While everyone’s waiting to see how Drake will respond following Kendrick Lamar’s vicious diss track onslaught, the reality is that he already has—it’s just not in the epic way they might have imagined. Beginning a week after Kendrick decisively clinched his victory in their rap battle, Drizzy used his Instagram story to signal that “summer vibes” were on the way. In the last week of May, Drizzy helped ignite said vibes on Sexyy Red’s “U My Everything,” a playful faux R&B single that saw Drake wink at his enemies by rapping over Metro Boomin’s “BBL Drizzy” for the last part of the Sexyy track. That was just the start. Even during a down period, Drizzy’s been a fairly busy 6ix God.
About a week after “U My Everything,” he appeared on a very bizarre Plain White T’s parody, and by June, he had jumped onto two songs from Camila Cabello’s new album, one of which was allegedly held up as the Drake and Kendrick rap battle reached its epic climax. Then, of course, there were his two appearances on Gordo’s new Diamonte album, and a leak of a song with Lil Yachty. It all flowed out from the internet in largely unceremonious fashion. Thus far, his nods to the Kendrick battle have been subdued—with only his Sexyy Red collab overtly acknowledging the matter. (“Maybe we go to Saint Lucia, I been there, so I'll introduce you/Or maybe you go to Saint Martin with me if these niggas take break and quit startin' with me”).
It’s not exactly giving “here’s the beginning of my symbolic comeback, guys.” But it’s probably not meant to. For the last couple months, Drake’s quietly dropped a lot of new shit, but the question remains: how much of it is good?
Today, we get to the bottom of that particular question. Here’s a ranking of all seven tracks Drake has dropped since the Kendrick beef culminated.
7.
While everyone’s waiting to see how Drake will respond following Kendrick Lamar’s vicious diss track onslaught, the reality is that he already has—it’s just not in the epic way they might have imagined. Beginning a week after Kendrick decisively clinched his victory in their rap battle, Drizzy used his Instagram story to signal that “summer vibes” were on the way. In the last week of May, Drizzy helped ignite said vibes on Sexyy Red’s “U My Everything,” a playful faux R&B single that saw Drake wink at his enemies by rapping over Metro Boomin’s “BBL Drizzy” for the last part of the Sexyy track. That was just the start. Even during a down period, Drizzy’s been a fairly busy 6ix God.
About a week after “U My Everything,” he appeared on a very bizarre Plain White T’s parody, and by June, he had jumped onto two songs from Camila Cabello’s new album, one of which was allegedly held up as the Drake and Kendrick rap battle reached its epic climax. Then, of course, there were his two appearances on Gordo’s new Diamonte album, and a leak of a song with Lil Yachty. It all flowed out from the internet in largely unceremonious fashion. Thus far, his nods to the Kendrick battle have been subdued—with only his Sexyy Red collab overtly acknowledging the matter. (“Maybe we go to Saint Lucia, I been there, so I'll introduce you/Or maybe you go to Saint Martin with me if these niggas take break and quit startin' with me”).
It’s not exactly giving “here’s the beginning of my symbolic comeback, guys.” But it’s probably not meant to. For the last couple months, Drake’s quietly dropped a lot of new shit, but the question remains: how much of it is good?
Today, we get to the bottom of that particular question. Here’s a ranking of all seven tracks Drake has dropped since the Kendrick beef culminated.
6.Camila Cabello f/ Drake - “Uuugly”
“Uuugly” isn’t ugly, but it’s far from a heartthrob. The astral beat fits well with Drake’s vocals, and he’s diving into his manipulative boyfriend bag once again, but the track—which appears on Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO album—is less than the sum of its parts, as Drizzy’s bars are devoid of his quippy humor and the delivery can feel monotonous. While it gets some slack because it’s an interlude, “Uuugly” sounds like a holdover from “Slime Me Out,” so it’s a merely serviceable 6ix God throwaway.
5.Snowd4y f/ Drake - “Wah Gwan Delilah”
When this one dropped, fans, unconsciously or consciously—audibly, or inside their own head—had one big question: “What the fuck is this?”
That was the point.
