{"id":451059,"date":"2026-05-15T23:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451059\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:59:20","slug":"all-the-stars-drake-shades-on-his-new-albums-from-kendrick-lamar-to-lebron-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451059\/","title":{"rendered":"All the stars Drake shades on his new albums: From Kendrick Lamar to LeBron James"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Drake<\/a> is back with not one but three new albums<\/a>: Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti.<\/p>\n

The records are of varying quality, as The Independent\u2019s music editor Roisin O\u2019Connor explores in her review<\/a>, but one thing that won\u2019t come as a surprise is that the 39-year-old Canadian rapper has been unable to resist reigniting his headline-making feud with Kendrick Lamar.<\/a><\/p>\n

The tension between the pair dates back over a decade, and has involved numerous diss tracks as well as Drake\u2019s failed lawsuit against his own label, Universal Music Group over Lamar\u2019s song \u201cNot Like Us.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

On Iceman, Drake not only returns to his beef with Lamar, but also details his grievances against many of those who he feels have sided against him, including LeBron James, A$AP Rocky, J.Cole and Dr Dre.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a rundown of everyone Drake has in his sights on his new albums.<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake aims disses at Kendrick Lamar and LeBron James on his new album ‘Iceman’ (Getty)<\/p>\n

Kendrick Lamar<\/p>\n

There are multiple lyrics on Iceman that fans have interpreted to be digs aimed at Lamar. For instance, on fourth track \u201cJanice STFU\u201d Drake raps: \u201cWhite kids listen to you ’cause they feel some guilt and that’s how your soul gets fulfilled \/ Handin\u2019 out turkeys on camera inside of your hood, then you go back to the hills \/ How many houses you build? How many souls did you heal off the back of your deal?\u201d These lines have been interpreted as accusing Lamar of being performative in how he portrays his love for his Compton community.<\/p>\n

Later, on the track \u201cMake Them Pay,\u201d Drake raps: \u201cF*** a big three anyway, there was too many chefs in the kitchen, it was a mess to begin with, yeah \/ And now they got a new GOAT and we gotta test the position \/ Damn, who is this guy for real? I guess a magician \/ Hundred million streams vanished, no one got questions for n*****.\u201d<\/p>\n

These lines reference the idea that Lamar, Drake and J. Cole represented the \u201cbig three\u201d of contemporary rap, an idea that Lamar previously dismissed on his 2024 track \u201cLike That\u201d when he rapped: \u201cMotherf*** the big three, n****, it\u2019s just big me.\u201d<\/a> Drake goes on to reference a discredited online theory that Lamar\u2019s streaming numbers were reduced after bots supposedly inflated his audience.<\/p>\n

On another track, \u201cMake Them Remember,\u201d Drake aims a jab at Lamar\u2019s height. Lamar is 5\u20195\u201d, only a little taller than Muggsy Bogues, who at 5\u20193\u201d was the shortest basketball player ever to play in the NBA. Drake compares the two with a line aimed at minimizing Lamar\u2019s achievements with \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d rapping: \u201cAnd Muggsy Bogues dunked for once, even I\u2019m a bit amazed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.J. Cole is another of Drake\u2019s targets on \u2018Iceman\u2019 (Getty)<\/p>\n

J. Cole<\/p>\n

Drake\u2019s aforementioned reference to the end of the \u201cbig three\u201d isn\u2019t the only time he takes a shot at J. Cole on Iceman. On \u201cMake Them Pay,\u201d he refers to Cole reportedly seeking Jay-Z\u2019s perspective on engaging in the beef with Lamar by rapping: \u201cYour n***** run and talk to Hov for a second opinion \/ Me, I stood ten T’s and accepted the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

On \u201cMake Them Remember,\u201d he nods to Cole\u2019s decade-long marriage when he says: \u201cI could\u2019ve fell back like the married rapper, but we engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RihannaRihanna and her partner A$AP Rocky are both referenced on Drake’s ‘Iceman’ (Reuters)<\/p>\n

A$AP Rocky & Rihanna<\/p>\n

The track \u201cBurning Bridges\u201d appears to be largely aimed at A$AP Rocky. The pair were once friends and collaborators, working together on tracks including 2012\u2019s \u201cF***in\u2019 Problems\u201d (which also featured Lamar). However, Rocky\u2019s latest album Don\u2019t Be Dumb featured a number of disses aimed at Drake, notably the line: \u201cFirst you stole my flow, so I stole yo’ b****,\u201d which was widely interpreted to refer to Drake and to Rocky\u2019s partner (Drake\u2019s ex) Rihanna.<\/p>\n

