A security guard at Drake’s property in Toronto was taken to the hospital after being shot on duty early Tuesday morning. This comes as the rap beef between Drake and rival Kendrick Lamar has reached a fever pitch, with the rivals trading insults about each other’s talent, sexuality, personal lives, and with Lamar even accusing Drake of being a pedophile and Drake accusing Lamar of being an abuser.
According to Toronto police inspector Paul Krawczyk, the guard was standing outside of the mansion’s front entrance when the attack occurred. The incident was caught on footage, but the shooter fled the scene, and their motive has not been determined by law enforcement. The guard was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital after suffering a gunshot injury. Krawczyk could not confirm or deny if Drake was at home during the attack. There have been no indications that Drake was harmed in any way.
“Information is very limited at this time,” Krawczyk said. “But as we get information, we will share it with you.” A prior police source had told CBC News that there was a drive-by shooting, and that the security guard had received a gunshot wound to the upper chest and had gone unconscious when authorities arrived.
Krawcyzk also said the police have been briefed about the rap feud between Drake and Lamar, but could not say if it had a role in the shooting as it was too early in the investigation.
Learn the benefits of becoming a Valuetainment Member and subscribe today!
Law enforcement received a call around 2 a.m. ET alerting them to the Bridle Path neighborhood, a wealthy mansion-filled residential neighborhood north of downtown Toronto. However, the initial call brought them to the intersection of Lawrence and Bayview avenues, roughly a mile away from Drake’s home.
Hours later, news services televised the scene outside of his mansion, which was surrounded by numerous police officers and had been caution taped.
The latest details on the shooting outside of Drake's home in Toronto via CTV News Channel: pic.twitter.com/t5Yt2aZs5B
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 7, 2024
A neighbor that spoke to CBC, Richie Lai, told them he heard three or four gun shots in the early hours of Tuesday morning, which were followed by the sound of a car speeding. “I thought I was dreaming,” he said. “I didn’t know if I’d heard what I’d heard, and then, maybe five or ten minutes later, I heard [ambulance] sirens.”
The rap beef between Lamar and Drake began when rapper J. Cole said on a song with Drake, “First Person Shooter” with Drake. He rapped “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me?” referring to Kendrick and Drake by his birth name (Aubrey Graham). They had been in a low-frequency feud since Lamar included Drake in a long list of rappers he was out to “murder” musically, with many subtle insults having been sent back and forth since then, but things had not come to a head until this year. Full re-caps of the beef, diss track by diss track, have been covered by the Associated Press and The New York Times.
Metro Boomin, one of the biggest producers in hip-hop, was also attacked by Drake for helping Kendrick produce his diss tracks. So Metro decided to release a beat to allow his fans to rap over it to mock Drake, promising the winner a free beat—essentially crowdsourcing thousands of new Drake diss tracks from the up-and-coming artists of the hip-hop world.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
Add comment