Source: Cole Burston / Getty
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware of the rap beef of our generation that took place last year. After years of subtle (or not so subtle in some cases) jabs, Hip-hop titans Drake and Kendrick Lamar took the gloves off and engaged in a verbal war that will go down in history. The back and forth between the two spawned tracks, such as “Push Ups.” “Euphoria,” “Tailor Made Freestyle,” “Meet the Grahams,” “Family Matters,” and the five-time Grammy-winning “Not Like Us.” As one would expect, the beef caused a rift in the hip-hop community, as fans of both artists vehemently defended their goats.
“Not Like Us” went on to become the number-one song in the country, and for the most part, public opinion crowned Kendrick the winner. Just when it seemed that things would settle down a bit, the PGLand co-founder announced a one-off concert entitled The Pop Out – Ken and Friends, which was held in Los Angeles on Juneteenth. The concert, which seemed to be a victory lap for Kendrick and the West Coast was a massive success. Fans were not only treated to some of the biggest hits from the headliner but were also blessed with performances from the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, Dom Kennedy, YG, Roddy Ricch, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Steve Lacy, Tyler, the Creator, Mustard, Dr. Dre and many more. At one point, Kendrick invited all of the artists who had performed on stage with him as he performed ‘Not Like Us’ consecutively in front of a packed house. In addition to the rappers that were on stage, two notable athletes with Southern California ties, Demar Derozan (who Drake once had a great relationship with stemming from Demar’s time playing for the Toronto Raptors) and Russell Westbrook, joined the party. While they took part in the festivities on stage, there was another basketball star in attendance who caused a stir. That star was LeBron James.
Source: VALERIE MACON / Getty
The King was seen enjoying the concert with his wife Savannah, while he rapped along to Kendrick songs, some of which were Drake disses. This was intriguing to some people due to Drake and LeBron’s friendship being very common knowledge, as they have been linked since Drake’s So Far Gone mixtape listening party.
Speculation began to run rampant regarding whose side LeBron was taking in the beef and if he and Drake were still cool. Although fans continued to throw out their theories, neither side confirmed or denied that there was any smoke there…until last month. Drake dropped his “Fighting Irish” freestyle 3 days into 2025 and seemingly got his thoughts on the matter off of his chest. On the track, Champagne Papi takes aim at all the people he feels switched sides on him, specifically LeBron. Despite not specifically mentioning James, the title of the freestyle plays on the name of LeBron James’ high school (St. Vincent-St. Mary) basketball team’s mascot. On top of that, the song was released two days after LeBron’s 40th birthday party. The celebration became a huge topic of conversation when a video of LeBron rapping Kendrick Lamar’s “Man at the Garden” surfaced.