On \u201cBurning Bridges,\u201d Drake suggests that Rihanna failed to support Don\u2019t Be Dumb, rapping: \u201cYour baby mama ain’t even post your single, damn \/ Where she at? Yeah, where she at? Your baby mama ain’t even post your single.\u201d He adds: \u201cYou saw my brother, you was tryna fix it \/ Now you drop your album and you back dissin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DrakeDrake and DJ Khaled together in happier times in 2011 (Getty)<\/p>\n

DJ Khaled<\/p>\n

Drake criticizes his longtime collaborator DJ Khaled by name on \u201cMake Them Pay,\u201d complaining that the rapper, who has Palestinian heritage, failed to back him up in his fight with Lamar. He raps: \u201cAnd, Khaled, you know what I mean \/ The beef was fully live, you went halal and got on your deen \/ And your people are still waitin\u2019 for a free Palestine \/ But apparently everything isn’t black and white and red and green, damn \/ I’m seein\u2019 everyone’s true colors, for real, I\u2019m sensin\u2019 a theme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rick Ross<\/p>\n

On the same track, \u201cMake Them Pay,\u201d Drake takes a jab at his former collaborator Rick Ross as he puns on the viral streamer Adin Ross and says: \u201cDog, I was aiding Ross with streams before Adin Ross had ever streamed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RapRap heavyweight Jay-Z is referenced by Drake on several new songs (Getty)<\/p>\n

Jay-Z<\/p>\n

Drake and Jay-Z have collaborated in the past, but more recently the rap mogul has tended to side with Drake\u2019s rival Lamar. Notably, it was Jay-Z who was responsible for Lamar being booked to play the Super Bowl halftime show in 2025. On \u201cJanice STFU,\u201d Drake suggests that Jay-Z (nicknamed \u201cJigga\u201d) is pulling strings behind the scenes as he raps: \u201cWe know how you OGs rocking already, my n****, the jig is up.\u201d<\/p>\n

On \u201cWhisper My Name,\u201d Drake references the popular meme asking whether you\u2019d rather have dinner with Jay-Z or $500,000. Drake raps: \u201cI take 500K down to dinner, I never could learn s*** from none of y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Universal Music Group<\/p>\n

Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Lamar\u2019s scathing \u201cNot Like Us\u201d was dismissed last October.<\/a> He had claimed that UMG spread the \u201cfalse and malicious narrative\u201d that he is a pedophile with the song\u2019s lyrics, \u201cSay, Drake, I hear you like em\u2019 young\u201d and \u201cCertified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles.\u201d UMG filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, slamming his claims as \u201cgroundless and indeed ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iceman has been released on Drake\u2019s label OVO Sound, itself a subsidiary of UMG. Nevertheless, on his new song \u201cB\u2019s on the Table\u201d he seems to refer to the case as he raps: \u201cI\u2019m fighting the man, not suing a rapper, you boys are not listening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LeBronLeBron James, who wears the ’23’ shirt for the LA Lakers, is referenced by that number on Drake’s new album (Getty)<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/p>\n

Drake once seemed to count basketball icon LeBron James among his allies, but their friendship apparently came to an end after James (who famously wears number 23) made a public appearance at Lamar\u2019s \u201cThe Pop Out\u201d show at the Forum in Inglewood in 2025. <\/p>\n

On \u201cMake Them Remember\u201d Drake makes a couple of cutting references to the incident, rapping: \u201cI shouldn\u2019t even be shocked to see you in that arena \/ Because you always made your career off of switchin\u2019 teams up.\u201d <\/p>\n

Later on the same song, he adds: \u201cPlease stop askin\u2019 about what\u2019s goin\u2019 on with 23 and me \/ I\u2019m a real n**** and he\u2019s not, it\u2019s in my DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Dre<\/p>\n

The rap mogul and producer Dr Dre has been a key figure in Lamar\u2019s rise, so it\u2019s little surprise to see Drake take shots at him. On \u201cMake Them Remember\u201d he does so with a pun on his own name, pointing out that \u201cDrake\u201d without \u201cAK\u201d spells \u201cDre\u201d and turning some of the accusations made against him back on Dre: \u201cIf Drake took out the AK, maybe he\u2019d be in jail \/ Just based off the name that it spells \/ What they say they just smelled \/ I heard they got special places in hell \/ For n****s jokin\u2019 about evil when they did it themselves, damn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[17949,321,20880,93,6285,61,119513,195821,60,66758,22766,278,45557,10868,33296,2096,126,266,195822,812,31756],"class_list":["post-451059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-celebrities","tag-concert","tag-entertainment","tag-horizontal","tag-ie","tag-iheartradio","tag-iheartradio-music-festival","tag-ireland","tag-j-cole","tag-las-vegas","tag-music","tag-music-festival","tag-nevada","tag-one-person","tag-people","tag-performance","tag-photography","tag-t-mobile-arena-las-vegas","tag-usa","tag-waist-up"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}