Drake and Kanye West: a decade of bickering comes to an end

After more than 10 years of clashes, little jibes and songs where the two rappers have constantly taken digs at each other, Drake and Kanye West have finally made peace. It happened on Thursday, December 9, when they joined each other on the same stage for the concert, 'Free Larry Hoover', on behalf of a former gang member sentenced to six life sentences for murder, conspiracy, extortion and money laundering. Their performance together was a way of calling for reform of the US justice system.

On stage at the LA Memorial Coliseum, the two rappers performed their great classics. It was Kanye West who kicked off the concert and even dedicated the song "Free My Father" from his album "Donda" to the former gang leader. Prison is known to have changed Larry Hoover, even helping him to reform his gang, turning it into an association dedicated to helping the poor. The concert was streamed live on Amazon Prime, Amazon Music and on Amazon's Twitch channel.

(Screenshot from @Amazon)

This concert is therefore a sign of reconciliation for Kanye and Drake. A confrontation that had reached its climax when Kanye West shockingly revealed Drake's home address on social media, during the promotion of his album DONDA.

(Image: Instagram @kanyewest)

However, Drake and Kanye West were not always enemies; the two had maintained a friendship at the beginning of their careers. Drake is known to have admired Kanye West and saw him as a role model. In 2009, he even declared on MTV that "he's the most influential person of all time."

However, competition is stiff on the rap scene. Drake affirmed that in his 2010 release, 'Thank Me Now.' And there is an extremely small step from love to hate, which is why Kanye would soon become his rival.

Then, in 2011, after an interview with The Source magazine, Drake says he wanted to outdo Kanye West. Later, on DJ Khaled's 'I'm on One,' he sang, "I feel like the throne must be taken / Watch me take it". A declaration of war.

In 2013, things began to change with the release of the album "Watch the Throne": a joint album by Kanye and Jay-Z.. and it set off all kinds of alarm bells. In fact, Drake himself claimed some time before that he had been robbed of the idea of a collaboration because he was already working on an album with Lil Wayne, although in the end that album never saw the light of day...

"There were some real questionable bars on there... Like that 'Swaghili' line? Come on, man. Even Fabolous wouldn't say some s*** like that." Drake said in 2014 in Rolling Stone, of Kanye West's song 'I'm In It'. Drake later said that he never uttered these words, but the damage was already done.

Kanye West, for his part, tried to calm things down in 2014, stating at a concert in Newark that "they always be trying to pit n****s against each other and it ain’t going down no more," he said. "So, tonight, it ain’t none of that. We love Drake, we love every mother**** that put their heart into this mother****’ music."

But Drake went on the attack again in 2016. On the track 'Summer Sixteen,' he claimed to have a bigger pool than Kanye. And of course, Kanye didn't keep quiet, responding, "I have three pools." So there.

To add fuel to the fire, a third rapper joined the story. In one of his lyrics, Pusha T revealed that Drake has a hidden son, whom he did not assume publicly and, supposedly, it was Kanye who revealed this information to him, although the latter claims not to have said anything.

In 2018, Pusha T hit back and accused him of using ghostwriters - people who write his lyrics for him - without owning up to it.

Drake responded to these attacks in 'Duppy Freestyle' and 'I'm Upset,' where he talked about the tensions he encountered with Pusha T and Kanye. He also criticised Kanye for hiding behind Pusha in this mess.

If the turmoil between the two rappers already seems too much, on the 9th of December, Drake found a new target to attack: the Grammy Academy.

The rapper asked the Academy to withdraw his nominations for his latest album 'Certified Lover Boy' in the 'rap' category. His request was accepted by the organisers and for now, the ceremony is scheduled for 31 January 2022 in Los Angeles.

Drake has not yet given an explanation. But according to a close source, this decision comes from both Drake and his team, according to AFP. "He seems to be in a bad mood," comments Le Monde.

The reason? Supposedly because during the nominations in November, Drake was overlooked in the generalist categories, which are the most popular ones.

Despite his considerable influence in the music business, Drake only has four Grammy Awards. And this may be one of the reasons why he decided to take issue with the Grammy Academy, which he accuses of making him look bad.

In 2017, he had already accused the Grammys of confining him to the rapper category because he was black.

In 2019, he once again blamed the Grammys for not respecting black hip-hop artists for their true worth.

Other black artists, such as The Weeknd, Frank Ocean and Jay-Z, have made the same criticisms of the Academy. According to them, the Grammy choices in recent years have left black musicians behind. We shall see in January if Drake's speech has had any influence on the choice of winners.

But for now and to the delight of the fans, Kanye and Drake have forgotten their differences and are back together on stage, we hope the reconciliation is long-lasting and artistically fruitful.