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Drake, DeMar DeRozan
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Drake is known for being petty, but this time, he decided to do it live and direct during DeMar DeRozan’s return back to Toronto in his 2024-25 season debut against the Raptors. DeRozan’s Sacramento Kings played at Scotiabank Arena on Nov. 2, during which the jersey retirement ceremony for NBA Hall of Famer Vince Carter took place. Recently, Drake has been vocal about people switching up on him.
During the game, the Toronto rapper told reporters, “If you ever put a DeRozan banner up, I will go up there and pull it down myself.” When asked about it in his post-game interview, DeRozan exclaimed, “Well he’s going to have a long way to climb, so tell him good luck.” He later shared on his Instagram Story a video from Ice Cube’s classic “Friday” series where Chris Tucker’s character was talking about the movie’s bully only while he was not around. This was seemingly alluding to Drake being tough everywhere but to DeRozan’s face.
As far as the public could tell, the beef between the two started when DeRozan was featured in the music video for fellow Compton native, Kendrick Lamar’s culture-shifting diss track, “Not Like Us.” He also attended the Juneteenth event, The Pop Out: Ken & Friends. LeBron James, SZA, Tyler, The Creator, YG, Mustard, Roddy Ricch, Russell Westbrook and more were other notable attendees. Drake has subtly sent shots and allegedly even unfollowed a few other people who have engaged in support for Lamar during their battle of the titans this year.
DeRozan and Drake have been heavily documented for their support of each other. With the “Hotline Bling” emcee being such an avid supporter of the Raptors, and DeRozan being one of the greatest players in their franchise history, synergy between them was expected. Drake has even dropped the storied hooper’s name in a few songs.
Drake has yet to respond to DeRozan’s post-game comments, but fans are interested to see what happens next between the two former friends. The rapper recently shared his mob-inspired upbeat visual for his new track, “No Face.”
Check it out below.