The 10 Best Pop Music Shade-Fests Of 2015

Meek Mill vs. Drake

Okay, so this one also includes Nicki Minaj, but tangentially — mainly because of the gargantuan Drake bars “is that a world tour or your girl’s tour?” Let’s backtrack though. Meek Mill was really passionate about people tweeting about his album Dreams Worth More Than Money. He challenged his Maybach Music Group labelmate Wale for not promoting it, and clearly had some issue with Drake not doing it either. So late one night in July, Meek Mill decided to crack his trigger fingers and unleash some shade on Twitter, initially toward fiancé Nicki Minaj’s ex Safaree Samuels. Somehow Drake got thrown into the fire: “Stop comparing drake to me too…. He don’t write his own raps!” Meek tweeted, alluding to the idea that Drake had a ghostwriter, who Meek eventually called out by name: Quentin Miller. “That’s why he ain’t tweet my album because we found out!” He sealed it with a “tee hee” emoji.

Thus began a tangled web that many will argue having left Drake the victor. Meek tweeted, and tweeted, and tweeted, and tweeted. Meanwhile Drake headed to the studio and cut a series of diss tracks, starting with the fiery “Charged Up.” That was just the warm-up, as he pushed further with the venomous “Back To Back.” Still no word from Meek. A promise to premiere his diss with Funkmaster Flex at New York’s Hot 97 was left unfulfilled until Meek eventually barked back with the tepid “Wanna Know.” He peppered in some shade via concert freestyles, but “meh” is the word here. Rumor has it that peace was made, even after Drake made a whole scrolling marquee of Meek Mill-inspired memes at this year’s OVO Fest and Meek leaked actual Quentin Miller reference tracks. This beef was so meta, and as of right now it’s over… but it’s far from over.