Tory Lanez dropped a 17-track album denying he shot Megan Thee Stallion

Tory Lanez led folks to assume he was ready to break his silence on allegations that he shot Megan Thee Stallion when he tweeted yesterday afternoon: “To my fans ... I’m sorry for my silence .... but respectfully .. I got time today ...... 9 PM PST.” But night owls weren’t treated to a remorseful Instagram Live or a scandalous admission. Instead, Lanez dropped a 17-track album titled Daystar that doubles as an elaborate denial that he’s the person who attacked Megan on the night of July 12.

Lots of Lanez’s critics don’t know what Daystar sounds like, because they’re boycotting actually streaming the album. But the lyrics have Thee Stallion stans incensed. On “Friends Become Strangers,” Lanez sounds, frankly, infatuated with Megan, wistfully rapping about what they could’ve had: “Potentials of bein' Bey and Jay, just watchin' for my fan base.” Earlier in the track, he responds to her claims about what happened the night of the shooting: “We both know what happened that night and what I did. But it ain't what they sayin',” Lanez raps.

On the very next track, “Sorry But I Had To,” Lanez mentions Megan by name: “It's rap n---as out here tellin' Megan she should go tell.” A couple lines later, he raps: “You n---as playin' Instagram, I'm playin' real life. Think I'm finna talk about an open case just for some likes?” He closes by addressing Meg and protesting the trial of public opinion against him: “In the most sincere way, you coulda asked, [...] ‘What happened? Did you do it?’”

Megan has not reacted to Lanez’s surprise musical innocence campaign. In August during an Instagram Live stream, she named the fellow rapper as her alleged attacker. “Tory shot me. You shot me, and you got your publicist and your people going to these blogs, lying and shit. Stop lying,” Megan said. She released photos of her wounds around the same time, in response to rumors she’d faked her injuries. Unsurprisingly, Lanez addresses Meg’s injuries in the Daystar opener, “Money Over Fallouts,” rapping: “How the fuck you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?” Megan has said she was walking away from her assailant when she was shot; her medical records state that shrapnel was removed from her left heel.

The night of July 12, Lanez was arrested, charged with carrying a concealed weapon, and released on bail. In August, the LA County district attorney’s office announced it was considering a possible assault charge and asked law enforcement to further investigate. For now, as he raps on Daystar track “The Most High,” Lanez is maintaining that he’s “innocent.”