Are The Weeknd and Drake plotting a Watch the Throne-like joint project?
It certainly seems possible after listening to Abel Tesfaye talk about his “homie” Aubrey Graham during a Beats 1 interview promoting his new album Starboy.
“He came in as my big bro and showed the world what I could do,” said The Weeknd. “From then on, he’s always been supporting me and I’ve always been supporting him. Behind the scenes, we’re still very close but it’s cool that the world can see us doing our own thing. OVO/XO will always be there.
“It’s cool to have both monsters work together as opposed to one monster and one little guy coming in,” he added. “It’s dope, like Kanye and Jay Z, when [Watch the Throne] happened.”
Asked if a joint project could happen between the Canadian stars, Abel responded: “Maybe. Why not?”
There have been murmurs of a feud between Drake and The Weeknd since Abel opted not to sign with OVO. Last year, he said working with Drizzy on Take Care was difficult. “I gave up almost half of my album,” he explained. “It’s hard. 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. You never know what I would say if this success wasn’t in front of me now.”
But now, things seem positive between the two. “He’s the homie,” added The Weeknd. “At the end of the day, that’s my guy. Oliver, 40, all of Toronto. There wouldn’t be any new artists from there if it wasn’t for Drake making Toronto cool because it wasn’t cool. Let’s be honest. Canada wasn’t ever cool.”
Meanwhile, Drake shared the love right back on Instagram by posting the artwork for Starboy. “Out now,” he wrote. “Congrats @theweeknd and the whole XO man dem.”