Drake, Lil Wayne, and Nicki Minaj performed on stage together for the first time in eight years on Saturday night at Toronto’s OVO Fest.
Beyond marking nearly a decade since the famous rappers swapped bars, this was a reunion of current and former members of Young Money, a record label started by Lil Wayne in 2005. Both Drake and Minaj signed with the label in 2009 and shot to superstardom. Minaj is still a member, while Drake revealed in 2019 that he had signed to Universal Music. Despite this label change, Drake stated, “I’m always going to be involved in the Cash Money/Young Money imprint, and my loyalty, like I said, always lies there.”
That loyalty was on display on Saturday. Between performances, Drake complimented his Young Money family—who took him from the bottom to here. “I’m standing onstage with the greatest rapper of all time,” he said of Lil Wayne (as reported by Rolling Stone). To Minaj, Drake gushed, “I’m standing onstage with the other greatest rapper of all time, she’s over there with the pink hair. By the way, like, are these bitches serious? Like, nobody can fuck with Nicki. She’s like the originator—it starts here, ends here, all that shit.”
Minaj returned the favor: “When you’re at the top, and you always remember your motherfucking family, that shows your character . . . One of the most duplicated, imitated rappers in the world.”
The surprises didn’t end there. Before closing out the event, Lil Wayne announced a new album, Tha Carter VI, which is “coming soon.”
