Drake took shots at Donald Glover during his It’s All A Blur tour on Wednesday night (July 5) in Chicago. A fan captured the moment and uploaded the footage to Twitter, showing Drizzy launching into his performance of “Headlines.”
During his performance, a gaggle of headlines illuminated the stage, each pettier than the last. One headline was a direct jab at Glover’s admission that “This Is America” was initially a Drake diss. “The overrated and over-awarded hit song ‘This Is America’ was originally a Drake diss record,” the shimmery orange lights read.
The Toronto native’s jab was in reference to Glover’s interview with GQ. During the conversation, the multihyphenate told the outlet he conceived the idea for the song in 2015, initially making it humorous. “I told [director] Hiro [Murai] the idea, and he’s like, ‘I really want to do that,'” the GRAMMY winner said. “The idea for the song started as a joke. To be completely honest, ‘This is America’ — that was all we had was that line.”
Drake called This Is America “overrated and over awarded” at the first show of his tour after Childish Gambino said it was originally a Drake diss ?
— SK⚡️ (@raptalksk) July 6, 2023
The track took on another life as time passed, almost becoming a “funny” Drake diss. “It started as a Drake diss, to be honest, as like a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, this sh*t sounds hard though. So I was like, let me play with it.”
Donald then revealed that his desire to take shots at “The Boy” stemmed from a 2014 live performance in Australia. During this show, Glover sent some shots at Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and ScHoolBoy Q, claiming they were of his caliber as an artist.
“If these other rappers think they’re better, they’re f**king not alive. I cut their head off; that’s every rapper living. That’s Kendrick. That’s Drake. That’s Schoolboy. That’s everyone. I don’t give a f**k; I’ll kill ni**as.” As he continued, he took other jabs at Drizzy’s singing ability, saying, “This ni**a think he Drake. Nah, I ain’t Drake. I sing better, I do better, my sh*t wetter.”
Later that year, Gambino appeared on The Breakfast Club, where he elaborated on his comments, saying it was his competitive nature.
“Every rapper should feel that way,” he said. “I said those rappers in particular ’cause I feel like they’re the best. I feel like they’re the best. Kendrick, Drake, ScHoolboy, I listen to them all the time… Kendrick is fine with it. Drake is probably not taking it great.”
