Let's go "back, back."
This escalated pretty quickly...
"I took a break from feuds, now it's back to that," Drake raps on "Back to Back," the rapper's latest offering in his highly public conflict with Nicki Minaj's boyfriend, rapper Meek Mill. Drake's first diss track, "Charged Up," streamed on his Apple Music Beats 1 OVO Radio Show, just a couple days earlier.
With no end in sight, it might be helpful to get some context for what started the bad blood between the two parties. So, let's start from the bottom and keep going until we're here.
NEWS: Meek Mill Calls Out Drake: 'He Don't Write His Own Raps'
August 2014: Nicki Minaj gives Drake a lap dance in "Anaconda" video.
It may have been snubbed for an MTV VMA Video of the Year nomination, but when Nicki's video dropped, it was all we were talking about. And one big element of the video (apart from all the derrière) was Nicki's epic lap dance on Drake.
You might remember it as the one that left him like this:
That is not the face of a Drake that "don't want none." Still, it's a music video, and Nicki and Drake's mutual admiration and friendship goes way back. (Drake and Nicki even have a song called "I'm So Proud of You" where they gush about each other.) So where does Meek come into the picture?
WATCH: Nicki Minaj's Ex Safaree Samuels -- I Co-Wrote Her Rhymes, She Treated Me Like an 'Employee'
December 2014: Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill dating rumors begin.
Meek was released from jail in early December, and soon after that, he and Nicki were spotted hanging out a lot together. Romance rumors would continue to swirl through March, at which point we were all pretty sure they were just official already.
Here's a picture of their two hands in a loving embrace.
NEWS: Drake Responds to Meek Mill Slam: 'I Signed Up for Greatness'
April 2015: Heating up.
By now, the Nicki and Meek rumors turned from dating rumors into straight-up engagement rumors, with Nicki Minaj teasing us with things like this GIANT, BEAUTIFUL ROCK.
Nonetheless, Meek squashed the engagement rumors. But the love is there, and it's palpable.
But this is not a timeline of their love story. Let's get Drake back in here by runnin' through the six(th month of the year), to...
WATCH: Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill Text the Absolute Cutest Things to Each Other
June 29, 2015: Meek Mill's "Dreams Worth More Than Money" released.
(WARNING: Explicit lyrics)
Meek's latest album featured a track with Drake, "P.I.C.O."
It's just a song. Rappers do songs together all the time. But then it starts to get shady when....
July 21, 2015:Meek Mill goes on a Twitter rant claiming Drake doesn't write his own raps.
Well, that didn't last long!
"Stop comparing Drake to me too.... He don't write his own raps!" Meek tweeted. "That's why he ain't tweet my album because we found out! He ain't even write that verse on my album and if I woulda knew I woulda took it off my album..... I don't trick my fans!"
The rant went viral, with many people poking fun at Meek on social media over the incident. For the record, Drake's rumored "ghostwriter," Quentin Miller, admits they've collaborated, but denies writing rhymes for Drake.
Meek would go on to apologize to Nicki during a show, saying, "I wanna give a special apology shout-out to Nicki Minaj for my crazy ass going crazy on Twitter."
NEWS: Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj Show Off Major PDA in ‘All Eyes on You’ Video
July 22, 2015: Drake coyly hits back at Meek Mill diss.
(WARNING: Explicit language)
At first, Drake did not publicly respond to Meek's claims. However, a direct message conversation with battle rapper Hitman Holla revealed that Drake addressed them, by simply saying, ""I signed up for greatness. This comes with it."
July 27, 2015: Drake puts out "Charged Up."
"Wow, I’m honored that you think this is staged I’m flattered man, in fact, I’m amazed,” Drake raps on his first musical response to Meek. "Done doing favors for people / Cause it ain’t like I need the money I make off a feature / I see you n****s having trouble going gold / Turning into some so and so’s that no one knows."
Apparently Meek was not impressed, subtweeting, "Baby lotion soft," before adding the cutting dig, "I can tell he wrote that 1 tho..."
(Note, Nicki Minaj's ex, Safaree Samuels also enters the picture at this point with his own diss track. That's a whole story of it's own, if you're interested, but let's keep it about Meek and Drake, for now.)
This is a busy day in the feud, because that same day...
WATCH: Nicki Minaj Destroys MTV Over Racist, Body Shaming VMA Snubs; Taylor Swift Responds
July 27, 2015: Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill drop "All Eyes on You" video.
And there's some major PDA in this one! The sultry video even features a blink-and-you'll-miss-it topless moment with Nicki, effectively one-upping that "Anaconda" lap dance, which is, by this point, a distant memory.
July 29, 2015: Drake goes "Back to Back."
Perhaps responding to Meek's call out, Drake fired back with a fiercer track, "Back to Back."
(WARNING: Explicit lyrics)
"Is that a world tour, or your girl's tour?" Drake raps, calling out Meek for opening up for Nicki on her Pinkprint tour.
"Shout-out to all my boss b**ches wifin' n**gas," continues Drake, warning Nicki, "Make sure you hit 'em with the prenup!"
July 31, 2015: Meek Mill puts out "Wanna Know," the Internet responds.
Meek went after Drake in "Wanna Know," going so far as to include a sample from Quentin Miller -- whom Meek says ghostwrites for Drake -- singing a hook very similar to Drake's popular "Know Yourself" track. (WARNING: Explicit language)
"Running through the six with my woes, counting money you know how it goes,"Quentin sings on the sample. "All the real live forever baby, and the fake get exposed."
Meek also re-affirmed the sentiments of the track on his Instagram.
Despite Meek's best efforts, many online were not impressed with his track. Drake went so far as to post a picture of himself looking at a phone and laughing, while a lot of people piled on with memes based off of Drake's "Is that a world tour, or your girl's tour" line from "Back to Back."
August 3, 2015: Drake goes all out against Meek at OVO Fest in Toronto.
He wore a "Free Meek" T-shirt during rehearsals, and played both of his Meek diss tracks over fan made memes during his performance! Drake went all in for his hometown festival, and his fans ate it up.
August 4, 2015: Meek threatens to give Drake a wedgie.
WARNING: Significant explicit language in the video linked here, and also a grown man promising to give another grown man a wedgie. This is getting ridiculous.
As it stands:
Basically as it stands, Meek was like.....
And Drake was like....
And we just want everyone to stop fighting and be nice!
Certainly, there will be more to add to this story. For now, watch Nicki talk about how Taylor Swift called her after their Twitter misunderstanding.