"This is his country" — Elliott Wilson says he will not go to Toronto as he is "not cool" with Drake after Rick Ross incident

Hip-hop journalist Elliott Wilson revealed he feels uncomfortable going to Canada after his relationship with Drake soured because of the rapper's beef with Kendrick Lamar.

In a new interview with BagFuel on July 22, 2024, Wilson added he was not welcome in Drizzy's hometown of Toronto, alluding to the recent incident where rapper Rick Ross was jumped for allegedly playing Lamar's Not Like Us at a Vancouver festival on June 30, 2024.

"This is his country. It should be respected, right...I remember the first OVO fest. When he brought Jay and Eminem out, it's like you gotta go to his country, with your passport and s***. This is big. So yes, if I'm not cool with him, everybody knows I was once cool with him, I don't feel comfortable going to Toronto."

Wilson added he was more apprehensive about the fan culture than Drake and his team, saying that hardcore fans sometimes take things too personally.

"It could be fans nowadays. They thirsty and crazy. This Trumpian type era of n-----. These n----- is thirsty and want clout, like 'I was outside the Chinese spot and Kendrick talked about it', like, I don't want that cornball s***"

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Elliott Wilson revealed Drake cut all ties with him after the rap battle

Elliott Wilson was once on friendly terms with Drake, having interviewed him a few times in the past. However, his relationship with the Canadian rapper ended amid the Drizzy-Lamar diss battle, which led Drake to cut all ties with Wilson and unfollow him on social media.

Elliott Wilson also claimed that Drake assumed he was the mole who imparted information to Lamar. When he appeared on The Joe Budden Podcast on June 9, Wilson said the Canadian rapper sent him a rat emoji after Lamar alluded to having an informant in OVO in his diss track 6:16 in LA.

Wilson denied all claims that he was the "rat," adding that he did not have a personal rapport with Kendrick Lamar to be colluding with him. He also revealed that some "OGs" from Toronto warned him about coming to the city after the rap beef. In the May 22 episode of his The Bigger Picture podcast, Elliott Wilson said,

“I got the calls from OGs. You know, I’m not really welcome in Toronto right now […] I grew up in New York City — you know you don’t go through other people’s project, right? I would not go to Toronto if me and Drake weren’t good, so that obviously makes sense. So yeah, I just think it’s a tough time."

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Elliott Wilson declared Kendrick Lamar the winner in the rap beef

Elliott Wilson crowned Kendrick Lamar as the winner of the rap beef, expressing his disappointment at Drake's final diss track, The Heart Part 6. He hopped on a phone call with DJ Akademiks after the song came out on May 5, 2024, saying:

"I'm actually very disappointed in this song. The problem I'm having with Drake in this whole thing is that he refuses to view Kendrick as a worthy opponent. He still keeps little bro-ing him like we're in the Club Paradise days. I just don't think that's the right strategy. He needs to deliver bars and go at him."

Elliott Wilson also ranked Lamar's Not Like Us in his top 3 on his list of "100 GREATEST DISS SONGS IN HIP-HOP HISTORY: RANKED" in HipHop DX on May 14. The song was ranked third to Hit 'Em Up by Tupac and Ether by Nas, which took No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.

Kendrick Lamar's other diss tracks, including Like That, Euphoria, meet the grahams and 6:16 in LA, took No. 10, No. 13, No. 25 and No. 35, respectively. Drizzy's diss tracks, Push Ups and Family Matters, took No. 20 and No. 26, but The Heart Part 6 and Taylor Made Freestyle did not make it to the list.

In his recent interview with BagFuel, Elliott Wilson alluded to the rap beef continuing, adding that the feud that had been simmering for over a decade could last forever. He continued that Drake's team was "legitimately stunned and mad" at having lost to Kendrick Lamar and was struggling to accept that fact.

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Elliott Wilson is the editorial director at HipHop DX, Dime Magazine, and UpRoxx. The 53-year-old hip-hop journalist is also the founder and CEO of Rap Radar and previously worked as the editor-in-chief at XXL Magazine.