Posted by Drake and Kanye West’s dormant 2018 beef was reignited last week when the OVO boss fired a shot at Ye on the Trippie Redd song “Betrayal.” Coincidentally, both of them allegedly have highly delayed albums on the way — Kanye’s Donda and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy.
So, their social media feud is childish tit for tat behavior from two of rap’s most successful artists or a brilliant marketing scheme. By the sounds of it, Rick Ross seems to favor the latter.
During an interview with SiriusXM Urban View’s “Mike Muse Show” on Tuesday (August 24), the Maybach Music Group founder was asked what he thought about Drake and Kanye’s latest rift and he replied matter-of-factly, “I love it.”
He then revealed he’d spoken to Drake on Monday night (August 23) who sent him a “powerful” text once they hung up.
“He said, ‘Everything is unfolding. I’m about to be as free as a bird,’” Ross noted. “And he put the caption with the owl. And I just, I couldn’t do nothing but put ‘hahahaha’ because to me, I understand the genius to both of these artists, and I understand this is nothing personal to them. This is two levels of creativity inspiring each other.
“Because they both are right now thinking of the artwork, thinking of the credits, where do we place, what color is this, and to me, it only makes the game that much more genius, that much more valuable.”
Rick Ross also spoke on the significance of Kanye West holding not one but two listening parties at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
“Watching Kanye doing listening events in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you know what that is for a Black artist?” he continued. “It wasn’t many years ago they wouldn’t even let a black man into those types of arenas and now just to present my LP to some of my most valuable fans, we just going to listen, I’m not going to say one word.”
Ross, who was on the show to promote his new book The Perfect Day to Boss Up: A Hustler’s Guide to Building Your Empire, also addressed Kanye’s Instagram post revealing Drake’s Toronto address, explaining it was all part of the plan.
“Kanye posted Drake’s address on the Instagram, but who didn’t have Drake address already?” he said. “It’s the only 100 million dollar estate in Canada. So if you don’t understand what’s going on, you would’ve thought that was personal. It really wasn’t. That’s just them getting ready for as Drake said everything unfolding.”
Drake Confirms ‘CLB’ Is Finished: ‘OVO, We Aim For That Head’
Kanye is holding a third Donda listening event in Chicago on Thursday (August 26) and the album is expected to turn up on digital streaming platforms the following day. But, of course, fans have had their hopes up for weeks. It was originally supposed to drop on July 23, then August 6 and finally August 22.
Now, Ye’s manager say it “absolutely” will arrive on Friday (August 27).
As for Certified Lover Boy, Drake has delayed its release numerous times as well. No official date has been announced but according to Drake, it’s “100 percent” done.