Kanye West and Drake are at it again.
As both rappers get ready to release new albums at the same time, old tensions have reignited. After weeks of rumors about escalating drama behind the scenes, Drake had some words for Kanye on Trippie Redd’s new song “Betrayal.” Then Kanye responded by texting an image of the Joker to a group chat (which presumably included Drake) with a warning: “You will never recover.”
So how did we get to this point?
Kanye and Drake have a very complicated relationship that goes back over a decade. They were friendly collaborators for years, before a series of misunderstandings got ugly and tensions spilled over to their respective camps. By the end of the 2010s, we had witnessed countless subliminals in song lyrics, purple demon emojis, chaotic tweets, and full-blown diss tracks between Kanye’s close collaborator Pusha-T and Drake. At one point, there was even a rumor that Drake had recorded a diss track that would “ruin” Kanye’s career, but he decided not to release it. (You can read an extremely detailed breakdown of Kanye and Drake’s relationship from 2007 to 2018 right here).
By the beginning of this summer, though, the drama had seemed to cool between Kanye and Drake, and there were whispers they may have actually squashed the beef altogether. But then the album rollouts began. Kanye started holding listening parties for Donda, before repeatedly delaying the release of the actual album, which sparked rumors he was jockeying for position with Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. It was all becoming reminiscent of similar release date drama between back in 2018 when they each planned to release albums that June. Before long, it was clear old resentments had flared up again.
Here’s a breakdown of everything that’s gone on between Kanye and Drake this summer.