Last week, Pop Smoke and Casanova got caught up in a rather predictable beef. It seemed to have stemmed from Pop Smoke, a burgeoning Brooklyn rapper, declaring himself the "King of New York". Bestowing oneself with the title has been a recurrent trend throughout the history of hip hop and every time a rapper does it, it incites dissenters. Considering Pop Smoke is still on the come up, fellow Brooklynite, Casanova, was not willing to let Pop Smoke's bold claim slide.
On Pop Smoke's newly-released song, "Christopher Walking", he raps: "She know that Papi outside, she know I'm the King of New York." It wasn't only the second half of this bar that Casanova took issue with. After hearing a preview of the track on Pop Smoke's Instagram, Casanova responded, "STOP USING MY PHRASE 'WE OUTSIDE' YEA MY PHASE‼️CAUSE YALL NOT OUTSIDE WE KNOW WHO’S OUTSIDE." He also tweeted that "NOBODY RUNS NEW YORK IT'S TOO MUCH OUTSIDE N****S TO FRONT LIKE ONE N**** HAS THOSE POWER TO CONTROL THE WHOLE BITY."
Pop Smoke initially refused to retract his statement about being the "King Of New York", but he and Casanova have found a way to put aside their differences. Casanova's latest IG post shows him playfully wrestling with Pop Smoke with the following caption: "BEFORE WE ATE WE GOT SOMETHING OFF OUR CHEST... WHO YALL THINK WON?" Meek Mill was glad to see that the rappers' heated standoff turned into a friendly one, commenting "G shit" with a ton of trophy emojis.
On Friday, Pop Smoke was arrested for stealing a Rolls-Royce, which was apparently borrowed for a music video. After news circulated that he was locked up, Casanova took to Instagram to advocate for his release. In retrospect, this was the first sign that their beef would be squashed. We will continue to provide updates on that case.