A$AP Rocky says he would fight Drake in the trailer for his upcoming interview with Jason Lee, dropping on August 5th 😳
"Bare knuckles like the Irish." pic.twitter.com/z70WWZja9N
— HotNewHipHop (@HotNewHipHop) August 3, 2026
When Jason Lee asked A$AP Rocky if he’d throw hands with Drake in a celebrity boxing match, the Harlem rapper didn’t blink. “Bare knuckles like the Irish,” he shot back—a response that dropped Monday in a preview of Lee’s full interview, scheduled to hit BET’s YouTube channel at 8 AM EST on Wednesday, August 5. It’s the most direct escalation yet in one of hip-hop’s messiest feuds, and it landed just hours before the full sit-down airs.
This beef isn’t new—it’s been brewing for six years and running hot with diss tracks on both sides. Everything started on Yams Day 2020, when Rocky went public with Rihanna, Drake’s former romantic interest who had been rumored as his love interest for years. Around this time, he first started dating Rihanna, which caused him to assume Drake had issues when he showed up to the event. Drake didn’t come through with a track immediately—the shots came later.
Drake initially ignited his beef with A$AP Rocky after he took some shots at him on songs like “Fear of Heights” in 2023. For a minute, Rocky played it cool, but not anymore. Rocky escalated on his 2026 album Don’t Be Dumb with multiple songs containing veiled and direct references interpreted as Drake disses. One track in particular, “Stole Ya Flow,” had bars that left no room for interpretation—especially the line about stealing Drake’s “bitch” (read: Rihanna). Not subtle.
Drake fired back hard in May. “Burning Bridges” is a song by Canadian rapper Drake from his ninth studio album Iceman (2026). It is a diss track towards rapper ASAP Rocky. The song includes what fans read as shots at both Rocky and Rihanna, with Drake questioning whether Rihanna was even supporting Rocky’s album rollout.
But what makes the “bare knuckles like the Irish” comment hit different is the medium. This wasn’t a leaked snippet or a verse buried on a deep cut. Rocky said this directly to Jason Lee, knowing it would be packaged as a teaser and dropped to the culture for maximum impact. It’s not a hypothetical anymore—it’s Rocky saying, on camera, that if given the chance, he’d scrap with Drake physically. The Irish bare-knuckle reference adds a layer of respect-through-violence that reads as dead serious in hip-hop discourse.
The timing matters too. This interview coming just days after “Burning Bridges” blew up the timeline creates a narrative arc that’s too juicy to ignore. Lee’s got hours of tape with Rocky, and if the fight question was that hot in the teaser, imagine what else is coming Wednesday. The full sit-down is supposed to touch on everything: Rihanna, their relationship status, the A$AP Mob drama with Ferg, and apparently his willingness to settle beefs outside the booth.
Rocky compared hip-hop beefs to the WWE, but said that the issues between him and Drizzy aren’t “real smoke.” “I just don’t fuck with him,” the Harlem rapper continued. “I feel like it’s over females.” That quote is from January, back when Rocky was trying to frame it as petty. The bare-knuckles line suggests he’s past the framing stage.
What’s wild is that this beef had room to cool. Both men have moved on, built empires, and proven themselves multiple times over. Rocky’s got Rihanna and three kids. Drake’s got his dynasty. But ego doesn’t work that way, especially when the culture keeps score. And now Rocky’s put his fists where his bars are.
The 16BARS take: Rocky just turned a years-old beef from song shots into a real-world threat, and the culture is eating it up. Whether it’s posturing or genuine, he’s given Drake something to respond to that’s bigger than another diss track—and that’s dangerous.
