Drake and The Weeknd are two of music’s biggest stars right now. The two first crossed paths in the early 2010s when The Weeknd was hardly known. Since then, their relationship surprisingly seems to have gone bad. Now, it looks like The Weeknd has taken the beef to the studio.
While they started off as collaborators, their friendship slowly deteriorated over the years, possibly to a point of no return. In the last few weeks, Drake has been dissed by a handful of rappers. With the release of Future and Metro Boomin’s latest collab project WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU, fans are wondering if The Weeknd also took a shot at Drake. Here’s a timeline of the two’s relationship over the years.
Read More: Unpacking The Weeknd & ASAP Rocky’s Shots At Drake On “WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU”
2010 – 2011: Drake Co-Signs The Weeknd
The story of Drake and The Weeknd begins in 2010, the start of a significant decade for both artists. In December 2010, Drake introduced his fans to The Weeknd, who, at the time, had very little following. Two of the singer’s songs were shared on Drake’s October’s Very Own blog with the caption “Introducing The Weeknd.” Subsequently, the two linked up in 2011 during one of The Weeknd’s shows in Canada and began working together soon after. When Drake’s sophomore album eventually dropped in November 2011, the pair’s first collab was shared with the world. “Crew Love,” a standout track from Take Care, introduced a host of new fans to The Weeknd and his music. The song was the first of a handful of collaborations between the two iconic artists.
2012: The Weeknd Turns Drake Down And Signs A Deal With Republic Records
Following their successful collaboration in 2011, Drake tried to get The Weeknd to join OVO Sound. At the time, the singer was garnering some significant media buzz and was on the verge of superstardom. Speaking to MTV in May 2012, Drake shared, “As far as on paper, it’s all being worked out, but that’s not really what counts anyway. What counts to me is the fact that the affiliation is so known, and that’s all I really care about.”
Despite his statement about caring more for the affiliation than the paperwork, Drizzy seemed optimistic that The Weeknd would join his label. However, in a surprising turn of events, the singer chose to go with Republic Records instead. Following a cryptic tweet from Drake on December 11, 2012, fans speculated that the rapper was displeased with The Weeknd’s decision. However, the following year, the two were back to working together like nothing happened.
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2015: The Weeknd Says He Gave Up Half Of His Album For Drake
During an interview with Rolling Stone in October 2015, The Weeknd shared some interesting news. The singer revealed that he made significant contributions to Drake’s 2011 album Take Care. “I gave up almost half of my album. It’s hard. I will always be thankful—if it wasn’t for the light he shined on me, who knows where I’d be. And everything happens for a reason. You never know what I would say if this success wasn’t in front of me now,” he said. The revelation was particularly damning for Drake because he had been facing ghostwriting allegations. Following this interview, there was a noticeable rift between Drake and The Weeknd.
2017: A Reunion
After the two barely interacted for over a year, they seemingly reunited in February 2017. The Weeknd made an appearance during a stop in Germany on Drake’s Boy Meets World tour. Subsequently, in May 2017, Drizzy returned the favor when he performed “Crew Love” with The Weeknd at two Toronto shows during the singer’s Starboy: Legend of the Fall tour. Later, during the OVO Festival in August 2017, Drake teased a joint project with The Weeknd. “I want you to understand what this is. First of all, I don’t want to do this to you on stage, but I feel like that OVOXO project has to happen at some point. I just want to say that,” he said to the singer on stage as the crowd went wild.
October – November 2017: Murky Waters Again
However, tension arose again later in 2017 when rumors started spreading that Drake was dating Bella Hadid, The Weeknd’s ex-girlfriend. In October 2017, Page Six reported that Bella Hadid hooked up with the “Hotline Bling” rapper. Subsequently, Hadid commented that she was friends with Drake and nothing more. However, fans claimed to notice that Drake and The Weeknd were not on the best terms following the rumors.
