Drake’s lyric change fuels LeBron James feud speculation
What’s the deal with LeBron James and Drake?
The rapper fueled feud rumors with the Lakers star when he changed the lyrics to his song, “Nonstop,” which references James’ jersey numbers, during a Tuesday performance in Perth.
“How I go from 6 to 23 but not LeBron, man,” Drake, 38, rapped while on stage at RAC Arena, as seen in a video that surfaced on X from his Anita Max Wynn Tour in Australia.
The original lyric — from Drake’s 2018 album, “Scorpion” — is, “How I go from 6 to 23 like I’m LeBron.”
It’s refers to James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, changing his jersey number multiple times throughout his NBA career.
James wore No. 6 when he won two of his four NBA championships with the Heat in 2012 and ’13. He wore No. 23 during his 2016 title with the Cavaliers.
Many believe that Drake and James, who were close friends for years, had a falling out due to Drake’s rap feud with Kendrick Lamar.
Speculation started when James was seen singing and dancing along to Lamar’s song, “Not Like Us,” a diss track about Drake, while at Kung Fu Kenny’s Juneteenth concert last June.
On Wednesday, James posted a video of Lamar and said he “can’t wait” for the rapper’s halftime performance at Super Bowl 2025 in New Orleans. “He gone kill that s–t!!!!”
NBA stars James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook also attended the convert at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Last month, Drake called out his friends on his “Fighting Irish” freestyle, which was uploaded to Conductor Williams’ YouTube page and quickly taken down.
“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets, seemed like they loved every minute,” Drake raps on the track. “Just know the s–t is personal to us and wasn’t just business / Analyzing behavioral patterns is somewhat suspicious.”
Lamar won five awards for “Not Like Us” at the 2025 Grammys on Sunday, which Drake did not attend.
James has yet to publicly address any speculation surrounding his relationship with Drake.
