There are no more lines or separations when it comes to different kinds of celebrities. Singers hang out with actors, who hang out with athletes, who hang out with streamers, and so on. One person who has woven their way through all these celebrity circles is Drake. The NFL is no exception, as the Canadian rapper has become close friends with various players in the league, including Odell Beckham Jr.
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OBJ’s burst onto the NFL scene in the mid-2010s coincided with Drake’s ascent from well-known rapper to arguably the biggest musical artist in the world. And they both had some flair to their respective games. So with Beckham playing for the New York Giants in one of the media capitals of the world, it was inevitable that they linked up.
Beckham recently accepted a six-game suspension from the NFL for PEDs that will keep him out until Week 12, though he remains a free agent in any case. He spoke about how he didn’t knowingly take the performance enhancers on a recent appearance on The Pivot podcast. While on the show, OBJ also discussed his continuing relationship with Drake, who has been through quite a year, including his well-publicized beef with Kendrick Lamar.
“I have nothing but love. To this day, he’s somebody who changed my life forever. He’s someone whose music not only inspired the world, but truly inspired me. I felt like I could—like he’s talking about me! I could feel that. And I was close to it,” said the wideout.
“And through all the beef, I told him straight, man-to-man … Kendrick did his thing. Like, he had his moment. It was hard. Even if somebody was like, ‘Oh, he won!’ He won the moment… At the end of the day, you live on forever, bro. You’re the greatest ever,” OBJ added.
The prevailing sentiment surrounding the Drake-Kendrick Lamar beef was that the Compton rapper came out on top. But as OBJ points out, while some might say Kendrick won a single battle, Drake’s much bigger fanbase means he’s still winning the overall war.
Either way, the claims Lamar made about Drake were pretty shocking, though they were never pursued or proven to be accurate. But they still left a stink and a stigma around Drake.
And while some of his famous friends—like LeBron James—jumped ship, others like Steph Curry and Beckham remained loyal. OBJ says that’s just how he’s wired.
“Sticking by his side is just code to who I am. This is just me. It don’t matter. Did I ever like the song? It was hard! Like the beat, I like music, like music flows through me like I love music. But my loyalty always lied there. And now it lies with myself. With my people, my family, like the ones who are there for me. Because when he was going through war and beef and all that, I was going through hell.”
While Drake was caught up in his highly publicized beef with Lamar, Odell Beckham was relegated to the shadows. He couldn’t latch on or make an impact with the Dolphins or Ravens during limited playing time over the past couple of years. Injuries continued to plague OBJ. He was also dealing with his own issues.
At least while Drake was facing his problems, he was still getting paid the big bucks. Beckham, meanwhile, remains unsigned and will now serve a PED suspension that keeps him out until Week 12. At that point, a contending team could decide to sign the 32-year-old to bolster their receiver room. But even that doesn’t seem all that likely.