Later, on November 15, 2017, Drake celebrated the six-year anniversary of Take Care. He shared a photo of a rare draft of the album’s tracklist on his Instagram account, evidently happy. However, his mood was subsequently dampened when his attention was called to a comment someone left under the post. The commenter discredited Drake’s work on the album, claiming that The Weeknd wrote most of it. “Abel Tesfaye CO WROTE on ‘Shot For Me’ and ‘Practice,’ obviously was featured on ‘Crew Love’ and ‘The Ride’ and that’s it. There’s 20 songs on that album … don’t try me,” Drake responded.
January 2019: The Weeknd Seemingly Disses Drake On “Lost In The Fire”
On January 11, 2019, The Weeknd released “Lost in the Fire” a collab track with French DJ Gesaffelstein. The track contains a lyric that sparked debate among listeners soon after its release. “And I just want a baby with the right one / ‘CauseI would never be the one to hide one,” The Weeknd sings. Fans speculated that the line was aimed at Drake who had recently been revealed to have a son.
December 2019: Drake Clears The Air About Beef With The Weeknd
Several months later, Drake seemingly addressed the feud rumors on the track “War.” The song was released on December 24, 2019, and contains lyrics fans were convinced were about The Weeknd. “And the boy that sound like he sang on ‘Thriller,’ / You know that’s been my n***a, yeah / We just had to fix things, family, 6 tings, we can’t split up,” Drizzy raps on the track. Many listeners believed that he was alluding to wanting to leave their feud behind in 2019. “War” seemed, to most fans, as a peace offering from Drake to The Weeknd.
July 2022: Drake Reminisces About The First Time He Heard The Weeknd
On July 8, 2022, Drake shared a series of videos on his Instagram story where he spoke about listening to The Weeknd for the first time. “Okay, look. This right here, this little driveway area right here was the first place that I ever heard The Weeknd’s music. Shoutout to Oliver, of course, my brother. Oliver played me The Weeknd right here. This is my old building in Toronto. We were parked out here. It was raining,” the rapper recalled. “That same guy is selling out the SkyDome tomorrow. That man is selling out the SkyDome tomorrow,” he continued. Many fans were happy to see him celebrate The Weeknd’s win and reminisce on his journey like that.
April 12th, 2024: The Weeknd’s Subtle Shots
On April 12, 2024, Metro Boomin and Future released WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU. The 25-track album is a follow-up project to their earlier release, WE DON’T TRUST YOU. The Weeknd appears on two tracks in the album: the title track, and “All to Myself.” The latter is the song that has sparked debate about whether or not the singer dissed Drake. According to listeners, some of the lines he delivers on the track seem undeniably directed at Drizzy.
“Ooh, look at how we movin’, baby (Movin’, baby) / They could never diss my brothers, baby (Future) / When they got leaks in they operation / I thank God that I never signed my life away / And we never do the big talk (No, no, no, no, no) / They shooters makin’ TikToks /Got us laughin’ in the Lambo (Yeah) / I promise that I got your back,” The Weeknd croons.
Admittedly, The Weeknd did not directly mention Drake on the track. However, it is very hard to ignore the line about signing his life away, considering that Drake tried to sign him to OVO Sound several years ago. So, did The Weeknd diss Drake on this track? Well, we can’t say for certain, but by Drake’s reaction, it sure looks like he did.
April 13th, 2024: Drake Claps Back At The Weeknd On Diss Track
After WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU dropped, Drake supposedly responded to all the disses he’d received with a track of his own. On April 14, 2024, Drizzy’s “Push Ups” was leaked on the internet. On the song, the rapper fired back at everyone who had previously come for him, including The Weeknd. “Claim the 6 and boys ain’t even come from it / And when you boys got rich you had to run from it / Cash blowin’ Abel bread, out here trickin’ / S**t we do for b***hes he doing for n***as,” the rapper spits, even firing at The Weeknd’s manager, Cash XO. In response, The Weeknd shared a photo of himself laughing on a couch with a bowl of popcorn on his life while Cash simply posted a flick of himself with Future and Metro Boomin.
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