Drake Recalls His First Time Listening to The Weeknd, Praises Him for Headlining Toronto Stadium

Karwai Tang/WireImage; GP Images/Getty Images Drake, The Weeknd

Drake is reminiscing on his introduction to The Weeknd.

In a series of videos posted to his Instagram Story on Friday, Drake recalled the first time he ever listened to The Weeknd's music — one day before the "Blinding Lights" superstar launches his After Hours til Dawn Tour at the Rogers Centre in both artists' native Toronto, Canada.

"Okay, look. This right here, this little driveway area right here was the first place that I ever heard The Weeknd's music," the 35-year-old "Started from the Bottom" rapper said in a selfie-style video.

"Shoutout to Oliver [El-Khatib], of course, my brother. Oliver played me The Weekend right here," recalled Drake. "This is my old building in Toronto. We were parked out here. It was raining."

Drake/TikTok Drake

He then praised The Weeknd, 32, for booking such a large venue in their shared hometown. "That same guy is selling out the SkyDome tomorrow," said Drake, referring to the Rogers Centre's previous name. "That man is selling out the SkyDome tomorrow."

RELATED: The Weeknd Announces Stadium Tour Dates with Doja Cat and Launches XO Humanitarian Fund

The Weeknd has since had to postpone his show due to a nationwide outage of Rogers Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in Canada.

At the end of the clip, the "Toosie Slide" performer seemed to urge fans to follow The Weeknd's example and spend time on their craft, as success can come at any point.

"I just want anybody that's trying to do this s--- to understand I heard this man's music right here for the first time, pouring rain. It's a great life," concluded Drake.

Joseph Okpako/Redferns/Getty The Weeknd and Drake

The Weeknd first earned widespread recognition after two of his early songs were posted to Drake's OVO blog in 2010. They later collaborated on five tracks — "Shot for Me," "Crew Love," "Cameras / Good Ones Go Interlude," "Practice" and "The Ride" — from Drake's 2011 album Take Care.

"He's like a writer, collaborator on four songs on my album, which I'm very proud of," said Drake of The Weeknd in an interview with MTV News at the time. "I usually don't branch out writing-wise working with other people. I usually like to write all my own stuff, but we get it. We try to tap into the same emotions because we're from the same city."

RELATED: Drake and Jeff Bezos Bond Over Their Humble Beginnings: 'Started from the Bottom Now We're Here'

Drake then featured on "The Zone" from The Weeknd's 2011 Thursday mixtape as well as "Live For" from his follow-up Kiss Land mixtape in 2013. The same year, The Weeknd joined Drake for a leg of his Would You Like a Tour? in Europe.

In 2015, The Weeknd spoke to Rolling Stone about the positive impact Drake had on his early career. "I will always be thankful — if it wasn't for the light he shined on me, who knows where I'd be. And everything happens for a reason," he told the outlet at the time. "You never know what I would say if this success wasn't in front of me now."

After appearing onstage together several more times, rumors of a rift between the two performers arose when the "Hotline Bling" musician was rumored to be dating The Weeknd's ex-girlfriend Bella Hadid, though she denied the rumors.

The Weeknd and Hadid, 25, ended up getting back together and dated on and off before officially splitting in 2019. Following some rumored lyrical disses between him and Drake that year, it seems their friendship is strong as ever again.