The War Between Jay-Z, Drake & Lil Wayne (Documentary)

Intro do you feel like that there was some contention growing between hve and Wayne I feel like there's some contention growing between hve and anybody else that gets hot to the point where they're on his [Music] Radar Love Your Lady M CU people like JayZ he helped me when I was really really really down Jay don't want me to tell nobody that man helped me with my tax these are real friends y'all shout out to my n j there's no reason why Little Wayne should not be performing in Super Bowl this one person who's stopping this is not really a secret little Wayne had a problem with somebody before who's kind of part of the organization running it this is payback who's Little Wayne artist Drake he's definitely one of my favorite rappers and like one of my favorite people period so you have like built a nice relationship with him yeah I think like one of the strongest if not the strongest of all the other rappers yeah wow who knew he's just like an incredible mentor to me and gives me great guidance I think the more I make him proud the more he has to say to me if there was a rapper that should ever run for president I believe that rapper would easily be Jay-Z I used to want to be on Rockefeller then I turned into [Music] 1970 to 2000 J in the late 1970s Hip Hop was born from New York's gritty streets where struggle sparked Innovation DJs Breathe new light into forgotten vinyl sampling beats to create the pulse of a new culture as the genre evolved sampling grew beyond music it became a way to inherit the spirit of those who came before just as DJs once cut records rappers like Drake and Lil Wayne began sampling the essence of their predecessors drawing arguably the most inspiration from one of Hip Hop's leading figures Jay-Z everything from Jay-Z's flow wisdom and swag was felt within the Persona of Lil Wayne and Drake yet as Idols Inspire Rivals emerge despite building on Jay-Z's Legacy they eventually sought to Dethrone him igniting a back and forth Feud that mirrored the Eternal tension between master and student a rivalry that started 20 years ago and continues on today to understand how the beef and Bromance between these beat killers and businessmen has started and where it's at now we got to take it back to 2003 see 2003 was a very important period 2003 this is when a young 20-year-old Lil Wayne took influence from his Idol Jay-Z and decided to ditch his notepad and vow to wrap every future bar on off the top of his head in a 2014 interview with nylon Lan reflected on this career-changing period of his life when the interviewer Jeff Weiss asked him when did that sense of Destiny and feeling to be the greatest come to you squat up the Carter won low Wayne replied by saying squat up that's when it came to me the interviewer then asked was there a specific moment or over a period of months L Wayne replied it was 2004 that was the day I stopped writing whatever day that was that I got confident enough to know that I don't need to write this stuff anymore that's the day everything changed in a 2023 interview L Wayne also said that it was the moment that he heard that his Idol Jay-Z didn't write his Rhymes that was the direct inspiration that made Wayne want to do the same I know they say he never wrote did that inspire you cu the moment I heard it I stop you ask Bo the moment I heard I heard that JayZ don't right no more so in order to ditch the pen and paper Wayne had to get rid of every word he ever wrote down as a result he recorded the song 10,000 bars where he spit every bar he had left that was written down we went in the studio in R smooth studio and we did 10,000 bars and that was the last time I I wrapped anything off of a paper I speak for the street scream for the ghetto and H for my f die for my squad kill for my 10,000 bars turned into his mixtape Squad up 7 where you can literally hear him on certain tracks ripping up the papers that had his Rhymes written on them L Wayne explained the thought behind the 10,000 bars Track by saying the only way I won't be able to rap anything I've ever written again is to record everything I've ever written before once in a 2009 interview Wayne addressed how the change up impacted his style as a Lyricist he said when I stopped writing I noticed that everything was realer now I can't speak on nothing but what's real because I can't write nothing down his longtime manager Cortez Bryant also said that changed Wayne as an artist he started pouring all of his feelings out everything was on his heart everything was in his head he just started putting it out Wayne does this thing that's it's scary and it's unfair and I'm jealous of of it for a million years he sits there and you know they'll be playing record and he'll just sit there like this and then he'll do this and go like that hop up and head right for the booth and lay like one or two or three of the most amazing verses that you've ever heard with lines that it's like did you just make a movie in your head like what just happened you know like I'm in awe of that dude it was that influence from Jay-Z back in 2003 to start rapping off the top of his head that made Wayne the best rapper alive by 2007 and you'll see why that plays a very important role in this story very soon now the timeline is a little bit foggy on whether or not Squad up 7 was released in 2003 or 2004 in interviews Wayne says that the turning point where he went from writer to freestyler happened in 2004 but most sources on the internet say that his Squad up 7 mixtape where he wrapped the remaining 10,000 bars that he had written down was released in 2003 and because we didn't have the internet tracking things so closely back then it's hard to confirm the exact release date of his Squad up 7 mixtape when Wheezy really made this transition the best source I could find was this article on rateyourmusic.com from 2004 which ranked the squadup 7 mixtape as the fifth best tape of 2004 so we'll say that it was probably released around then if you were around back then drop a comment if you know the true answer of this timeline but regardless around that same time that Wayne really leveled up his game by ditching the pen and paper and rhyming everything going forward off the top of his head JZ was simultaneously making his exit out of the game and claimed that he was about to retire after putting out his 200 3 album The Black Album this may be our last interview bro yeah we just talking about it this could be it man this could be it why are you retiring I just felt like what more can I say like achieve as a solo artist you know I've been doing that 10 album straight you get in the comfort zone I'm a young guy you know what I'm saying I got still got to challenge myself in life on that album that he claimed would be his last Jay-Z repeatedly bragged about being quote unquote the best rapper alive and it was when Jay-Z retired that Wayne seized the opportunity of the crown being for the taking and he decided to drop a mixtape in February of 2004 titled the prefix 2004 where he wrapped over a bunch of The Black Album instrumentals out of the 13 tracks on Wayne's prefix mixtape nine of them were freestyles over Jay-Z songs Academy [Music] respect it's unclear whether Wayne was trying to body Jay-Z on his own music as we saw him do so on mixtapes after this or if he was simply playing respect to Jay but it definitely felt like Wayne was gunning for Jay spot at the top of the mountain and while wee gave his Idol Jay-Z props as being the reason he stopped writing down his WS this would also be the same year that Wayne would come for Jay-Z to take the title as the best rapper alive and he marked his dominance at the top of the game when he released his album The Carter W in June of 2004 this would be the album that catapulted Wayne into mainstream success giving him the biggest hit he'd ever had in his career up until that point with his man fresh produced track go DJ and it helped him truly form that Unique Style that we know and love him for today on that album Wheezy also had a track called bring it back and this was the first time the world heard Wayne claim that he was the best rapper alive the best rapper alive even though he still gave Jay his props at the time on the track he wrapped I'm the best rapper alive since the best rapper retired the bester alive since the best rapper retire later that year in November of 2004 Destiny's Child would go on to release their final album as a group and the lead single of that album Soldier would feature Lil Wayne and tii now it's important to note that Beyonce was a part of the group Destiny's Child and allegedly Jay-Z was the one who recommended that Lil Wayne be the feature on the record this record would go on to be Wayne's most successful song to date and it's funny because only 7 years later he would threaten to capture the lead singer of this group the same way Bowser captures Princess Peach in Mario now as 2004 wraps up it's important to note that low Wayne fulfilled his contract with cash money he gave them four albums with the Block is Hot 500 Degrees lights out and the Carter w at this point he's now a free agent meaning that he could either renegotiate his contract with cash money and sign a new deal with them or he could take his talents to a different label and that seemed like exactly what he was about to do we started hearing Rumblings in late 2004 that as Jay-Z stepped into retirement to become the president of Def Jam L Wayne was thinking of signing under J and all the way back in 2004 hipop DX a site that's still around today shout out OT Wilson and Jeremy hect they reported back in 2004 that Wayne and cash money weren't on the best of terms because of the potential split but allegedly he wasn't just signing to Def Jam to be next to Jay-Z but it was also to avoid the same financial problems that plagued his former Cash Money label mates juvenile Turk and BG now in early 2005 L Wayne was promoting the success of his biggest 2005 album to date The Carter 1 and he did a performance at the upper level Bar and Grill in Mississippi where he announced that he finished his contract with cash money and the next time you'd see him he'd be signed to Jay-Z as a Death Jam artist Lil Wayne also made a surprising announcement stating the fact he had just signed with death jamh I did that as long as I could do it I'm a jam man next time you [Music] see however very shortly after that in March of 2005 L Wayne released the mixtape dedication 1 the first installment of his classic mixtape series of dedication on that mixtape he had an interlude called Lil Wayne explains his deal and on it he basically clarified that he was still signed to Cash Money as he didn't finish what he had to do with the label was Wayne situation they had a lot of rumors that I would be going to another record company preferably the rock Death Jam Jay-Z Sean Carter no why cuz I was but I was still under K track with Kash Miz on it but I said I'm going just ride it out and see what I can do and so then I figured I'm going to go with the rock I'm going to go by J and Jay was trying to help me was really trying like dude whenever you get out your situation I'm here whatever you need I'm here then all of a sudden I get a call from Universal I couldn't even understand what they talking about cuz they were talking about millions and stuff that was words I had never heard of you know what I mean and I was like believe that and so in reality of it all I got some more time over here I ain't finished doing what I was doing what Weezy is doing finishing up stay focused we get a more clear explanation on what actually happened in the later years of this story but back in 2005 later that year in December low Wayne released his classic album The Carter 2 under cash money and this album marked a major turning point in his career and elevated his position in hip-hop for many different reasons number one at this point every single one of Wayne's former collaborators and label mates left Cash Money due to money issues this meant that he couldn't rely on juvenile or any of the hot boys for features and he couldn't rap over any of the beats that Manny fresh would deliver them at the time Manny fresh had produced all of Wayne's biggest hits so as a result this album solidified Wayne's identity as a solo artist as he distanced himself from the hot boys era and positioned him as a major player in hip-hop he brought in his appeal beyond the southern rap scene and laid the groundwork for his future successes it also showcased his growth as an artist growth that we' never seen before from Wayne the album demonstrated his improved lyrical ability and versatility and Wing took more creative control by rapping over a diverse range of Beats and introducing new Styles Wing touched on this in an interview with Rolling Stones when they asked him what rappers he listens to and given the fact that way constantly mentioned Jay-Z was his Idol his answer to who he listened to was surprising he said when it comes to rap I don't listen to No One I just don't have time to because I'm trying to get better every day when you find a favorite artist you're going to start sounding like them it took Birdman and the rest of the Cash Money label to pull me aside and be like bro I'm tired