Drake appeared to aim fresh words at LeBron James on Wednesday, when a track called “1 AM in Albany” surfaced online and sent fans back to one of the NBA star’s most talked-about friendships. The song included the lines, “You always made your career off of switching teams up” and “Please stop asking what’s going on with 23 & me,” a lyric many listeners tied to James because of his No. 23 jersey.
The connection was immediate because Drake and James built a close bond starting in 2007, one that once played out in public as the rapper’s rise and the basketball star’s global fame moved in lockstep. James attended Drake’s “So Far Gone” release party in 2009 and later called him his “real family” in a Yahoo Sports interview, making the breakup feel personal when the relationship cooled during the 2024 Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud.
That fracture became more visible in 2024, when James attended Kendrick Lamar’s “The Pop Out” concert and was seen enjoying “Not Like Us,” the diss track aimed at Drake. Drake later addressed that appearance in “What Did I Miss,” rapping, “I saw bro went to Pop Out with them.” Now the newly surfaced “1 AM in Albany” has revived the same question without needing to name it outright: the line about “23 & me” reads as another jab at James, while the other lyric appears to accuse him of changing sides.
The latest flare-up lands just as Drake’s next album, “Iceman,” is reportedly set for release on May 15. A recent story about the album rollout and a separate leak tied to the project have already kept attention on the record, and the new track adds more fuel to a campaign that seems built around unfinished business. In that sense, the leak matters today not because it reveals a hidden feud, but because it shows Drake is still publicly working through one as the album clock keeps ticking.
The tension is not just in the lyrics. During his Wireless festival headlining set in London, Drake reportedly covered his old LeBron tattoo on his left arm, the one that showed James’s St. Vincent-St. Mary’s jersey with the number 23. Social media users later pointed out that the tattoo now appears to show Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder jersey with the number 2, a switch that many fans read as another sign of where Drake’s loyalties now sit. Gilgeous-Alexander, who is Toronto-born like Drake, won the 2024-25 NBA MVP award and led the Thunder to their first NBA championship, giving the new image its own public weight.
James has not publicly responded to the recent developments. For now, the story is less about whether the friendship can be repaired than about how far the distance has already been drawn: the tattoo was covered, the lyrics are landing online, and “Iceman” is due May 15.
