Rick Ross is clearly aware he's got one of the best verses on Metro Boomin and Future's new opus We Don't Trust You with "Everyday Hustle." But, like many, he's also an admirer of Kendrick Lamar's world-stopping "Like That" appearance, which took aim at J. Cole as well as Ross' many-time collaborator Drake.
Wednesday night on Instagram, Ross posted footage of himself smoking in a Rolls-Royce and listening to "Everyday Hustle," which shows up as track 13 on the album. After filming himself rapping and laughing along with Future's bars and a few of his own, the 48-year-old skipped back to "Like That," starting the clip near the top of Kendrick's verse and mouthing along to most of it.
Those in need of catching-up can read any number of posts here on Complex. Kendrick's germane Drake/Cole bars are "motherfuck the Big 3, n***a, it's just big me" and "get up with me, fuck sneak dissing/'First Person Shooter,' I hope they came with three switches." Lamar also warned the 6 God that he and his crew might get Pet Sematary'd, and likened his own output to Prince versus Aubrey self-identifying with Michael Jackson.
In less than a week we've had robust investigations into why Future—another many-many-time Drake collaborator—would have beef with Drizzy, and why Kendrick would go for J. Cole. But Rick Ross and Drake will need their own demented It's Always Sunny corkboard to figure out what could be going on. They've appeared alongside each other consistently since DJ Khaled's "Fed Up" in 2009 (15 years!) and connected for some of their biggest and best work—"Lord Knows," "I'm on One," "Aston Martin Music," and "Lemon Pepper Freestyle," to just scratch the surface. Not only did they consider a full collab album way back when, that project would've preceded What a Time to Be Alive and been even more unforgettably titled YOLO.
Since about five minutes after Metro and Future's We Don't Trust You dropped, round-the-clock detective work and explicating has been in play. Sleuths were quick to notice Rozay and Toronto's Nav (who did his own project with Metro in 2017) evidently unfollowing Drake on Instagram. Others have pointed out how Drake seemingly invited Cristina Mackey—who just split with Ross—to see his It's All a Blur – Big as the What? Tour in Sunrise, Florida last weekend.
At one of two Amerant Bank Arena shows after K. Dot's verse hit, Drake told his crowd, "I got my fucking head up high, my back straight, I’m 10 fucking toes down in Florida or anywhere else I go, and I know that no matter what there’s not a n***a on this earth that could ever fuck with me in my life."
Reacting to "Like That" and We Don't Trust You, Joe Budden applauded Future for dismantling "monetized friendships" with Drake, using Ross as an example. "I love that Future is the one to break up all of these fucking monetized friendships. … All of the Drake All Stars that n***as be too scared to press Drake about because now that’s…Ross, that’s Khaled, that’s Young Thug, that’s the whole crop,” Budden said.
As recently as November, Ross mentioned Drake fondly on Complex's 360 with Speedy, where Meek Mill recalled Rozay assuring him the ghostwriting beef that gave us "Back to Back" would blow over in a few years. "I told them, 'Y'all n***as will be fine, trust me,'" Ross told Speedy Morman in the conversation below. "I knew what space [Meek] was in. And I knew where Drake was at."