of every song you're doing sounding like damn Jay-Z You're not Jay-Z and in my opinion this album is really when Wayne found his own identity and truly stopped rapping like Jay-Z but more importantly The Carter 2 truly marked Wayne's run as the best rapper alive after this album Wheezy went on to have incredible mixtape and feature runs really birthing the feature stimulus package where Wayne would hop on someone else's song and it would become a hit just because he was on it and this would be something he'd do for years until he let his Protege Drake take that Crown but we'll touch on that later because more importantly than all this is the fact that the Carter 2 is when Wayne truly and confidently declared himself as the best rapper alive he removed the disclaimer that this was only because Jay-Z retired what I mean by that is a year before this on the Carter 1 Wayne wrapped that he was the best rapper alive since the best rapper AKA Jay-Z had retired but on the Carter 2 it didn't matter that Jay-Z was already 2 years deep into retirement Wayne had taken the crown and asserted his dominance no Diddy because that album featured a track called best rapper alive where Wayne would say he's who the best rapper alive best in an interview with music choice in 2006 Wayne said that he didn't catch 2006 any Flack from Jay-Z for calling himself the best rapper alive which was extremely motivating for him to keep going I ain't get no Flack from that I mean of course from the haters but I mean from the man from Jay he propped me up when he see me they gave me a lot of confidence to put that song called the best rapper on my album later that year in September of 2006 Wayne spoke about what truly happened between him and Jay-Z and why he never signed to Death Jam Wayne said Jay-Z never called him I know for a while you've been wanting to do something with Jay-Z he's back out of retirement now he never called he never called I mean I talk to him though you know he tell me everything I want to hear though he let me know that I'm that dude keep my head up that's better a verse for me that's my idol right there Ro mod right there me he a't never got do a verse for me he also said Jay is his Idol and when asked about not signing to Jay Wayne said it was very very tough but you know I'm a loyal dude I stick with the fam but I hope we can do something in the future with my fam and his fam from age 15 in my life volume one to Reasonable Doubt all that I was like Jay-Z's the dude then he built his team and who I want to be down with his team you could hate all you want but I know you want to be down I haven't made my Mark yet I haven't met that time period yet was it tough not going on his team was very very tough but you know I'm a loyal dude stick with the fam but you know I hope we could do something in the future with the same with my family his f it was very tough very I had to sit down thinking I knew that I was of stature too just haven't made my mark yet haven't met that time period yet I got a lot put in too but when I meet his Mark and I have way more put in and I know that I could build something probably bigger and better but all off his blueprint cuz he's the best yeah I was Hing that ho but as far as you know about to go you probably can say whatever whatever about it but the situation was we had a conversation and yeah the conversation was about me John and de Jam or the Rockefeller team or whatever we didn't agree on certain things or whatever the situation was it didn't work out and I'm here where I am but you know it's all up I didn't even take the flight to New York without talking to baby and slim now in October of 206 Jay-Z announced his comeback out of retirement and announced the first single to his next album King come the single was called show me what you got and it quickly brought Jay-Z back to the top position in hip-hop as it was a massive hit put it this way the song Hit number eight on the Billboard charts which was a higher chart position than any song that Lil Wayne the so-called best rapper alive at the time had ever released by that point in his career except for his feature on Jay-Z's wife's Beyonce's record Soldier which hit number three on the Billboard charts now Jay-Z would make his full comeback in late November of 2006 when he officially released his new album Kingdom Come and he was definitely persist on reclaiming his spot as the best rapper in the game on the title track of the album Jay-Z crowned himself as quote unquote hip hop savior on the song Trouble Jay actually send some subliminal shots at Wayne when he wrapped I can only view little guys like little guys but in L of little guys trying to play that boy I few few little guys with the latest toy unlike you little guys I'm a grown man big shoes to fill grown pants probably hustled with your pups go ask your parents it's apparent you're staring at a legend who put a few little guys in their place before trying to eat without saying their grace before Blasphemous bastard get your faith restored this is in reference to L Wayne for a few reasons first of all him saying he could only view little guys as little guys and that these little guys were trying to play with him was a direct shot at Wayne being more of a newcomer than Jay and definitely a smaller artist at the time but trying to play with him AKA take his position as the best rapper alive now this could have been in response to any rapper that was trying to mess with Jay at the time but considering the fact that Wayne's name was Lil Wayne and that he kept claiming he was the best rapper since the best rapper retired Jay-Z constantly saying quote unquote little guys and not just guys it seemed pretty obvious that this was a direct shot at Wayne Jay also wrapped probably hustled with your pops go ask your parents it's apparent you're staring at a legend who put a few little guys in their place before this made it even more clear that these were shots at Wayne since on the Carter 2 the Same album that had a song called the best rapper alive Wayne also had a song on that album called hustler Music Plus Wayne constantly called Birdman his father Birdman adopted the role of a father figure to win Wayne and he was also the owner of cash money which was the label that Wayne was signed to the same label that Wayne decided to stay loyal to instead of signing to Jay-Z just a year before this so when J wrapped probably hustled with your pops go ask your parents it's apparent you're staring at a legend who put a few little guys in their place before he's basically telling Wayne that coming for the crown is a tough battle to fight and that he should strategize with his label owner Birdman because Birdman's been in the game much longer and knows how challenging it would truly be to Dethrone Jay-Z since he's put multiple rappers in their place before who have tried to replace him now we'll see consistently throughout this story and even in the present moment in 2024 that Birdman plays a very significant role in a lot of the back and forths between Jay Drake and Lil Wayne being the owner of the label that both Drake and Wayne are signed to it'll become obvious that a lot of these back and forths didn't just stem from the desire to be the top rapper in the game but it was also a cold war between burban and Jay-Z on who could become the most powerful figure Within the Music Industry but now as confident as Jay-Z was declaring himself the savior of hip-hop on his comeback album the project wasn't the success that he probably hoped it would be see Jay-Z retired at the top of his game with the Black Album it was a classic it had multiple hits like Lucifer dirt on your shoulders and 99 problems he was calling himself the best rapper alive on that album so much that when Wayne tried to take that title from him just a year later people got almost offended that he would even think of putting himself in the same category as Jay-Z but that was 2003 and by 2006 things were very different on the title track of Kingdom Come Jay-Z crowns himself as hip-hop savior but at that point Jay-Z sounded Rusty and in many ways Lil Wayne had filled the void that HOV left during his 3 years of retirement Kingdom Come wasn't the same Jay-Z We heard just 3 years ago on the Black Album and Wayne knew this so he did what the best rapper alive should do and the best thing he knew how to do which was freestyling over another rapper's beat and making his version so good that you forgot about the original rappers version of the track so in December of 2006 he released his remix to Jay-Z's show me what you got where he reflected on his position in the game and where he stood relative to where Jay was ATF baby is the best rapper alive hit me he wrapped when it comes to this recording I must be LeBron James if he's Jordan when it comes down must LeBron James no I want rings for my performance I'm more Kobe Bryan of an artist no I RS with my performance I'm BR arti when he says I must be LeBron James if he Jordan Wayne saying that if Jay-Z is considered the Michael Jordan of Hip Hop then Wayne is LeBron James Michael Jordan especially at that time was considered the greatest basketball player of all time and LeBron James is frequently compared to him by saying if he's Jordan Wayne implies that if Jay-Z is like Michael Jordan in terms of his status and skill then Wayne sees himself as the current top player like LeBron but this song was released in 2006 and at that point in time LeBron James was still early in his career and hadn't yet achieved the level of success that Kobe Bryan had while LeBron was showing tremendous potential and talent he hadn't yet won an NBA championship or fully established his legacy in contrast Kobe Bryant had already won three championships by that time and was renowned for his competitive drive work ethic and clutch performances Wayne's choice of Kobe over LeBron reflected Kobe's more established success and the traits that Lil Wayne admired in an artist and Wayne definitely waps I must be LeBron James if he's Jordan but the way he almost slurs his words while rapping it sounds like he could also be saying I must be LeBron James to beat Jordan I must be LeBron James which would add a whole other layer of depth to the bar where Wayne is not only just saying that he's the best rapper alive but he also has to beat the old best rapper alive now this freestyle and everything that came after it really made Jay-Z feel the pressure and question his place in rap at the time in a 2020 interview that Lil Wayne did on drink Champs Jay-Z made a comment saying that when Wayne dropped to show me what you got freestyle he had to take a long look at himself in the mirror and ask himself are you sure you still got this he said when he rap don't show me what you got I had to take a long walk and look at myself in the mirror and I said are you sure you still got this now in the same month that Wayne dropped to show me what you got freestyle and made Jay-Z question if he was still the best rapper alive Lil Wayne also did an interview with complex where he sounded more confident than ever and took the most direct shots at Jay-Z that we've ever heard him take he said quote unquote I'm better than him I'm 24 years old I'm 13 years deep with Five albums and 10 million records sold I don't like what he's saying about how he had to come back because Hip Hop's dead and we need him what the f do you mean if anything it's reborn so he's probably having a problem with that you left on a good note and all the artists were saying yo this is Jay's house he's the best now he comes back and still thinks it's his house it's not your house anymore and I'm better than you speaking of Wayne being 24 a couple months later a song would leak which had in my opinion the best feature verse we've ever received from Wayne on a track called beat without base this track featured very clear subliminal shots at Jay-Z Lil Wayne started off the verse by saying I make it rain but I ain't God but I am God's son but you know I ain't Nas but I am God Son but you know I ain't see he got a positive aim and I aim nines see he got a positive aim and I Aim N here he's kind of comparing himself to NAS who also had a very famous Feud with Jay-Z but he's saying Nas's aim is more positive he's taking a more positive approach they ended the beef Nas and him are on positive terms but Wayne however is not on those same positive terms he's aiming nines meaning he's ready to kill later in that verse he ends it off by [Music] saying like I got a 44 I'm 24 I could mer you and come home when I'm 44 I got a 4 I'm 24 I you and come home when I'm 4 this was a statement far more scathing than just calling himself the best rapper alive here he's telling Jay-Z he's washed he should just stay on tour as a legacy Act L Wayne is Young he's 24 he's hungry and Jay-Z's not even his competition anymore now on an important side note around the same time in 2006 when Wayne and Jay-Z were battling for the crown as the best rapper alive Cameron and his group The diplomats AKA dipet were also engaged in a bigger beef with Jay-Z dipet was a collective comprised of Cameron Jim Jones freaky ziki and Joel Santana and they were signed to Death Jam records the label that Jay-Z was president of Cameron felt undervalued and sidelined by Jay-Z and