Who Is Drake Taking Shots At On His New ‘Fighting Irish Freestyle’?

Drake released a new song called “Fighting Irish Freestyle” by surprise on Friday (January 3), and it finds him getting a lot off his chest.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given his bombshell legal claims against Spotify, the track is not available on streaming services. Instead, it was initially released as a VHS-style video on YouTube by Griselda affiliate Conductor Williams, who produced the song and previously worked with Drizzy on For All The Dogs Scary Hours Edition.

The video was quickly removed for unknown reasons, but a higher quality version was later shared (and remains) on Instagram by Toronto-based photographer Cindy Jordi, who shot the clip.

“Fighting Irish Freestyle” is not the 6 God’s first release since his high-profile beef with Kendrick Lamar (he dropped a handful of 100 Gigs loosies last summer), but it is his most pointed (and arguably his best) as he addresses those who either attacked him or betrayed him in 2024.

From LeBron James and Kendrick Lamar to DeMar DeRozan and Lil Wayne, social media is buzzing over the potential targets of Drake’s latest track. Let’s break it down.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CINDY 🇦🇱 (@cindyyjo)

LeBron James?

King James seems to be the main target of “Fighting Irish Freestyle.” For starters, the song title appears to reference the nickname of LeBron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary High School basketball team in Akron, Ohio. Drake even has a tattoo of LeBron in his now-famous “Irish” high school jersey on his left arm.

“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets / Seemed like they loved every minute / Just know this shit is personal to us, and it wasn’t just business”

Here, Drizzy seems to be referencing LeBron clearly enjoying himself at Kendrick Lamar’s Pop Out concert in Inglewood last summer. Bron supported the Compton rap star throughout the beef and was just recently filmed rapping his GNX track “Man at the Garden” word for word at his 40th birthday party.

The four-time NBA champion did, however, show love to Drake following his widely perceived defeat to Kendrick, so it’s not like he completely abandoned The Boy.

LeBron attends Pop out and can’t stop himself to dance while Kendrick performs Not Like Us pic.twitter.com/FXwMYAILNR

— Hiiipower – TDE News (@hiiipowers) January 4, 2025

“‘Member we tradin’ watches? I gave you that Arabic dial, you gave me a numbered edition / You would even check up on my son like a pediatrician / Sure convinced the gang this shit was rooted in love when it isn’t / Show me how different we are, there’s blessings in juxtaposition”

Drake and LeBron have been pictured wearing timepieces that fit these descriptions.

“Remember we traded watches I gave you the arabic dial and you gave me the numbered edition”

Looks like Drake had some words for Lebron James on his new “Fighting Irish” freestyle pic.twitter.com/6U9yYcAGTo

— Shotta (@ShottaSV) January 3, 2025

“I guess now you boys gotta abandon your summer tradition / Cold shoulders I gave in the Hamptons, it come with the distance / Figured we was always gon’ be close, like ovens and kitchens / I was sadly mistaken, the loyalty wasn’t a given”

More lines that appear to lament LeBron’s perceived disloyalty. LeBron’s “summer tradition” has included attending Drake’s OVO Fest and Toronto’s Caribbean carnival Caribana.

Many have speculated that the “cold shoulder” line refers to Drake giving LeBron the silent treatment at billionaire Michael Rubin’s Fourth of July white party in the Hamptons last summer. We know Drizzy was there, but there’s actually no evidence that the Lakers star was in attendance as well.

Kendrick Lamar?

“I don’t have a drinkin’ problem, I got a subtle addiction / I got my father’s habits and I got my mother’s permission / My dad has another child, I told him that wasn’t my sister / Grew up with dozens of Jews, churches with dozens of Christians / Also, developed a deep respect for the Muslim religion / I’m starin’ at my daddy while y’all tell me I wasn’t that n-gga”

It’s no surprise that “Fighting Irish Freestyle” contains at least a couple of jabs at Kendrick Lamar. With these closing lines, Drake offers a belated rebuttal to K. Dot’s spooky, surgical diss song “Meet the Grahams.”

On that track, Lamar addressed the 6 God’s parents, among other family members, and dismantled Drizzy’s entire character, including accusing him of having “gambling problems, drinking problems, pill-popping and spending problems.”

“This n-gga pulled a rabbit out the hat, and y’all love a magician / It’s funny to see you all rejoicin’ and huggin’ and kissin’ / What are we celebratin’? I’ll rent out the club in addition / Nothing was the same with all you bitches and nothing’s forgiven”

The “magician” line is open to interpretation, but one theory is that Drake is implying Kendrick’s explosive allegations about him — that he’s a “certified pedophile” who runs with other sex offenders and secretly fathered a daughter — were as fake as a magic trick lapped up by a gullible audience.

“It’s funny to see you all rejoicin’ and huggin’ and kissin'” feels like a more explicit reference to the positive reception to Kendrick’s diss songs and him being crowned by many as the winner of their beef.

