Drake once rapped, “The lyrics begin to reveal themselves over time periods,” and fans have been taking him literally over the past few days, picking apart old rhymes and coming up with theories about his alleged beef with Future.
Future’s new album with Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You, featured an explosive diss verse from Kendrick Lamar on “Like That,” which was aimed at Drake and J. Cole. But fans are also speculating that some of Future’s verses contain subliminal shots at Drake, as well, signaling a beef between the longtime collaborators. Naturally, fans have been going down wild rabbit holes all weekend as they look for clues about the origins of the beef.
None of these lyrics or subs have been confirmed to be about Drake or Future, and some of the connections being made could very well just be wild theories from tinfoil-hat-wearing fans trying to piece together how we got here. Metro Boomin has even gone out of his way to refute one rumor that Drake and Future are beefing over a specific woman named Diana.
But both Future and Drake have a history of leaving bread crumbs in their music, and there’s a lot to dig through here. With a lot still actively going on, here’s a timeline of tensions between Drake and Future over the years, including speculation about the origins of their current feud.
November 2011: Future says that Drake’s absence in the “Tony Montana” music video felt like a “slap in the face”
![The first time Drake and Future collaborated was on Future’s 2011 “Tony Montana” remix. It was Future’s breakout solo hit at the time, but he said during an interview on The Source TV that it felt like a “slap in the face” when Drake didn’t make it to the music video after contributing a verse to the track.
“So many people from Atlanta wanted to get on this [song], and it’s basically a slap in my face because they’re like, ‘Shit, you should have done it with somebody from Atlanta who’s gonna get in the video, who wanted to be a part of your video, and you go outside of Atlanta and try to get something different,’” Future said at the time. “I really wanted to give Atlanta something different, and it ended up being a slap in my face [because] we didn’t complete the whole thought. Just the thought of [Drake] getting on it deserves a salute, but the thought not being completed, the salute comes back.”
Despite Future’s frustrations at the time, he seemed to patch things up with Drake and collaborated with him again the following year on DJ Drama’s 2012 song “We in This Bitch 1.5.”](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yca-vFbS62Y/mqdefault.jpg)
View this video on YouTube
The first time Drake and Future collaborated was on Future’s 2011 “Tony Montana” remix. It was Future’s breakout solo hit at the time, but he said during an interview on The Source TV that it felt like a “slap in the face” when Drake didn’t make it to the music video after contributing a verse to the track.
“So many people from Atlanta wanted to get on this [song], and it’s basically a slap in my face because they’re like, ‘Shit, you should have done it with somebody from Atlanta who’s gonna get in the video, who wanted to be a part of your video, and you go outside of Atlanta and try to get something different,’” Future said at the time. “I really wanted to give Atlanta something different, and it ended up being a slap in my face [because] we didn’t complete the whole thought. Just the thought of [Drake] getting on it deserves a salute, but the thought not being completed, the salute comes back.”
Despite Future’s frustrations at the time, he seemed to patch things up with Drake and collaborated with him again the following year on DJ Drama’s 2012 song “We in This Bitch 1.5.”
August 2013: Future reveals that he inspired Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” but didn’t get publishing
![Future revealed that he inspired Drake’s classic track “Started From the Bottom.” “When I was in the studio, when [Drake] made the record, he was in the studio session with me,” he told Power 106. “That’s when I had ‘Chosen One.’ So I was like, ‘When you make it from the bottom, you the chosen one.’ So, when we was in the studio, Drake came by the studio. And I always tell my engineer, ‘Start it from the bottom.’ So when I said, ‘Start it from the bottom,’ [Drake] thought I was talking about the song [‘Chosen One’].”