their beef escalated when Jay-Z allegedly vetoed Cameron's promotion to a higher executive position within the label this business friction led to personal animosities with Cameron and Dipset releasing multiple disc records aimed at Jay-Z including the records you got to love it and Swagger jaer the feud was fueled by contrasting Styles and Visions for the label as well as competition for dominance in the New York rap scene at the same time that Dipset was beefing with Jay they were fully embracing Wayne and during the monster run at the top of the game that Wayne had in 2007 he often collaborated with members of dipet most notably Joelle Santana as the two were supposed to put out an album together called I can't feel my face but like most of Wayne's best music at the time a lot of the records from his project with Joel Santana got leaked online before he could officially release them now why this is interesting is because after Birdman tells Wayne to stop sounding like his Idol Jay-Z so much Wayne completely innovates his style rapping like we've never heard anyone rap before in history and calling himself the best rapper alive while he's doing it at the same time Jay-Z has a hard time making his way back to the top of the game after retiring and starts battling Lil Wayne for who deserves the title as the best rapper alive simultaneously he's also beefing with dipet over the dominance and future soundscape of New York rap with Wayne's attempts to appeal to a wider audience and get validation as the best rapper alive from The Gatekeepers and leaders within the culture he clicks up with dipet to introduce and blend his southern style with the more popular New York sound that bir and dominated hip-hop for so many years before this and this played a pivotal role in him being able to introduce his unique unique competitive style to the main stage and get praised while doing it Joe Buton emphasized this in 2017 when he said that Cameron played a crucial role in Bridging the Gap between Southern rappers and the New York hip-hop scene he specifically credits Cameron with helping L Wayne gain respect in New York City suggesting that Cameron and dip set's influence and acceptance of Southern artists helped open doors for them in rap which was a market that was traditionally focused on more East Coast Styles I credit cam with Southern rapper success still to this day cam during this time that you speak speak of when he had all this influence in New York was the one to embrace Wayne we wasn't fck with Wayne like that in New York when Cam said it was cool when jeel said it was cool when dipet said it was cool to rock with Wayne that's when we rocked with Wayne and that is when Wayne started I'm the best rapper in the world and that's when we started listening when we accepted him here it allowed an entirely new conversation to be birthed in terms of Wayne Wayne's Association and collaborations with dipet along with the incredible projects He was dropping at the time truly highlighted the cultural shift and increased acceptance of diverse hip-hop Styles in New York during that era and now this brings us to 2007 when Wayne 2007 was undoubtedly the best most Untouchable rapper in the world with the confidence that came with his Newfound massive success Wheezy doubled down on the comments he made about being better than Jay-Z when he did an interview at HOT97 DJ absolute asked Wayne about why he was going to sign with Jay-Z but never ended up doing so Wayne said I want people to just look at it like that dude who came out of college that was supposed to get drafted by the number one team which was rockefella and Def Jam they passed on me and now I'm with a good team and a good coach and of course on every interview I'm going to cut down the team that didn't pick me but just a month later in February 2007 Wayne seemed to walk back his comments not necessarily saying he wasn't better than Jay-Z but emphasizing that he didn't want to come off as disrespectful by saying he's better than Jay in an interview with XXL Wheezy said I want to apologize to Jay and his family and friends because I was asked that question and they put it in there like I was just feeling like oh you know what I'm better than they came at me like so you say you're the best can you say that you're better than everybody would you say that you're better than Jay I was like yeah I'm better than everybody but I'd like to throw that apology out there because of whatever trouble I caused I didn't want that to happen a few months later in July of 2007 Jay-Z featured on TI song watch what you say where he seemed to address all the tough talk that Wayne had been throwing his way Jay wrapped I hear you've been baiting me lately I've been doing my best just to stay hater free still watch what you say to me sooner or later I take you up on your offering I put you all in your place like I'm replacing your father you're talking to the author the architect of the blueprint my DNA and your music mother eer watch what you say to [Music] me here he's again referencing Birdman Wayne's father figure by saying I'm replacing your father which was also likely a metaphor to the fact that Wayne was going to leave cash money to sign with Jay-Z which would meant that Jay-Z was replacing Wayne's father figure Birdman he's also alluding to the fact that he's Wayne's biggest inspiration and the source of where Wayne got a lot of his original style and sound from by saying that my DNA is in your music he's also sending warning Shots by telling Wayne to stop baiting him and to watch what he says or else sooner or later Jay will put Wayne in his place by taking him up on the challenge that Wayne is the better rapper now these warning shots seem to be enough for Wayne to back off for the time being plus he had bigger things to worry about as people genuinely viewed him as the best rapper alive at this point he was the biggest rapper in the world and the pressure was on on him to drop the massive Carter 3 which kept getting leaked and start his new label Young Money so instead of continuing to bait Jay-Z by saying that he's better than him Wayne decided to give his Idol a song that he had been cooking up called Hello Brooklyn the song would make it onto Jay-Z's album American Gangster and Wayne would be one of the very few artists that got to make an appearance on the album with Jay showing the world how important he thought Alo Wayne feature was when Wayne was asked about Jay-Z requesting a song from him he said when I was asked the question I told him it wasn't even a question he's got it everybody in the world knows how I feel about Jay he's the king utmost respect later that year Jay-Z would perform the album at the hammeren Ballroom in New York where he would bring out Wayne to perform the record together during wheezy's performance he pointed to Jay-Z and said the best rapper alive and then pointed back to himself and said the next rapper in line Wayne would continue praising Jay-Z and showing how much the rapper's music truly meant to him as he said that Jay-Z's in my lifetime volume 1 was one of the albums that changed his life he said that HOV song lucky me is his favorite song off the album and that he actually has the words lucky me tattooed on his neck along with a verse of that song tattooed on his leg when I leave this it's going to be onet knees in the dirt when I leave this it's going to be on feet never knees in the dirt now Wayne may have a lot of tattoos and a lot of Records where he says he's the best rapper but to claim that he's got Jay's record ined on his body and that Jay-Z's album changed his life showed how much Wheezy truly valued Jay as an artist and as a role model regardless of whether or not he wanted to surpass it and Jay-Z may have regained that best rapper live title for a very short period of time after the release of his American Gangster album but it wouldn't be long before Wayne reached a height that even Jay-Z hadn't seen in his entire career that came in 2008 with the release of Wayne's long- awaited album 2008 The Carter 3 while he declared himself the best rapper alive on the Carter 2 it was the Carter 3 that saw Wayne accomplishing Milestones that were never attained by his mentor as the album sold over 1 million copies in its first week of release which was something Jay-Z has ever done to this day on that album we saw the two rappers come together again on the song Mr Carter funny enough the two rappers battling for the crown of hip-hop both shared the same last name and that record really served as a passing of the torch from one Carter to the next with Jay-Z showing the world that he was ready to embrace Wayne as his Protege and recognize the fact that the student may have just become the master Jay-Z wrapped on that record saying I'm right here in my chair with my crown and my deer queen bee as I share Mike time with my air Young harder go farther go further go harder is that not why we came and if not then why bother he also ended his verse off by telling Wayne I took so much change from this rap game it's your go Wayne would respond to Jay on his verse by rapping and next time you mentioned Pac Biggy and Jay-Z don't forget Wheezy baby so at this point in time it seemed like both rappers were at peace and acknowledge the role that they both played with in hip-hop at that time Jay-Z was the Legend Who paved the way and inspired Wayne to be become who he was and Wayne took it to another level becoming at that moment hip-hop royalty something he always viewed Jay as being the Pinnacle of however when Jay-Z was asked about their collaboration on the Carter 3 while he wasn't salty in any way shape or form he also wasn't necessarily showering Wayne with praises in one interview he said the song wasn't a quote unquote collaboration thing it was something that was done already the interviewer said that that was a record that everybody had been waiting for and Jay-Z responded by saying quote unquote not really it's like more of a creative great record rather than a lyrical slugfest or two guys just spitting success is more of what people want to look at when they judge that type of stuff cuz it's just me and Nas going at it well they sent the record and we you know it was done so it wasn't like a a collaboration thing it was something that was done already that's like the collaboration everybody been waiting for oh yeah it's it's it's it's not really the it's like it's more of a great record than like a lyrical slugfest it's just a really great record it's more more of a creative great record then you know two guys spin success is more of you know what people want to look at when they judge that type of stuff cuz it's just me and N going at it almost seems like he's trying to say here that this isn't like him and Nas going back and forth or maybe him and Eminem having a lyrical slugfest head-to-head on a song like Renegade his competition with Wayne stems more from who's more successful who's selling more records not who's outdoing who from a rapping perspective in another interview that same year with Vibe Jay-Z seems to embrace Lil Wayne but also kind of Lil Bros him a bit at the same time he said you should embrace the Next Generation in hip-hop you always fight the next person coming because that person wants your spot he first approached me as a fan when he felt like he was close enough he was like maybe I can take his head off and then Jay-Z laughed then he said which is natural I think he really is a fan of mine I think he really loves the stuff I've done but as a person as a competitor that's only natural there was a time when Kobe was like I think I can take Mike I admire that in a way the public has him in line next and for me to say he's not in line next would be foolish that's what the public says so why not later that year we'd get another collaboration from Wayne and Jay on the song swagger like us which also included versus from TI and Kanye two other rappers that were also at the top of their game at the time and actively competed for that best rapper alive title The Four meast Star MC's linked up to rock the song at the Grammys the following year and I want you to let me know in the comments who you think had the best verse on that record and if they released it today in 2024 with all new verses who would have the best one Jay-Z low Wayne TI or Kanye West now 2009 this takes us to 2009 after the massive 2008 that Lil Wayne had with the Carter 3 it was now Jay-Z's turn to make a comeback with the blueprint 3 the first single off that album was called DOA it was Jay-Z's attempt at trying to kill the trend of autotune which at the time was taken hip-hop by storm with guys like Kanye West obviously Lil Wayne and famously T Payne abusing it in every single record that they put out at the time however Jay-Z actually shouts out Lil Wayne on that song by saying I might send this to the mix tape Wheezy which is him acknowledging Wayne's monstrous run of changing the mixtape game and putting out classic tapes where he would body other rappers beats Jay also clarified that he wasn't talking directly to Lil Wayne Kanye West or t pay on that death of autotune record because he actually likes the way that they Incorporated autotune into their music now Jay-Z's efforts to kill autotune were very