Kanye West and Drake have been through a lot of ups and downs over the years, and 2018 was definitely a rough patch for their on/off friendship. It all stemmed from beef that Drizzy had with Pusha T, who Kanye is friends with and was working closely with last year. ‘Ye even collaborated with Pusha on the track “What Would Meek Do?” off the rapper’s May 2018 album, Daytona, and now, a version of the original cut of the song has leaked online. In Kanye’s verse on the leaked track, he reportedly took a dig at Drake. “Drizzy wearing Yeezys on the low,” he raps, according to Complex. “Only reppin’ Nike for promo.” Kanye previously worked with Nike, but eventually ended his relationship with the company to partner with Adidas and create his Yeezy shoe line.
The 2018 drama started when Pusha T called Drake out for ghostwriting on another track from Daytona, and Drake responded with a freestyle diss rap of his own. Then, just days later, Pusha released the now-viral “Story of Adidon,” in which he exposed Drake for secretly having a son (Drake confirmed this himself weeks later). It was speculated by fans that ‘Ye was the one who told Pusha about Drake’s child. In September, Drake teased a new song on Twitter with French Montana, and seemed to take a shot at Kanye by rapping,”Keeping it G I told her don’t wear no 350s round me.” 350s are a type of Yeezy sneaker.
After that, Kanye took to Twitter to apologize to Drake for the issues they had earlier in the year, and insisted that he wasn’t the one to tell Pusha about the baby. However, by the end of the year, things fell apart once again when Drake asked for clearance to sample one of ‘Ye’s songs that he was previously featured on, “Say What’s Real.” Kanye revealed Drake’s request on Instagram, and fired back, “This proves s*** faker than wrestling. Still need that apology for mentioning the 350s and trying to take food out of your idols kids mouths. Been trying to meet with you for 6 months bro.”
He also accused Drake of calling him and “trying to threaten” him. “If anything happens to me or anyone from my family you are the first suspect,” he wrote. “So cut the tough talk.” Even Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, weighed in, tweeting, “Never threaten my husband or our family. He paved the way for there to be a Drake.”
In May 2019, Kanye appeared on David Letterman’s Netflix show, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, and revealed he was “not allowed to mention [Drake] or any of his family members” by name. However, he also praised some of Drake’s song lyrics in the interview, but there was no indication that these two are on good terms.