed up the coach’s sentiments in the comments section by explaining that, in his opinion, it only makes sense that a father would be beyond thrilled that his son made it to the elite level of professional basketball.

He also said if he were in that position, he would likely be just as competitive.

“Imagine your son makes the league and he’s Ja or Melo or Lonzo,” Drizzy wrote. “All you can do is be elated and competitive and it’s a right of passage to that the OG’s talk shit. I know I’mma be this way even if my son is in a rubix cube competition.”

At that point, an Instagram user who goes by @ceddybo_ybagnm replied to the “Hotline Bling” rap-crooner’s comment, dissing both Drake and his son in one fell swoop. The IG user implied that the Certified Lover Boy MC’s son plays with a ghostwriter on the ball court.

“Ya son prolly play with ghost writers,” the troll commented.

That’s when Drake fell victim to his own famously petty ways and took heavy exception to the troll’s ghostwriting comment.

Drizzy swiftly replied to @ceddybo_ybagnm by letting the IG user know that out of pure spite, Champagne Papi followed the guy’s wife, implying that she may be leading a not-so-happy life.

Drake wrote, “I just followed your girl cause she’s prob miserable and needs some excitement in her life.”

True to his word, the OVO boss did in fact follow the troll’s wife, but Drake didn’t stop there. Drizzy continued this particular round of pettiness by hitting up the IG user’s wife via DM to let her know that he is “here” for her with one simple statement.

“I’m here for u ma,” Drake wrote.

The social media troll appears to be taking the whole thing in stride, however. 

He even captured a screenshot of the DM Drake sent to his wife and shared it on his Instagram story, accompanied by a number of laughing emojis.

This is the second time in just about a week that Drizzy has been in the spotlight for interacting with civilians outside the rap game on social media.

On April 27, Drake made headlines when he found the woman who went viral for rapping Lil Baby’s verse on “Wants and Needs” word for word at a wedding reception.

Rihanna and Rocky, who started dating in 2020 after years as friends, confirmed they were expecting their first baby together on January 31, 2022, after the “Umbrella” singer was photographed in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City with a massive baby bump.

In the photos, Rihanna was seen in light-blue jeans and a long, pink puffer coat that was unbuttoned at the bottom, so she could show off her growing baby bump, which was covered in a gold cross and colorful jewels.

Rocky, for his part, wore a black beanie, a denim jacket and leather as he gave Rihanna a kiss on the forehead and held her hand.

A day after the announcement, however, Drake seemed to have unfollowed both Rihanna and Rocky, according to Twitter news account @PopTingzz. As of writing this, Drake still doesn’t follow Rihanna, but has since re-followed Rocky, who also follows him back. (Rihanna doesn’t follow Drake.)

A source told People on January 31 that Rihanna didn’t think she’d want to be a mother until her relationship with Rocky.

“Having a baby is something she was never focused on, but being with Rocky opened her up to the idea. She couldn’t be happier and is so excited to be a mom,” the insider said.

“She’s loving all the changes to her body during pregnancy and has always celebrated pregnant women in her runway shows for Fenty.”

The insider continued, “Everything Rihanna does, she does it her own way on her own timetable, and having a baby is no different. They’re just like any other pair of parents-to-be. Yes, they happen to be famous but they’re just the cutest, giddiest young couple that’s expecting kids.”

The source also reported that Rocky has “doted” on Rihanna from the “very beginning” of their friendship.

”A lot of guys have tried to sweep her off her feet, but Rocky actually managed to do it,” the insider said.

“He’s over-the-top romantic and sends her rooms full of flowers all the time. She’s never felt this way before and this relationship has changed her.”

A second source also confirmed to People that Rihanna and Rocky “live together now and seem beyond happy” and that their “friends are excited too” about their baby on the way. “Everyone is happy it’s all working out. They will be great parents,” the insider said.

Another source also told People at the time that Rihanna and Rocky “each knew and respected the other through music, their collaboration and their other work” before their relationship.

“It has grown from there. He admired her and was even awed by her,” the insider said.

“He was eager to start a relationship and felt she was worth waiting for.” The source continued, “They always have fun together. They joke and act goofy. They enjoy life and like to travel. They love being together and are the loves of each other’s lives.”