unsuccessful as at the same time that he was declaring it overused and dead Lil Wayne was in the process of signing his next a drake who would revolutionize the way rappers used autotune to blend rapping and singing in an Innovative hybrid of delivering Melodies and bars Drake was actually featured on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 3 which Wayne was noticeably missing from and ironically while Jay-Z declared that autotune was dead on that album Drake had a hook on a song off that album called off that where he was definitely abusing autotune by Drowning his voice in it on the blueprint 3 Jay-Z also wrapped on a song called The Star is Born applauding Weezy by saying Wayne scorching I'll applaud him if he keeps going pass the torch to him waying I'll applaud if he going but while he's applauding Wayne here this is where the story gets interesting because this is really the point when Jay-Z divests most of his attention away from Wayne and focuses it more on Drake he recognized that the torch was being passed and Drake would now become the bigger threat than Wayne as Wayne would kind of take a step back from the spotlight and let Drake infect the world with his new style when Jay was in Toronto he did an interview with much music where he applaud of Drake's recent success he said so far gone was an incredible project and he told Drake to just stay focused and keep going and keep working hard and the success would come I know that you're a fan I know you work with him and he speaks really highly of you so he is already at that point where he can blow up into craziness so what do you wish that somebody would have told you at that point you know he just needs to focus I mean he's proved that he's very talented you know with that mixtape which was phenomenal he proved that he's very talented so he just has to maintain that Focus because right now all the eyes on him and not lose that I think he's going to f and Drake echoed the same love and admiration for Jay-Z that Lil Wayne had he wrapped on his 2009 track fear saying I never cried when Tupac died but I probably will when hve does and thanks to the success of the blueprint 3 Jay-Z was named the hottest MC in the game in 2009 by MTV and Birdman was asked about this and he said I don't think he the number one MC weing the best he do the most and he make the most money how can you say you're the best if you don't make the most money and he don't do the most lyrically come on man be for real man can't nobody and to me if you're number one and you ain't getting no money don't mean nothing you hear me so but if you number one and you making money to me who making the most money that's number one to me that same month that bman made those comments L Wayne proved that he probably was still the hottest MC in the game when he dropped his mixtapes No Ceilings which featured freestyles over two Jay-Z songs including death of autotune and one freestyle over Jay-Z's wife Beyonce song Sweet Dreams there's videos of Wayne recording this legendary mixtape and in the footage he stares into the camera and says Jay-Z I'm about to kill your song now he definitely did kill that song and that song also definitely killed Drake's dreams which 2010 we'll touch on very shortly in this video however it's important to note that by now we are in 2010 Lil Wayne is about to go to Riker's Island prison for the next 8 months and it's up to Drake to put Young Money on his back and carry on that same Legacy that Wayne has built over the last couple years years simultaneously Jay-Z is asked about those nasty comments Birdman made where he said Wayne was a better rapper and had more money than Jay and Jay-Z responded to this by saying being lyrical is just a matter of opinion it's who you like so that's his opinion as far as money that's a little more factual we can determine that put it up if he's that confident I'll give him a little Glimpse it's crazy cut it out knock it off if he believes that I respect that that's his guy he's supposed to ride with his guy and while Jay-Z laughed off any claims of Birdman or Lil Wayne having more money than him he did show Wayne a lot of love in a June 2010 interview with Rolling Stones where he talks about maturing in the game but still being relevant Jay-Z said one of the reasons I want to make blueprint 3 was because of the challenge we've seen people like ll coolj have longevity and we respect the heritage of what he's done but it's not like right now he's competing on the same level as Lil Wayne so for me to still be able to compete at that level at my age that's rarified air it's never been done but speaking of competing with the youngans at this point Jay-Z had more competition than just Wayne if he wanted to remain the biggest rapper in the game Wayne again was currently serving an 8-month prison sentence at rers island for a firearm charge at the same time Drake was making massive moves within the industry and in that summer he dropped his first album thank me later on the outro track to that album thank me now people thought Drake was taking a shot at Jay's veteran status in the game when he wrapped I can relate to kids going straight to the league when they recognize that you got what it takes to succeed and that's around the time that your Idols become your you make friends with Mike but got to AI him for your survival I swear Sports and music are so synonymous cuz we want to be them and they want to be us it makes sense that he's talking about Jay here for a couple reasons firstly Jay-Z often refers to himself as the Michael Jordan of hip-hop we saw way back in 2007 how Lil Wayne said he's got to be LeBron James to beat Jordan meaning he was the newcomer that needed to be at the top of his game to surpass his predecessor but now Wayne's locked up and it's Drake's turn to take the throne from the best rapper alive which is what he was saying metaphorically when he raps you make friends with Mike but you got to AI him for your survival why he's mentioning being friends with Mike or that people recognize that he's got what it takes to succeed and then your Idols become your Rivals is because Jay-Z back in 2009 was very supportive of Drake's come up and saw the potential in him early on Jay was Drake's Idol but to get to where he wants to get to in the game he's got to surpass him for his survival but again he's also mentioning that he's friends with Michael Jordan aka he made friends with Jay-Z and that was very much true cuz on that Same album that Drake was saying he's got to outshine Jay he also had a song with Jay on there called light up where Jay-Z was giving Drake a lot of advice on what he could expect in his career as he gets bigger and how he should handle the pressure that comes with the throne Jay-Z wrapped Drake here's how they're going to come at you with silly rap feuds trying to distract you in Disguise in the form of a favor the barzini meeting watch for the traitors now obviously this predicts a lot of how Drake's career will go because a lot of the beasts that Drake was involved in later on in his career came from rappers that Drake had formerly collaborated with where they sent random shots Drake's way in an attempt to try to Dethrone him now Drake did an interview with MTV where he talked about that verse and he openly admitted that Jay-Z wased him on that record the joint with you and Jay-Z on the album right I know you and Jay are cool but it still has to be a little competitive cuz I know you trying to eat him up he trying to eat you up on light up I lost my footing a bit Jay came and killed me on that Jay K me that's what I think anyway Jay killed me on that the conversations me and Jay have he's so intrigued by where my life is at because it's almost like he's seeing it happen again for somebody else so he was like I'm just going to tell you all I've learned you know and it was like a beautiful moment I've really never heard Jay get that personal in a long time and Wayne probably thought so as well because in a phone call that he had from prison with his manager and longtime friend MC main Lil Wayne said of Jay-Z's verse ain't nobody talking about what your boy talking about that guy is stupid with his Rhymes I said oh look at that Wayne thought that verse was so hard that he had to go in and record his own verse on the record from on a phone and now we are in 2011 where this beef 2011 gets heightened to proportions we've never seen it before Wayne gets out of jail and before he could click up with Drake Jay-Z and Kanye West link up together to announce that they're going to drop a collaboration album called was the throne in January of 2011 they put out the first single to that album called Ham on that record Jay replies to Birdman's Bose about having more money than him by saying I'm like really half a billy really you got baby money keep it [ __ ] a got my money baby was another nickname that Birdman had for himself so when Jay-Z says baby money he's talking about baby's money but he's also talking about baby money saying that Birdman's money is a lot less than what Jay-Z's got he's also saying half a billy which is in reference to Lil Wayne song A Millie Birdman would respond to this on Twitter by saying we're going to keep spending baby money billionaire mind stay tuned then it was Drake's turn to come for the throne Drake did an interview in January 2011 with Tim Westwood where Tim Westwood asked him about his collaboration album that was supposed to come out with Lil Wayne he said yeah that's going to come out but I hear there's these other guys that are thinking of dropping a record together I don't know where they got that idea from we still got to do that album yes you still got do some other guys are coming out with album too there's two other guys that are coming out with together two other rappers that are coming out with an album together I don't know where they got that idea but in 2013 at the OVO Festival Kanye West would reveal that that was indeed true that Jay-Z and Kanye West would have never made Watch the Throne if Drake wasn't putting pressure on them the way he was me would never made Watch the Throne like that but anyways back to 2011 Wayne makes his return with the comeback single 6' 7ot and he's on the set shooting the music video for that song where he does an interview with sway from Sway in the morning and he's asked about the ham record and Jay-Z's baby money lines and he says that Kanye West actually played Lil Wayne the record but he wouldn't question con about Jay-Z's bars quote unquote Wayne said I wouldn't make it a competition because actually the subject that he's talking about in that line I can't box with the god I'd be the first one to tell you that given my wit and the type of person that I am I'd capitalize and I'd play off it y played it for me personally played it for me I went to a session with him the other night did you ask him about the Jay-Z line I wouldn't ask him about a Jay-Z line because he's not Jay-Z is that something you would react to as a MC actually the subject that he's talking about in that line I can't box with the guard with that you know what I mean I'll be the first one to tell you that given my wit and the type of person I am I capitalize and I'll play off of it so here it kind of seemed like Lil Wayne was acknowledging that he can't compete with Jay-Z at least on a financial level and again at this point in time Wayne was kind of taking a step back but Drake was most definitely ready to compete because in May of 2011 DJ khed drops the record am Manan with Drake Rick Ross and Lil Wayne and in Drake's verse he says I'm just feeling like the throne is for the taking watch me take it I'm is for and just like Wayne back in 2007 saying you're like 44 stay on tour I'm 24 I could murc you now it's Drake's turn to be in the driver's seat and kick off round two of this subliminal Cold War but Drake would quickly walk back the claims that this was a Jay-Z dish by tweeting out HOV dis hope of all people has not lost it that's godbody Flo and by August of 2011 Jay-Z and Kanye West would go on to release was the throne and Birdman was actually asked about the album and he didn't have the most positive things to say about it he said it's older versus younger Playboy I listen to a few songs off the throne and it feels like an older feel to me I think Drake and Wayne they're young they're young cats you got 23 and 28 you got Jay-Z and them who are older and really on their way out the game then you got Wayne and Drake and them who are still youthful to the game and then it was Wayne's turn to shake the game up he dropped the Carter 4 in August of 2011 he sold almost a million copies in the first week and on that record there was a song called it's good which also featured Drake funny enough and Wayne finally responded to those baby money claims that Jay made on the ham record Wayne wrapped talking about baby money I got your baby money how much your lady I know you fake press your bricks I'll take you out that's a date how close were you the really spanking way when he threw that shot at the wife n it was all right it's part of the sport and the competition I didn't take it as a real threat I I took it as a flip of a line and at the time while waser thron was an incredible album people did feel like Jay-Z