Drake’s ‘Iceman’ Era Could Be a Misstep if It’s Too Focused on Beef

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key TakeawaysRapper Drake leaves the court following the NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors at Scotiabank Arena on January 13, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. - Credit: Cole Burston/Getty Images

Drake’s Iceman era is officially here. After months of dropping social media hints, the rap icon officially commenced the rollout of his next album with a July 4th live stream where he strolled through his native Toronto in an Ice truck. During the ride, he soft-launched a song fans are calling “Supermax,” where he raps about venting on side-switchers with journalist Taylor Rooks. And before that, he fully debuted ”What Did I Miss,” a classic contemptuous Drake number where he’s melodically airing grievances and calling out those who seemingly flipped on him during his tussle with Kendrick. The record is strong, but it feels a year late, not to mention the odd optics of dropping a gun-laden video while pursuing a lawsuit where he claimed “Not Like Us” caused him mental anguish.

Drake’s brand is Scorpio scorn, but he can’t convincingly pull that card right now because the current incongruity between his stage persona and Aubrey Graham the litigant is hard to ignore. That’s why leaning all the way into vengeance could be a major misfire on his part.

More from Rolling Stone

Drake Addresses Fake Friends on New Song 'What Did I Miss?'

Canadian Politician Jagmeet Singh Apologizes to Drake for Attending Kendrick Lamar Concert

Drake, Smiley, Kim Gordon, Feid and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R16ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R26ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe

To be clear, “What Did I Miss” feels like Drake in full form. He sounds invigorated, comfortably in his wheelhouse, and offers fans some IG caption fodder. Contrary to skeptical critique of the track, the title isn’t him feigning absence; it’s about the all-too-common feeling of wondering what signs we ignored in friends who hurt us. He rhymes, “I saw bro went to Pop Out with them, but been dick riding gang since ‘Headlines,” which most people feel was a line aimed at LeBron James or DeMar DeRozan, two (former) friends who attended Kendrick Lamar’s Pop Out concert. DeRozan was onstage while his Compton comrade performed “Not Like Us” five times and appeared in the music video for the diss track. The Sacramento Kings’ small forward told reporters last July that Kendrick was “like family,” and he still considered himself friends with Drake, likening the rap beef to Jordan vs. Kobe playing one-on-one.

But Jordan vs. Kobe would have been a game, not a war of words where Drake claimed that Kendrick assaulted his wife (who had a child with Dave Free), or where Kendrick claimed Drake was a vice-possessed pedophile. Like Jordan probably would, Drake took DeRozan’s “Not Like Us” proximity personally, telling a Canadian sports broadcaster during a Raptors game that, “If you ever put a DeRozan banner up, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself,” and screaming “fuck outta here pussy” at him after the game. Drake is right to feel a way toward DeRozan and LeBron, another friend whom he has a tattoo of. If they’re his real friends, it would seem like they wouldn’t want any proximity to songs created to destroy him. Drake spoke on his dismay with LeBron, hinting at skeletons in his closet on the January freestyle “Fighting Irish,” but the track disappeared the same day.

“What Did I Miss” is the official, on-the-record grievance against both players. It would have been harder to deny last summer, when he and Kendrick’s beef was still fresh, and fans wanted to know how he felt about what transpired. But instead, he jumped on a remix to “Wah Gawn Delilah,” a joke track that feels like he was punch drunk after being embarrassed in front of the world. Essentially, one’s appreciation for “What Did I Miss” depends on how long they think it’s appropriate to hold a grudge. To some, his grievances are universal and justifiable. But for others, the song feels like too little, too late. To quote battle rap great Hollow Da Don, “that beef’s so old it got e.coli,” which is why Drake prepping to devote an album era to it an entire year after the last overt diss song feels obsessive.

