Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé made it clear where he stands on the ongoing hip-hop feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
The 67-year-old billionaire donned a “Not Like Us” shirt during the Kings’ 122-107 home win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. Not Like Us is the title of Billboard-topping diss track authored by Lamar that takes aim at Canadian rap star Drake, who has been a Raptors global ambassador since 2013. The beef between Lamar and Drake took another turn with Ranadivé taking a public stance—and in the process siding with Kings star and Compton native DeMar DeRozan, who scored 27 points on Wednesday night.
DeRozan was previously friends with Drake, as he was drafted by Toronto in 2009 and played for the Raptors for nine seasons. But the relationship turned sour, with the six-time All-Star and Raptors all-time points leader teaming up with fellow Californian Lamar—even making a cameo appearance in the “Not Like Us” music video. DeRozan was also one of several West Coast dignitaries who joined Lamar on stage while he performed the song during a concert at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., this summer.
Drake, who was staring at DeRozan from his courtside seat during the Raptors’ 131-128 home win over the Kings last Saturday, said on the TSN television broadcast that he would pull down a DeRozan banner down if the franchise ever decided to retire his jersey.
“He’s going to have a long way to climb to take it down,” DeRozan said, unfazed.
Drake’s banner comments drew criticism from several artists and athletes, including former Raptors standout Lou Williams, who called Drake “selfish” given DeRozan’s contributions to the organization. Williams publicly siding with DeRozan was noteworthy, especially since Williams and Drake were once close and Williams was name-dropped in popular Drake track 6 Man.
“It goes way bigger than his personal relationship with Drake, it goes way bigger than his personal relationship with Kendrick Lamar,” Williams said on the Run It Back podcast. “So, for Drake to say, ‘If you put up a banner and I’ll personally pull it down,’ it’s like, is it just about you or is it about the Toronto Raptors?”
This isn’t Ranadivé’s first involvement with Drake. Back in 2019, the star offered up his private jet to Ranadivé so that players and coaches could get to India for preseason games in a timely and comfortable way. The “Air Drake” travel accommodations, though, weren’t enough for the owner to avoid getting in the middle of one of hip-hop’s biggest feuds in recent memory.