and Kanye had kind of grown lazy with the disappointing ham record and what often gets overlooked is that Drake also took shots at Kanye and Jay-Z on that its good record where Wayne threatens to kidnap Beyonce Drake wrapped please pardon my brother he's just angry at you guys who don't have your heart in this rap stuff and got too comfy cuz we're still hungry Young Money got the munchies and this would be a common theme in Drake's later sublim disses where he constantly emphasizes the fact that Jay-Z's in the later half of his career and he's got comfortable in the position he's in and he's not as hungry as Drake is now way commented on These Bars by saying I know there won't be any repercussions behind what I did I know for a fact music is about perception you can't do anything but perceive what you hear I know that for a fact so I can't ever be upset about someone else's reaction and J Mills one of the artists off L Wayne's Young Money label did an interview in 2022 where he actually talked about how all this went down he spoke about how Kanye played that ham record in the studio for Lil Wayne and he remembers Lil Wayne just running out of the studio when he heard those bars about him and bird mat I remember we was in the studio and yay came to play ham first time Wayne heard ham right he didn't feel that [ __ ] you got baby money that ain't my L son my lady money that's baby money Wayne walked out the room while Kanye song still playing then Lil Wayne recorded his bars on it's good where he's threatening to kidnap Beyonce and I remember like two days later he did a song kidnap your bit see how much you love your lady money and he actually asked everyone in the studio if he should put it out or if it was going too far J Mills claims that he was the only one in the studio who gave way the confidence to be like yeah you should definitely go out and put those bars out tell them how you feel I remember he was like yo y'all think that's too much and everybody was like no I think you should take that ball out man I don't think you should really say that I was like do you feel like he was talking about you do you feel like it was a shot you bugging I'm like no seriously do you feel it was a shot cuz if you didn't feel it was a shot you wouldn't have thought of the bar you thought of so you asking us for validation to go say what you feel now you know what you're right he went in there Turn Me Up lighter everybody looking at me why would you tell him to do that and I'm like why not though now in November of 2011 as Drake is gearing up to drop his next album he does an interview where he's asked about the fact that he's been nominated for six Grammy Awards in the past 2 years but he's never won one Drake responded by saying I've always been fascinated with the Grammys so I don't mean disrespect when I say say this but I've kind of given up on them if I ever get one or when I get one I'll be ecstatic because that's a reoccurring dream I've had since I was a kid that my mother's still alive and that I'm on stage accepting a Grammy and I get to thank her on that stage but it's tough they can never really break their mold forget last year because when I read up on the young lady that won she did some incredible things and if we're talking numbers no one really achieved what Justin Bieber achieved as far as the earnings and just worldwide he deserved it as well but the one that really got to me was when I lost to death of autotune by Jay-Z for best I ever had that one to me was like really not to say that Jay-Z isn't the most incredible rapper and that death of autotune wasn't a good song I just felt like they had the option to give me a Grammy for a mixtape and they just didn't do it because it goes against the gra of everything that's traditional I don't mean to measure my success anymore by the Grammys I can't because I'll just end up crushed and not to be offensive I just feel it's political would I love to win a Grammy sure will I win one after that comment probably not but Drake would soon get his Grammy get back and that would come shortly after he released his second St studio album take care in November of 2011 on that album people thought he was taking more shots at Jay-Z on the song the right when he emphasized Jay's tenure in The Game and his lack of cultural dominance at this late point in his career he wrapped you guys getting older I see no threat in Yoda and Drake at the time really did seem like he had no threat commercially of course that's cuz a young Kendrick Lamar was still gearing up to drop his debut studio album good kid Matt City but at this point Drake was washing everyone with his sales numbers Jay-Z included and take care was was only an improvement as it sold 630k in the first week way more than any Jay-Z album did since the Black Album all the way back in 2003 a few weeks later following the impressive first week sales of take care Jay-Z actually congratulated Drake in a handwritten note that Drake shared on his October's very own blog in the note Jay-Z wrote monster numbers comes in proud of your journey peace Hove and while it now seemed like Jay-Z and Drake 2012 would take care of their subliminal War we now get to 2012 and it would actually be Lil Wayne who would reignite the beef as he hosted a Afterparty for the Grammys and while he was on stage he did a freestyle where he wrapped I met a bad red bone I took the girl home I asked her what she wanted to watch and she said surely not the throne I met a bad I I asked her what she want to watch she said surely not the [Applause] throne unfortunately for Wayne Kanye and Jay-Z would end up emerging victorious in the end as Wayne was nominated for a Grammy in four different categories but 2013 Jay-Z and Kanye West beat him in every single one of them but by 2013 it wasn't Wayne Kanye or Jay's turn to be victorious it was Drake's he picked up the 2013 Grammy for the best rap album of the year with take care and by this point his line about aiing Michael Jordan for his survival never seemed more clear as he was the top guy in The Game Kanye admitted this when Drake brought him out at the 2013 ELO Fest by confirming Drake's accusations saying that him and Jay-Z would have never made Watch the Throne if Drake wasn't putting pressure on them never later in that year Jay-Z announced his new album Magna carter Holy Grail and in June of 2013 in promotion of the album Jay-Z released a picture online which contained the lyrics to The Record La Familia which would be featured on the album the lyrics contained some shots at L Wayne and seem to be a response to wheezy's bars about capturing Beyonce as wrapped you must got to hide your whole family what you think we wearing black for ready for that war ready for that War Ready you ain't ready yo you radio you ain't really ready real guy yeah in promotion of the album JayZ did an interview with The Breakfast Club where he also finally talked about how he was about to sign L Wayne and why he never ended up doing it when Jay-Z finally opened up about this we come to find out even more that Birdman really was involved in this beef as much as Drake and Wayne were Jay-Z talked about not signing Wayne by saying it was actually Birman who stopped it from happening saying that he spoke to L Wayne about potentially getting a deal done and when Jay told Birdman about it he ended up getting a letter from cash money's lawyers about torturous interference which makes sense because Lil Wayne was on his way to becoming the best rapper alive if he wasn't already and he was only getting bigger Birdman would obviously do anything in his power to make sure that his cash cow stayed on the label and that's going to play a very important role in this story very shortly now Jay-Z said I felt it was only right to call him I called him out of respect like yo I was talking to Wayne just to let you know then he said he got the letter of torturous interference from Birdman and it all just went from there I would rather lose that situation and do the right thing than the opposite cuz I think I could have signed him I could have signed him and then told Berman after I did the right thing and I'm cool with that decision the truth is you know after I had to um I had a meeting with Wayne I felt it was only right to call him I called him out of respect like yo I was talking to Wayne just letting you know boom boom boom after that I think we received a letter at our office for like torturous interference and it just all went from there but you know I would rather lose that situation and do the right thing than the opposite you knowz I think I could have just I could have I could have signed him I could have signed him and then told him after but you know I did the right thing and uh I'm cool with that decision but while Wheezy and Jay-Z seem to be engaged in a settle back and forth at this point Lil Wayne's Protege Drake seemed to be on great terms with the rapper Jay-Z talk about Drake during an interview with Elliot Wilson in promotion of his Magna carter Holy Grail album and when Jay-Z was asked about his relationship with Drake he said there's a respect thing there but there's also a competitive thing and it's done in the right way he's definitely the one that's reared his head as the next guy he's definitely kobby Bryant now this was a funny subtle dig to Wayne though cuz if you guys don't remember earlier in this video back in 2007 Wayne was saying he was the Kobe Bryant of Hip Hop and would Dethrone Jay who was Michael Jordan but by 2013 Wayne was not in the the top shaped lyrically that he once was back in 2007 he also wasn't the highest selling rapper at the time Drake was so Jay here is saying that Drake took that role of being Kobe Bryant of Hip Hop Wayne fell back and lost that title and by September of 2013 the Kobe Bryant of Hip Hop would go for his third ring dropping Nothing Was the Same a massive album in my opinion a classic and it would feature a couple interesting things related to this beef see Jay-Z was famously on the outro track pound cake according to Drake Jay gave him two Acappella verses he had recorded during his Magna cartter Holy Grail sessions which ended up being the two pound cake verses this was a very rare extension of generosity that we wouldn't see Jay do with most artists but it's funny to note that he did the same thing with Lil Wayne in 2007 and 2008 now Drake sent the song Back to Jay-Z with his own verse and put it over a boy wab beat and Jay-Z was so impressed that he almost snatched the song for himself for his Magna Cara album but Drake convinced him to let him keep it in an interview Drake said I sent the song Back to Jay and that was when it almost became a Jay-Z song but he's such a good guy he was like I gave you my word I don't know what I do without that guy sometimes he's just full of gems and advice were you and Jay in the studio together no I actually um in a rare well no we were but Jay did his Verses first and originally that's that his verses were on a different beat and I worked up the nerve to ask him not only for the song that I had heard but I actually worked up the nerve to ask him for the AC cappella because I I wasn't crazy about the um the but funny enough it seemed like the two were actually taking Digs at each other on that track Jay-Z was sunning Drake by rapping I had benzes before you had braces Drake would respond later on the track by rapping like I didn't study the game to a letter and understand that I'm not doing it the same man I'm doing it better on the album Drake was also talking about not talking to his label mate Nicki Minaj anymore he was saying he's now as famous as Lil Wayne and there was rumors of him leaving Young Money and this is the same time that he links with Jay-Z on poundcake and in an interview promoting Nothing Was the Same Drake mentions his relationship with Jay-Z as being one of the strongest he's had with any rapper he also proceeded to call Jay-Z an incredible Mentor he's definitely one of my favorite rappers and like one of my favorite people period so you have like built a nice relationship with him yeah I think like one of the strongest if not the strongest of all the other rappers yeah yeah definitely wow who knew he's just like an incredible mentor to me and gives me great guidance I think the more I make him proud the more he has to say to me now just an interesting side note L Wayne was not on this Nothing Was the Same album but Jay-Z was and Drake talks about surpassing his mentor Lil Wayne and also names Jay-Z as the rapper that he has the best relationship at that current period of time but this relationship wouldn't be so strong for too long as months after releasing 2014 Nothing Was the Same Drake took some shots at Jay-Z's heavy use of art references in a Rolling Stones interview allegedly these were things that Drake said off the Record that he didn't think were going to be included in the interview but what he said was it's like Hove can't drop bars these days without at least four art references I would love to collect some at some point but I think the whole rap art World thing is kind of getting corny Drake also talked about the Rivalry that he had with Kanye and Jay-Z back in 2011 when he said I'm just feeling like the throne is for the taking watch me take it and he