It’s been two years since the Grammy-winning hit “Not Like Us” became the summer anthem that had the world jeering Drake. It’s been 15 months since Kendrick Lamar put the nail in the coffin of their historic battle by performing his legendary diss song on the Super Bowl stage.
But Drake isn’t done.
On May 13, Drake’s song “1AM in Albany” leaked online, and the reactions flooded social media like a dam broke. The Toronto rapper wanted all the smoke — reigniting his beef with rapper Kendrick Lamar. And also one of Kendrick’s most famous supporters.
LeBron James.
“You always made your career off of switching teams up/Please stop asking what’s going on with 23 and me, I’m a real (n-word), and he’s not, it’s in my DNA.”
With just two biting lines, Drake publicly shattered his decades-long friendship with James. Drake’s ferocity speaks to just how real the Kendrick beef is for him. How deep it cuts beyond chest-puffing theatrics. Drake, trying to shake the stench of defeat, is willing to burn bridges with anyone he deems opposition. Even long-standing relationships that transcend the rap world.
In 2024, after Drake and Lamar’s back-and-forth feud produced eight songs, the public widely deemed Drake as the loser. He may have clinched the last word with “The Heart Part 6,” but it didn’t stick because the public was too busy yelling “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably a minoooooor.”
So Drake is trying again. After two years, it looks like his wounds still haven’t healed. Dethroning Lamar seems key to Drake’s redemption.
He insults K-Dot’s height in “1AM in Albany” and diminishes the Compton rapper’s success. Drake refers to Lamar as Muggsy Bogues, a former NBA player for being 5-foot-3 and compared Kendrick’s 2024 win to the rarity it would be if Bogues “dunked for once.” Further attempting to strip Lamar’s credit, Drake claims “All you really did was cap like uppercase,” and “Your biggest moment was dissing me.”
It seems Drake did not only lose the battle with Lamar, but he lost a famous friend.
Drake and James share a long history. In 2009, the baller made an appearance at Drake’s “So Far Gone” mixtape release party, which Drake credited as pivotal for his career. Drake got a “23” tattoo to honor James. The pair’s friendship grew to the point that James referred to the rapper as “real family” in 2011. For years, they exchanged praise, public embraces and showed up to each other’s family events.
All of which came to a halt in 2024. The seemingly untouchable bond became another casualty of Kendrick, who ran victory laps for the duration of the year while Drake retreated.
The brotherhood was scrapped after James was seen vibing to Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” performance on Juneteenth, just a month after the song’s release digitally tarred and feathered Drake.
James became a bystander to his best friend’s public humiliation. He bobbed his head along to lyrics painting Drake as an absent father and a pedophile.
Drake promptly unfollowed the baller on Instagram. In June 2025, he covered up his “23” tattoo. The traces of their friendship faded along with James’s loyalty.
In September 2025, James told Complex News that “it’s always love,” for Drake despite the two being “in different places.”
But the knife twisted too deep for Drake to forgive and forget. He doesn’t want James, nor Kendrick, to have the luxury of oblivion either. A slightly longer version of the diss, titled “Make Them Remember,” is featured as an official track on “ICEMAN,” Drake’s newest album.
“1AM in Albany” surfaced just 48 hours before Drake released a total of three albums — with “MAID OF HONOR” and “HABIBTI” completing the trio. Whether intentional or not, Drake is certainly profiting from the buzz of the taunting leak.
So far, Kendrick is freezing out the iceman, refusing to bite publicly. The question remaining is whether Drake can handle the smoke he’s seeking, or if agitating Kendrick will burn him with 2024 deja vu.
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TOP ILLUSTRATION: Drake burns Kendrick Lamar and LeBron James on his leaked diss “1AM in Albany,” officially titled “Make Them Remember.” The Toronto rapper is set on redefining his legacy after Kendrick’s No. 1 hit smeared his public image in 2024. (Graphic by Jaxyn Good/The Express)
Jaxyn Good is the Managing Editor of The Express. Follow her on Instagram @jaxyngood.
