Drake and Kendrick Lamar have both come a long way since Kendrick appeared on Drake’s second album, Take Care. At the time, Drake was an established star, coming off of a No. 1 debut in Thank Me Later and a string of Top 40 hits, and Take Care was set to be the confirmation of his superstardom. Kendrick, on the other hand, was about a year away from his own hotly anticipated debut album, but rising in popularity due to the strength of his independent mixtapes and co-signs from West Coast legends like Dr. Dre, The Game, and Snoop Dogg.
Since then, however, Drake and Kendrick’s relationship appears to have cooled. Despite collaborating twice more on Kendrick’s Good Kid, MAAD City single “Poetic Justice” and ASAP Rocky’s “F*ckin’ Problems,” the two seemed to distance from each other in the aftermath of Kendrick’s scorched-earth verse from Big Sean’s “Control,” a few apparent shots on songs like “King Kunta,” and during his 2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher verse. Since then, fans have interpreted lines in both rappers’ songs as subliminal shots at the other, assuming that they had fallen out and couldn’t reconcile after so much supposed bad blood.
However, during Kendrick’s ongoing Big Steppers Tour stop in Drake’s hometown Toronto, The Boy himself was seen enjoying the show in a box to himself and his OVO compatriots. Fans who noticed him were excited to see him, getting and posting plenty of videos.
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Meanwhile, Kendrick himself last made mention of his supposed rival on his new album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, admitting that he realized that various rap feuds were petty and childish, but also expressed reluctance to let them go. “When Kanye got back with Drake, I was slightly confused,” he says on “Father Time.” Guess I’m not as mature as I think, got some healin’ to do.” Whether he’s since done that healing remains to be seen, but some fans have already interpreted Drake’s presence at Kendrick’s show as a good sign that the two could be reconciling — or at least, on good enough terms to enjoy each other’s shows.