“N-ggas wanted trouble, grabbed the shovel and dug up some ditches / Cover my body in dirt but that wasn’t me / That wasn’t me / That was a body double and we’ve done dozens of switches”

Despite coming off second best in their feud, Drake has defiantly refused to acknowledge defeat. These lyrics feel like the latest example of him attempting to brush off the loss and reframe the outcome of the battle.

DeMar DeRozan?

“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets / Seemed like they loved every minute / Just know this shit is personal to us, and it wasn’t just business”

In addition to LeBron James, these lines are almost certainly aimed at fellow NBA star DeMar DeRozan. The Compton native was one of Kendrick’s biggest cheerleaders in his beef with Drake, not only joining him on stage at the Pop Out show but appearing in his “Not Like Us” music video.

Drake developed a friendship with DeRozan when he was a star player for the Toronto Raptors, so it’s understandable why he would feel betrayed. Aubrey made this abundantly clear when he taunted and mean-mugged the current Sacramento King when he played in Toronto late last year.

Drake to Demar Derozan as he walks by 'F*CK OUTTA HERE P*SSY' pic.twitter.com/5TdBHs8yx7

— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) November 3, 2024

“And n-ggas cried the blues for you, sayin’ it wasn’t malicious / Talkin’ ’bout we family, well, I’m not the cousin to visit”

This appears to be a slick dual reference to DeRozan’s Crip ties and his visit to Drake’s house in 2018 after he was traded away from the Raptors. “Me and him sat and talked for a couple of hours,” DeRozan told ESPN’s Chris Hayes. “Not even on some hoops stuff. Just to hear the words that come from him being the person that he is in this world, especially in Toronto. What I meant to this city. It was what I needed.”

Lil Wayne?

“Cold shoulders I gave in the Hamptons, it come with the distance”

Okay, so we’ve established that this specific line probably wasn’t aimed at LeBron James given his absence at Michael Rubin’s Hamptons white party. Instead, there are reasons to believe that it was for Lil Wayne.

Weezy was one of many A-list guests at the July 4th party and made some interesting comments afterwards, claiming that GloRilla was “the only person who came up to me and really hollered at me.” You’d expect Drake to at least say hi to the guy who signed him to his first deal, helped him become a global superstar and with whom he’s made countless songs with over the last 15 years, right? Apparently not.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Michael Rubin (@michaelrubin)

That wasn’t the first sign of tension between the longtime collaborators. To the surprise of many, the often outspoken Wayne remained largely silent throughout Drake’s feud with Kendrick. The closest he came to supporting his one-time protégé was changing Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” lyrics to “they don’t like us” while holding up an OVO owl chain during a live performance.

The Young Money boss was even accused of betraying Drake by rocking a chain with an XO pendant — a nod to the record label of Drizzy’s friend-turned-foe The Weeknd — in a Mike WiLL-Made It music video. Wayne, of course, had no problem speaking up when Kendrick was announced as the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performer in his hometown of New Orleans, though.

Lil Wayne raps “they don’t like us” over he and Drake’s “The Motto” during his performance in Las Vegas over the weekend.

He’s seen wearing an OVO owl chain 🤞pic.twitter.com/QJSBZfrN7V

— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) July 15, 2024

Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, The Weeknd and his other “20 v. 1” opponents?

“I don’t give a fuck about you snakes or these other musicians / N-ggas started fuckin’ with my family, I’m goin’ to prison / And we all crashin’ out together, my brothers complicit / Who put a pipe bomb in your trunk? It wasn’t Xzibit / I’m tryna blow the doors off that bitch when you touch the ignition / But then I gotta remember who made this shit come to fruition”

Drake certainly dealt with snakes in the grass last year when a number of artists he was previously close with — Rick Ross, Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky and even Future — suddenly turned on him.

The Xzibit pipe bomb bar is a funny nod to Pimp My Ride and possibly the X deep cut “Concrete,” which includes the lines: “I’m the mechanic with a pipe bomb that fits your car / Ka-boom! Now I assume your homies wanna retaliate.” But after retreating in his beef with Kendrick following the underwhelming reception to “The Heart Part 6,” the tough talk just feels empty and hollow.

Universal Music Group?

“Who’s got the most to lose and who’s in that other position? / Signal conversations, boy, I hope they got double encryption / I hate to see the empire crumble on judge’s convictions”

An apparent warning to Universal Music Group, with whom Drake is currently embroiled in a bitter legal dispute. The rapper filed two pre-action petitions against the music giant in November accusing them of conspiring with Spotify and various radio stations to give Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” an illegal leg-up.

Drake has yet to file an actual lawsuit against UMG, which is the parent company of both his label Republic and Kendrick’s longtime home of Interscope, but two court hearings are scheduled in the case this month.