When we think of Hip Hop in the Toronto area, two names come to mind; undeniably, Drake, but more recently, Tory Lanez. Tory Lanez has made it very clear over the years that while he is a fan of the 6 God, he also wants to be his fiercest competition.
As of late, Tory has received broth praise and criticism for his shots at Drizzy. No matter whose side you’re on, seeing this ‘beef’ unfold is interesting to say the least. Let’s look at how this all started.
Tory Starts Rumours That He’s Drake’s Little Brother.
This is not really a diss, but Tory took the opportunity to hop on Drake’s popularity for a little shameless self-promotion. Drake was the centre of the world in 2010, enjoying the success of his debut album ‘Thank Me Later’ and his wildly successful single ‘Best I Ever Had’ in 2009. Tory received some attention when he spat a fire freestyle with the highly click-bait-y title ‘Drake’s Lil Brother Tory Lanez Freestyle In The Room.’
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0oRyIBYy8]
Tory Lanez puts up $10,000 to challenge Drake to listen to his music.
Again, not really a diss, but you begin to see Tory talking with extreme confidence, challenging Drake directly. He said that if Drake doesn’t like his music, he will concede $10,000. 10 Gs is nothing for Drake at this point. The video is corny and weird, but kudos to Tory for the confidence I suppose.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYl8W71hKbQ]
Tory Lanez Disses Drake in a freestyle on Sway in the Morning
A couple of years passed before anything else really materialized between the MCs. It also took a few years for Tory to get some recognition from the industry with his hit ‘Say It’. In 2015, Tory went on Sway in the Morning, one of Hip Hop’s most influential radio programs, and made an obvious shot towards Drake. In a similar setting, Drake rapped on Hot97 at the beginning of his career. He was chastised for rapping off a Blackberry instead of going off the dome like most other MCs. Tory used this somewhat embarrassing moment and clowned Drizzy saying “T.O. nigga, only spitting without a Blackberry.” He’s making fun of Drake’s freestyling capabilities.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSImvb-vWVo]
Tory Lanez Disses “The 6”, Drake’s neologism for Toronto.
After a short time passed and Drake didn’t respond, Tory decided to take to Twitter and declare that calling Toronto the ‘6’ isn’t cool. Jimmy Prime originally coined the term ‘6’ to refer to Toronto’s area code 416 as well the city’s 6 boroughs (Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, East York, York, and Old Toronto). Drake co-opted the term and began calling himself the 6 God. Tory has also been heard using the term in songs. It was clear that this tweet was a diss. Tory later took down the tweet and replaced it with a convoluted apology tweet.
What Tory Lanez talking bout?? pic.twitter.com/Q2SafHlevK
— DJ Akademiks (@IamAkademiks) October 12, 2015
Reign, Drake’s Good Friend and OVO Affiliate, Checks Tory Lanez.
So, Tory’s tweet didn’t exactly elicit the response from Drake that he was hoping, but it did get P. Reign angry. Reign is a close childhood friend of Drake’s and a rapper. He uses the term ‘6’ frequently in his songs as well. After the tweet was sent out, P. Reign took to Instagram to regulate Tory. Let’s just say, he wasn’t happy. Reign also highlighted the fact that Tory Lanez isn’t technically from Toronto, but from BRAMPTON.
Tory Releases ‘The New Toronto’.
On the song ’10 Bands’ from Drake’s ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’, Drake has a line saying ‘This that OVO, that SZN, this that new Toronto’. Tory released a mixtape in late 2015 called ‘The New Toronto’ in direct reference to Drake. The tape was littered with Drake disses, including ‘Kids from the West’ which is a response to Drake’s ‘Days in the East’.
Drake Finally Responds on ‘Summer Sixteen’.
Drake dropped ‘Summer Sixteen’ saying ‘all you boys in the New Toronto wanna be me a little’. Tory, now ecstatic that he finally got the response he spent 6 years courting, back pedaled from it saying that he was a fan and would never diss Drake. Shortly after, Tory released ‘Uber Everywhere’, a remix of the Madeintyo song where he attacks Drake’s street credibility. He later released a song with A$ap Ferg called ‘Line Up the Flex’ where he responded to Drake Summer Sixteen diss.
Drake Details His Thoughts on Tory Lanez in an Interview with Zane Lowe.
Drake, without referring to Tory by name, told Zane Lowe during a promotional interview for ‘VIEWS’ that he loves when people from the city try to be the best and make killer music, but he advised against trying to gain popularity by creating controversy, which appears to be what Tory did.
Start at 48:28
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcUVgyPAiB8]
Drake Disses Tory Lanez on ‘Still Here’ from ‘VIEWS’.
The hook of ‘Still Here’ includes the line ‘You’re not from the city, I can tell.’ This may be a reference to the fact that Tory is really from Brampton and not Toronto. Tory also spent a significant portion of his childhood in the U.S. This could be an extension of P. Reign’s diss.
The Dissing Moves to Dancehall
‘Controlla’ was one of Drake’s biggest summer songs. After releasing ‘Luv’, which was another dancehall inspired track, Boi-1da took to Twitter to say that if he hears one more terrible dancehall attempt, he’s out. Tory cheekily responded to the tweet with a link to his single ‘Luv’. Soon after, Tory remixed ‘Controlla’ and many people thought Tory did a better job. Drake, on his Summer Sixteen tour, while performing ‘Summer Sixteen’, replaced the line containing the Tory Diss to “all you boys doing fake Controllas wanna be me a little”. Now Tory has Drake’s full attention.
If I hear one more terrible dancehall attempt of a song I’m out
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) June 13, 2016
Tory Releases a Barrage of Drake Disses.
Seriously, it’s not worth going over every one. From taking pics with Quentin Miller to going to Philly to say that ‘he’s good in Philly’ (referring to Drake’s beef with Meek Mill) to making a song with Meek Mill about Quentin Miller, Tory was relentless with it.
Philadelphia Comes to Drake’s Defense.
AR-Ab and OBH Records responded to Tory saying that not only is Drake good in Philly, he has the red carpet treatment.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJa5KydTeZE]Boi-1da Disses Tory Lanez
In addition to the dancehall tweet, the Toronto area producer highlighted that Drake is selling out Madison Square Garden while Tory is ‘trolling for record sales’. Ouch.
One dude is selling out Madison Square Garden 4 nights, and the other dude trolling for attention & record sales. There’s levels to this.
— Boi-1da (@Boi1da) August 11, 2016
Tory Lanez Starts of 2017 with Drake Disses
In the song ‘Lick x Drive You Crazy’ from ‘The New Toronto 2’, Tory dissed Drake’s fashion sense and degrades the OVO brand. He reiterated how he’ll never be a fan of OVO.
This is where the beef has left off. It seems that Drake has taken a break from responding to Tory, but Tory isn’t holding up. If Drake ends up reading this, we have some advice for him. If he’s looking to respond, talk to N-Rimes:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Yuu0D115c]What do you think about the ongoing beef? Who’s side are you taking? Let us know in the comments.
