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Hip-hop commentator Ray Daniels recently asserted that Drake caused individuals like LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan pickto take sides during his contentious rap battle with Kendrick Lamar in 2024. For those unfamiliar, both James and DeRozan had maintained a friendly relationship with the Canadian rapper before the rap beef.
However, both NBA stars seemingly sided with Lamar following the diss battle, as James was spotted at the rapper's pop-up concert and DeRozan made a cameo in the Not Like Us music video.
During the April 3 episode of his YouTube show, Ray Daniels Presents, Daniels stated that the Hotline Bling rapper "divided the pie" by allegedly making neutral figures like James and DeRozan pick sides.
"You just gotta learn the nuances of the communities and the people... and what I wanna tell Drake is, he has home court advantage, number one. Number two, you can't divide the pie. Here's what I mean by that. I'm friends with a lot of people. If two people I'm friends with have a problem, then my job is to remain neutral. Don't divide the pie, cos now you're making people to choose his side or my side," Daniels said.
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He also claimed that DeRozan's cameo in the Not Like Us music video was not intended as a personal attack on the Canadian rapper. Instead, it appeared to be a show of support for Lamar since they both hailed from Compton, California.
Daniels further compared the Drake-Kendrick feud to the Biggie-Tupac feud of the '90s, arguing that the latter represented a conflict between the East Coast and West Coast, while the former was merely a rap battle.
"Drake divided the pie when he said whoever is enjoyig Kendrick is agasint me. That's a bad move cos now you just drew a line in the sand that nobody even saw. They were just having fun. Nobody even knew that it was serious...You gotta understand something. The Drake-Kendrick beef wasn't like the Big and Pac beef. The Drake and Kendrick thing was a battle. The Biggie and Pac thing was a beef. It was on sight."
Ray Daniels claimed Drake "dividing the pie" allegedly hurt the rapper
During the latest episode of Ray Daniels Presents, Ray Daniels claimed that Drake "dividing the pie" allegedly hurt him. The commentator stated that the rap battle was not meant to be taken seriously and that everyone was having fun until the Canadian rapper allegedly made it personal by disliking the people who sided with his rival.
He asserted this hurt the 6 God, who, instead of "taking the L" after the rap beef, chose to legally fight Universal Music Group, Spotify, and iHeart Radio for allegedly colluding and "artificially inflating" Not Like Us. Daniels suggested that Drizzy interpreted Not Like Us's success as everyone being against him, claiming that this was far from the truth; the reality was that the Canadian rapper lost the battle.
Daniels also referred to Drake as the "king of new school rap" and Lamar as the "king of old school rap," comparing their careers and album releases. He pointed out that the Canadian rapper released albums frequently, which made him more accessible to people, while Lamar took three to four years to release an album, resulting in people cherishing his projects more.
He also claimed that Lamar entered the rap battle as an "underdog" since he was never the favorite, stating that Drake had the "fanfare" because of his popularity. He further urged the Canadian rapper to stop pointing fingers and "get back up and fight," insisting that the rapper was "too great" to give up.
"Drake had the fanfare, he earned that, he had the fanfare and Kendrick didn't, Kendrick was never the favorite so he came in the underdog. He came in like, "What you wanna do with this n***a?" And he beat him, and I think that hurt him, but it's okay," Daniels said.
"Ali got knocked down, Mike Tyson got knocked down, every great has been knocked down. And what do their coaches say when they get knocked down? Get back up. And that's all I'm saying. I'm saying don't lay down and point fingers. Get back up and fight. You're too great for that."
Exploring LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan's connection with the Drake-Kendrick feud
The 2024 rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake featured several other players, including NBA stars LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan. Before the battle, both NBA stars had a good relationship with Drizzy, as the Canadian rapper had a tattoo of the Lakers player on his left bicep. Meanwhile, DeRozan was a former Toronto Raptors player, whose global ambassador is Drake.
However, Kendrick Lamar name-dropped both athletes in his diss tracks during the feud. Lamar mentioned James in Meet the Grahams, advising the Lakers star to "keep the family away" from Drake to prevent any issues stemming from their association. In Not Like Us, he stated that Canada did not deserve DeRozan, rapping:
"I'm glad DeRoz' came home, y'all didn't deserve him neither."
Furthermore, LeBron James was seen at Kendrick Lamar's Juneteenth pop-up show in Inglewood, where he performed several of his diss tracks aimed at Drizzy live for the first time. DeRozan also appeared in the music video for Not Like Us, which was released on July 4.
Drizzy did not comment publicly on the situation involving James and DeRozan. However, many netizens speculated that the Canadian rapper may have taken shots at the athletes in the song Fighting Irish, which was released on YouTube in January 2025.
“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets/ Seemed like they loved every minute/ Just know this s**t is personal to us, and it wasn't just business,” Drizzy rapped in the now-deleted video.
Further rumors of tension between DeRozan and the Canadian rapper intensified after the rapper threw a DeRozan jersey back at a fan who tossed it on stage during a Sydney show of his "Anita Max Win Tour" in February 2025.
As of this article, neither LeBron James nor DeMar DeRozan has publicly commented on the feud between the rappers.
