Shots Fired? A History of Rappers Dissing Drake

This past Friday, Drake hit the stage in Washington D.C. and let off a subliminal shot: "If you was doing 16s when I was 16 / And your shit still flopped and you switched teams, don't talk to me my nigga." No names were mentioned, but it was widely assumed to be a response to G.O.O.D. Music’s Pusha T, whose recent track “Exodus 23:1″ sounded an awful lot like a thinly veiled Drake dis.

It wasn't the first song targeting Drake, and in the wake of Lil Wayne's response, it may not be the last. We all love a good rap battle—as long as it stays on wax. So while wait for the next episode to unfold, let's take a look back at all those who’ve popped shots at Young Money’s young king. Whether via interviews or rap bars, a whole lot of people seem to be aggravated by Drizzy. Diss him and you'll never hear a reply for it? Nah.

Written by Brad Wete (@BradWete)

Lyric: "Good morning mister Big Dreams/I know it's been a minute, but last time we spoke, you wanted a 16/Remember that shit? A few months Ago? When you were Kanye, rapping with a country flow?/But now all of a sudden, you're Joe Budden."
Shots Fired?: Yes. Fellow Toronto rapper Aristo, part of a rap group named The Offense, tried scoring on Drake by sonning him. We all know who the daddy in this situation is now, though. Aristo's looking like a bastard stepchild.

Lyric: "Can't stand them rap niggas who steady trying to sing/Trying to take my spot, always in my shine/Nigga that's Auto-Tune, I ain't dumb/Tell me, when will you just rhyme?/Spit your sixteens right, and stop trying to do me."
Shots Fired?: Sort of. This one's more of a catch-all, blanket diss. With Kanye West releasing 808s & Heartbreak in the winter prior and Drake dropping his So Far Gone mixtape that February—not to mention T-Pizzle's Three Ringz—Holiday was feeling a little tight about various rappers veering into his crooners-only lane. Years later, it appears J's career is on permanent holiday. Maybe he should've focused on his own business and not theirs.

Lyric: "Drake said he ain't cry when Tupac died/I bet dub he ain't say that shit if Pac was alive."
Shots Fired?: Yeah, it's a shot. But it's a dumb one. No, Drake wouldn't talk about 'Pac's death if he were alive, because, you know, he'd be living. We get it—Lil B's trying to say he'd respect Tupac more if was alive—but it's still dumb.

Date: 6/24/2010

Quote: "[I will] smack the shit out of Drake's bitch-ass."
Shots Fired?: Yes. Fresh out of jail, Sig' got a whiff of Jay's slick rhymes on Drake's "Light Up" and threatened to lay the backhand on Drizzy for letting Hov talk crazy on his record. As usual, Drake played it cool—hoping the Philly bully would just choke on a cheese steak.

Lyric: "This hood shit, you and Drake ain't built for."
Shots Fired?: Yes. Anybody who's standing next to Nicki might just pick up a stray shot from the Queen B. Lil Kim said Drake's too soft for the street stuff. While we've yet to confirm how tough Drake really is, we're pretty sure Kim knows a little something about surviving on the street.

Lyric: "He's just saying that you can do better/And baby all I'm saying is he sounds like a hater/And baby he could just fuck off and do us a favor/Mind your business, nigga stop being a hater."
Shots Fired?: Maybe. Drake and Chris were friends. But it's rumored that Drake briefly dated Chris' ex Rihanna. Could "Marvin's Room" have been dedicated to RiRi? And if so, was Drizzy saying she could do better than Chris by getting with him? Would that explain why Chris got mad and called Drake a hater? So many questions. If anything, call this a subliminal diss.

Lyric: "I adopted these niggas, Phillip Drummond them/Now, I'm about to make them tuck their whole summer in." (Kanye West)
Shots Fired?: Could be. Though far from a direct shot, these lyrics do hit close to home. Ye gave Drake a big co-sign by directing his "Best I Ever Had" video. And it must be noted that Drake did end up tucking his summer in, dropping his sophomore album Take Care in November—after Watch the Throne heated up the summer and fall.

