Last year Canadian rapper Drake allegedly dissed Rihanna on the track, “Fear of Heights. Fans at his recent show claim Drake is still upset over that break-up. Over the weekend he performed at his show in Tampa, FL, and when his hit single with Rihanna played in the background, Drake told the crowd, “I don’t sing this song anymore. Y’all can sing it for me.”
On the controversial song released via his eighth studio album, “For All the Dogs,” on Friday, “Why they make it sound like I’m still hung up on you? / That could never be / Gyal can’t ruin me / Better him than me / Better it’s not me.”
He continues, apparently referencing Rihanna’s “Anti” album and its “Sex With Me” song, “I’m anti, I’m anti / Yeah, and the sex was average with you / Yeah, I’m anti ’cause I had it with you … / And I had way badder b***hes than you, TBH.”
Drake’s growing tension with Rihanna has seeped into his live sets.
The status of the rumored ex-lovers (with matching tattoos) appears to be far from cordial. In 2023, fans began to speculate that Drake was sending shots at Rihanna on his song “Fear Of Heights” off his album, For All The Dogs. Now, users online believe he’s back to his shady ways.
During the opening night of the It’s All A Blur Tour — Big As The What? in Tampa, Florida, Drake refused to perform his parts of Rihanna’s hit 2016 song “Work.” Instead of completely removing the tour’s setlist, Drake allowed concertgoers to jam out as he enjoyed a brief break between records.
“I don’t sing this song anymore,” he said. “But you [all] can sing it though.”
drake says he no longer sings his ‘work’ collaboration with rihanna anymore, thoughts?? pic.twitter.com/8rbEkvwF6b
But now, on this run, Cole is a permanent fixture (or at least during selected dates). With over a dozen stops running, fans are itching to know which of the rap titans’ songs found a spot on their official setlist. Now, we have a clue, thanks to veteran journalist Elliott Wilson.
Continue below to view their full setlist, the remaining tour stops, and more.
Drake & J. Cole’s ‘It’s All A Blur Tour — Big As The What?’ setlist
Drake Only
1. “Trophies” (Band only)
2. “Virginia Beach”
3. “Marvins Room”
4. “Teenage Fever”
5. “Feel No Ways”
6. “Jungle”
7. “Over”
8. “Headlines”
9. “The Motto”
10. “HYFR (Hell Ya F*cking Right)”
11. “Started From the Bottom”
12. “Energy”
13. “Know Yourself”
14. “Nonstop”
15. “Daylight”
16. “Meltdown” (Travis Scott cover)
17. “Sicko Mode” (Travis Scott cover)
18. “Laugh Now Cry Later”
19. “God’s Plan”
20. “Pound Cake”
21. “Childs Play”
22. “In My Feelings”
23. “Nice for What”
24. “Calling for You”
25. “Cameras”
26. “Rich Baby Daddy”
27. “Search & Rescue”
28. “Controlla”
29. “Too Good”
30. “Hold On, We’re Going Home”
31. “Find Your Love”
32. “Passionfruit”
33. “Work”
34. “Gently?
J. Cole Only
1. “Middle Child”
2. “Wet Dreamz”
3. “A Tale of 2 Citiez”
4. “G.O.M.D.”
5. “Power Trip”
6. “The London” (Young Thug cover)
7. “A Lot” (21 Savage cover)
8. “Love Yourz”
9. “The Secret Recipe”
10. “No Role Modelz”
Drake & J. Cole’s ‘It’s All A Blur Tour — Big As The What?’ dates
2/4 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
2/7 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
2/8 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
2/12 – St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Arena
2/13 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
2/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
2/17 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
2/20 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
2/21 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
2/24 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
2/25 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
2/27 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
2/28 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
3/2 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
3/3 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
3/5 – Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum
3/6 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
3/7 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
3/10 – Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena
3/14 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
3/15 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
3/18 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
3/19 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
3/23 – Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena ~
3/24 – Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena ~
3/27 – Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC ~
4/4 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena ~
4/5 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena ~
4/8 – Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum ~
4/15 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
4/16 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
~ Dates without J. Cole
Drake & J. Cole’s ‘It’s All A Blur Tour — Big As The What?’ poster
Let’s cut to the chase: Yes, TikTok has removed a ton of music from its platform. If you haven’t heard, the licensing agreement between TikTok and Universal Music Group expired yesterday, and as a result, all UMG artists‘ music must be removed or TikTok could face legal action for copyright infringement. That means artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, and many, many, MANY more have been nixed, and no one is quite sure when or if they’ll be back, because UMG is adamant that TikTok hasn’t been negotiating in good faith.
