Alleged Attack on Rick Ross and New Feud with Drake Explained

Top line

The feud between rapper Rick Ross and Drake has reignited after he was allegedly assaulted in Vancouver after playing Kendrick Lamar's Drake track “Not Like Us” following his performance, which then sparked a social media back-and-forth involving Ross, Drake and his ex-girlfriend Tia Kemp.

Highlights

How did the Rick Ross and Drake conflict start?

Ross and Drake, once frequent collaborators, traded bizarre accusations and insults in a feud earlier this year that coincided with Drake’s widely publicized feud with Lamar. “Push Ups,” a diss track recorded by Drake aimed primarily at Lamar, leaked in April and included lyrics purportedly aimed at Ross: “Every song that ever hit the charts, he got it from Drizzy” (Drizzy is Drake’s nickname). Ross responded with “Champagne Moments,” in which he accused Drake of hiring ghostwriters for his raps as well as undergoing various cosmetic procedures, including a nose job. Ross also sampled a clip from a years-old interview with Drake saying that Ross is his “favorite person to rap with on any song.” Shortly after Ross released “Champagne Moments,” Drake shared a screenshot of text messages with his mother on his Instagram Story in which he accused Ross of being “angry and racist” and joked that if he had gotten a nose job, he would have gotten him and his mother a two-for-one deal. While promoting his diss track on social media, Ross regularly used the hashtag #BBLDrizzy, a reference to the Brazilian butt lift procedure. Drake has consistently denied getting a BBL, but the “BBL Drizzy” moniker has stuck: Lamar accused Drake of getting a BBL on his diss track “Meet the Grahams,” and producer Metro Boomin released an instrumental track he called “BBL Drizzy” in May, which Drake then used to troll his critics, rapping over the Sexyy Red track “U My Everything.”

Key context

Ross and Kemp have a son together, William Roberts III, who is 18 and graduated high school in June. The two have clashed several times this year. When Ross and Drake’s feud escalated earlier this year, Kemp took to Instagram Live to urge Drake to call her, claiming she had disparaging information about Ross. Ross also posted a video in June celebrating his final child support payment (though it’s unclear which of his five children he was referring to). Kemp criticized him in response, alleging in a video that he had “eight, nine, or 10” children—more than he has publicly claimed—and repeatedly insulted him by calling him “fat” and “funky.”

Chief Critics

Several other critics trolled Ross over the alleged Vancouver attack, including 50 Cent, who posted several videos of the alleged attack and Kemp's video response to his Instagram account. “I don't think you're going back to Canada,” 50 Cent said. Rapper Bobby Shmurda said “you have to see the video” in a now-deleted video he posted in response to the incident, in which he laughs for nearly a minute straight.

Tangent

Although Drake and Lamar's feud has been on the back burner since mid-May, their conflict resurfaced on June 19 when Lamar hosted a star-studded concert in Los Angeles during which he performed “Not Like Us” five times in a row to close out his set. He invited several Los Angeles celebrities to join him on stage, including rappers YG and Dr. Dre and NBA players DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook, in a show of West Coast unity. Lamar appeared to lash out at Drake on stage: “You ain't gonna let nobody disrespect the West Coast, huh? You ain't gonna let nobody make fun of or imitate our legends, huh?” which many took to be a reference to Drake using the AI-generated voices of West Coast rappers Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur on his diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle.” Lamar also shot a music video for “Not Like Us” last week in Los Angeles, although a release date has yet to be announced.

Further reading

Drake and Rick Ross Face Off: What You Need to Know About Diss Songs, Nose Job Allegations and 'BBL Drizzy' (Forbes)

Drake-Kendrick Lamar Feud Timeline: Lamar Performs Diss Songs At Star-Studded 'Pop Out' Show (Forbes)

Here's Who Joined Kendrick Lamar On Stage During Drake Diss: Dr. Dre, DeRozan, Westbrook, And More (Forbes)