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Drake And Kanye Squash Beef At Benefit Concert

Andrew Resnick
Drake (l) and Kanye end their public feud and perform together on Dec. 9 at the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert in Los Angeles. (screengrab)

LOS ANGELES – The long-standing feud between two of hip-hop’s most acclaimed stars, Drake and Kanye West, was put to an end last week. The two multiplatinum artists performed jointly at the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert at the LA Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 9, which was also showcased on all Amazon streaming platforms.

Both musicians hoped to bring attention to Larry Hoover, a former member of the Chicago-based gang, Gangster Disciples. Hoover is currently serving six life sentences for murder, conspiracy, and other federal charges. The concert aimed to focus on the criminal justice system and advocate for reforms to make it more equitable for all.

For the first time, Drake performed some of Kanye’s most popular songs, and Kanye did the same thing for Drake. This performance also marked the first concert for Kanye in over five years. With their rivalry seeming to be in the past, it’s worth looking into the history of Drizzy and Ye’s beef.

Beef’s Early Beginnings

The beef between two of today’s best hip-hop artists began back in 2010. In a radio interview, Drake said about Kanye, “​​We make music differently. I make what comes to me and I hate changing it, whereas ‘Ye will change something 30 or 40 times to get it perfect.” Despite the shade thrown at Kanye, Drake reiterated that he was a big fan of his. 

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In 2015, in an interview on the Breakfast Club, Kanye teased a collab project between him and Drake. (screengrab)

The next year in 2011, following Kanye and Jay-Z dropping Watch the Throne, Drake said “I don’t want to be as good as Kanye, I want to be better.” and later in DJ Khaled’s “I’m On One”, rapped, “I’m just feeling like the throne is for the taking, watch me take it.”

Throughout the early part of the beef, Kanye refused to respond to Drake’s jabs and even explained that the young rapper pushed him and Jay-Z to create Watch the Throne. Later in 2015, in an interview on the Breakfast Club, Kanye teased a collab project between him and Drake. It wasn’t until the later parts of 2015 that the beef began to heat up.

Relationship Heats Up

A few months after Kanye’s interview with the Breakfast Club, Drake once again fanned the flames when he rapped in his single “Summer ‘16” that “I got a bigger pool than Ye and look, man, Ye’s pool is nice, mine’s just bigger’s what I’m saying.” This time Kanye responded by noting that he has three pools, and later in 2016 went on a rant during his Life of Pablo tour, criticizing radio stations for overplaying Drake and DJ Khaled’s song “For Free.”

Things started to heat up in 2018, when Pusha T, one of Kanye’s G.O.O.D Music artists, started a back and forth with Drake. Pusha T dissed Drake and his ghostwriter Quentin Miller when he rapped “It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin.” Drake responded by claiming that he had helped write several tracks for Kanye in the past. Things took an ugly turn when Pusha T later dropped his “Story of Adidon” track where he revealed that Drake had a son, a secret which Drake shared with very few people and that Kanye knew about it, rapping, “You are hiding a child, let that boy come home.”

The Fireworks Begin

Finally, in late 2018, hip-hop fans were treated to the full-on public beef between Drizzy and ‘Ye. Kanye threw some of the first punches when he went on a Twitter rant sharing that Drake had previously asked for clearance to use “Say You Will”, one of Kanye’s songs. Kanye tweeted that this was “faker than wrestling.” Kanye additionally tweeted that Drake had been trying to “poke” him ever since their back and forth about the pools. Kanye continued the rant by accusing Drake of following his wife on Instagram and mentioning Pusha T’s fiance in a song. 

Despite a quiet 2019, the beef resumed in 2020 when Kanye demanded a public apology from J. Cole and Drake for allegedly dissing him in the single “False Prophets”. Both Drake and J. Cole didn’t respond to Kanye’s request. A year later in early 2021, Drake with his beef with Kanye on his mind rapped in Trippie Redd’s “Betrayal” that “All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know 45, 44 (burned out), let it go.” Kanye responded by quickly posting a screenshot of a group chat that he added both Drake and Pusha T into, where he sent a picture of a clown and wrote that Drake “will never recover” from this feud. 

The beef seemed to have reached its climax when in August of this year, Kanye shared Drake’s Toronto address on Instagram. Although Kanye quickly took down the post, Drake responded by posting a video of his own where he appeared to be laughing at Kanye while driving around Toronto. 

Beef Over?

Since the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert, both artists have shown no signs of rekindling the dispute between themselves. While there have been long breaks in their clash, Drizzy and ‘Ye appear to have finally buried the hatchet by performing together. It seems as for now, that the two superstars are content with ending their beef which has lasted for the better part of a decade. Whether they decide to spark back up the feud between each other or not, their beef has certainly been one of the most interesting and entertaining relationships in the hip-hop industry in recent years.