• Drake dissed Rick Ross on “Make Them Pay” from his new album Iceman, one of three albums he dropped on May 15
• Ross fired back on Instagram Stories, calling Drake “washed” and his three new projects “mid”
• Ross admitted he hadn’t actually listened to the albums yet, saying “I’m just going by what you guys say”
• Ross is dropping his own album Set in Stone on June 12 and has promised diss tracks are coming
• The two former collaborators have been at war since Ross sided with Kendrick Lamar during the 2024 rap beef

Rick Ross didn’t need to listen to Drake’s new music to have opinions about it. After Drake dropped not one but three albums on May 15 — Iceman, Habibti, and Maid of Honour — and took a shot at Ross in the process, Rozay went straight to Instagram Stories with a reaction that was equal parts roast session and victory lap.

The diss in question comes on “Make Them Pay,” where Drake raps, “Dog, I was aidin’ Ross with streams before Adin Ross had ever streamed” — a wordplay-heavy jab suggesting he’s responsible for Rick Ross’s commercial success, while also name-dropping his close friend, streamer Adin Ross. The line landed with fans immediately, many reading it as Drake reminding his former collaborator exactly who helped put him on the map.

Ross wasn’t impressed. In a series of Instagram Stories, he pulled up the comments section on a Complex post about the diss and started reading aloud. “Damn, n***as say three albums of trash… two years too late,” he said, laughing through it. “What site is this? Complex? The glazer university… Oh my God.”

From there, things got messier. Ross turned the clip into a full roast, calling out podcasters Rory and Mal for what he described as shameless Drake fandom. “Come on guys, stop,” he said. “Let’s all leave little mans alone now, man. He did it, he dropped three mid projects. Hey man, it was fun while it lasted. You’re washed.” Then, directly addressing the podcast duo: “Rory and Mal, get off your knees. Get the testicles out of your mouth, now. I don’t know which one the white one or the Black one, you’re both the same.”

He kept going. “Drake just committed suicide. I’m sure he’ll retire next month. How is his lawsuit doing? How is the Drake-Universal lawsuit coming?” — a reference to Drake’s ongoing legal action against Universal Music Group, which he filed after Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” became the song of the summer in 2024 and went on to win five Grammys.

Then came the admission that made the whole thing even funnier: Ross copped to not having actually heard any of the three albums. “I didn’t listen to YouTube Man last night,” he said. “I’m just going by what you guys say.”

A Decade of Collaboration, Now Fully Burned

It wasn’t long ago that Drake and Rick Ross were one of hip-hop’s most reliable duos. They stacked up a run of collaborations across the 2010s — “Aston Martin Music,” “Stay Schemin’,” “Lord Knows,” “Money in the Grave,” “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” — that felt like a genuine creative partnership. For over a decade, Drizzy and Rozay moved together.

That all came apart in 2024 when Ross made his allegiances clear during Drake’s war with Kendrick Lamar, dropping the diss track “Champagne Moments” and going after Drake on everything from his appearance to his ghostwriting allegations to his record deal. Drake responded with “Push Ups,” taking shots at Ross alongside the Weeknd, Metro Boomin, and Future. The relationship, by any measure, was done.

Ross drove the point home more recently at a Verzuz battle with French Montana, where he performed “Aston Martin Music” but skipped entirely over Drake’s verses. When asked about it on Apple Music’s Rap Life Review, he said he was simply “being a boss.” Then, in the same breath, he offered something that sounded almost like an olive branch: “Drake, if you listening to this homie, listen to me — shine. I don’t want to see you lose. No real n***a want to see you lose.”

That complexity was still there when Ross spoke exclusively with Page Six earlier this week while promoting his new book Renaissance of a Boss, his Luc Belaire Alcohol-Removed Rare Rosé partnership, and his upcoming album Set in Stone. Asked point-blank where things stood with Drake, he kept it short: “It’s nothing.” When told that Iceman was dropping that same day, his response was a simple “Is it?”

But on the diss tracks front, Ross was considerably more enthusiastic. “It’s always diss tracks. You know Rozay,” he laughed. “It wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t. That competitive spirit, to me, is what made Hip Hop what it was. It has to be competitive. Life is competitive.”

What’s Coming Next

Ross’s 12th studio album, Set in Stone, drops June 12 — and he’s been teasing it as potentially his best work yet. “I feel possibly it could be one of my best albums, if not my best,” he told Page Six. The project features collaborations with BigXthaPlug, Don Toliver, The-Dream, and T.I., and Ross has made clear that diss tracks are part of the package. He also used his Instagram Stories to promote the album’s cover, telling fans to reshare it — adding pointedly that “stone will last an eternity while ice has already melted.”

He also had something to say before any of this week’s chaos unfolded. Speaking ahead of the Iceman release, Ross was asked whether anyone in hip-hop was worried about what Drake might say on the record. His answer was blunt: “Don’t nobody fear Drake’s album release. Nobody.”

Given everything that’s followed, it’s hard to argue he wasn’t telling the truth.

The post Rick Ross Calls Drake ‘Washed’ After Iceman Diss appeared first on Cream.