He added that Drake was grateful for the inspiration, and while he was never repaid monetarily, Future didn’t hold it against him. “[Drake] bought me a bottle of Louis XIII [de Remy Martin Grande Champagne Cognac] that I never opened up because of this story. I was like, ‘Man I don’t want a bottle. I need publishing.’ But Drake, that’s the homie,” he said. “He was like, ‘Man, "start it from the bottom," it stayed on my mind. I instantly got in with the driver and told him to put the CD in. I already had the beat, and I just started saying, ‘Started from the bottom, now we here.’”](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8xmMylJujeo/mqdefault.jpg)
View this video on YouTube
Future revealed that he inspired Drake’s classic track “Started From the Bottom.” “When I was in the studio, when [Drake] made the record, he was in the studio session with me,” he told Power 106. “That’s when I had ‘Chosen One.’ So I was like, ‘When you make it from the bottom, you the chosen one.’ So, when we was in the studio, Drake came by the studio. And I always tell my engineer, ‘Start it from the bottom.’ So when I said, ‘Start it from the bottom,’ [Drake] thought I was talking about the song [‘Chosen One’].”
He added that Drake was grateful for the inspiration, and while he was never repaid monetarily, Future didn’t hold it against him. “[Drake] bought me a bottle of Louis XIII [de Remy Martin Grande Champagne Cognac] that I never opened up because of this story. I was like, ‘Man I don’t want a bottle. I need publishing.’ But Drake, that’s the homie,” he said. “He was like, ‘Man, "start it from the bottom," it stayed on my mind. I instantly got in with the driver and told him to put the CD in. I already had the beat, and I just started saying, ‘Started from the bottom, now we here.’”
October 2013: Future gets kicked off of Drake’s Would You Like a Tour?
April 2022: “Wait for U” goes No. 1, but neither Future nor Drake perform the record together
View this video on YouTube
It was smooth sailing for Drake and Future for nearly a decade, as they collaborated on their blockbuster album What a Time to Be Alive in 2015 and other successful songs like 2020's “Life Is Good.” But their relationship seems to have hit a rough patch in the last couple of years.
The last song that Drake and Future released together is “Wait for U,” which was featured on Future’s 2022 album I Never Liked You, along with their other track “I’m on One.” Despite the success of the song, neither Drake nor Future promoted the record heavily in the months that followed after dropping the music video. They have also never performed the song together live, despite both Drake and Future performing it by themselves several times over the last two years.
November 2022: 'Her Loss' is released and has potential subliminal shots at Future
View this video on YouTube
Following the release of We Don’t Trust You, fans have been digging into the lyrics in Her Loss and discovering potential subliminal disses aimed at Future.
Assuming that tensions have, in fact, been rising since late 2022, people are speculating that “More M’s”—which is produced by Metro Boomin—has several subs directed at Future throughout Drake’s verse, including when he raps, “I could really go five hours in the stadium/What happened to that nigga claiming OVO? We traded ‘em.” This line was originally believed to be about DJ Charlie B, who was allegedly booted from the clique for drama surrounding Drake’s right-hand man Chubbs’ ex, but now people are speculating that the lyric is actually directed at Future, who has claimed OVO alongside his own Freebandz Gang.
Later in the verse, Drake raps, “Niggas ain’t got love for the boy, so they fake it/Crack a couple jokes to some bitches on some snake shit/But if I send a verse to they ass, then they’ll take it/Shoot a video, arm around me like we aces.” Fans think these lyrics are about Future because of rumors that they’ve been feuding over the same woman. With that context, the line could be interpreted as complaints from Drake about Future flirting with a woman he was interested in "on some snake shit," only to act buddy-buddy when they collaborate on music together.
Drake closes the verse with, “Or pop out at my shows, jump around with me on stages/Probably why these hoes love to shower me with praises/Might’ve fucked a rapper, girl, but you ain’t fucked Drake yet,” leading fans to believe Future is the “rapper” that the woman “might’ve fucked” here.
Taking things a step further, fans are speculating that Future and Drake are beefing over a specific woman named Diana who works at a club in Miami called Booby Trap. However, Metro Boomin took to social media this past weekend to refute those claims, writing, “Yall n****s stop making stuff up for engagement and enjoy the music.” So you may want to take that information with a grain of salt.
