For months now, people have been waiting to see if Drake’s career is really over. Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s “rap battle” played out over April and May, and while I know many Drake fans disagree, Kendrick definitively won. Kendrick won across the board – he out-strategized Drake, Kendrick had the better songs, and Kendrick’s reveals about Drake were so much more intense, and Drake’s lyrics and reveals have aged like milk. Beyond the battle, Kendrick’s Pop Out concert on Juneteenth was one of the cultural moments of the year, and the music video for “Not Like Us” will be one of the biggest videos of the year.

So, is there any good news for Drake? Eh. He would have done himself a big favor if he had just gone away for six months and let people “miss” him. Instead, he keeps releasing these bizarre collabs and posting dumb sh-t on social media, like he can’t stand to be ignored/mocked. That being said, even some Kendrick fans seem to give Drake some begrudging credit, as in: at least Drake tried to battle and at least he managed to get Kendrick to release some new music! Maybe that’s the silver lining here for Drake. Kendrick hates him so much that it inspired Kendrick’s best musical instincts. Maybe that explains why Drake’s friend Gordo claims that Drake has been in a good mood for months. I don’t believe that, but sure.

After weeks of exchanging diss tracks and subliminals with Kendrick Lamar on social media, Drake seems ready to finally move past their rap beef. At least that’s what his producer, collaborator and longtime friend Gordo tells PEOPLE while giving an update on the For All the Dogs rapper.

“He’s been past it,” the Grammy-nominated beatmaker, 33, says. “The thing is that he was just on the longest tour ever [It’s All A Blur Tour – Big As The What?]. He literally did a tour for like a year. I think he’s just chilling.”

Despite fans speculating about Drake feeling low after his unofficial defeat, Gordo claims the rapper has actually been in a pretty chipper mood throughout his feud with Lamar.

“Ever since all this has happened… I’ve seen him happier,” the producer shares. “It’s really weird. He’s pretty jolly… The internet makes it seem like, ‘Oh, that photo, he’s all sad and s—.’ That’s just a bad photo from a bad camera. But because it’s him, it’s put under a magnifying glass like, ‘Oh, look at his eyes. He’s looking a little droopy. He hasn’t slept.’ But the guy’s been happy as s—, to be honest. He’s chilling.”

According to Gordo, he and Drake have “hung out even more” amid the highly publicized beef, which they’ve had to navigate while also piecing together the former’s upcoming debut album under his new alias, Diamante. The 15-track house music-fueled LP, out on Friday, July 26, gets assistance from Drake, who first teamed up with Gordo for his 2022 dance album, Honestly, Nevermind.

[From People]

True or false? It’s interesting that Gordo mentioned Drake’s tour, because the beef happened soon after Kendrick wrapped up his tour as well. Kendrick’s Big Steppers tour made over $110 million in ticket sales alone and got rave reviews across the board. Then Kendrick hopped on Future & Metro’s “Like That” and everything shifted. Now that we’re a few months past all of it (sort of), I have to say that I do think Kendrick gave himself a little project and he truly baited Drake. Drake took the bait, and Kendrick was pleased too. I believe that this was fun for Kendrick. I just don’t believe that Drake was just chilling out and enjoying himself during the battle. It felt like every American was screaming “A minorrrrrr” at him for two solid months.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.