The Weeknd has acknowledged the support he received from Drake in the early stages of his career.
Drake recalls the first time he came into contact with The Weeknd's talent.
A day before The Weeknd's "After Hours Til Dawn Tour" was scheduled to kick off in their hometown of Toronto, Canada, Drake described in a series of videos posted to his Instagram stories the first time he heard the music by his 32-year-old colleague.
“Okay, look. Right here, this little street right here was the first place I heard The Weeknd's music,” Drake said.
“A thank you to Oliver (El-Khatib), of course, my brother. Oliver had me listen to The Weekend right here. This is my old house in Toronto. We had parked outside here. It was raining,” he described.
The 35-year-old rapper then praised The Weeknd for performing at such a large venue in their hometown as the 55,000-capacity Rogers Center (formerly the SkyDome).
"The same man will sell out the SkyDome tomorrow. This man is going to sell out the SkyDome tomorrow,” Drake continued.
However, The Weeknd was forced to postpone his concert due to a nationwide network outage by Rogers Wireless, Canada's largest wireless provider.
The Weeknd - iHeartRadio Music Awards 2021
In his latest video, Drake urged his fans to follow The Weeknd's example and put time into their art, as success can come at any time.
“I just want anyone trying to do this thing to understand that I heard this man's music here for the first time while it was pouring rain. It's a great life," said the rapper.
The Weeknd first received widespread recognition when two of his first songs were posted on Drake's OVO blog in 2010. The two artists later collaborated on five songs – 'Shot for Me', 'Crew Love', 'Cameras / Good Ones Go Interlude', 'Practice' and 'The Ride' – from Drake's 2011 album 'Take Care'.
"He's been a lyricist, collaborator on four songs on my album, which I'm very proud of," Drake said of The Weeknd in an interview with MTV News at the time.
“I don't usually expand and work with other people lyrically. I usually like to write all my own stuff, but we get it. We try to touch the same emotions because we come from the same city," he explained.
In 2011, Drake was featured on the song 'The Zone' from The Weeknd's 'Thursday' mixtape and in 2013 he was featured on 'Live For' from the 'Kiss Land' mixtape. That same year, The Weeknd accompanied Drake on the European leg of his 'Would You Like a Tour?'
In 2015, The Weeknd spoke to Rolling Stone about the impact Drake had on his early career.
"I will always be grateful to him. If it wasn't for the light he shone on me, who knows where I would be. And everything happens for a reason. You never know what I would say if this success wasn't in front of me right now," he told the magazine at the time.
