Drake just lit a fire under the rap world with his new "Fighting Irish" freestyle produced by Conductor Williams, with fans everywhere diving into his bars with references to the Kendrick Lamar battle and its ensuing rivalries. One of the most high-profile feuds that resulted from this was Drizzy's war with his own label, Universal Music Group, whom he accused – along with Spotify, iHeartMedia, and others – of allegedly and unlawfully boosting "Not Like Us." Well, it turns out that this dispute with UMG will seemingly not help him release new music, as the record company reportedly took the freestyle down from YouTube.
Moreover, this is presumably the video on Conductor Williams' YouTube channel that includes Drake's new freestyle, which fans noticed got taken down due to what seems to be a copyright strike shortly after it was uploaded. Of course, this didn't stop many die-hards from sharing the snippet online and spreading it like wildfire. If UMG is behind these takedowns, then we're sure they will have a very hard time scrubbing all of social media. But then again, it's a major label, so their power runs quite far.
Drake's Freestyle Seemingly Taken Down By UMG
Does it run far enough in the direction that Drake's allegations propose? We don't know for sure, and we still have to wait for a court of law to hand down a more firm ruling on it. But in the meantime, a lot of new music from the Toronto superstar emerged to kick 2025 off, including three new song snippets. One of them even seems to reference the beef and hopes to move past it, shouting out 21 Savage as one of the few real supporters that Aubrey Graham has.
Maybe these are all just speculative reaches, but will all the dots that Drake fans have connected so far, it doesn't seem likely. After all, who wouldn't expect him to rap about the 2024 situation in one way or another? Hopefully more music on the way, like that collab album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, focuses on quality rather than fulfilling this thirst for more feuds. But this freestyle, despite UMG's alleged actions, marries both philosophies.