DAMN

Drake’s New Track Is a Direct Provocation of Kanye West

The Jewish rapper seems to be trying to reignite a long-standing beef with his antisemitic rival by sampling Kim Kardashian.

Drake has a habit of trolling his fellow emcees. He’s also known to publicly shoot his shot with famous women. It’s appropriate then that the rapper’s latest single would sample the ex-spouse of one of his most illustrious foes, Kanye West. Now social media is wondering if we have another epic rap beef on our hands.

On Friday, Drake dropped “Search & Rescue,” which he teased on his SiriusXM Radio channel, Sound 42, last Friday. The song originally garnered headlines for its sample of a clip from Keeping Up With Kardashians, in which Kim Kardashain explains her decision to divorce her now-ex-husband, West.

About a minute into the track, the reality star is heard saying to her mother, Kris Jenner, “I didn’t come this far just to come this far and not be happy.”

“OK, that’s fair,” Jenner replies. “Remember that. You didn’t come this far to come this far,” to which Kardashian then says, “Yep, I saw it on the internet.”

“Search & Rescue” has also received attention for its curious cover artwork, which features Drake and a woman who strongly resembles Kardashian sporting motorcycle helmets. Listeners online have also pointed to a photo Kardashian posted on her Instagram last week where she’s donning a helmet, albeit for a go-karting trip with her kids.

Drake’s father, Dennis Graham, has already disputed claims that his son is reigniting his years-long feud with West. However, based on the musicians’ messy history—including a beef regarding a rumored hook-up between Drake and Kardashian–many listeners online have interpreted “Search and Rescue” as a direct hit at the Yeezy founder.

Despite several notable collaborations between the pair, Drake and West’s public relationship has mostly been defined by friction. The Toronto native was first accused of dissing West back in 2011. Since then, the Grammy winners have both prompted and denied rumors that they don’t get along.

Their alleged feud hit a peak in 2018 during Drake’s notorious beef with fellow rapper Pusha T, who’s signed to West’s label, GOOD Music. Fans speculated that West informed Pusha T about Drake’s son, Adonis, after the Virginia rapper outed his child on the diss track “The Story of Adidon”—which West denied. However, Drake still took a shot at the musician on his single “No Stylist” the following month.

The same year, Kardashain became embroiled in their beef when West called out Drake for not shutting down rumors, exposed by Nick Cannon, that Kardashian hooked up with the “Take Care” singer in the past. Later that year, Kardashian tweeted some saucy words at Drake, after her former spouse accused the rapper of threatening their family on Twitter.

In 2021, it seemed like Drake and West had finally made peace, after West posted a now-deleted picture of the two on Instagram with a dove emoji. However, given West’s recent streak of anti-semitism and Drake’s Jewish heritage, it’s fair to assume the musicians probably aren’t the best of friends.

Following Kardashian’s divorce from West, she and Drake have seemingly gotten back on good terms. The fashion mogul was even mentioned on his last album, Her Loss. On the song “More M’s,” his collaborator on the record, 21 Savage raps the bar, “Put her SKIMs on, now she actin’ like Kim.” The billionaire later captioned an Instagram photo with the lyric.

In light of “Search & Rescue,” social media is speculating about Kardashian and Drake’s relationship and whether they might secretly be an item. Another theory is that Kardashian is simply trolling her ex-husband as well, given several incidents of the artist harassing Kardashian on social media following their divorce. West was especially hostile towards his ex-spouse and her former boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson, when they started dating publicly.

With West back on social media, following his most recent slew of controversies, it wouldn’t be shocking if the fashion designer fired off some words about the matter soon.

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