Drake and the Weeknd's relationship has been hard to keep track of over the years. It was a placement on Drake's OVO blog that first helped the Weeknd break out, and he was later seen all over Drake's sophomore album Take Care. Soon after, though, relations seemed to sour. The Weeknd decided not to sign with OVO, and later had some interesting words about Drake's use of his material on Take Care. Although they were never openly hostile, their relationship never seemed quite the same—until recently, that is. On the eve of the release of his third album Starboy, the Weeknd sat down with Zane Lowe and, suddenly, a full-length Drake collaboration was in the realm of possibility.
We'll have to see what comes of it—the pair's history has been circuitous, ranging from collaborations brimming with hit-making potential to veiled comments suggesting behind-the-scenes drama. Here's a comprehensive timeline of their confusing relationship.
Drake and the Weeknd's relationship has been hard to keep track of over the years. It was a placement on Drake's OVO blog that first helped the Weeknd break out, and he was later seen all over Drake's sophomore album Take Care. Soon after, though, relations seemed to sour. The Weeknd decided not to sign with OVO, and later had some interesting words about Drake's use of his material on Take Care. Although they were never openly hostile, their relationship never seemed quite the same—until recently, that is. On the eve of the release of his third album Starboy, the Weeknd sat down with Zane Lowe and, suddenly, a full-length Drake collaboration was in the realm of possibility.
We'll have to see what comes of it—the pair's history has been circuitous, ranging from collaborations brimming with hit-making potential to veiled comments suggesting behind-the-scenes drama. Here's a comprehensive timeline of their confusing relationship.
Dec. 12, 2010: The Weeknd's music is featured on OVO's blog
Drake's OVO blog features the songs "What You Need," "Loft Music," and "The Morning" by the Weeknd. The exposure helps the Weeknd get noticed by outlets like Pitchfork and The New York Times. It also fuels rumors of the Weeknd signing to OVO.
March 10, 2011: Drake shouts out the Weeknd on Twitter shortly before 'House of Balloons' Drops
He continues to reference the Weeknd on Twitter throughout the year, promoting OVOXO as a brand.
Aug. 18, 2011: Drake appears on the Weeknd's mixtape 'Thursday'
Drake's appearance on "The Zone" marks their first collaboration together on an original song—although the Weeknd previously hopped on a remix of Drake's "Trust Issues."
Nov. 15, 2011: The Weeknd is featured all over Drake's 'Take Care'
Soon after "The Zone," the pair's working relationship expands greatly. The Weeknd receives an official feature credit on two Take Care songs—"Crew Love" and "The Ride"—as well as writing credits on "Shot For Me," "Cameras/Good Ones Go Interlude," and "Practice." The album is a smash hit, moving 631,000 copies in its first week according to Billboard. This is huge for Drake, but also raises The Weeknd's profile considerably.
May 30, 2012: Drake hints that he's working on signing The Weeknd
In an interview with MTV News' Sway Calloway, Drake gushes about his relationship with the Weeknd. "[He's] definitely somebody who, everywhere I go, they love him. They're that loud every single night when I say the Weeknd's name," he said. “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. I want to continue being involved in his career and vice versa and keep making music together... We’re definitely a family. It’s definitely a Toronto thing. That’s not changing at all.”
Sept. 11, 2012: The Weeknd signs to Republic Records
Despite his close friendship with Drake and swirling rumors about a potential record deal, the Weeknd ultimately chooses to sign with Republic. The label will go on to repackage his first three mixtapes as a commercial release, Trilogy. This begins the rumors that Drake and the Weeknd's relationship is on the rocks. Drake later sends out this tweet, which many take as an implicit shot at the Weeknd for not signing with him.
Oct. 3, 2012: Rumors about a rift begin to swirl
A tweet from OVO affiliate Jonny Roxx sets off a ton of rumors, which neither artist comments on.
April 13, 2013: Drake shoots down beef rumors in interview with Elliot Wilson
After much speculation that two of Drake's tracks—"Started From the Bottom" and "5AM in Toronto"—contained subliminal shots at the Weeknd, Drake steps in to cool down the rumor mill. “For people thinking ["5AM in Toronto"] has something to do with the Weeknd, nah. People will name names, and that’s just in their imaginary entertaining rap world. They just want it to be about somebody you know," he told music journalist Elliot Wilson on his "Keep It Thoro" show. The discussion starts around the 23-minute mark.
When Wilson pressed him on whether OVOXO was done, Drake was a bit coy. “Not necessarily, it’s just like OVO was OVO, and will always be OVO. All we did was embrace somebody that we felt was extremely talented from our city, and instead of hating on it and rejecting it we just completely embraced it. And that was a big part of why it is where it is now," he said, going on to explain that he didn't have hard feelings. "People make their own decisions, man. He went on to do something that he felt was a great decision, and I always like more power to him. I talk to him all the time and I’m looking forward to whatever he has in the future. I wouldn’t call it a parting of ways, I just think people reach a point where they have to make a decision, and whatever decisions they make that’s on him.”
July 15, 2013: The Weeknd has a lot to say about Drake in his first ever interview
The Weeknd gives his first ever interview for a Complex cover story in 2013, and he reveals that Drake took a number of his songs for Take Care. "House of Balloons was actually supposed to have more songs than it does. I had so many records left, and then Take Care came through," he explains. “'Crew Love,' 'Shot for Me,' and 'The Ride' were supposed to be on House of Balloons. I wanted to come out with like 14 records. I felt like 'The Ride' was the last one, and it wasn’t done yet. [Drake] heard it and he was like, 'This shit’s crazy.'"
