The History Of Drake And Kanye West's Complex Relationship: What Went Wrong?
Drizzy and Kanye currently seem to be the best of enemies. But at one time they were happily working together and praising each other. Join us as we look at the history of Drake and Kanye West's relationship.
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1. 2009: Drake and Kanye West meet for the first time...
Drake and Kanye West reportedly first met in Hawaii before his debut album ‘Thank Me Later’. At the time, the OVO rapper told MTV News that their interaction was brief but they agreed to work on music together in the future. Their meeting was potentially around the same time Kanye West was working on his '808 & Heartbreaks' album. Picture: Getty
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2. February 2009: Drake remixes Kanye West's 'Say What's Real' for his own mixtape.
Drake released a remix of Kanye West’s song ‘Say What’s Real’ on February 14th (Valentine's Day). Drizzy’s version of the '808 & Heartbreaks' song heard him rap about the pressures of making it in the Hip-Hop industry. Picture: Instagram
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3. May 2009: Kanye West praises Drake and his songwriting.
Kanye West had lots of praise for Drake on his now-deleted personal blog KanyeUniverseCity.com. The rapper was clearly a fan of Drake’s lyrics on Young Money’s song ‘Every Girl’, reportedly writing: "Drake said, 'Do you like girls like I do?? Les-bi-honest!!!!!' Best line of the year so far!" Picture: Getty
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4. May 2009: Drake claims Kanye West is the most influential artist in his career.
Drake revealed that Kanye West was the most important artist in his career, ahead of a huge show at New York’s SOB’s nightclub in 2009. At the time he told MTV News: “Kanye West shaped a lot of what I do, as far as music goes... [B]efore I met him, I had the utmost respect for Kanye West. I'd even go as far as to say he's the most influential person as far as a musician that I'd ever had in my life." Picture: Getty
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5. June 2009: Drake and Kanye West collaborate for the first time on 'Digital Girl'.
Drake and Kanye West first officially collaborated on the remix of Jamie Foxx’s song ‘Digital Girl in 2009. The pair had their own verses on the track which also featured The Dream. Picture: Getty
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6. July 2009: Kanye West directs Drake's 'Best I Ever Had' music video.
Kanye West directed the music video for Drake’s first single ‘Best I Ever Had’. The basketball-themed music video, which featured lots of busty women running around, was slammed by fans and critics alike. Rumours circulated that Drake wasn't happy with the final product.
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7. August 2009: Drake collaborates with Kanye West on 'Forever'.
Drake enlisted Kanye West on his star-studded single ‘Forever’, which also featured Lil Wayne and Eminem. The song featured on Drake’s debut album ‘Thank Me Later’. Picture: Getty
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8. April 2010: Kanye West helps Drake on his song 'Find Your Love'.
Drake collaborated with Kanye West on his single ‘Find Your Love’. Kanye is credited as a co-writer and co-producer on the song, which was rumoured to be originally intended for Rihanna. However interestingly, speaking about the song in 2013, Kanye West said: “I was fine with writing 'Find Your Love' with Drake on his first thing, until he got too big." Picture: Instagram
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9. 2010: Kanye West removes Drake from 'All Of The Lights'.
Kanye West enlisted Drake for a song that would eventually become ‘All Of The Lights’. Drizzy had a verse at the start of the song which was originally called ‘Ghetto University’. However his verse was later removed on the final version, which included contributions from Rihanna, Elton John and more. Picture: Getty
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10. January 2011: Drake throws shots at Kanye West and JAY-Z's supergroup The Throne.
Drake told Capital XTRA DJ Tim Westwood that he was working on a joint album with his mentor Lil Wayne back in 2011. However Drizzy made sure to throw a light jab at Kanye West and JAY-Z in the process. "We still got to do that album," Drake said about his Lil Wayne project. "I heard some other guys are coming out with an album, too. There's two other rappers that are coming out with an album together... I don't know where they got that idea." Picture: Instagram
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11. October 2011: Drake reveals his desire to surpass Kanye West's career.
