Drake put so-called ‘fake friends’ on notice by offering up a warning about people who you think have your back in life only to ‘stab you in the back’ in the end.
The 37-year-old rapper, who’s in the midst of a feud with Kendrick Lamar, made the comments during an impromptu rant at Canadian broadcaster Tyrone Edwards’ Nostalgia Party at his nightclub in Drake’s hometown of Toronto on Saturday night.
In between songs, the Canadian actor-turned-rapper (born Aubrey Drake Graham) grabbed the microphone and took shots at anyone who’s against him or those talking trash about him, all while encouraging others to put themselves first, according to Page Six.
‘I going to tell you one thing about nostalgia, one thing about nostalgia with this party here. My real friends are definitely in the building,’ the Family Matter star began.
‘But I’m going to tell you you’re going to come to a point in life where people you thought were friends, or people you thought were close to you, they might switch up. They may try and move funny with you.’
Drake offered up a message to fans about ‘fake friends’ who will ‘stab you in the back’ during Tyrone Edwards’ Nostalgia Party in Toronto, Canada Saturday night, amid his escalated feud with Kenrick Lamar that dates back years
The rappers’ feud escalated earlier this year with dueling diss tracks, culminating in May with Lamar’s brutal Not Like Us, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart; Lamar seen in May 2023 in NYC
He added, ‘They might stab you in the back. They may do a lot of things to you. You’ll come to that realization.’
It’s at this point in the rant that Drake started to shift from bashing all those ‘fake friends’ to urging people in the audience to take ownership of our our lives as individuals.
‘Wherever you are in life you probably been there and you’ll be there again. That’s how life is,’ he said, before adding, ‘But look, sometimes it’s you and you alone by yourself. Sometimes it’s you alone with your thoughts.’
Drake then stopped in mid-sentence and said, ‘You know what f**k this,’ and abruptly ended his speech to play more music.
Afterwards, Canadian star took to his instagram page to share some images from his night at the club.
‘@mr1loveto Nostalgia 2024 was incredible!!! Where to next? @marioworldwide said America should experience it…,’ the five-time Grammy Award winner wrote in the caption.
The One Dance hitmaker’s speech comes after he reportedly unfollowed a number of celebrities on Instagram after they showed support for Lamar, including NBA stars LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan, as well as rapper Playboi Carti and media personality and former rapper Joe Budden.
Lamar and Drake were initially friends and colleagues dating back to the early 2010’s, that began with their collaboration on the track Buried Alive Interlude.
The Toronto native took shots at fair-weather friends, all while encouraging everyone to put themselves first in this life
Drake grabbed a microphone in between songs at the nightclub and proceeded to rant: ‘My real friends are definitely in the building,’ the Family Matter star began
But then things escalated this past March when Lamar dissed J. Cole and Drake on Like That as a response to Drake and J. Cole’s 2023 song First Person Shooter, where Cole claims that he, Drake, and Lamar are the ‘big three’ in modern rap music.
In early April, Cole responded by offering up the diss track 7 Minute Drill but in within a weeks time apologized for the song and removed it from streaming services.
Drake jumped into the mix by releasing the songs Push Ups and Taylor Made Freestyle later in April, which led to this kind of back-and-forth between the two stars, while also taking personal jabs at each other.
With over 170 million units sold, Drake is among the best-selling music artists in the world, while also being the highest-certified digital singles artist in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Last month, Lamar released his first song in four months, a follow-up to May 4’s Not Like Us, which solidified him as the victor in his rap beef with Drake.
The 37-year-old Compton native — who is headlining Super Bowl LIX in February 2025 — shared the untitled track via Instagram on Wednesday, and it is not available to stream.
Lamar’s latest effort does not explicitly name the Toronto-bred artist, also 37, but references the musical feud, opening with the lines, ‘I think it’s time to let the party die / this s**t done got too wicked to apologize / it’s different, get him whacked and disqualified.’
Elsewhere in the new music, Kendrick raps about themes of hedonism, spirituality and the pitfalls of fame.
Earlier this week, the Loyalty hitmaker announced his upcoming NFL performance, writing in a social media caption, ‘Super Bowl LIX. New Orleans. February 2025. #AppleMusicHalftime.’
The post featured a single close-up up photo of a pair of well-worn, black, Air Force 1 sneakers and has so far racked up more than two million likes from his 16.4 million followers.
Fans quickly flocked to the comments to unpack the cryptic post, with one top note stating: ‘Bro just confirmed the villain era and in the postmodern [world] that makes him the hero.’
‘I’m going to tell you you’re going to come to a point in life where people you thought were friends, or people you thought were close to you, they might switch up. They may try and move funny with you,’ he said
‘They might stab you in the back. They may do a lot of things to you. You’ll come to that realization,’ Drake added
Another commenter referenced Kendrick’s ongoing tension with DJ Akademiks, who is a known Drake fan.
‘Akademiks punching ghosts rn,’ a social media user with the handle @thermalvision_ weighed in.
Some have interpreted some rap bars in particular to be directed toward the media personality: ‘Influencers talk down ’cause I’m not with the basic sh*t / But they don’t hate me, they hate the man that I represent / The type of man that never d*ck ride ’cause I want a favor.’
If there was any doubt about who the entertainer was speaking on, he added another hint: ‘The radio personality pushing propaganda for salary / Let me know when they turn up as a casualty.’
Someone else surmised that the new song is a reaction to the music industry as a whole.
‘This ain’t even about Drake, it’s about the whole industry and its effects on the next generation. He’s sickened by it all,’ @johnsdayoff wrote.
And another person joked about Kendrick: ‘He wrote this with a sword.’
Along with his Super Bowl halftime performance announcement, Kendrick shared a separate post containing a promotional video.
In the snippet he said, ‘Will you be pulling up? I hope so. You know there’s only one opportunity to win a championship. No round twos. Let’s get it, boom! I wouldn’t want you to miss it. Meet me in New Orleans February 9, 2025.’
He added, ‘Wear your best dressed too, even if you’re watching from home. Let’s go, yeee! It’s what I’m talking about, man. Now we can get to it for real.’
In the clip, Kendrick handled a football passing machine on the field in front of a huge American flag.
Last month, Lamar released his first song in four months , a follow-up to May 4’s Not Like Us, which solidified him as the victor in his rap beef with Drake; pictured in July 2023 in Paris
Drake has quietly moved on from his rap spar with Kendrick, which many have understood to be a concession.
In early August he surprised fans with the release of 100 gigabytes of previously unseen footage from his personal archives.
The dump included behind-the-scenes content from studio sessions for some of his most biggest hits.
Among the outtakes was a revealing moment that confirmed his 2016 Rihanna-assisted song Too Good was written about tennis icon Serena Williams.