News broke that Rihanna and Rocky were dating in November 2020, almost a year after her split from entrepreneur Hassan Jameel.

The two met in 2012 after Rocky was featured on a remix of Rihanna’s single “Cockiness (Love It).” Drake, for his part, first met Rihanna in 2005 when Rihanna was filming the music video for her song “Pon De Replay” at a restaurant in Toronto, where Drake played music at.

In 2009, Page Six reported that Drake and Rihanna were seen kissing at a restaurant in New York City after her breakup with Chris Brown.

“She was drinking whiskey and apple juice and making out with him all night,” a source told the site at the time.

In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2015, Rihanna denied that she ever dated Drake and confirmed that her last “official” boyfriend at the time was Brown.

Rihanna also told Vogue in 2018 that she and Drake weren’t friends anymore. “We don’t have a friendship now, but we’re not enemies either. It is what it is,” she said.

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While chatting with Too Much Hot Tea, the Instagram model, whose name wasn’t revealed, said that she had consensual intercourse with Drizzy a few weeks ago and when she tried to trap him things went left.

After they finished having intercourse, Drake went into the bathroom and disposed of the condom.

The model said she then went into the bathroom and tried to impregnate herself with the sperm in the condom.

While trying to do this, she screamed after feeling a burning sensation.

It was at that point that he told her that he put hot sauce in the condom to kill the sperm.

In his latest Instagram post, Drake didn’t confirm or deny the story but seemed to have responded.

“You can have your 15 minutes of fame…I’ll take the other 23 hours and 45 mins,” he captioned a set of two photos.

This model isn’t the only one looking for some compensation. After the Astroworld tragedy, Drake, along with host Travis Scott, was hit with over a dozen lawsuits over the music festival which led to 10 deaths, including that of a 14-year-old and a nine-year-old.

Scott and Drake were accused of inciting mayhem that caused emotional distress and injuries.

“I’ve spent the past few days trying to wrap my mind around this devastating tragedy,” Drake wrote in an Instagram post. “I hate resorting to this platform to express an emotion as delicate as grief but this is where I find myself. My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who is suffering. I will continue to pray for all of them, and will be of service in any way I can, May God be with you all.”

Drake was nominated for just two awards this year: Best rap album for Certified Lover Boy and best rap performance for ‘Way 2 Sexy’ (featuring Future and Young Thug).

Over the years, Drake has won four Grammys — far fewer than such peers as Jay-Z (23) or Kanye West (22). He has topped five nominations in a year just twice: in 2016 (when he had eight nods) and in 2018 (when he had seven).

Drake has previously expressed disappointment that he has never won a Grammy outside the rap field. His only wins are for Take Care as best rap album (2012), “Hotline Bling” as best rap/sung performance and best rap song (2016), and “God’s Plan” as best rap song (2018).

Certified Lover Boy was passed over for an album of the year nod this year. Only one rap album, West’s DONDA, was nominated in that category. (The Grammys categorized Lil Nas X’s genre-blending Montero as pop.)

Views (2016) and Scorpion (2020), Drake’s two most recent studio albums prior to Certified Lover Boy, were nominated for album of the year. Drake has received just three other nods as a lead artist in Big Four categories. He was nominated for best new artist (2010) and for record and song of the year for “God’s Plan” (2018).

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He was also nominated for record of the year as a featured artist on Rihanna’s “Work” (2016) and for album of the year as a featured artist on Beyoncé’s Beyoncé (2014), Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city (2013) and Rihanna’s Loud (2011).

Drake has been a vocal critic of the Grammys. Last year, after fellow superstar (and fellow Canadian) The Weeknd received no nominations, Drake blasted the Grammys on his Instagram Story:

“I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artiste that exists now and the ones that come after. It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just won’t change their ways. The other day I said @theweeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way. This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.”

Drake dissed the Grammys during an on-air acceptance speech at the 61st annual Grammy Awards on February 10, 2019, when “God’s Plan” won best rap song.

“We play an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport,” he said. “You already won if you have people singing your songs word for word, if they’re singing in your hometown. You’re already winning, you don’t need this right here.”

