Entertainment | Music

Behind the Chris Brown-Drake fight

Rumours of a feud between singer Chris Brown and rapper Drake have proliferated over the last few months

By Gerrick. D. Kennedy, Los Angeles Times
Published: 00:00 June 18, 2012

Image Credit: AP
Chris Brown and Rihanna

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News that New York City police are investigating last week’s brawl, reportedly between Chris Brown and Drake and their respective entourages at the club W.i.P. in Manhattan, will undoubtedly dominate hip-hop blogs for the coming days.

But as details, tweets, video and denials emerge, fingers are being pointed at a certain pop star as the catalyst: Rihanna.

For some time, rumours of a feud between the two have proliferated, but it’s only been in the last few months that fans and bloggers have paid closer attention (and dissected) this alleged beef. By now, everyone is surely exhausted by the story. But here’s a quick primer for those still in the dark: After Brown’s pre-Grammy assault on Rihanna in 2009, the former couple briefly reconciled. She then moved on and briefly dated Drake shortly after.

The Young Money rapper channelled his rebound guy pathos into the song Fireworks, off his 2010 debut album. Drizzy and RiRi managed to remain pals and used their sizzling chemistry for his and her singles (What’s My Name and Take Care, respectively). As speculation rose that Rihanna might have reconciled with Brown — after the former flames issued two remix duets after this year’s Grammys (this after people were already cringing at the irony of them both performing at the ceremony, separately, of course), including the sexually charged Birthday Cake — Twitter and gossip sites made it a sport to romantically link the pop diva with every man she’s been spotted with. Meanwhile, sites linked Drizzy with a few ladies, and Brown was busy with his current girlfriend, Karrueche Tran.

Now enter Meek Mill, a Philly rapper who is swimming in a sea of buzz and signed to Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group. Recently, Meek was spotted with Rihanna at a strip club. What could have been two friends just indulging in lap dances for his birthday was immediately twisted into something more. The rapper only helped fan the flames when he issued a quick jab on Twitter. “U took me off ya song cause she let me watch da throne! #dreamsandnightmares,” he wrote in the cryptic dispatch (known as a sub-tweet), inferring that Brown removed him from his upcoming album Fortune because of the rumoured fling. Brown quickly, and in equally cryptic fashion, wrote, “She’s a dream chaser! There are a lot of dreamers so she’ll be running forever!” — a clever play on the name of Meek’s acclaimed mixtape Dreamchasers.

Such messages didn’t stop there, with Drake jumping in and (innocently?) asking his 7.6 million followers, “Oh that’s your ho? That’s our ho too. Lol” before saying, “We get gyal eeeeaasy,” making sure to stress a Caribbean patois. Slick, right? Brown found the tweet funny, and Meek reminded whoever was reading (obviously, he meant Brown) that “dese chicks belong 2 da game ... not u! Never get confused and think that’s all u!”

Comments (1)

Added 22:33 June 18, 2012

no, no, no, i don't think DRAKE is inocent. it's obvious DRAKE is jealous because Rihanna is still in love with Chris Brown. CHRIS took RIRI away from him without any contact with her. CHRIS don't worry we're there supporting you, but don't fall into her trap AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous, los angeles, United States