Drake admitted that his goal was to become bigger than Kanye West in an interview with The Source. “It’s an honor. When I was a kid trying to figure out what I liked, it was ‘Ye who I related to the most. He was an artist, in every sense, from his cover art to his music. Now, I would say, he is really great [pause] competitor…and friend, at the same time... My goal is to surpass everything he’s accomplished. I don’t want to be as good as Kanye, I want to be better."
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12. August 2013: Drake brings out Kanye West at OVO Fest 2013.
Drake surprised fans by bringing out Kanye West at OVO Fest in 2013. Kanye performed and later admitted that he was paying attention to Drake’s moves. “Me and Hov would've never made Watch the Throne if this n*gga wasn't putting pressure on us like that, so I just wanna pay my respects," he told the audience. Drake would go on to suggest that night was "the most important moment in my career." Picture: Getty
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13. August 2013: Drake discusses mending his relationship with Kanye West...
During an interview with Billboard, Drake spoke openly on his strained relationship with Kanye West. “Me and Ye just fell into this thing where we hadn’t actually talked to each other in so long that all this stuff got built up. Sometimes you just have to find the opportunity to tell someone that you really like and respect them. After that, everything can move forward. Hopefully we give the world what they want, because I know they want it. I know me and Ye could do some crazy sh*t together.”
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14. February 2015: Kanye West claims to be working on a joint album with Drake.
Kanye West confirms on The Breakfast Club that he and Drake were “gonna do an album together... It might happen... But he's probably going to be mad that I mentioned it on your show." He later described Drake as “an amazing sparring partner” during an interview with Clique. Picture: Getty
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15. January 2016: Drake says he has a bigger swimming pool than Kanye West.
Drake claimed that he had a bigger swimming pool than Kanye West in a freestyle called ‘Summer Sixteen’. Kanye later responded claiming that he owned three pools. Picture: Instagram
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16. February 2016: Drake helps Kanye West on 'The Life Of Pablo'.
Kanye West enlisted Drake to help him on his 2016 album ‘The Life Of Pablo’. Drizzy reportedly helped write ’30 Hours’, ‘Father Stretch My Hands’ and was also featured on ‘Wolves’. Picture: Getty
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17. April 2016: Drake removes Kanye West from 'Pop Style'.
Drake released a song with Kanye West and JAY-Z called ‘Pop Style’, before later removing both artists from the song. Drizzy later claimed there was a business disagreement between himself and the pair. During a later episode of OVO Sound Radio, Drake claimed “Ye is one of my favorite people. Period. In the world man. I love Ye. I grew up with him as a role model, he is part of the reason I am here right now." Drizzy also says he likes to "pull up at [Kanye's] house and see what he's doing."
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18. August 2016: Drake and Kanye West tease OVO/GOOD Music album.
Drake and Kanye West teased a collaborative OVO and GOOD Music project via a series of billboards in LA. The surprise adverts included phrases such as “Calabasas is the new Abu Dhabi” alongside the logos of both record labels. Picture: Instagram
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19. February 2017: Kanye West disses Drake on the Saint Pablo tour, Drake responds.
Drake hit back Kanye West’s claims that DJ Khaled “set up” his song ‘For Free’ on US radio. In an interview he said: “I’m not really sure what he’s referring to half the time. Because in the same breath, I went from being…like working on a project with him, to him sorta publicly shitting on me & DJ Khaled for being on the radio too much... I’m not sure why we’re the target of your choice that you made that night. I accept what you’re going through, and I just go and continue working"
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20. May 2018: Drake indirectly slams Kanye West in a Pusha T diss track.
In Drake’s 'Duppy Freestyle' response to Pusha T, he had some strong words for Kanye West. “What do you really think of the n*gga that's making your beats?/ I've done things for him I thought that he never would need/ Father had to stretch his hands out and get it from me/I pop style for 30 hours, then let him repeat” Picture: Instagram