Future had no other Grammy nominations this year. Young Thug has two album of the year nominations, as a featured artist on Doja Cat’s Planet Her (Deluxe) and West’s DONDA.

The Recording Academy has already added the Drake changes to its list of changes, which includes this note:

“Each year, the Recording Academy makes adjustments to the nominations list as-necessary after the list is first published. Common changes are often the result of updated credits and may include spelling corrections, title modifications, and the addition of nominees who were not included in the original submission, among other revisions. This year, for the first time, we are making these updates public to ensure transparency and accessibility to the most up-to-date and accurate information.”

The photo comes just hours after rumours started surfacing that the two rappers met up and squashed their beef.

DJ Trauma, Dave Chappelle’s tour DJ, posted and deleted a photo of Drake’s massive mansion to his Instagram Stories.

“Wow, Drake has a big house,” he captioned the photo. “Who would’ve guessed? Just witnessed Drake & Kanye’s reconciliation last night. What a night for hip hop.”

As REVOLT previously reported, earlier this month, the Donda spitter made a video plea to Drake so they could end their beef to come together to get Larry Hoover, co-founder of Chicago’s Gangster Disciples gang, freed from prison.

“I’m making this video to address the ongoing back and forth between myself and Drake,” he said while standing next to J. Prince.

“Both me and Drake have taken shots at each other and it’s time to put it to rest. I’m asking Drake, on Dec. 7, to join me on stage as a special guest to share the two biggest albums of the year, live in Los Angeles with the ultimate purpose being to free Larry Hoover.”

Ye added, “I believe this event will not only bring awareness to our cause, but prove to people everywhere how much more we can accomplish when we lay our pride to the side and come together.”

A few days later, Larry Hoover Jr. also called on Drake to end the feud, saying that they “need togetherness and peace in this hip hop community.”

Not much is known about what Ye and Drake spoke about, but the two did spend time inside Drizzy’s Toronto mansion with Chappelle, who gave a speech calling the reunion “impressive.”

Check out Ye and Drake’s posts below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ye (@kanyewest)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi)

Drake, during an Instagram live session with his followers, disclosed they have a “sick song together” and cannot wait for the world to hear.

Expressing his dedication to the fast-rising rapper, he played one of Rema’s hits titled ‘Dumebi’ to sell the rapper to his international fans.

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Drake also premiered his new solo on the same platform.

Born Divine Ikubor, the 20-year-old became known when he signed a record deal with Jonzing World a new imprint under Don Jazzy’s Mavins Records.

He rose to prominence with the release of the song ‘Iron Man‘ and ‘Dumebi.’

Watch the video below:

And after the rapper, 33, posted series of snaps of himself with the toddler and his mother Sophie Brussaux, 30, the model followed suit and shared her own photographs of them together. 

In one of the snaps, former adult film star Sophie jokingly turned herself and Drake’s hair blonde after fans were baffled by the light colour of Adonis’ curly locks. 

Within the nine photographs, Sophie captured Adonis’ happy, sweet nature with shots of him laughing innocently.   

The proud mother showed herself cuddling her son, beaming with delight to have him with her. 

Alongside the series of photographs, Sophie wrote in French: Living happily, living in private… but a little love in this brutal world is good.

“I thank God every day for my wonderful family, and my friends who are also my family even without sharing the same blood.

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“And I wish you all so much happiness and love, to keep your loved ones in your heart at this difficult time, which will come to an end, and we will all come out stronger,” she said.

Sophie then added, in English: “Thanking God everyday for blessing me with such a beautiful family and amazing friends.

“I wish that much on everyone, keep safe and positive, sending a lot of positive vibes to the world.

“PS : all this time you thought @champagnepapi was dark-haired…but Adonis’s parents are really blonde,” she added.

Sophie’s uploads came after Drake, who has kept his son out of the public eye until now, posted a series of candid snaps of himself with the toddler and his mother, as well as his parents Dennis and Sandi Graham.

The ‘Hotline Bling’ hitmaker revealed he was pining for his family and friends during the coronavirus lock-down, sharing a beautiful image of him cradling curly-haired Adonis.

The father son duo looked cute in matching black outfits in the sweet snap, with Drake – real name Aubrey Drake Graham – looking lovingly at the youngster. 