Why Did UMG Remove Its Artists From TikTok?
Long story short, UMG’s leadership doesn’t feel that TikTok is offering fair market value for its artists. UMG also argues that while TikTok is building its own music platform, TikTok Music, and working on AI tools that may help users imitate real-life artists, it’s also undermining the value of any new licensing agreement, since the app could soon be flooded with more songs like AI-generated Drake song “Heart On My Sleeve.” This has been a pain point for the entire recording industry as these tools proliferate and possibly endanger fans’ interest in waiting for (and buying) the real artists’ actual songs.
In an open letter published on the company’s website on Tuesday (January 30), UMG wrote:
TikTok is trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music.
On AI, TikTok is allowing the platform to be flooded with AI-generated recordings—as well as developing tools to enable, promote and encourage AI music creation on the platform itself – and then demanding a contractual right which would allow this content to massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.
Further, TikTok makes little effort to deal with the vast amounts of content on its platform that infringe our artists’ music and it has offered no meaningful solutions to the rising tide of content adjacency issues, let alone the tidal wave of hate speech, bigotry, bullying and harassment on the platform. The only means available to seek the removal of infringing or problematic content (such as pornographic deepfakes of artists) is through the monumentally cumbersome and inefficient process which equates to the digital equivalent of “Whack-a-Mole.”
While TikTok denied these accusations in a statement sent to Billboard, it also doesn’t appear that either company has any intentions to budge for the foreseeable future.
In short, Universal Music Group (UMG) wasn’t bluffing. On Tuesday, January 30, UMG posted an open letter to address its expiring contract with TikTok.
“In our contract renewal discussions, we have been pressing them on three critical issues — appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users,” it reads, in part. UMG additionally relayed that “TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal” during negotiations, leading to UMG no longer licensing UMG artists’ catalogs to TikTok.
TikTok released its own (much shorter) statement on Tuesday, as seen below:
“It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.
Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.
TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”
It happened: Universal Music Group has removed its artists’ songs from TikTok. As of today (February 1), official songs from artists signed to UMG labels no longer appear under the “Sounds” tab on the TikTok app, and previously published videos that featured those songs now have muted audio.
UMG has officially started removing their artists’ catalogs from TikTok.
Official songs are no longer appearing for UMG artists under the ‘sounds’ tab, with the exception of fan-made edits. pic.twitter.com/Aw8MRpPDe4
Impacted artists include Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, SZA, Olivia Rodrigo, Steve Lacy, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, Rosalía, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, J Balvin, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, Post Malone, and many others.
TikTok and UMG had a licensing agreement that expired yesterday (January 31), and the day before it did, there were clear indications that negotiations on a new contract were not going well.
“As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth. How did it try to intimidate us? By selectively removing the music of certain of our developing artists, while keeping on the platform our audience-driving global stars.
TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans.
“It is sad and disappointing that Universal Music Group has put their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.
Despite Universal’s false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.
TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher. Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”
At the moment, it’s not clear when or if a new licensing agreement between TikTok and UMG will be reached, and when/if the artists’ music will return to TikTok.
Beef between two major media companies was made public yesterday (January 30), and the feud could have a noteworthy impact on the day-to-day content people consume.
TikTok and Universal Music Group have a licensing agreement that expires today, and this agreement allows UMG songs to appear on the TikTok platform and be utilized in videos from TikTok users. Negotiations on a new contract have apparently been going poorly, as indicated by the open letters both companies shared criticizing each other. If a new deal isn’t reached, music by UMG artists could soon leave TikTok.
Which UMG Artists Will Be Removed From TikTok?