January 2023: Rumors circulate that Future had issues with Drake and 21 Savage teaming up on 'Her Loss'
![During a visit to The Breakfast Club in January 2023, NORE spoke about a rumor that Future wasn’t happy about Drake teaming up with 21 Savage to make their joint album, Her Loss.
“That’s a big rumor that I heard,” the Drink Champs host said. “I heard that Future is not too happy [about] this Drake and 21 Savage album, [because] it makes Drake and Future’s album not as important, I would say. This is alleged, this is all rumors. I’ve never heard it from Future’s mouth, I’ve never heard it from Drake, I’ve never heard it from 21 [Savage], but it’s a big rumor that’s going around right now.”
Fans have also pointed out that 21 Savage does not currently follow Future on Instagram and he does follow Metro Boomin, although it’s unclear when the unfollow occurred (or if they ever followed each other in the first place).](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lbtIdwJ_Lqc/mqdefault.jpg)
View this video on YouTube
During a visit to The Breakfast Club in January 2023, NORE spoke about a rumor that Future wasn’t happy about Drake teaming up with 21 Savage to make their joint album, Her Loss.
“That’s a big rumor that I heard,” the Drink Champs host said. “I heard that Future is not too happy [about] this Drake and 21 Savage album, [because] it makes Drake and Future’s album not as important, I would say. This is alleged, this is all rumors. I’ve never heard it from Future’s mouth, I’ve never heard it from Drake, I’ve never heard it from 21 [Savage], but it’s a big rumor that’s going around right now.”
Fans have also pointed out that 21 Savage does not currently follow Future on Instagram and he does follow Metro Boomin, although it’s unclear when the unfollow occurred (or if they ever followed each other in the first place).
October 2023: Drake’s 'For All the Dogs' includes alleged subliminal messages aimed at Future
View this video on YouTube
Drake’s feud with Metro Boomin started in December 2023 following criticism the producer had for Her Loss, even though Metro claims that he had no beef with the rapper. Many think this is what could have also made the rift between Future and Drake grow as well, given the Atlanta rapper’s connection with Metro.
On paper, it sounds like Drake is bigging up Future on the For All the Dogs track “What Would Pluto Do,” but after the revelations of the past week, fans think he might have been being sarcastic the entire time. On the hook of the track, Drake repeats, “What would Pluto do? He’d fuck the ho, so I did it/What would Pluto do? He definitely fuckin’ on this ho, yeah.”
What initially appeared to be a song where Drake spoke positively of Future, rhetorically asking what he would do in a specific situation, now has fans looking at it differently, speculating that Drake is literally rapping about sleeping with the same woman as Future.
March 22, 2024: Fans think Future disses Drake on 'We Don’t Trust You'
View this video on YouTube
Everyone was focused on Kendrick’s Drake shots on We Don’t Trust You when it first dropped, but many believe that the opening track on the project is also full of Drake disses from Future.
First of all, the fact that Future even allowed Kendrick to diss a frequent collaborator like Drake on his album speaks for itself. And the song is also full of lyrics that could be interpreted as shots, including, “You a nigga number one fan, dog/ Sneak dissin', I don't understand, dog/ Pillow talkin', actin' like a fed, dog/I don't need another fake friend, dog/Can't be 'bout a ho, 'cause we sharin', dog/In yo feelings, nigga, why you playin', dog?”
Under the assumption that they’re beefing over a woman, fans are running with the theory that this entire series of bars is about Drake, rather than an unnamed enemy, as he expresses frustrations about someone “pillow talkin’” with a woman, “sneak dissing,” and being a “fake friend.” Future also says that he “can’t be ‘bout a ho, ‘cause we sharin’, dog/In yo feelings, nigga,” and while it reads like he’s saying the woman in question isn’t that important, it still adds more validity to the rumors that a woman is involved in some way with their beef, and the word choice at the end harkens back to Drake’s popular song “In My Feelings.”