chocked that up to being a lack of communication paired with natural competitiveness he also Big Jay up by saying he wasn't very impressed with the ham record but people in Paris definitely left an impression on him Drake admitted that that record challenged him to come up with a wrapped hook just as catch's a sung one and that's when we got started from the bottom Drake talked about how that record was a song that he wish he made and he says when he hears songs like that he gets physically sick he says it doesn't happen often but it happened when he heard people in Paris he was like how did I not think of that ball so hard that stuff cray it was real rap stuff but it felt melodic all the cadences felt so good and that's directly what inspired started from the bottom now just a month after Drake's Rolling Stones interview Jay-Z quickly clapped back at all the comments Drake was making about Jay-Z using too many art references by teaming up with J Electronica to remix the song We Made It now it's important that Drake remixed this song first but on Jay-Z's remix of the track he wrapped sorry Mrs Drizzy for so much art talk silly me rapping about stuff that I really bought while these rappers rap about guns that they ain't shot and a bunch of other silly stuff that they ain't got and a week after Jay-Z's response Drake answered back by dropping the track draft day where he would clear the air on whether or not he was hating on Jay for talking about art Too Much Drake wrapped I think I'm on my eighth flow just watch me paint flow we all do it for the art so I could never hate them though Drake also didn't miss no pun intended the opportunity to remind Jay-Z that he's the new guy running rap and that Jay-Z is kind of washed as Drake wrapped I'm focused on making records and getting bigger Just Hits no misses that's for the marry folk now this bar is a slick double on trra actually it's a triple on Tandra cuz obviously he's referencing Jay-Z being a married folk but the MS part is also in reference to Jay-Z calling Drake Mrs Drizzy and he's saying that Jay-Z's last project MAG Car Holy Grail had some misses on it cuz at the time lot of people were saying that that album was kind of lackluster now later that month in April in a playoff game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors Drake gives an explanation on Jay-Z's absence from the game in an oncourt interview Drake said this is the people's team out here tonight you know what I mean Toronto Raptors Jay-Z somewhere eating a fondue plate now the Nets ended up beating the Raptors 94 to 87 which was probably karma for Drake's terrible joke and Jay-Z heard that joke loud and clear and he fired back very quickly after on DJ Kal's record they don't know if know more on his verse Jay took aim at Drake referencing the college sports theme that Drake had on his song draft day and the best shots come at the end of the verse when Jay-Z called stake soft he wraps guys talking down on the crown haters want a ball let me tighten up my drawring wrong sport boy you know you're soft as a lacrosse team now while these shots were very subliminal and many people could chalk them up to be a reach since on the surface Jake and Jay-Z's relationship seemed to be good considering the fact that they just did the pound cake record together Elliot Wilson confirmed that there was a cold war indeed going on cuz in a new episode of his podcast the bigger picture Elliot explained how he helped the two rappers squash their beef he said I got them back together I got them to talk around the time when Wayne was doing his tour with Drake in 2014 and they had a show in Queens Drake Came backstage and hugged me and was like I spoke to Ho we're figuring it out he was excited that they had finally talked and in that same summer that Wayne was on tour with Drizzy he drops a song called Duce it's a great song If you haven't heard it I definitely suggest you check it out but if you guys didn't know deay is the name of Jay-Z's liquor brand Wayne opened the song by rapping we on that Duce shout out my guy ho what your this would be the first time we'd hear Wayne talk about Jay in a positive light since 2011 before we on that do say shout out H it was Mr HOV watch out before I capture your wife and hold her for ransom Wayne spoke about this change of heart and the deay song having a shout out to Jay-Z by saying in an interview HOV is the god I'll give HOV a big shout out at all times but we was just on that deay heavy I don't write down none of my music I don't write it down so I just go in there and say whatever come to my mind so what came to my mind that night was what was on my mind that night then he was asked if Jay-Z would be featured on his upcoming album The Carter 5 and Wayne said I'm not going to bother that guy I'm not going to bother him he seems like he's pretty busy right now but you never know now in December of 2014 things took a darker turn as the Carter 5 experienced multiple delays and L Wayne randomly took to Twitter to announce he wants off the label that signed him all the way back in 1993 he tweeted out tell my fans I want you to know that my album won't and hasn't been released cuz burnman and Cash Money Records refus to release it I want off this label and nothing to do with these people but unfortunately it ain't that easy I'm a prisoner and so is my 2015 creativity and in January of 2015 Wayne filed a $51 million lawsuit against the label over his contract and not being paid what he was owed and the delayed release of the Carter 5 in February of 2015 Wayne announced a free album that he would be releasing while he awaited the lawsuit outcome and his ability to release Carter 5 the album would be called the free Wheezy album in the meantime Jay-Z was busy with his own business ventures he announced tidal which was a music streaming company that was purchased and now owned by multiple artists and would allow them to directly profit off the earnings that their music generated because they had Direct ownership in the company that people would be listening to the music on and because title promised to pay out much higher royalties than other streaming platforms like apple music and Spotify this seemed like a great Venture for the artist to directly invest in themselves now the artists who were part owners of the platform did a press conference in March of 2015 to announce the launch of title and it included Jay-Z Beyonce Kanye Rihanna Usher J cold de Mouse and even Lil Wayne's Young Money artist Nicki Manaj but two artists that were noticeably missing were Lil Wayne and Drake We later come to find out that Drake was actually supposed to be one of the celebrities that signed on for joint ownership of title but he actually dropped out around 2 days before the big announcement was made and in instead he decided to partner up with the Rival Apple music for a $40 million deal that would lead Drake to release his next album views exclusively on Apple music for the first week that it was out but that didn't mean that necessarily Drake or Wayne or Jay were on bad terms as in June of 2015 Wayne said I just signed a deal with my mother F and Idol Jay-Z many people thought that this meant Wayne would finally be leaving cash money and join rockapella records which was something he tried to do 10 years before this back in 2005 funny enough he wanted to to Jay-Z back then to avoid any money issues with Birdman but it never ended up happening and now he's in a $51 million lawsuit with Birdman however Wayne's manager Cortez Bryant would clarify that that's not what was happening in an interview with billboard he said the internet and blogs took his words out of context when Wayne was speaking about the partnership with Jay-Z he was speaking about his new deal as an owner with tidal so when Wayne said he just signed a deal with his Idol Jay-Z what this really meant was that L Wayne joined title as a co-owner to celebrate L Wayne dropped an exclusive track glory and then announced that the free Wheezy album the one that he announced in February of that year would be exclusively released on title as a way for Wayne to still profit off the music while he was going through his legal battle with Birdman and Cash Money when the free Weezy album was exclusively released on title TMZ reported that cash money would be suing the streaming service for $50 million and this was a bigger shot than Drake or Wayne could have ever thrown at Jay-Z because despite Lil Wayne's recent $51 million lawsuit of against C cash money they were still his record label and they objected claiming that title streaming the album was quote unquote A desperate and illegal attempt to save their struggling streaming service they further said that free Wheezy albums decidedly mixed reviews could hurt their efforts to sell Lil Wayne's albums in the future now a title rep noted that the planned lawsuit from Cash Money Records actually never happened they said no cash money lawsuit was ever served and therefore it was dismissed before it was ever started now in the meantime during the summer of 2015 while Jay-Z is helping Lil Wayne out Drake is simultaneously destroying Jay-Z's Rock Nation artist Meek Mills career as he took over the summer with his charged up and back-to-back disc records on charged up he actually dropped some subliminals at Meek Mills boss Jay-Z and referenced his absence of the acquisition of the streaming platform title he wrapped I'm trying to take the high road I still got love for my Idols I got me a deal with Apple and I still feel entitled but while Drake was taking shots at Jay-Z L Wayne and Jay-Z actually linked up for their first performance together together since 2008 on October 20th 2015 Jay-Z made a concert in Brooklyn to promote title and he brought Lil Wayne out to perform their song Together Hello [Applause] Brooklyn in that same month Drake dropped his 30 for30 freestyle where he referenced a big conspiracy going on within the industry more specifically Jay-Z who was trying to take him down he wrapped when the higher reps are all coming together as a collective with plans to end my run and send me a message message this was in reference to Meek Mill randomly calling Drake out for having Ghost Riders which started off their whole back and forth together now 2016 we get to 2016 and this is where things get even more interesting in January Drake took no time off he got the ball rolling early and he dropped his hard hitting track summer 16 where he was throwing shots at Jay-Z the most obvious shot was where he wrapped I used to want to be on rockefella then I turned into Jay that's an Ode to back in 2011 where he wrapped on I'm on one saying I feel like the throne is for the taking watch me take it but now by April of 2016 Drake surprised the entire hip-hop world where he got Kanye West and Jay-Z to link up as the throne once again to assist him on his record Pop Style however fans were pretty confused that Jay-Z only had like two bars on the record Kanye claimed that Jay-Z innocently just thought of a couple lines after dropping in on a studio session but some would argue that his contribution was a little more calculated than that in his 2001 record takeover Jay-Z wrapped and all you other cats throwing shots at jiga you only get half a bar F y'all guys and funny enough he only gave Drake half a bar on this pop style record but to make things even more odd the album version didn't even feature the throne so rumors of a feud began to develop people thought it was weird that Drake replaced Kanye and Jay-Z's part of the track with his own second verse in an interview with Zay low Drake spoke about it saying of course people want to hear Jay-Z RP so hearing him do two lines might be frustrating to a certain audience that just landed in my lap I just dealt with it according accordingly it didn't play out how I wanted it to as far as business or whatever goes so I figured it'd be easier to just go with my version he proceeded to emphasize his respect for Jay-Z though by saying sometimes we just fall on opposite sides of the spectrum it's always mutual respect but sometimes it has to be from afar I've expressed my admiration for Jay-Z countless times sometimes we just fall on opposite ends of the Spectrum in the rap world and they definitely were on opposite sides of the spectrum at that point because in July of 2016 Jay-Z links up with DJ khed for his record got the keys and Jay-Z addresses Drake's claims that he turned into Jay-Z by rapping people always asking me the key till you own your own you can't be free till you own your own you can't be me how are we still slaves in 2016 now Drake has made multiple claims that he's walked into his labels office and wondered where his checks went bman at this point is obviously known to slime his artists out of their money and a lot of these issues between Jay and Young Money derive from Birdman trying to take money out of Jay's pocket or compare himself to Jay-Z he's shutting Drake down by saying you can't be me until you get out of that slave deal you signed with Birman till then we'll continue being on again off again friends on the surface and I'll continue positioning myself in the industry to where I'm always ahead of birbman cuz as an executive he's my real competition JZ continued emphasizing these