Dave East's Survival album arrived last week and was filled with 20-tracks with strong features by DJ Premier, J. Black, Teyana Taylor, Lil Baby, Rick Ross, The-Dream, Fabolous, Jacquees, Mozzy, Gunna and more. The 14th offering on the tape, "Night Shift" featuring Lil Baby, was initailly supposed to feature Kodak Black but due to past remarks Kodak made about Lauren London, Dave scraped the idea.
As we know, Nipsey Hussle was a good friend of Dave's and the duo had a connection that was "deeper than rap." After the tragic, untimely passing of Nipsey, Kodak made inappropriate comments about Lauren London's widow status on Instagram Live that resulted in some serious backlash from the hip hop community. It's for that reason, along with Dave's conscious, why he dropped Kodak from his album.
"Anybody—I don't care who it might have been—don't speak on that man after he's gone if it's not in a positive light. Don't speak on that man's woman, that man's kids. Don't bring that man up," Dave told Big Boy in a recent interview. "I just couldn't have a song called 'The Marathon Continues' where I'm talking to my brother—and he's on it—and a few songs before it, you know."
Despite Dave's removal of Kodak, he doesn't harbour any ill feelings towards him. "But like I said, I don't have no problems with homie. Free Kodak Black."
Watch the conversation at the 56:30 below.