It had been seven years since PartyNextDoor had carried out in The 6. However one Thursday evening final Might, roughly 2,500 followers at Historical past — the Toronto venue Drake, Occasion’s OVO label boss, opened in partnership with Reside Nation in 2021 — welcomed him house to town, feverishly chanting the lyrics to his beloved hits like “Wus Good/Curious.”
SiriusXM Canada had tapped the singer, songwriter and producer to headline the free, sold-out PartyNextDoor & Mates live performance to have fun its new 24/7 hip-hop and R&B channel, Mixtape: North, which highlights homegrown Canadian expertise. And what higher solution to fete the nation’s brightest stars than by reworking Historical past right into a full-fledged OVO Fest? Almost the entire influential label’s roster took the stage, and even Drake himself made a shock look to carry out his and Occasion’s mid-2010s collaborations “Acknowledge” and “Come and See Me.”
“I don’t imply to place you on the spot or something. I do know you hate this essentially the most,” Drake stated, chuckling, his arm wrapped round his introverted labelmate. “I’m so grateful for you. I’d not be the artist I’m if it wasn’t for you.” Then, turning to the viewers: “That is actually my favourite artist on the planet.”
Over the past decade, Occasion, 30, established himself instead R&B auteur who seduced listeners — and formed his style — with hazy, hypnotic Auto-Tuned vocal melodies, nocturnal entice manufacturing and carnal but cognitive lyricism about what pleasures (and issues) the wee hours generally carry. And whereas that usually added as much as a late-night, hedonistic vibe, his genuine, limber patois and dancehall-infused rhythms additionally gave his music an irresistible Caribbean taste.
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