NLE Choppa and NBA YoungBoy's beef explained as the former disses the latter in his new song "KO"

NLE Choppa has reignited his feud with NBA YoungBoy in his surprise song KO, released on October 30, 2025. According to PrimeTimer, the feud between Choppa and YoungBoy apparently began in 2019 after Choppa collaborated with Fredo Bang, one of YoungBoy's rivals, on the track Gangsta Talk.

Their feud reportedly intensified after Choppa co-signed a tweet from Lil Reese stating that YoungBoy sounded like every other rapper. Following this, YoungBoy seemingly dissed Choppa in his January 2022 track Know Like I Know.

Meanwhile, Choppa denied all allegations of a feud with YoungBoy during interviews with DJ Akademiks and The Breakfast Club around the same time. In his new track KO, NLE Choppa, whose real name is Bryson Lashun Potts, accused NBA YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, of poisoning the youth and promoting domestic violence.

In the first verse, NLE Choppa name-dropped NBA YoungBoy, rapping:

"YoungBoy, what? This the big boy league/ I put one up in your gut under the Jesus piece/ Last thing that I heard was, "Jesus, please"/ Had me looking at the Devil like, "This is your king"."

NLE Choppa's KO, an interpolation of 2Pac's Hit 'Em Up, also pays homage to Michael Jackson, with the rapper donning the iconic attire from the Smooth Criminal music video and even mimicking a few moves from Thriller. Choppa's song, which was released alongside a music video, also features the rapper berating an NBA YoungBoy lookalike while rapping.

"You poison the youth, nothin' positive you do/ You the reason n***as beating b***hes thinking that it's cute/ You send n***as to do what you wouldn't even do/ Role model, you will never fit the shoe/ Just a n***a with emotion, a breastfed b***h/ Yo' aura give me the ick/ N***as like you make me sick.

"Money, power, guns, and a few drugged out crash outs/ Make you think you the one who can lash out/ F**k benefit of doubt, we all tryna make it out/ Tried to peace it up with ya/ You the one that wanted clout."

Exploring NLE Choppa and NBA YoungBoy's beef

NLE Choppa and NBA YoungBoy were reportedly on friendly terms early in the former's career. In June 2019, Choppa released a song titled, Free YoungBoy, to support the rapper after he was arrested the month before for violating probation.

According to PrimeTimer, fans believed that the once-cordial relationship between the two fractured after Choppa collaborated with Fredo Bang, YoungBoy's rival, in September 2019. Their feud escalated in January 2022, after YoungBoy released his Colors albums, which seemed to contain disses against Lil Durk, King Von, and NLE Choppa.

As per Complex, YoungBoy allegedly dissed King Von and Lil Durk in the track Bring The Hook, while he seemingly took shots at NLE Choppa in 'Know Like I Know.' For context, Von was fatally shot in Atlanta in 2020 during an altercation with Quando Rondo and his associates. Notably, Rondo is signed to YoungBoy's Never Broke Again record label.

"N***a, this that Squid Game, O'Block pack get rolled up/ Murder what they told us, Atlanta boy get fold up," YoungBoy rapped in Bring The Hook.

In Know Like I Know, fans believed that YoungBoy was taking shots at NLE Choppa for supposedly "choosing sides" in his beef with Lil Durk, rapping:

“I bet your momma would be destroyed, n***a, when we send your stupid a** to God for makin’ statements/Choosin’ sides about my beef with them lil boys/ I can say I saw it, you can say I was your favorite, n***a/Better stay up in your place b***h, f**k around get your face split."

After this album's release, Lil Reese, a frequent collaborator with Lil Durk and King Von, took to X to accuse YoungBoy of "rapping like the rest of these rappers all rap." NLE Choppa seemingly agreed with this notion, quote-tweeting Reese's post and adding, "I stamp that."

Following this, NLE Choppa appeared on a series of interviews that same month, where he claimed to have no beef with YoungBoy. During his interview with DJ Akademiks, he addressed his X post, adding that he "barely read" what Lil Reese wrote and just wanted to show love for King Von.

“It wasn’t ever with me picking a side. Honestly, bruh, I barely read what Lil Reese said. I just know what he was saying was siding with my boy [King] Von... At the end of the day, that wasn’t the purpose behind [my response]. Being on the side or just trying to be in some s**t, it was just off the simple fact that brother don’t be able to defend his name.”

He further denied all notion of a beef between himself and YoungBoy while responding to Akademiks' question about YoungBoy's diss in Know Like I Know, saying:

“I’m never no hater...That used to be all I bumped. … I ain’t never say he [NBA YoungBoy] wasn’t [my favorite]. But that’s not how stuff is, now.”

According to Complex, he repeated similar claims during an appearance on The Breakfast Club that same month, saying that he believed "some word of mouth stuff is never beef with [him]."

NBA YoungBoy, who is currently on his "MASA Tour," has not responded to NLE Choppa's diss in KO at the time of writing this article.

Edited by Juhi Marzia