Childish Gambino Reportedly Takes Shots at Drake on ‘Yoshinoya’ from Latest Album: Analysis

If you thought that the dissing season in hip hop is over, think again. Childish Gambino just put out his latest album (and his last one as Gambino), and on it, seemingly dissed Drake on the track ‘Yoshinoya’. From a couple listens, it becomes evident as to how this isn’t a stretch, and we explain why.

You see, earlier, Childish Gambino had already deemed his viral and hit track, ‘This is America’ a song that started out as a Drake diss. Of course, the track ended up having great cultural weight and was regarded as an immaculate commentary on the nature of music industry and its overshadowing of Black issues in our present society.

But Drake, unable to grasp the weight of this cultural moment, had sneakily clapped back in his arena performances for his track ‘Headlines‘, where he called ‘This is America’ overhyped claiming it is ‘overrated, and over awarded’. Question is, did we hear a reply from Gambino? While the simple answer was ‘no’, the new album changes that.

The first verse kicks off with the bar, “I put your boy in the seat”, which could be a casual opener, but could also refer to Drake’s persona as ‘the boy’ who is both an actor and rapper, much like Gambino, except that Gambino claims that he humbles him even though they both manage these crafts. The bars pick up, as one is left wondering who he’s talking about that has “his biz on the street” while Gambino washes his “hands when he eats”, and segues into a more obvious (yet still obscure) bar claiming “people around you ain’t slatt” — which seems to allude to Kendrick’s bars about Drake surrounding himself with Atlanta rappers to gain credibility. Hmm. Not convinced? Let’s dive deeper.

“You f***in’ these h**s, I’m f***in’ my wife/ AK not silent like knife”, he continues to rap, where our suspicions really start to narrow down. Drake is notorious for being a player (and arguably worse, according to Kendrick claims) but that’s not what caught our ears here. The “AK” bars seems to be a double entendre on AK47 as a rifle being much louder than a stab in the back, but could also refer to DJ Akademiks, who has arguably been a mouthpiece for Drake this entire time, meaning, he’s talking too much for Drake.

On the second verse, Gambino gets to talking about absentee father allegations with the bars, “N****s jokes are so dad, but haven’t seen they son in a month”. This seems to further narrow it down to one person who is infamous for catching these allegations. Further in, Gambino doubles down with the subs when he raps, “Now his career’s in a blunt/ These rappers cosplay, the industry Comic Con”, which could possibly be a reiteration of Kendrick’s bars about Drake where he claims that Drake often works with rappers ‘harder’ than him to gain street credit, that is, cosplaying the culture of hiphop in America.

“Integrity w***e, say what I mean/ Apologise if I didn’t/ or clarify if it’s written in stone/ Freak it and leave it alone/ give it time, let the truth come to light/ let em catch up/ N****s peepin’ like ‘damn he was right!’” — with these bars in the second verse, it seems as if Gambino is talking about J. Cole, who exited the Big 3 beef with integrity and apology. The ‘let the truth come to light’ seems to be a flip on the Drake bar towards Kendrick on Family Matters, where he raps, “Your darkest secrets are coming to light/ it’s all on your face like what happened to Mike” attempting to flip Kendrick’s ‘lightskin’ and ‘Daylyt’ bars.

Gambino seems to point the irony out in these bars, for it seems he was exposed not much long after he dropped the song. But in context of J Cole, the bar could also be interpreted as a reference to Cole’s bar, “What’s done in the dark will always find a way to shine” from ‘Kevin’s Heart’, stating the coincidence of Drake’s dark secrets coming to light regardless, as Cole chooses to walk away from the filth.

Towards the end of the song, Gambino also seems to suggest how Drake’s dressing sense seems to be out of line with his age. He raps, “These n****s almost 50, and they dressin’ like a hype beast/ used to get the peach milkshake and add the eighth piece/ white boy throwin’ dirt on my name for a think piece”, which as Genius annotations point out, could refer to Drake’s usage of Lil Yachty’s fashion sense to give him ‘the swag’ like Kendrick claimed, at an age that does not take kindly to these antics.

Now, none of this is for certain, because Gambino doesn’t actually ever name drop Drake on the record — but considering Drake did throw dirt on Gambino’s name, arguably making up for thinking piece articles online, pretty much reaffirms our suspicion. Question is, will Drake respond? Let’s wait and see!