Marcellus Wiley is not at all surprised by the current rap battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
The former All-Pro defensive end and sports media host says he picked up on the simmering rift between the two rap titans about a decade ago while interviewing Drizzy on ESPN’s “SportsNation” in 2014 after Lamar appeared on the show the year prior.
“Drake came on the show and he felt a certain type of way about Kendrick,” Wiley said in the video posted to his YouTube channel. “To me, it sounded like either jealousy or he wanted to really pat him on his head like, ‘Dog, that’s cute what you’re doing but you ain’t me.’ ”
Wiley says he was so uneasy about the way the interview went down that he reached out to TDE president, Punch, who happened to be a friend of his, to give him a heads up of what was said.
“It was fresh in my mind then, and so we chopped it up. They say, ‘All right, don’t do nothing, don’t say nothing …’ So, I was like, ‘All right, I’ll let y’all handle it,’ ” Wiley recalled before adding that he believes K. Dot has been awaiting this clash since then.
“What y’all are seeing now — the intensity, the volume, the frequency, why Kendrick stay ready, he ain’t gotta get ready, because, in 2014, he already knew where this was headed,” Wiley said.
Elsewhere in the video, Wiley claims sometime after the show was recorded that Drake’s team called ESPN executives to have the episode canned and even went so far as to imply that the “God’s Plan” rapper would back out on his much-hyped turn as host of their ESPY’s award show.
“You went on our show, dissed this dude, then hid behind your team, let them call our bosses, and told them, ‘Hey dog, if y’all let that interview go, I’m not hosting the ESPYs,’ ” the former San Diego Chargers standout asserted.
Though Drake has (thus far) had the last word with his track “The Heart Part 6,” it is actually Lamar who may have the last laugh as his most recent offering “Not Like Us” has become a national sensation having been played as bumper music on the “NBA on TNT” playoffs telecast, walk-on music for batters at MLB games, as well as becoming a certified club banger across the country.
“Not Like Us” also recently broke the record, previously held by Drake, for most streams in a single day for a rap song in U.S. Spotify history.
