The rap world witnessed a heated exchange between two of its biggest names, Metro Boomin and Drake, over the weekend. The producer and the rapper traded shots on social media over the streaming success and award recognition of their respective albums, Heroes & Villains and Her Loss.
The drama started when a Twitter user posted a comparison of the streaming numbers of the two albums, showing that Heroes & Villains had more streams in a single year (3.7 billion) than any other rap album since 2018, and that it was currently generating more than twice the amount of daily streams as Her Loss.
Metro Boomin, who produced Heroes & Villains with features from Future, Gunna, Young Thug, The Weeknd, and others, responded to the tweet with a now-deleted message, expressing his frustration over the lack of accolades for his album.
"Yet Her Loss keeps winning rap album of the year over H&V," he wrote. "Proof that award shows are just politics and not for me. Idc about awards honestly, the true award and REWARD is knowing that the music I spend so much time on brings joy to people's everyday lives."
Drake, who collaborated with 21 Savage on Her Loss, which included the hit single "More M's" produced by Metro Boomin, seemed to take offense at the producer's comments and fired back on his Instagram stories. He quoted a line from JAY-Z's "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" that read: "Damn, little mans, I'm just tryin' to do me/ If the record's two mil, I'm just tryin' to move three."
The subtle diss did not go unnoticed by fans and media outlets, who speculated that the relationship between the two hitmakers was strained. Metro Boomin and Drake have worked together on several songs in the past, such as "Jumpman", "Knife Talk", and "Trance". However, Metro Boomin revealed in an interview with DJ Drama earlier this year that he decided to leave Drake's verse off "Trance", which also featured Travis Scott and Young Thug, because he felt the song was already complete without him.
"He really wanted to get on it but I was letting him know that it was really just done for real. I was like, 'Bro, I ain't trying to sell you no dream. I'm locked in where it was,'" Metro Boomin said. "He did some stuff, a couple parts was cool but like I just felt like just even with like Slime verse and Trav verse and the outro, it wasn't just no room. It wasn't nothing personal."
Neither Metro Boomin nor Drake have addressed the issue further, but fans are hoping that the two will resolve their differences and make more music together in the future.
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