In the perfect battle rap continuum, after the avalanche of K. Dot disses, Drizzy would’ve emerged with a scathing new Kendrick diss to take over the summer. But in this one, “Not Like Us” proved to be an unstoppable juggernaut, and that left Drizzy with a few options: drop some undeniable fire and or joke the whole thing away. For this one, he chose the latter, popping out for some good-natured, trollish fun in a patois-laced Plain White T’s parody. It’s not meant to be taken seriously; Drake over-emphasizing the Toronto accent makes that much clear, especially considering he’d just been hit with a fresh wave of cultural appropriation accusations (and Kendrick’s own parody of the aforementioned accent in “Euphoria”). And the fact that the song has never appeared on any official streaming platforms shows what he thought the commercial prospects were. Still, he manages to slide in some sly humor while describing a potential double date with his significant other; don’t worry about my friend’s ski mask, bae, he’s not ugly—he’s just in the trenches.
4.Camila Cabello f/ Drake - “Hot Uptown”
“Hot Uptown” isn’t awful. The beat is entrancing enough to get you to the dancefloor, and Drizzy and Cabello’s voices sound good on the same track. It’s a totally inoffensive record. The lyrics and melodies of the whole thing strike as a very pedestrian outing for both himself and Cabello and the beat scans as generic late 2010s pop fodder. Drizzy’s faux accent is a little too much and his typical quotables are nowhere to be found. Just remember any Drizzy collab with Rihanna, SZA or any other leading lady, and it becomes clear this one doesn’t approach the pantheon of Drizzy duets. It might be third tier, which isn’t exactly what he should’ve been looking for when trying to get out of this mess. Cabello initially held off on releasing the track due to the Kendrick-Drizzy beef, but considering the lackluster finished product, it’s clear that fans weren’t waiting for much.
3.Gordo f/ Drake - “Sideways”
If you love “house Drake,” you’ll definitely love “Sideways,” which was produced by Drizzy’s Honestly, Nevermind collaborator Gordo. In a recent interview, Gordo explained that Drake seems to be happier following his K. Dot dispute, and while “Sideways” isn’t necessarily a feel good song, it is an appropriate vibe for a dancefloor—often the best place to forget your troubles.
On its surface, “You were never my girl, it was just my turn” feels like unremarkable Drake melodrama. “This romance wasn’t real.” “You were right, but it wasn’t the right time.” That type shit. Ho-hum. Skip. But his delivery—a supple whimper of a croon—imbues it with enough feeling to make it hit, and the begrudging admission in the second verse only reinforces the track’s underlying humanity. It helps create a seamless symbiosis with Gordo’s vibey soundscape; pensive keys and upbeat percussion reinforce the push-pull energy of troubling emotions and the music we look towards to escape them.
2.Gordo f/ Drake - “Healing”
Call it hyperbolic music criticism or bleary eyed sentimentality, whatever. “Healing” is a spiritual experience. The fluttering keys and ghostly layered vocals create an air of eerie benevolence, and Drake suffused it all with sadboy quotes for the ages: “I look okay but that’s just not how I feel.” It’s like an apex Honestly, Nevermind-esque cut with soul, as Drizzy sounds genuine enough to make his words linger more in the misty ambiance surrounding them. It’s baptism by 808—a soundtrack for wounded lovers who find rebirth at the center of the dancefloor.
1.Sexyy Red featuring Drake - “U My Everything”
Powered by Tay Keith’s glimmering trap soul beat and Sexyy Red’s off-kilter crooning, “U My Everything” is an idiosyncratic love song for hoodrats. The cheesy lovey-dovey stuff makes it a perfectly tongue-in-cheek affair that Drizzy accentuates by dropping elite tricking bars over the same “BBL Drizzy” instrumental Metro Boomin created to diss him. Here, he doesn’t just lean into the joke; he gives it a playful peck on the cheek, turning BBL rumors into a reminder that he is, in fact, rich enough to get plenty of girls a BBL, even if he doesn’t have one himself. It’s an exercise in multitasking; he addresses one of his enemies in dismissive fashion while helping create an indelible bop.