Drake performs at Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park on Oct. 3, 2015 in Austin, Texas.
Drake shouted out New York hip-hop radio station Hot 97 at the top of his Summer Sixteen tour stop at Madison Square Garden on Thursday (Aug. 4) night, but not in a good way. The 6 God said, "they tellin' lies on Hot 97 and that's how it goes," during a freestyle near the beginning of the show, revving up a beef he's had with a few of the station's DJs. He then added, "I told 'em fire Funk Flex, then I'll come and do your show."
The shot at Hot 97 came just a few days after the station's Ebro Darden suggested that Drake once told him in private that he'd hit back at Eminem should Marshall Mathers ever diss Toronto's finest on a record. Ebro later clarified that it was a joke tied to Drizzy's ongoing beef with a member of Em's Shady Records crew, Slaughterhouse's Joe Budden.
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Ebro was quick to respond to the alleged in concert diss, though, confirming "yeah he [Drake] been mad at Flex," in a tweet, which was followed by a tweet from Hot 97's Pete Rosenberg.
Flex didn't take the situation sitting down, firing off a tweet suggesting that he had "a story to tell" on Drake this weekend during his Saturday shift, warning "u gonna learn."
On Friday morning (Aug. 5) Ebro and Rosenberg were back on air discussing the situation, tracing it back to last summer, when Drake's beef with Meek Mill revved up. "I'm enjoying it," Ebro said about the latest battle between the station and one of rap's finest (noting that Jay Z, Lil Wayne and Nas have all taken issue with Hot 97 over the years.) "Drake, you know and I know that the Eminem thing earlier this week was a joke. People took it out of context, ran with it, fine." Darden said he didn't think the Eminem "joke" was the cause of Drake's rant, which, contrary to some earlier reports, did not include the phrase "f--k Hot 97," according to the tapes reviewed by the station's crew.
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In fact, Ebro thought that Drake was smart to kick off his run of New York shows with some drama and make some headlines. Watch Ebro discuss the incident and Drake's history with the station.