The “What Did I Miss” video, which depicts guns neatly strewn out by a pool, is a reference to artist Gabriele Galimberti’s Ameriguns photo series, where he captured Americans and their immense gun collections all over the country. The visage fits the tone of war-ready lyrics like “niggas get punched in the face on some TLC shit, on the dead guys.” But it’s impossible to ignore that the bars are coming from someone who’s currently suing UMG, claiming the “Not Like Us” song was defamation that’s caused him “emotional distress,” as his filing stated. Just last week, during a lawsuit-dismissal hearing, Drake’s lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, told Judge Jeannette N. Vargas that, “there were 3 attacks on [Drake’s] home” after “Not Like Us’” release. One of the attacks was a May 7 shooting. There’s no evidence that the incident had anything to do with Kendrick; the mere implication is dangerous. The contradiction of toting guns during an open lawsuit is at the heart of Kendrick Lamar’s “Euphoria” assertion that, “I don’t like Drake when he act tough.” The Toronto artist has sold music fans many ideas in his three decade run, but rapping bars like, “what’s the get-back for niggas? It’s TBD” with an open lawsuit is the most tenuous of tightropes.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1cekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2cekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe

Drake taking on the jaded “Iceman” persona feels hollow even beyond the context of the Kendrick beef. The term may be a reference to serial killer Richard “Iceman” Kuklinski or MMA fighter Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell. But, to anyone familiar with Drake’s on-record vengefulness, it also feels like an admission that the perceived betrayal and hate he’s experienced have made him cold. Running with that nickname, however, ignores the reality that much of the shift in Drake’s public perception is self-inflicted. No one made him alienate his previous core fanbase of Black women. He’s the one that took unprovoked shots at women like Rihanna, and Megan Thee Stallion, said “free Tory Lanez” on social media, and used Halle Berry as his “Slime You Out” song art despite her asking him not to. His music never grew as those fans did, who view his misogynistic lyrics and associations with people like Chris Brown and accused human trafficker Baka Not Nice in a new light. All of this is why when Kendrick started his onslaught, he was riding the momentum of Drake’s longtime fans souring on him. If Drake is the Iceman, it’s because he figuratively walked in the freezer.

Some have compared “What Did I Miss” to Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 2,” the eponymous track of the Brooklyn rapper’s first post-”Ether” album. Dropped 11 months after Nas’ legendary Jay-Z takedown, he pleas with hip-hop fans to rethink the “L” they gave him in their momentous back-and-forth. He references his charitable streak, while surmising Nas is the type of guy “depositin’ checks / They put in they pocket, all you get in return is a lot of lip.” He downplays Nas’ substance, rhyming, ‘Cause you don’t understand him, it don’t mean that he nice / It just means you don’t understand all the bullshit that he write,” framing him as a hypocrite by asking, “is it Oochie Wally Wally or is it One Mic?” He also raps, ”Since I will not lose, they try to help him cheat,” which sounds like a line Drake could’ve used on “What Did I Miss?” Both Jay-Z and Drake, two proud men, couldn’t help but drop post-defeat missives, even if neither had any shot of changing cultural perception. It’s worth noting that “Blueprint 2” is the title track of an album that sits near the bottom of Jay-Z’s catalog for most of his fans. Drake may want to avoid repeating history.

Everything Drake and Kendrick have dropped since their beef has been put under a microscope. Fans scour their lyrics for possible references to the other. No matter what they do, they’ll be pitted against each other for the rest of time. Their post-beef careers will offer a particular demand for greatness that few artists are blessed (or cursed) with. But instead of leaning into acknowledging the beef, maybe Drake should explore a hard reset for his next solo album. Calling out former friends and throwing sneak shots at Kendrick over the course of a project won’t placate anyone but OVO stans, and it won’t win back the fans he’s lost over the past several years. There’s a cultural perception that the Drake era is over after “Not Like Us.” The multi-talented artist may not want to feed into that idea and instead deliver a project that exudes his versatility rather than his bitterness. For Drake, going forward, it seems that cultivating goodwill through good music is a more effective strategy than feeding sour grapes.

Best of Rolling Stone

Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs

The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs

All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked

Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.