21 Savage warned Drake not to get into a rap feud with Kendrick Lamar.
The 33-year-old rapper – who worked with Drake on Her Loss – admitted he told Drake that getting involved in a rap battle with a mistake because “You finna go into a battle that you can’t win. There’s no way you can win.”
21 Savage told the Perspektives With Bank podcast that he warned Drake “not to do all that s***” and “leave that s*** alone”. But goddamn, he felt like he was challenged lyrically, so he wanted to respond.
“Even if you win, you still don’t win. The only difference is, when you’re at the top… where does winning put you? You can’t go Number One-Point-One. So how the f*** could you win, anyway?”
Although Lamar was widely perceived as the winner of the battle thanks to the success of Not Like Us, Savage doesn’t believe Drake “took a hit”.
He said: “Nah. I feel like he took an internet hit. But then it be like: Damn, did you take an internet hit? Because streaming, you gotta go on the internet to stream.”
Meanwhile, back in October, Drake’s lawsuit against his own record label over the feud was dismissed.
The Canadian rapper sued Universal Music Group (UMG) for defamation relating to their releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us but a federal judge in New York City ruled against him.
Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled that the “vitriolic war of words” used in the song during a “heated rap battle” was not defamatory.
UMG are “pleased” with the result and vowed to continue to work with the God’s Plan hitmaker in future, despite the case.
They said in a statement: “From the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day.”
“We’re pleased with the court’s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake’s music and investing in his career.”
UMG had previously sought to have the lawsuit dismissed by arguing Drake had “encouraged” his feud with Kendrick and having “lost a rap battle that he provoked”, decided to “sue his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”
The record label noted Not Like Us features hyperbolic insults but Drake had also used their platform to “promote tracks levelling similarly incendiary attacks” on his rival.