points later on in the song with a few more lines possibly aimed at Drake where he wraps real life I'm like Hove real life I'm life goals real life they're like me real life I'm like no now in October 2016 Kanye went on his St Pablo tour and on stage he went on a rant saying that Jay-Z got his Pop Style record taken off of Drake's album because of Drake's issues with MC Mill and his issues with title according to Kanye the song was scra due to streaming politics he said I wasn't on the album because of Hove y'all didn't get what y'all were supposed to get with me and Drake on this song because of some apple titled BS then a day before Drake's 30th birthday he dropped his collaboration with 21 Savage called sneaking that song featured a response from Drake to Jay's lines about owning things and he said you ain't own it right away you had to wait on people man I'm only 29 have some patience with us plus I never met nobody from my label I just pop up with the music and they pay me it's also important to note that Jay-Z didn't own his Masters until 2015 20 years after forming his label with Dame Dash and Kareem Burke Rockefeller records so Drake here is basically saying just like Jay-Z one day he'll get what's rightfully his it's also worth reminding that at the same age Jay-Z dropped Reasonable Doubt Drake had wrapped up the highest grossing tour of 201 12 and won the Grammy for the best rap album so Drake is emphasizing here that he's done a lot more in his career at that point in time than JayZ had done at that same point in time in his own career now at the same time of this back and forth between Drake and Jay Wayne would be showing Jay-Z a lot of love he did an interview with DJ Drama where he finally revealed the real full story about Jay-Z almost signing him back in the day he claims that Jay-Z low balled him when he tried to sign him but he also showed Jay a lot of love he said you know when I went out there to talk to him about being at rockefella mind you this was years ago first of all we were at the 4040 in the daytime and when I got up there he was talking it was Denzel Washington Derek Jeter I was like this is his click and they were up there just laughing at jokes and I just don't get them he literally sat me down next to him and he's like you ain't a part of this you know and then that man offered me $175,000 I said believe that I was looking like two teeth in my mouth is $175,000 my bottom teeth so we laugh about that all the time shout out my big bro hes we cool I can tell the story now right you know when I went out there to talk to him about being Rockefeller right when I got up there they up there just laughing at jokes I just don't get he literally set me down next to him you know say you Ain a part of this and that man offered me 175 I was looking like two tee in my mouth is about it all the time but it seemed like even though he never signed to Jay-Z's label he was still rapping it as if he was part of Jay-Z's team as in November of 2016 Wayne performed at T the creators Camp fogna festival and when he performed his song I'm me he changed lyrics that used to say I'm a mother effing Cash Money Millionaire and instead he wrapped I'm a mother effing Rockefeller millionaire rockefella millionaire this set off another round of speculation 2017 about whether or not he was signed to Jay-Z now we get to 2017 and Jay-Z for a second time in a row addresses and shoots down Drake's claims on summer 16 where he said he turned into Jay on DJ khed song Shining Jay-Z had a verse where he wrapped 12 solo albums all Platinum I know you're not out here talking numbers right I know you're not out here talking Summers right and Jay-Z also name checks 21 Savage by repeating the lines 21 Grammys I'm a Savage this could be in reference to Drake and 21's collaboration sneaking where Drake as we mentioned before talked about how he's only 29 have some patience with him cuz Jay-Z didn't own his Masters when he was Drake's age then a month later in March of 2017 Drake drops his album more life and on the intro track free smoke he says I didn't listen to hve on that old song when he told me pay no mind basically saying that when Jay-Z told him you know Drake here's how they're going to come at you with silly rap feuds trying to distract you Drake never listened to Jay-Z because at that point in time when Meek Mill came at him which you know as Drake claimed was an attempt by the higher-ups to try to get him knocked down Drake didn't back down he went full force and you know knocked MC Mill out with that back-to-back record then by July of 2017 J releases his 13th studio album 444 and on there is a song called the story of OJ you guys probably remember that song more for the remix that push and T did called the story of adadon which was arguably the most ruthless Drake diss track in history where he exposed Drake for hiding a child anyways on the original song Jay-Z wrapped you on the Graham holding money to your ear there's a disconnect we don't call that money over here a lot of rappers at the time took offense to this most notably future because he was very known to pose with a stack of money to his ear as if it was a phone and him and Jay-Z have their own issues let me know in the comments if you guys want a full breakdown of their beef but anyways aside from them Drake also seemed to laugh off that bar from Jay-Z in another attempt at trying to make Jay seem like he's out of touch with the current generation in a video he put two stacks of money to his ear and he says hello what they say about Myer ear I didn't hear [Music] that but then in November of 2017 they're on again off again relationship would turn back on when Jay would touch down in Drake's hometown of Toronto on his 444 tour during the performances that he had Jay-Z remixed Drake song kmt and know yourself on the first night Jay laid a freestyle over [Music] kmt and on the second night Jay-Z wrapped a verse from jiggle what over the know yourself beat J too much for me Drake was allegedly in attendance of these performances as well a month later in December of 2017 Drake and Wayne would team up for a freestyle over Jay-Z's beat Family Feud Drake shouts out Jay's right-hand man Guru for sending over the beat and funny enough Drake starts the song off by rapping Super Bowl goals you'll see why that's ironic later on in this video but it's also funny that 20 years later Wayne is still rapping over Jay-Z beats like he was doing back in 2003 only now he's had the chance to become the biggest rapper alive and Usher in the next biggest rapper alive with Drake shows you how Sol the longevity of all three artists in this video have been now here's where it gets interesting cuz in classic 2018 fashion of throwing Subs one day and giving hugs the next Jay-Z drops his joint album Everything Is Love with Beyonce and he had some bars for Drake and birdb on that record where he wrapped No Cap false you're not a boss you got a boss people getting jerked that stuff hurts I take it personally guys would rather work for the man than to work with me just so they can pretend they're on my level that stuff is irking to me here he's referencing the fact that Drake rejected the deal that Jay-Z gave him with title to instead partner up with apple music he's also saying you're not a boss cuz you still got a boss which was Birdman who was ripping both Drake and Lil Wayne off he's also saying that you know Drake can't pretend he's on his level or say I turned into Jay that stuff is irking to Jay he continues making fun of the difference in his and Drake's net worth and the fact that everyone around Drake on his OV La is broke and he's the only successful one off that label as Jay-Z wrapped Pride always goeth before the fall almost certainly it's disturbing what I gross survey says you're not even close everybody's boss is still is time to pay for office to them invoices separate the men from the boys over here we measure success by how many people's successful next to you here we say you're broke if everyone gets broke except for you but just a few weeks later they'd go back to being friends as Drake dropped his album scorpion in June of 2018 and one of the biggest takeway on the album was a surprising guest feature from Jay-Z the two collaborated on the song Talk up while he was on the European leg of his On The Run two tour Jay-Z recorded his verse days before the Scorpion album's release date he did the verse in like 2 hours and Drake recently just released a footage of the interaction and in the clip Drake tells his producer 40 that he plans to take a quick 2hour power nap so he can just be around in case Jay-Z had any questions when he recorded his verse I'm only laying down for like 2 hours while ho's doing the show I don't want him to hit me and be like hey what do you think into this and I'm not there to respond he's on stage now 2 hours from now is 4:00 an now like he's going to get off stage shower probably have a drink and then set back up with Guru to write and record to write and yeah so that's that's going to be that process is going to be 2 hours Guru Jay-Z's DJ and engineer shared some more details on the struggles behind Jay-Z recording that verse he said we were on the on the run two tour remember I'm the DJ Jay-Z hit me simply said set up a studio in the venue I'm like what but of course I get it done we go out and do a 2-hour show mind you he has to remember every verse from every album no backing tracks I'm DJing I can't miss a q or the musical director would kill me we finish the show we go back in the room to finish the verse but the problem is I have an Afterparty I can't remember what city or country in Europe but understand my parties have been set up months before the tour the promoter waited in the parking lot for 2 hours and I can't tell him why I'm late by the time hope finish the verse the internet that we set up from Live Nation is gone everyone is gone I had to tether my phone to my computer computer to send the session to Drake's producer 40 I made it to the club just in time for my set when y'all hear this work I sometimes wonder if you understand how much goes into it classic kns and I kill my set now on the intro of that same album Drake also addressed the fact that him and Jay-Z laughed over the subliminals that they've been taking at each other for years Drake wrapped taking shots with the goat and talking about the shots that were sending so it seems like at this point the complicated relationship between Drake L Wayne and Jay-Z has entered a more positive chapter it's now August 2 18 and Drake attended Jay-Z and Beyonce's concert in Detroit and after years of friendly sparring we got the first public picture of the two Titans together since 2013 backstage at the on theun 2 tour then by December of 2018 we get what's probably the most friendly gesture we've seen in this entire 20e back and forth when Lil Wayne gets on stage and thanks Jay-Z for helping him when he was down he revealed that Jay-Z even helped Lil Wayne with his taxes there people like Jay-Z he helped me when I was really really really down really really really down he don't want me to talk about don't want me to tell nobody Jay don't want me to tell nobody that man helped me with my tax these are real friends y' shout out to my J it's important to note that this was right after Lil Wayne made a settlement with Burman over his $51 million lawsuit and throughout the time that he was in court he probably incurred tons of legal fees he couldn't drop new music so he wasn't collecting new royalty checks and his relevancy was somewhat dinding due to his inactivity so his back catalog was likely selling less so his income was obviously VI ly less and less than it would have been in let's say 2011 now we don't know the extent to which Jay-Z helped L Wayne with his taxes whether he paid some of the taxes for Wayne or he just helped Wayne get his finances in order but it was later reported that Lil Wayne was once in $14 million worth of tax debt meaning he owed 14 million to the government and that's when Jay-Z came through to help Wayne it shows that even throughout their competitive sparring Jay-Z always had deep respect and love for Wayne and it seems like Drake had that same love for Jay-Z too and he was 2019 finally ready to put this regarding to rest cuz in 2019 he did an interview with Elliot Wilson at B do where he talked about Jay-Z their competitive back and forth and why their relationship never took a turn for the worst Drake said I think Jay has a lot of respect for me and he's aware of the massive amount of respect I have for him 2020 I think we both enjoyed our moments of him checking the young boy and me being like no I'm here then in 2020 as I mentioned before Lan would go on drink Champs and Jay-Z would admit that when Lil Wayne dropped his freestyle to show me what you got Jay-Z had to take a long look in the mirror and ask himself if he truly still had it finally admitting that way back in 2007 he genuinely did view low Wayne as a threat gunning for that best rapper Al position Wayne did another interview that year with Lil Baby where he again emphasized that in my lifetime volume 1 is one of his favorite albums of all time and he has Jay-Z's lyrics from that album tattooed 2021 on his leg and his neck now the