According to Page Six, the ‘When to Say When’ rapper is self-quarantining at his mansion in Toronto after partying with Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant just days before he was diagnosed with coronavirus.

The friends were seen hanging out at West Hollywood hotspot ‘The Nice Guy’ eight days ago. Drake posted a photo on Instagram of them leaving the restaurant. “Life is a race and the grim reaper catches up…till then glasses up,” he captioned the pic.  

Drake is seemingly already getting accustomed to his new lifestyle. He posted an Instagram Story from his home basketball court, writing, “My life for the next however long.”

@Drake documents his quarantine experience for Instagram :

Durant is one of four Nets players who have tested positive for coronavirus. “All four players are presently isolated and under the care of team physicians,” the Nets said in a statement.

Drake, who just broke the record for most Billboard Hot 100 entries of all time, will have more time to work on his highly-anticipated album now that the border between Canada and the U.S. has been temporarily closed for non-essential travel. The project, which follows 2018’s Scorpion, is due sometime this year.

Drake attended Fif’s funeral service Saturday at the Ogden Funeral Home chapel in Scarborough, Ontario.

He later traveled to the Duffin Meadows Cemetery where he served as one of the pallbearers for the casket.

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ, Drake did not speak at the procession, and mostly kept to himself. ‘You can tell from the video he’s in deep mourning over Soares’ death … who was just killed a couple weeks ago.’

As we reported, Soares was gunned down in his apartment lobby by 2 unidentified men.

Police released surveillance video of the murder and it graphically shows him being shot. Police are still investigating the crime and they had no suspects as of last week.

The Canadian rapper picked up 13 prizes, beating Adele by one, at the event in Las Vegas including best artist.

He was joined on the stage by Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and his father.

“I just want to say hold tight Adele because when a new ting drops you will crawl your way back to get the record back,” said Drake accepting the award.

Drake’s dad was on stage with him wearing a purple suit as were Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne

Adele set the former record at the 2012 awards when she won prizes including top artist, top female artist and top pop artist.

Drake also won top male artist and top Billboard 200 album for Views after getting 22 nominations at the event as well as performing Gyalchester inside the famous Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas.

Zayn Malik won best new artist but didn’t collect the prize in person, telling fans he was busy finishing new songs.

Twenty One Pilots picked up top duo/group and top rock artist with Metallica winning in the rock album category.

Beyonce’s Lemonade was picked as the best R&B album while The Chainsmokers won top dance/electronic artist and top Hot 100 Song for Closer featuring Halsey.

K-pop group BTS beat the likes of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to win the top social artist award.

The ceremony also saw Cher handed an icon award.

The star, who turned 71 the day before, said her success was “mostly luck” as she collected the honour from Gwen Stefani.

Audioslave and Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell was called a “true innovator” after his death last week.

Ahead of a moment’s silence, Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds paid tribute to Cornell as a “prolific songwriter, a legendary performer, a singer who had a voice for the ages and a philanthropist”.

Most of the categories were decided by song sales over the past year, streaming, radio airplay, touring and social media interactions as tracked by Billboard.

Halsey performed new single Now or Never on stage in an outfit which apparently took two days to make.

Celine Dion performed My Heart Will Go On to honour the 20th anniversary of the movie – Titanic.

There were also performances from Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Lorde, The Chainsmokers, Camila Cabello, John Legend, Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons and country music stars Florida Georgia Line and Sam Hunt plus Selena Gomez songwriter Julia Michaels.

Meanwhile, Sean “Diddy” Combs celebrated Notorious B.I.G. on what would have been the hip-hop legend’s 45th birthday.

He was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1997.

The rapper’s son CJ Wallace told the audience: “I know my father’s looking down on all of us tonight.

“My sister and I will continue to carry on his memory with tremendous pride and live my life by his words.”

Vanessa Hudgens and Ludacris hosted the event.

Former High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens sang Celine Dion’s The Power of Love

Halsey wore what looks like half a mac coat on the pink carpet in Las Vegas while Rita Ora a thong body suit dress – Kate Beckinsale went down the traditional route

Lea Michele and Olivia Munn both went for black while Nicole Scherzinger wore a ruffled gown