Last month, Rick Ross played Drake’s verse during a live performance of Aston Martin Music, a song the two recorded together during a period when their collaboration was among the most commercially potent in hip-hop. The moment was filmed and circulated widely, prompting immediate speculation about what it meant for the status of a feud that had drawn significant attention across the genre. Ross reportedly encouraged the crowd to engage with his own portion of the song while the clip made its rounds online.
Drake’s reaction to the footage, shared publicly, was light in tone, offering no commentary beyond amusement. But the moment was enough to put the question of reconciliation back into the conversation.
What Ross actually said
In a recent podcast appearance, Ross addressed the situation directly and with the kind of measured candor that suggests he has thought about it more than he lets on. He described the fallout as unfortunate while making clear that any movement toward a restored relationship would require Drake to first reckon with issues Ross believes remain unaddressed. The implication was that the responsibility for initiating that process sits squarely on Drake’s side.
When the conversation turned to the music itself, Ross was unambiguous. The records he made with Drake represent a chapter of his career he looks back on with genuine pride, and he made the point that a person’s past work does not change simply because relationships do. He enjoyed making those songs and continues to enjoy them regardless of what followed.
In a separate interview, Ross took a lighter approach to the reconciliation question, joking that a bottle of his preferred champagne would go a long way toward smoothing things over with anyone in the industry. The humor landed, but it did not entirely obscure the more substantive position he had staked out elsewhere.
How the feud started
Ross and Drake spent years building one of the more productive creative partnerships in the genre, collaborating on a string of songs including Stay Schemin, Lord Knows, and Money in the Grave. The relationship began to fracture in the wake of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Like That, which set off a chain reaction that eventually pulled in Ross along with Future, The Weeknd, and Metro Boomin. The conflict expanded beyond the original two parties and took on a life of its own across social media and in subsequent music releases.
Ross later alleged that Drake had sent a cease and desist to fellow rapper French Montana in connection with a separate song, a claim that added another layer of tension to an already complicated falling out. The accusation suggested that the dispute had moved beyond creative rivalry into something with legal dimensions, which raised the stakes considerably.
Where things stand now
The immediate intensity of the feud has cooled, and Ross appears to be in a reflective rather than combative mode when the subject comes up. He is not calling for Drake’s head, but he is also not extending an unconditional olive branch. The position he has laid out publicly is one of patient accountability: the door is not locked, but Drake holds the key, and Ross is comfortable waiting to see whether he chooses to use it.
For now, the music they made together continues to play, and Ross seems genuinely at peace with that.
