Drake Might Be Using His New Song, “Laugh Now Cry Later,” To Take Shots At Kanye West
October’s Very Own Drizzy Drake has returned to streaming platforms with a new single, “Laugh Now Cry Later,” featuring Lil Durk. As the track is trending on Twitter and YouTube with an incredible music video filled with millions of dollars of Nike Merchandise, Mercedes Cars and collective net worth between special guests in the video, it could be easy to ignore the substance of the song. As an artist, Drake is no stranger to using subliminal disses to target artists or people that he doesn’t like. In this case, he fills his music video and lyrics with disses at Kanye West.
Kanye and Drake have an interesting history dating back to 2013, where both individuals have publicly spoken about their issues with one another. This newest song simply adds another series of jabs from Drake in their lengthy fight. As Drake begins the track he drives up to Nike Headquarters. Notably, Drake and Kanye West have brand deals with rivaling companies. Drake is partnered with Nike, while Kanye is partnered with Adidas. Drake has taken shots at Kanye’s partnership with Adidas before, saying “don’t wear no 350s round me,” in French Montana’s song, “No Stylist.” The “350s” refer to one of Kanye’s shoes with Adidas.
As the chorus begins, he sings, “We took a trip, we on your block and it’s like a ghost town.” Notably, Kanye and Drake live a block away from each other in Calabasas, and “Ghost Town” is the name of one of the songs on Kanye West’s 2018 album, Ye. As he begins his verse, Drake says, “please don’t play that n*ggas songs in this party, I can’t even listen to that.” Again, this is likely a shot at both Pusha T and Kanye West, given his public beefs with them. Drake takes another jab at one of Kanye West’s business partners, GAP. Drake says, “Distance between us is not like a store, this isn’t a closable gap.” Kanye West recently signed a 10-year partnership deal with GAP, and Drake seems to suggest that the GAP store won’t be able to close the gap on reaching relevancy.
There are more subtle shots that Drake takes, especially in the song’s music video. Firstly, the song features another Chicago artist, Lil Durk, who even wears a Chicago Bulls hat during the video. Thus, an underlying message could be sent to Kanye about Drake working with a prominent Chicago artist besides him. Additionally, Drake makes fun of himself crying in the video, even saying “I gotta have a warrior spirit.” Kanye West is known for his mental breakdowns and emotional moments. Moreover, Kanye West has mentioned how Drake’s actions have affected his “spirit” in a video taken while Kanye was in Chicago. Thus, Drake could be directly mocking Kanye West.
Overall, another Drake release means that this song will be circulating for a good amount of time. Let’s see if Drake comments on these subliminal disses, and furthermore, if Kanye takes offense and responds.