next year in 20121 Jay-Z and Drake collaborated again on the song love all 2022 off his certified lover boy and and in the summer of 2022 Drake hosted his ovio world weekend and one of the nights was dedicated to highlighting solely Toronto acts think of it as a Canadian version of Kendrick's pop out concert but anyways while he was on stage Drake basically said Jay-Z inspired him to do an event like this where he highlights the talent from his City emphasizing that Jay-Z has inspired Drake in many ways I remember when I was about like 17 years old I was in a parking lot I was watching Jay-Z do a show it was like the first time Jay-Z had ever really like come to the city and shown us love I'll never forget we were watching and he was bringing out all his new acts like I think like tiar Marie and like all these like different I don't even know if you guys know who that is he was bringing out uh all these different people and then um towards the end of the night he brought out one of the most important people to the city he brought out a man named cardal f for me that was really a moment that unlocked something in my mind it made me realize that all this is possible you know so I want to thank him both of them for that moment but at that same time we're going to enter conspiracy land for a little bit because in that same summer of 2022 there were a bunch of rumors that Drake dropping a house music album right before Beyonce dropped her house music album had really upset Jay-Z and around the same time Tory Lanz was about to be sentenced for allegedly hitting Megan the stallion with a firearm in her foot Megan the stallion is Jay-Z's artist and Drake was very vocal in his desire for Tory Lanes to be free and he also took a shot at Megan the stallion on his album her loss later that year where he wrapped this girl lied about getting shots but she's still a stallion allegedly this bar also upset Jay-Z since again Megan was his artist and since then we haven't seen Drake mention or be seen with Jay-Z but 2024 in August of 2024 we did see Lil Wayne and Jay-Z together at Jay-Z's exclusive popup event where they were celebrating the upcoming launch of the 4040 nightclub in New York City in a clip from that night you see Lil Wayne and Jay-Z post up together and Jay-Z is bopping his head to Lil Wayne song Hustler music showing that he still has deep love and respect for that Prime Weezy music but now we get to the 2025 Super Bowl it's about to be hosted in New Orleans L Wayne has been very vocal about his deep desire to perform at the Super Bowl it would mean a lot to him since it's in his hometown the Super Bowl is in world I think is in 2025 or something like that I'm come I will not lie to you I am have not got a calling I'm I'm C J but we all praying you know we praying we keeping our fingers crossed I'm working hard I'm going make sure this next album and everything I do is killer I want to just make it hard for them not to highl at the boy at the same time Drake and Kendrick Lamar are engaged in their famous back and forth kendri drops the nuke that is not like us puts Drake to rest and simultaneously Jay-Z and Rock Nation entered into a long-term partnership with the NFL as the League's official live music entertainment strategist what this means is that Rock Nation will spearhead and advise on the selection of artists for the NFL 10 pole performances including the Super Bowl and they'll assist in the production and promotion of new music as well as culture and cause focused initiatives this basically means that the selection process of who's actually going to end up performing at the Super Bowl starts with a panel that includes Rock Nation as well as the NFL director of entertainment after the process of deciding on a couple names of who could potentially perform at the NFL Super Bowl the list is handed over to the Super Bowl's hosting City for a final decision ultimately based off what's published online this means that the city that the Super Bowl takes place in that year has the final decision on the candidates That Rock Nation and whoever else is involved in suggest to be the halftime performer meaning that they could say yes or no to any of the candidates now why people are outraged is because Kendrick Lamar the guy who is obviously beefing with Drake was announced to be the performer and many people thought that Lil Wayne was snubbed and that he deserved to have this performance people also thought that because of this ongoing back and forth between Drake Birdman Jay-Z and Lil Wayne Jay-Z blocked Lil Wayne from performing and suggested Kendrick lar instead a because he wanted to see Kendrick dance on Drake's grave on a stage as big as the Super Bowl but also because he knew if Lil Wayne was performing he would bring Drake out and Jay-Z wanted to avoid that from happening now people were outraged and not just fans you had tons of rappers coming out saying that Lil Wayne got sned first Master PE said that Wayne deserved to perform booy and Hurricane Chris went off saying that Louisiana artists aren't getting their flowers Cameron went absolutely off completely blaming JayZ for Wayne not being on that stage I love Kendrick Lamar we don't get Little Wayne in New Orleans for the Bo there's no reason why Little Wayne should not be performing in Super Bowl this one person who's stopping this is not really a secret little Wayne had a problem with somebody before who's kind of part of the organization running it this is payback who's Little Wayne artist Drake ha at this age is crazy crazy bro now keep in mind like I mentioned way earlier in this video If you stuck around then you know hit a little like a little comment but yeah way back in this video I mentioned Cameron was beefing with Jay-Z in 2007 around the same time that Lil Wayne was and him and his dipet Collective very publicly embraced Lil Wayne and helped him bring his sound to the east coast but the two people who went the most off on Jay-Z were Nicki Minaj and Birdman the official Young Money account tweeted we know the truth Birman tweeted out these people kitty cats and he tagged Nicki Minaj Drake and Lil Wayne and he said why I'm CNB I'm going to make these guys respect us on gladies but it was Nicki Minaj who went the most off in defense of her label owner little Wayne as she tweeted out got everything in the world still spiteful and evil disgusting be happy be effing happy in rap business in women business when you got the politicians and the police you good though plus that ugly laughy Taffy alien I'm not sure if she was to talk about Beyonce there but she kept going on by saying denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego your hatred for Birdman Drake and Nikki got you punishing Lil Wayne Lil Wayne the goat Noya what's good Eminem stood firm on having 50 Cent come out a white man stuff is sad and by the way you don't know the half of what Lil Wayne has done for me and others Wayne Had Drake and ey on his tour with no paper signed he was on all my mixtapes with no paper signed this man has literally changed the face of hip-hop the hair too if you know you know he inspired so many to tat their faces and get locks inspired your faves to want to be a great MC he was never in this for the money it's always been for the love of music God forbid if Lil Wayne was to leave this earth right now the culture would be in mourning that's why so many people keep saying to give our Legends their flowers while they're still around to smell them sitting around all day playing games with people's Life and Legacy God ain't sleep G Robertson you will learn that too very soon then she goes off on Jay-Z by saying he wants guys to lick his lollipop for a Grammy wants them to lick his lollipop to do the halftime show LOL glad I did it already LMAO threatening any Outlet who shows me love if you don't get gone God will punish you mark my words the man has not only pushed his pen the hardest but gave the game more than one hip-hop icon as well on his wife watch represent the rap game the best rapper don't represent the rap game well enough for you black people wow if this don't hurt your head to read it will one day look at how our Legends keep being treated after they've given us so much who are you you God judgmental swine delete LOL you will regret tweeting this life is funny that way don't you dare turn your nose up at Lil Wayne you can love and respect Kendrick and still love and respect Wayne even Kendrick loves and respects Wayne every real rapper loves and respects Wayne and again based off of sources online that come Direct IR ly from the NFL it's not Jay-Z who selects the headliner his people provide a short list of the options and then the host City decides who the final performer will be but we don't know how many strings he could pull and even suggesting Kendrick Lamar Over Lil Wayne when Lil Wayne claims he never even got a call from them to consider the possibility of him performing in his hometown shows that there might have been some agenda from Jay-Z against L Wayne Drake and Birdman or at least Nikki claims but we'll save Nikki's issues with Jay-Z for another video The Truth because ultimately this leaves fans as confused as they were 20 years ago all three artists obviously have a lot of love for each other but between their love and this underlying competitive rivalry amongst Jay-Z L Wayne and Drake they seem to sight and attack one another one day and praise each other the next now it's important to emphasize that this doesn't just stem from competition as artists it stems from competition as Executives and who controls the most power within the industry Jay-Z emphasized this when he responded to Drake saying that he turned into Jay by coming back with the bars till you own your own you can't be me and that's when the root of this problem pokes out pause but that would be Birdman whether it was Birdman sending lawyers letters to Jay blocking him from signing Wayne back in 2004 to blocking Jay from releasing Wayne's music on title in 2015 or saying he has more money than Jay back in 2009 and Jay coming back by saying bman doesn't even have Beyonce's money we could clearly see that money is the root of all evil and all these subliminal shots or industry moves behind the scenes show us that Jay-Z is not just fighting to be the top rapper he's positioning himself to be the biggest Mogul in the entertainment industry and in efforts to do that he's swatting away Birdman and his artists like flies by helping Lil Wayne when Wayne Su is Birdman but then simultaneously taking shots at Drake when Drake becomes competition to him or doing an album with Kanye when he feels the pressure from guys like Drake or Wayne or sending Kendrick to do the halftime show to dance on Drake's grave once again but as far as Drake when and Jay the story plays out in a similar Dynamic to how it all started Jay was and always will be an OG to the two hitmakers but throughout their ascensions to the top HOV always seemed to acknowledge both Wayne and Drake as respectable players in the game that he laid the foundation for Drake and Wayne were hungry constantly battling for the throne and for a long time they both struggled balancing their admiration for Jay while also wanting to Dethrone him at one point Dwayne was saying he was better than Jay while a young Drake would be praising hve and giting him hook for his albums then years later Wayne would find himself relying on and praising Jay-Z for the financial and creative assistance and wisdom that Jay was able to provide while Drake would passively aggressively say he used to want to be on rockefella until he turned into Jay and while it's hard to say today whether or not the three are on good terms it's important to remember what Kendrick Lamar said in his recent beef with Drake where he admitted that he's a selfish guy and the crown is heavy as much as someone might have taught you everything you know and paved the way for you to be as great as you are when it comes down to the name that you want to make for yourself sometimes you got to play dirty for the top position and in the process your Idols might become your rivals in Drake's case it seems like him and Jay-Z bonded over their Mutual frustration of Kanye's constant Antics which resulted in them putting their differences aside to collaborate and with Wayne he seemed to take a step back and let Drake chase that best rapper alive title and as a result he was able to learn from Jay not only on how to become a better artist but also how to be a better businessman and while Jay-Z showed Drake and L Wayne had a move in a room full of vultures he eventually had 99 problems and at one point due to their massive success Jay was forced to acknowledge that both Drake and Wayne were two of those problems and when questioning whether Drake or Wayne were Friend or Foe it seems like the answer lies in Jay's Own lyrics as his two successors were simply tending to do and they constantly leveraged Jay to do it whether it was through kodine collaboration or rivalry and competition either way to this day it seemed like it was no dirt off J J's shoulder there's a lot of little nuggets in both of their disses that if it wasn't for these breakdowns and salut of you know guys like this appaholics because I think they directly get it