Abel says that Drake heard "The Ride" and immediately knew he wanted it.. “I need to have this, man... I know I’ve already taken ‘Shot for Me’ and ‘Crew Love’ and this and that," he recalls Drake saying. "And me, I was hungry at that time. I was like, 'Dude, take anything'... he told me he wouldn’t be able to do the album without me. You can read it on the credits that he thanked me. I don’t know if that’s him being generous, but I gave him a lot of records."
Although fans and media personalities would immediately seize upon these quotes to promote a beef narrative between the two, the Weeknd explains later in the interview that he and Drake are on good terms. "The thing about Drake is I told him what my decisions were going to be. And he was down with it from the beginning," he says. "I don’t like to spoon-feed people. I don’t like to be like, 'You know what? I’m going to let the world know that we’re cool. We’re going to take a picture together. Everyone’s cool.' It’s all about the mystery, and people like it."
July 27, 2013: Drake and the Weeknd return to the studio together
Shortly after the release of the Weeknd's Complex interview, the two are seen in the studio together on Drake's Instagram page, seemingly clearing up any beef rumors.
Aug. 5, 2013: Drake brings out the Weeknd during his OVOFest set
It's starting to look like the two artists are actually cool.
Sept. 10, 2013: Drake appears on 'Kiss Land'
The Weeknd finally drops his studio debut, Kiss Land, and it features a surprise appearance from Drake on the track "Live For." Although it marks another positive step for the two, it would turn out to be the pair's final collaboration together for several years.
Oct. 29, 2013: Drake announces that the Weeknd will open on the European leg of Would You Like A Tour?
Further burying beef rumors, Drake announces that the Weeknd will be the opener on his Would You Like A Tour? in Europe. The pair spend two months of 2014 performing and traveling in Europe together.
June 8, 2015: They're pictured together after an Apple event
Both artists are involved in the unveiling of Apple Music. Afterwards, they're pictured backstage together with Dr. Dre.
July 21, 2014: The Weeknd shouts out Drake on "King of the Fall"
The Weeknd seems to confirm that there was a beef at some point, but that the two had worked past it. "Shout out XO, shout out to the boy/Broke bread on tour, man, it’s all love now," he sings on the track.
Sept. 5, 2015: Drake drops a remix of the Weeknd's "Tell Your Friends" on OVO Sound Radio
Although Drake isn't featured on the Weeknd's smash hit album Beauty Behind the Madness, he randomly drops a remix to the track "Tell Your Friends" on OVO Sound Radio.
Oct. 21, 2015: The Weeknd has more to say about Drake during a Billboard chart battle
Right as the Weeknd and Drake are fighting for supremacy on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with their respective hits "The Hills" and "Hotline Bling," a new Weeknd interview with Rolling Stone stirs up some new information about Drake's use of the Weeknd's material on Take Care. Although the Weeknd calls Drake "my closest friend in the industry at that time," he goes on to note how much he gave away. "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," he said, adding "You never know what I would say if this success wasn't in front of me now."
"Hotline Bling" never makes it to No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart despite Drake's very public plea to his fans.
Jan. 31, 2016: Drake references OVOXO on "Summer Sixteen"
On his first VIEWS single "Summer Sixteen," Drake references OVOXO. It's not quite clear whether or not it's a diss or a shout out. "All your exes know I like my O’s with a V in the middle," he raps.
Nov. 23, 2016: The Weeknd takes credit for his own success on "Sidwalks"
The song premieres as part of his Mania short film, and the first line raises some eyebrows. "I ran out of tears when I was 18/So nobody made me but the main streets/'Cause too many people think they made me/Well, if they really made me then replace me," he sings. Although some speculate it's about his old producer Jeremy Rose, others think it might a subliminal shot at Drake.
Nov. 25, 2016: The Weeknd says he's down for a joint project with Drake
The night of the release of his third album Starboy, the Weeknd opens up to Zane Lowe about the state of his relationship with Drake. “He came in as my big bro and showed the world what I could do,” he says. “From then on, he’s always been supporting me and I’ve always been supporting him. Behind the scenes, we’re still very close but it’s cool that the world can see us doing our own thing. OVOXO will always be there.”
He went on to hint at the possibility of a joint project in the vein of Watch the Throne. “It’s cool to have both monsters work together as opposed to one monster and one little guy coming in... It’s dope, like Kanye and Jay Z, when [Watch the Throne] happened," he says.
He also had high praise for what Drake has done for Toronto. “At the end of the day, that’s my guy. Oliver, 40, all of Toronto. There wouldn’t be any new artists from there if it wasn’t for Drake making Toronto cool because it wasn’t cool. Let’s be honest. Canada wasn’t ever cool," he says.
Drake even promotes the Weeknd's new album on Instagram.
Nov. 29, 2016: 'Starboy' dominates on Spotify
The Weeknd's third album smashes a Spotify record, beating the 36 million single-day streams of Justin Bieber's Purpose on Nov. 13, 2015. After starting as Drake's protege, it seems the Weeknd has finally managed to match his level of popularity.
Does their recent love for each other mean OVOXO is finally back in full swing? We'll have to wait and see, but it's certainly been an interesting ride for the two stars.