There’s bad blood brewing between Drake and DeMar DeRozan. The rapper was involved in a heated beef with Kendrick Lamar and the two dropped a series of diss tracks trying to one-up each other. The feud ended after the latter dropped the smash hit, Not Like Us, which featured the Kings forward. That did not sit well with Drake, who had been friends with DeRozan from his time with the Raptors, and two mean-mugged each other when the Kings were in Toronto on Vince Carter’s jersey retirement night.
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The Canadian rapper also had some choice words for DeRozan, which former Raptors star Rudy Gay felt was a bridge too far. During an appearance on Carmelo Anthony’s 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast, he alluded that Drake only dared to pull off the shenanigans because it was a public setting. He said,
“You know what I think? I’m not condoning this at all but you got to pull up on DeMar if you feel that way, before you go on camera.”
Gay referred to Drake’s warning to the Raptors while he was briefly on commentary during the game between the Kings and the Raptors on Vince Carter’s jersey retirement night. Without any provocation, the rapper warned the franchise,
“If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.”
The Canadian star and DeRozan were friends for over a decade. Drake referred to him as a brother in a heartfelt post that has since been deleted after he was traded to the Spurs in 2018. But the Kings forward’s cameo in the music video for Not Like Us has ended their relationship.
The Kings forward seemingly isn’t too concerned about that and gave a snippy response to Drake’s comments about tearing down his banner.
DeRozan’s reaction to Drake’s comments
Following the Kings’ 131-128 loss to the Raptors, reporters told DeRozan that the rapper had warned the Raptors against honoring him. The veteran replied, “He’s gonna have a long way to climb to get there.”
Drake and DeRozan’s beef aside, the forward is arguably second to only Kyle Lowry on the list of the greatest players in the franchise’s history. He was critical in helping them go from an afterthought to one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
The franchise will likely retire his jersey once he calls it a day on his career. Despite what the rapper says, DeRozan’s contribution to the team triumphs over the disdain he harbors for the forward that stems from his petty beef with Kendrick Lamar.