Lyric: "Bitch niggas dissing/Finally Famous over everything is still the mission/Pussy nigga, you a pussy/So who the hell is you kidding, get it?/Hear you taking shots, now what the fuck is you sipping?"
Shots Fired?: Not really. This sounds like a generic spray directed at anybody who's ever had a bad thing to say about Sean or his G.O.O.D. team.

Lyric: "The swag don't match the sweaters."
Shots Fired?: Direct hit! Pusha found a crafty way to clown Drake, whose sweater collection rivals that of the great Bill Cosby. Though Push later denied it, this wouldn't be the last time he came at Drizzy.

Date: 11/2/2011

Quote: "It's basically a slap in my face, because they're like, 'Shit, you should've done it with someone from Atlanta, who was going to get in the video, who wanted to be a part of your video.'"
Shots Fired?: Yeah, it's a shot. But it doesn't seem like real beef. It's more about Future being a rapper on the come-up and Drake pulling a no-show at the video that could have been a big look for the newbie. Boo-hoo.

Lyric: "Some ho-ass niggas/Singing all around me man, la la la/You ain't motherfuckin Frank Sinatra."
Shots Fired?: This is about as direct as you can get without actually saying the man's name. Some called their beef silly but Drizzy must have taken Com's words to heart. Why else would a rapper who usually doesn't respond to disses hit back so hard on "Stay Schemin'"?

Lyric: "Counterfeit rappers say I'm stealing their flows/But I can't steal what you never made up bitch/Y'all some duplicate rap cloning niggas/I manufacture you hoes, put on your makeup bitch."
Shots Fired?: Direct hit. This one stems from critics saying Luda stole Drake's punchline flow for his song "My Chick Bad." The ATL rap veteran wasn't trying to let anyone question his skills, especially some newjack. But he probably should've just come clean and said he jumped on the trend and killed it. Hating on the kid just made Luda look old.

Lyric: "I hear them whisper like a hummingbird sings, of all the trust issues that a hundred birds bring/Now the wolves out, hunting for your bling/You're preying on the bitches with the lowest self-esteem."

Shots Fired?: Yup. Just using the "Sweet" beat removes all doubt. But the key phrase in this rhyme is "trust issues," which was the name of a cut Drake dropped last summer, explaining why he has no faith in chicks anymore. Pusha flipped it on him and accused Drizzy of targeting weak-minded girls.

Lyric: "We go in niggas mouths, I don't know 'bout bitches purses/And what's up with this 'I'm just saying' shit?/Fuck asked you?/You shouldn't be saying shit."
Shots Fired?: Yes—but it's not clear what got Fab so fired up. Drake did him a solid a while back by hopping on the "Throw It in the Bag" remix, but it seems things went south after that. By focusing on the line "I'm just saying," Fab makes it clear he didn't like "Marvin's Room," so he told Drake what to do with his thoughts: keep 'em.

Lyric: "I heard you said you wasn't a bitch because you sing/You a bitch because you cling like a bitch that's eighteen."
Shots Fired?: Yup. This song came after Drake's "Stay Schemin'" verse and a couple of interviews in which Drake said that singing doesn't make him any less of a man. Com apparently agreed with that sentiment—word to John Legend—then he went on to explain that singing wasn't the problem.

Lyric: "I'll bag Nicki, because her ass fat, and she spits/Cats hit me, but I snap back pretty sick/It's sad really, what these rap fags really did/Ask Drizzy or this wack-ass nigga Wiz/Mad disses, but I'm that cat, can you dig?"
Shots Fired?: Yeah, it's a direct shot. But really, who cares? Charles Hamilton has become the very definition of "struggle rapper."

Date: 2/23/2012

Quote: "I don't like anything about Drake. I don't like his fucking voice. I don't like what he talks about. I don't like his face. I don't like the way he walks. Nothing. I don't like his haircut."
Shots Fired?: Yeah, but were you really surprised to learn the dog isn't feeling Drake?

Lyric: "Throwing that flag up, running 'round, you hot shit/Taking half of everything you get."
Shots Fired?: Hell yeah, fuckin' right, that's a shot. And not just at Drake, but at Lil Wayne and Birdman—his bosses who supposedly get a nice chunk of all the Cash Money that Drake rakes in. All that may or may not be true, but it sure hits hard as a rap line. Of course Wayne wasted no time getting back at him. Let the games begin.