Let’s start by looking at what UMG is: Broadly speaking, it’s a massive company that owns a ton of recognizable record labels, including but not limited to Interscope, Geffen, Capitol, Def Jam, Island, Polydor, Republic, and Virgin Music Group.
So, presumably, in the event that a new licensing agreement is not reached, all acts on those labels would see their music leave TikTok. That includes so many hit-making artists, like Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, SZA, Steve Lacy, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles, Rosalía, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Adele, U2, Elton John, J Balvin, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, and Post Malone.
Those artists have an estimated 950 trillion streams between them (note: exaggerated estimate for comedic effect only), and a ton of beloved acts not even mentioned above are also under the UMG umbrella. So, should their music be wiped off of TikTok, it would be a noticeable loss for the platform’s users.
Over the past few months, internet users have discovered Bobbi Althoff — a social media personality who gained traction by interviewing rappers like Drake and more celebrities. Her deadpan personality raised questions as to whether she actually liked the people she was speaking to.
This was elevated when fans had noticed that Drake unfollowed Althoff shortly after their interview, as she had also been spotted at his concert — in a viral moment where she does the same deadpan expression. Their interview was also eventually removed.
Here’s what to know.
Do Drake And Bobbi Althoff Have Beef?
According to Althoff, no, they don’t. She recently appeared on Keke Palmer’s podcast, where she was asked about Drake and the unfollowing.
“He’s a very nice person,” Althoff added. “Him and Funny Marco. Both of them definitely changed my whole entire life.”
She also answered that the two speak quite a bit, with the last time she talked to Drake being “a couple weeks, maybe a month ago.”
Later in Althoff’s interview with Palmer, the two touched on the rumors about her being an “industry plant,” as they joked about sharing the same manager. “I don’t have any ties, though,” Althoff said. “I feel like my life would have been a lot easier if I had ties.”
Though Breaking Bad may have ended over a decade ago, co-stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have maintained a wonderful friendship. The two still make appearances at events together, promoting their Mezcal brand, Dos Hombres.
Last October, photos surfaced of the two online with Drake at the rapper’s birthday party. Many fans believed Drake had hired the Breaking Bad co-stars to bartend at his party. But last night (January 29), during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he revealed that their presence at the party actually came as a surprise to Drake.
Drake hired Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston from “Breaking Bad” to work as bartenders at his birthday party pic.twitter.com/mvfLF8xqLr
“Did Drake just call you and say, ‘Would you bartend on my birthday?,’” asked Colbert.
Cranston then shared that this was actually a side hustle he picked up amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“Well, no,” said Cranston. “He called the catering company, and because it was the strike, I needed a gig. I was bartending just to pick up a few bucks, you know. It was really fun because he didn’t know we were gonna be there.”
The actor then recalled Drake’s reaction to the pleasant surprise.
“We’re in Miami and we were behind the bar,” Cranston said, “and Drake is thinking, let’s see, what should I order? And I said, can I get something for you, sir? And he goes, yeah, I’d like… Oh!
Fortunately for fans who had to wait on grabbing tickets for whatever reason, that doesn’t mean the tour is sold out. Checking out Ticketmaster, it appears that quite a few tickets are still available, so if your bank account was still recovering from the holidays, it looks like you might still get an opportunity to see them perform “Evil Ways” live in your city.
What Are The Dates For The ‘It’s All A Blur — Big As The What?’ Tour
2/2 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
2/4 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
2/7 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
2/8 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
2/12 – St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Arena
2/13 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
2/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
2/17 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
2/20 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
2/21 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
2/24 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
2/25 – Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
2/27 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
2/28 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
3/2 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
3/3 – Kansas City, MO @ T-Mobile Center
3/5 – Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum
3/6 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
3/7 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
3/10 – Lexington, KY @ Rupp Arena
3/14 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
3/15 – San Antonio, TX @ Frost Bank Center
3/18 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
3/19 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Paycom Center
3/23 – Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena ~
3/24 – Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena ~
3/27 – Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC ~
4/4 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena ~
4/5 – Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena ~
4/8 – Memphis, TN @ FedEx Forum ~
4/15 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena +
4/16 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena +
gems in link in bio (@ladidaix) 
