Drake made a change to the lyrics of his 2021 song “Knife Talk” in an apparent response to Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
On Sunday, Lamar performed a medley of some of his biggest hits, including his chart-topping Drake diss track, “Not Like Us,” which includes multiple references to the “God’s Plan” artist’s alleged interactions with younger women.
Drake couldn’t have been farther away in Australia, where he’s currently performing on his Anita Max Win tour.
The 38-year-old Canadian rapper couldn’t escape the headlines declaring he had officially been finished by Lamar’s impish delivery of the song’s popular line: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young.”
While Drake has yet to directly address Lamar’s halftime show, as well as his five Grammy wins stemming from “Not Like Us” the week prior, the “One Dance” hitmaker seemingly made an indirect reference to it during his Monday concert in Melbourne.
In clips of his show circulating social media, Drake can be heard singing a portion of his song “Knife Talk” from his Certified Lover Boy album.
In the original recording of the song, the second verse ends with: “Beef is live, spoiler alert, this n***a dies.” However, during his show, Drake changed the lyrics to: “Beef is live, spoiler alert, I never died.”
The Independent has contacted Drake’s representatives for further comment.
Before Lamar’s jaw-dropping show, many questioned whether he would perform the track. He even played into the intrigue throughout the set.
“I want to make a move,” he teased at one point, as a brief portion of “Not Like Us” played. “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue. Maybe I’ll think about it.”
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Last month, it emerged that Drake is now suing his own record label, Universal Music Group — to which Lamar is also signed — over its release of “Not Like Us.”
Lamar is not named in the suit, but Drake alleges that Universal “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”
UMG denied Drake’s accusations of defamation, sharing a statement with The Independent that said: “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical.”
