North American rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake were on the news for a lyrical war against each other. This raging beef has taken its flames to the NBA on the special day of Vince Carter and Toronto Raptors at the Scotiabank Arena with the comment and perceived jibe of Drake at the Sacramento Kings player, DeMar DeRozan. In a turn of events Carmelo Anthony, who in the past has shown enthusiasm to mellow down the rappers’ feud, has made a move. 

It is in this podcast 7PM in Brooklyn that the 10xNBA All-Star expressed his take on Drake’s insult at DeRozan. The host ‘The Kid Mero‘ along with co-hosts Rudy Gay and Kaz Famuyide brought up the matter while hinting at ‘Deebo’s’ presence at Lamar’s song ‘Not Like Us.’ This eventually asked the question pertaining to the validity of the rapper’s action.

The former Lakers star sought to make it simple: “He told you I’m upset, he been told you. I’m saying… like he’s supposed to be that.” But our host who wasn’t satisfied, was quick with: “he’s not doing too much?” The 40-year-old veteran had his justification while balancing the Kings player who had to take sides with his childhood buddy Lamar against Drake. As Melo puts it: “Drake was kind of hurt a little bit because of the relationship that he probably built the bond that he built with DeMar in Toronto.” 

Carmelo Anthony has a point since DeRozan began his NBA career with the Toronto Raptors as the ninth overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft. Since then, he shared nearly a decade of his career with the franchise until 2018. Among his 6 All-Star titles, four of them are with the Raptors. Drake, on the other side, is a Toronto rapper who took the ‘global ambassador’ role of the franchise since 2013, meanwhile joining its executive committee. A camaraderie was thus only natural between the two.

This calls for some insights into the current skirmish between them. 

The Roots and Consequences

It began with Kendrick Lamar’s dis track ‘Not Like Us‘ released earlier this year aimed at the Canadian rapper on which the 35-year-old Kings star appeared. Not only that, DeRozan made it to Lamar’s LA Pop Out Concert for the song. “Drake’s still my man, none of it changed” was his take then. However, Drake obviously didn’t see it that way which resulted in this public setback. 

The first of his darts occurred during the Raptors-Kings match, the break time of which witnessed the Vince Carter Jersey No.15 banner raised to venue rafters, while Drake was commenting for TSN: “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.” Meanwhile, Drake was not done with the broadcasting that he took it to the court as he appears to have called DeRozan “P–y.” 

This lit the fire for DeRozan to counter with: “He’s going to have a long way to climb,” as he wished good luck to the rapper doing that. Whatever, the Raptors win over the Kings by a 131-128 might have appeased Drake to some extent.

Having said that, it is hopeful to see the moves such as the one made by Carmelo Anthony here to make some amends to the heated debate.