Nicki Minaj surprised her audience by bringing Young Money partner and frequent collaborator, Drake, onstage during her Pink Friday 2 World Tour stop at Scotiabank Arena in his Toronto hometown on Tuesday night.
The Canadian 37-year-old gave the Trinidad-born, New York-raised 41-year-old a long kiss on the cheek after they debuted the live version of their 2023 song, Needle, which peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘It’s been too long,’ Drake (born Aubrey Graham) said after also kissing Nicki’s hand.
Minaj (born Onika Maraj) shouted at the 19,800 fans packed into the arena: ‘Make some noise for the king of Toronto! Make some noise for this icon, this legend!’
And when the 12-time Grammy nominee needed to do a costume change, she allowed the five-time Grammy winner to take over the stage solo and perform his 2023 track Rich Baby Daddy.
Nicki Minaj (L) surprised her audience by bringing Young Money partner and frequent collaborator, Drake (R), onstage during her Pink Friday 2 World Tour stop at Scotiabank Arena in his Toronto hometown on Tuesday night
The powerful hip-hop stars have recorded a total 10 songs together since 2010, including last year’s For All the Barbz and the 2021 track Papi’s Home.
‘Toronto night two was a magical moment in time that I’ll never forget,’ Nicki – who boasts 353M social media followers – gushed on Wednesday.
‘I really freaking love you guys! Imagine having a crowd with incredible energy, then in walks the superstar of all superstars. The genius we call Drake. Thank you @champagnepapi – nostalgic isn’t even the word. Wow. We’re really doing everything we used to talk about, dream about, worry about… Love for life!’
Minaj added on Twitter: ‘He made me so happy tonight by coming out. Them screams be real different when the boy touch down chi.’
Before leaving the stage, Drake teased a potential follow-up to his diss tracks Push Ups and Taylor Made (Freestyle) aimed at rap rival Kendrick Lamar, who dropped his six-minute diss track titled Euphoria (Drake is an executive producer on the Max series) hours earlier.
‘I love you. You know what time it is — you know what I have to do,’ the OVO Sound co-founder said ominously.
The 36-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning musician began Euphoria saying: ‘I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress / I hate the way that you sneak diss.’
In response, Drake dragged Kendrick by Instastorying a clip of Julia Stiles from the 1999 rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You reading a similar poem: ‘I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair / I hate the way you drive my car I hate it when you stare.’
The Canadian 37-year-old gave the Trinidad-born, New York-raised 41-year-old a long kiss on the cheek after they debuted the live version of their 2023 song, Needle, which peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100
Drake (born Aubrey Graham) said: ‘It’s been too long’
Minaj (born Onika Maraj) shouted at the 19,800 fans packed into the arena: ‘Make some noise for the king of Toronto! Make some noise for this icon, this legend!’
And when the 12-time Grammy nominee needed to do a costume change, she allowed the five-time Grammy winner to take over the stage solo and perform his 2023 track Rich Baby Daddy
The powerful hip-hop stars have recorded a total 10 songs together since 2010, including last year’s For All the Barbz and the 2021 track Papi’s Home (pictured in 2009)
Nicki gushed on Wednesday: ‘Imagine having a crowd with incredible energy, then in walks the superstar of all superstars. The genius we call Drake. Thank you @champagnepapi – nostalgic isn’t even the word. Wow. We’re really doing everything we used to talk about, dream about, worry about… Love for life!’
Minaj added on Twitter: ‘He made me so happy tonight by coming out. Them screams be real different when the boy touch down chi’
Before leaving the stage, Drake teased a potential follow-up to his diss tracks Push Ups and Taylor Made (Freestyle) aimed at rap rival Kendrick Lamar (R, pictured in 2012), who dropped his six-minute diss track titled Euphoria hours earlier: ‘You know what I have to do’
The Titles Ruin Everything poet and Lamar (born Duckworth) used to tour together and record songs together, but their on/off feud dating back to 2013 was rekindled around Halloween.
Meanwhile, the Big Difference rapper got some good news last month when a judge granted a request from her husband of four years – Kenneth Petty – to travel internationally with her for her Pink Friday 2 World Tour, according to TMZ.
The 46-year-old ‘music industry professional’ – who’s serving three years probation for failing to register as a sex offender in California – will serve primary caregiver duties for their three-year-old son nicknamed ‘Papa Bear’ while Nicki is working.
Minaj was only 16 when she first met Kenneth, who served a combined 11 years in prison for raping a 16-year-old girl in 1995 and shooting a man to death in 2002.
After tonight’s show in Brooklyn, the FTCU rapper – who gets 50.5M monthly listeners on Spotify – is next scheduled to bring her 59-date Pink Friday 2 World Tour to the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on May 8.
