Drake is no stranger to taking jabs in his songs, and in his new single “Search & Rescue,” he’s apparently taking one at his frenemy Kanye West: The song features dialogue of West’s estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, apparently talking about divorce.
“I didn’t come this far, just to come this far and not be happy,” Kardashian’s vocal fry-laden voice is heard speaking to her mother, Kris Jenner, on their reality show. “Okay, that’s fair,” Jenner replies. Kardashian then says, “Yep, I saw it on the internet.”
The song’s lyrics are standard Drake fare about the travails of being a rich superstar looking for love: “I need someone to be patient with me/ Someone to get money with, not take it from me/ Look, they don’t even need to be as famous as me/ I don’t think I’ll meet them at the places I be,” raps Drake for the song’s chorus.
Drake previewed the song last week and posted the cover art Thursday, which sees him wearing a motorcycle helmet next to a woman, who looks remarkably like Kardashian.
Her name does not appear in the song’s lengthy credits — which include BNYX (with whom Drake worked with on “Jumbotron Shit Poppin”), Lil Yachty, producer Justin Raisen and longtime producer Noah “40” Shebib — but it seems very unlikely that Drake would or could have used her dialogue without permission. A rep for Kardashian did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
While West and Drake have a long and convoluted history that alternates between friendship and bitter rivalry — the two performed a joint stadium concert together in Los Angeles in the fall of 2021 — and Drake has not commented, but his father Dennis assured fans in an Instagram comment that “it’s just a song” and he’s “not trolling” West … Although it’s unclear why Drake needed his dad to say that sampling his erstwhile friend’s estranged wife talking about divorce is nothing personal.
The song is Drake’s first release this year, although it seems likely that the ever-prolific artist could drop a full album before he launches his “It’s All a Blur” summer arena tour on June 16 in New Orleans.