Canadian rapper and singer Drake has removed a single from his recently-released mega compilation “100 Gigs," seemingly due to allegations of copyright infringement.
The single, “Blue Green Red,” uses dancehall artist Tiger’s 1991 song “When" and was released without full consent to sample. This oversight and subsequent legal trouble add to the already blemished 2024 that Drake has had as an artist, primarily due to his public and already infamous feud with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar.
The grievances between the two men went back more than a decade, originating in the popular landscape with Lamar’s 2013 collaboration with Big Sean, “Control."
However, tensions recently escalated with the release of Lamar’s collaboration with producer Metro Boomin, “Like That,” in March of this year. During the record, Lamar disses both Drake and North Carolinian rapper J. Cole, alluding to their collaboration “First Person Shooter,” rapping in response to J. Cole’s allusion to the trio “The Big Three”: “f--- the big three…it’s just big me."
In the song Lamar additionally viciously insults Drake’s discography saying, “your best work is a light pack," and threatens both Drake and J. Cole: “all your dogs getting buried." This rapid escalation of a rather tame record led to a double response by Drake with two singles, “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle," the latter, ironically, getting taken down by streaming services due to another instance of copyright infringement, this time with rapper Tupac Shakur’s estate.
This response began a back-and-forth that lasted six singles and three weeks, before the penultimate track, “Not Like Us," was released. Lamar's hit single broke several streaming records, including the fastest rap song to garner 100 million streams, the most single-day streams for a rap song in the United States and the first rap song to go No.1 in a five day charting week.
This single accused Drake of pedophilia, sexual perversion and exploitation of the rap scene for financial and selfish benefits.
Widely considered the end of the beef and solidification of Lamar’s victory, media outlets have called it a “knockout punch" and “a perfect storm." Drake’s more mild-toned response failed to chart and was widely criticized, ending a whirlwind of drama for the two. Adding insult to injury, Lamar was recently announced as the primary performer at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, ending this titanic rivalry in favor of Lamar.
Jacob Hossler '28 is majoring in Biology with a potential English minor. In his free time he enjoys photography, writing, and playing tennis and soccer.
