Rick Ross sparked heavy discussion across hip-hop social media after appearing to leave Drake’s vocals off “Aston Martin Music” during a May 7 Verzuz battle against French Montana in Los Angeles.
The battle featured both rappers revisiting major records from their catalogs, bringing out surprise guests and leaning into nostalgia from the mixtape and blog-era peak of rap. While the event included multiple viral moments, one of the biggest reactions online came during Ross’ performance of “Aston Martin Music,” a song strongly associated with Drake’s iconic guest appearance.
Fans immediately debated whether the move was intentional, especially given the recent tension surrounding Drake and several artists connected to the current rap landscape. Clips from the battle quickly spread across X, Instagram and TikTok, with listeners dissecting the moment and arguing about what it may have signaled.
French Montana also generated attention during the event after Max B appeared, creating one of the night’s loudest crowd reactions. The Verzuz battle overall leaned heavily into legacy records, luxury rap anthems and mid-2010s club hits that helped define an era in mainstream hip-hop.
Ross and Drake previously collaborated on multiple major records throughout the 2010s, including “Stay Schemin,” “Lord Knows,” “Gold Roses” and “Aston Martin Music.” Because of that history, even subtle performance decisions involving either artist now tend to generate major online speculation.
The Los Angeles Verzuz event continued the platform’s recent return to larger live settings and celebrity-driven matchups after periods of reduced activity in previous years.
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Jason Soto is a HipHop enthusiast with love for everything generated by the culture. He fell in love with music during the first decade of his life and spent most of his teenage years as a DJ. He began to dabble in writing and rapping after being introduced to battle rap and found the art form to be extremely exciting and innovative. As an adult, his own personal interest has lead him to become a freelance columnist, a HipHop ghostwriter, and a cover art designer.
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