“He’s Gonna Cover Up The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Tattoo”: Drake Faces Heat After Replacing LeBron James Tattoo Amid Beef

“Damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” the opening line from J. Cole’s 2013 hit ‘She Knows’ has been the story of Drake’s life for the last few years. Things escalated to an unprecedented scrutiny in 2024 when he got into a rap beef with Kendrick Lamar…or the entire music industry. Somehow, LeBron James also became a part of it.

LeBron and Drake shared a long-standing relationship, one built on trust, admiration, and a big brother-little brother dynamic. Their rise in their respective fields happened around the same time, so the link-up from Day 1 made a lot of sense.

Over the years, they showed love for one another on countless occasions. Drake even assembled the hip-hop Avengers, possibly for the last time, for a song titled ‘Forever’. The song featuring Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem was made for LeBron’s documentary “More Than a Game”. We might’ve lost count of how many times Drake gave a shoutout to LeBron on his hit songs.

So, where did it all go wrong? Or as Drake has been asking, “What Did I Miss?” When the beef officially started between Drake and Lamar after the former responded with ‘Push Ups’ on April 13^th, LeBron was a neutral spectator. Although people expected him to side with Drake because of their decade-old friendship, a neutral stance didn’t bother anyone.

LeBron took to X to write, “Nothing like 2 heavyweights doing What They Do Best! For the love off of the sport.” But as more diss tracks followed, LeBron went silent. Fans assumed that he didn’t want to get any part of the bloodbath between two hip-hop giants as their feud kept getting uglier. Then, almost out of nowhere, LeBron showed up at Lamar’s The Pop Out show on Juneteenth.

The move didn’t sit well with Drake and rightfully so. The rapper seemingly took shots at LeBron on his leaked ‘Fighting Irish Freestyle’ with, “Talkin’ ’bout we family, well, I’m not the cousin to visit / God forbid we ever got to tarnish your public image / All that brother talk as if I really discovered a sibling / 6 Degrees, my memory’s retrievin’ our humble beginnings.”

More recently, on ‘What Did I Miss?’ Drake said, “Last time I looked to my right, you n****s was standing beside me / How can some people I love hang around p***ies who try me? Let’s go.” And “I saw bro went to Pop Out with them / but been d*ck riding gang since ‘Headlines’.”

Safe to say, their relationship is damaged beyond repair. Drake feels like he has been betrayed by someone who he thought was his brother. To take things further, he recently covered up the LeBron tattoo on his arm. It’s worth noting that Drake has a lot of celebrities, like Aaliyah, Lil Wayne, and Denzel Washington, tattooed on him.

During his recent performance at the Wireless Festival, Drake’s LeBron tattoo was seen covered up with a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tattoo. It’s understandable why Drake covered it up with SGA’s tattoo; they’re friends, and both of them are Canadians. But the internet, like always, isn’t happy with Drake’s move.

Launching a barrage of criticism on the subject, fans flocked to the comments to trash Drake, once again. One fan wrote, “He’s gonna cover the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tattoo a decade from now.”

Tattoos are a big part of hip-hop culture. They are a form of self-expression and rebellion. Despite the historic relevance, some fans aren’t happy with what Drake has done, which is not surprising. Another fan wrote, “Covering up one tattoo of a man with another man lol ight.”

But not everyone is tone-deaf on the subject. Some people do understand that Drake will have a target on his back regardless of what he does. One fan wrote, “He’s damned if he do, damned if he don’t, so respect to him.”

Other than a few subliminal jabs, Drake hasn’t addressed the fallout with LeBron directly. LBJ, on the other hand, hasn’t spoken on the subject either. He did post Drake’s Nike NOCTA Air Force 1 sneakers on his Instagram story in August 2024, which many people thought was his attempt at reconciling with Drake, but it didn’t work.

Considering the damage that has been done to their relationship, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever go back to being friends again.