Watch Drake Bring Out Former Foe Tory Lanez At OVO
Drake’s annual OVO Fest tends to be a parade of celebrity friends and noteworthy happenings. Two years ago it served as the exclamation point in Drake’s feud victory over Meek Mill, and last year Drake and Kanye West used it to announce a collaborative album (which has yet to materialize). The fest happened again in Toronto last night, once again with an all-star lineup including the Weeknd, Nelly, Rae Sremmurd, Migos, Cardi B, French Montana, and Playboi Carti. This year’s big event was a reconciliation between Drake and Tory Lanez, his fellow Toronto artist and former foe.
As XXL explains, the Drake/Lanez beef began nearly two years ago, apparently because Lanez — whose sing-rapping owes a lot to Drake’s influence — tweeted that it wasn’t cool to refer to Toronto as “the 6,” a nickname Drake had coined. Drake later subliminally dissed Lanez on “Summer Sixteen,” rapping, “All you boys in the new Toronto want to be me a little.” Lanez returned the volley with a verse on A$AP Ferg’s “Funk Up The Flex”: “For them niggas that was hating on me, even though a nigga used to tell ‘em all/I was never ever gang, gang, gang, gang, I was One Umbrella Mob.” Drake went at Lanez more directly on More Life track “Do Not Disturb,” referencing Lanez’s birth name Daystar Peterson with the lyric, “You overnight celebrity, you one day star.”
They squashed their beef in May, posting a photo together on their respective Instagram accounts. And last night at Budweiser Stage, Drake welcomed Lanez onstage, telling the crowd, “This guy right here, we had problems with each other and we hadn’t even met each other. I met the man and he’s a great guy.” They then performed Drake’s “Controlla,” a track Lanez has remixed. Watch footage below via Pitchfork.
Drake addressing Tory beef, while asking Toronto artists to get along. #OVOFEST pic.twitter.com/FyBKAVYvLw
— Erin Ashley (@ellhah) August 8, 2017