The Explosive Feud Between Drake & Kanye West: A Shocking Timeline of Their Relationship
Drake and Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — have just about seen it all throughout their decorated careers. The pair of rap titans have been friends, collaborators, mentors, enemies, and more over the course of the last 15 years.
The 6 God once hailed Ye as the “most influential” person on his sound, and he’s gone on to live out his “Thank Me Now” lyrics of seeing his idols become rivals, as Drizzy and West are currently entrenched in a feud with no sign of reconciliation on the horizon.
After meeting in Hawaii, West took Drake under his wing and directed the music video to his So Far Gone breakout hit “Best I Ever Had” in 2009.
It was thought that their beef was finally squashed for good in December 2021 when J. Prince helped broker a truce for Drake and Ye to reunite on stage at the Free Larry Hoover Benefit concert in Los Angeles.
However, their relationship eventually went awry again. In April 2024, West threw his hat into the ring to enter the rap civil war, going against Drake when hopping on a remix to Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar’s Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Like That.”
Drake showed respect to Ye from the early days of the latter’s career while freestyling over the thumping “Barry Bonds” beat on Drizzy’s 2007 Comeback Season mixtape.
Rap’s ultimate posse cut arrived in ’08 with T.I., Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Ye joining forces for “Swagga Like Us.” The braggadocios track peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Drake wanted in on the hip-hop titans teaming up and freestyled over West’s production to showcase he can go toe-to-toe with the best the genre has to offer.
Drake’s breakout mixtape So Far Gone included another hat tip to West by making the desolate electro-pop 808s & Heartbreak opener “Say You Will” his own canvas, which he repackaged as “Say What’s Real.”
Drake showered Ye with praise in a 2009 interview with MTV. Drizzy had met the “Good Life” rapper months prior in Hawaii while West was working on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Ye put his creative vision to work when hopping behind the lens to direct the visual for Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” anthem. West had Drake play the coach of a women’s basketball team that certainly wasn’t lacking in the breast department.
Drake may have missed out on “Swagga Like Us,” but he made sure to find his way on the next hip-hop posse cut. “Forever” served as a knighting of sorts with Eminem, Ye, and Lil Wayne welcoming Drizzy into rap’s pantheon.
West wasn’t featured as a vocal guest on Drake’s Thank Me Later, but produced the island-tinged “Find Your Love” and is credited as a co-writer on the 2010 debut album track.
Drake is credited with providing additional vocals on the luscious “All of the Lights.”
Drake appears to take a jab at Ye and Jay-Z as they prepared to deliver Watch the Throne during his 2011 Tim Westwood interview.
Drake shows love to Ye and says it’s an “honor” to be even compared to him, but makes it known it’s a competition out there, and his plans were to one day “surpass” West’s accomplishments in hip-hop.
Ye made an appearance at Drake’s OVO Fest in 2013.
Drake jabbed at some of Ye’s bars on Yeezus. However, he saluted West as the “reason” he’s here.
A decade into his career, Ye needed a push creatively, and Drake’s run of hits helped provide that inspiration to hit the studio and take things to another level in the mid-2010s.
Drake kicked off 2016 with “Summer Sixteen,” in which he flexed about allegedly having a bigger pool in his backyard than his Calabasas neighbors Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Drake is credited as a co-writer on The Life of Pablo sleeper “30 Hours” featuring André 3000.
Ye made another OVO Fest appearance in Toronto, where he ran through a mini-set and teased that a collab album with Drake was on the horizon.
West took the stage in Sacramento and ranted about the success of DJ Khaled and Drake’s multi-platinum “For Free” dominating radio airwaves.
Drake responded to Ye’s radio rant targeting his and DJ Khaled’s “For Free” in an interview with DJ Semtex. The OVO boss also alluded to how he and Yeezy were working toward a joint album, so dissing him didn’t make sense.
Drake & Ye toast to “More Life.”
Pusha T sniped at Drake on Daytona’s closing track “Infrared,” which is produced by West. Drake quickly responded with “Duppy Freestyle.”
Drake released his Scorpion album in June 2018 while Ye was rolling out his string of G.O.O.D. Music projects. Fans and industry critics alike speculated Drizzy was jabbing at West throughout the album.
Pusha T alleged that Drake was hiding a son in diss track “The Story of Adidon.”
Yeezy attempted to broker a peace treaty between OVO and G.O.O.D. Music with Drake and Pusha T’s feud simmering.
West’s wife at the time, Kim Kardashian, shut down rumors that she had been romantically involved with Drake in the past.
Another day, another Ye rant in 2018. West used an alleged text seeking clearance for Drake’s “Say What’s Real” to go to streaming to go after the 6 God once again.
Ye went on another Twitter rant calling for Drake to put an end to the speculation tying “Kiki” — whom Drizzy references on “In My Feelings” — to Kim Kardashian.
Months after the dust settled following the Drake and Pusha T drama, fans were still searching for answers. The 6 God pulled up to The Shop, where he opened up about his trip to Ye’s writing camp in Wyoming earlier in 2018.
Another day, another Ye rant in 2018. West used an alleged text seeking clearance for Drake’s “Say What’s Real” to go to streaming to go after the 6 God once again.
Drake sat down for a two-hour interview with Rap Radar, discussing a multitude of topics, including his issues with Yeezy, which he said he had no interest in patching up.
Drake reignited his feud with Ye ahead of their album showdown.
Drake and Ye agreed to put their differences aside for the greater good in a prison reform fundraiser.
Drake stirred the pot with Ye once more with his “Search and Rescue” single.
2023 couldn’t expire without Drake getting another dig in at Ye.
West was only going to stay quiet so long as a rap war waged.
The feud reached a head with Ye stepping on another Drake release date by cutting him in line with Donda arriving four days before Certified Lover Boy.
