Super-producer Metro Boomin doesn’t rap, but he’s still become a key figure in the big-news recent feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. The opening shot in the whole saga was Kendrick’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” and it reportedly came about, at least in part, because of long-simmering tensions between Metro and Drake. In the past couple of weeks, Drake has taken a couple of shots at Metro. Now, without having to do any rapping himself, Metro has fired back.

On “Push Ups,” his first entry in this feud, Drake had just one quick punchline for Metro: “Shut yo’ hoe ass up and make some drums.” On “Family Matters” this past weekend, Drake had more time for Metro, claiming that Metro’s friend “slimed him for his main squeeze” and using Metro’s government name to talk about dragging Future into this whole mess: “Pluto shit make me sick to my stomach, we ain’t never really been through it/ Leland Wayne, he a fuckin’ lame, so I know he had to be an influence.”

Yesterday, Metro responded that Drake had tried to block radio play for “Like That.” Metro also posted an instrumental track that he called “BBL Drizzy,” which apparently samples the stand-up comic King Willonius, and wrote, “best verse over this gets a free beat.” Now, a whole lot of random rappers are posting their own “BBL Drizzy” verses, and most of them are full of shots at Drake. Metro isn’t one of the main characters in this whole saga, but he’s effectively weaponized the general public, which is some impressive gamesmanship.

https://twitter.com/MetroBoomin/status/1787030645882998893

In a reply to a DJ Akademiks Instagram post, Drake wrote, “You just cheffed a beat about my ass?” It might be smart for Drake to try rapping on this beat himself, but it might be smarter for him to just stay quiet for a while.