With the self-assuredness of a hero returning home and the showmanship of a man who knows how to stay on top of the news cycle, Drake sauntered out at Central Cee's sold-out concert in Toronto and nonchalantly delivered the news everyone had been waiting for: "OVO Fest is back this year."
It's been three languid summers since OVO Fest last blazed across Toronto in 2012. That year, Drake called out big guns like Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and even Nelly Furtado to join him in the hometown love-in. Previous special guests at OVO Fest include The Weeknd, 50 Cent, J. Cole, Big Sean, and Lauryn Hill, so expectations for the return of 2025 have already been kicked into the stratosphere.
The blunt statement followed a surprise guest appearance by Drake in support of UK rapper Central Cee. But this wasn't just a flex about spreading the love but was a reminder to the city and the world that when it comes to partying, performing, or staking his claim to the center of hip-hop's cultural pulse, Drake ain't finished.
This triumphant return occurs against one of recent memory's most bitter rap feuds. Drake's feud with Kendrick Lamar has escalated out of lyrical disses and into a full-out legal battle. What began with a line on Future & Metro Boomin's "Not Like That" has become a saga that belongs in a Netflix docuseries.
It wasn't only a lyrical blow for Lamar, whose savage diss track, "Not Like Us," has set the record straight, but a career-defining moment earning him five Grammys and the most-prized gig in music, the Super Bowl Halftime Show, earlier this year. For his part, Drake escalated the situation out of the studio, suing UMG for allegedly collaborating in creating and promoting a "viral hit" that defamed him and cast him as a criminal in the eyes of the public.
Drake's side argues that UMG overstepped and prioritized profit by trying to shop a track that made unmistakable claims about him. UMG, meanwhile, says Drake's lawsuit is patently without merit and that diss tracks are all part of the game, a game Drizzy has played plenty of times over the years.
Now that the court has allowed the case to proceed to discovery, it seems things are heating up in both the courtroom and the streets of hip-hop.
Yet even amid legal smoke and lyrical fire, Drake is being Drake, which is to say, looking ahead. And with that confidence in OVO Fest 2025, it seems he's laying the groundwork for a bash that might remind everyone that he's one of the biggest stars ever to play the game.
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