Drake Compliments Vanessa Hudgens During Billboard Award Speech, Declares His Love For Nicki Minaj
Drake sure did have an eventful night at the Billboard Awards, tonight. The popular rapper beat Adele’s record for the most awards won in one night, by racking up 13 Billboard Awards. Drake also dazzled the crowd with a performance of his hit song, Gyalchester, surrounded by water.
The moment on the tips of everyone’s tongues, however, came during his acceptance speech for his 12th award of the night. Drake, visibly in good spirits, got rather personal during his acceptance speech.
“You know I had a close friend of mine that didn’t support my album but then supported other people’s stuff,” Drake explained.
“And I asked them why, and their response was, ‘I don’t want to look thirsty and you get enough love as it is.It made me think.You know it’s crazy because we’re all here on earth for a limited amount of time and we’ve got to show love while we’re here.”
Following this admission, Drake started to call out several of his peers in the audience to let them know how he felt about them. He started with the Billboard Award co-host, Vanessa Hudgens.
“So tonight, I want to say — Vanessa Hudgens, you look incredible tonight,” he said.
The camera then panned to Nicki Minaj, who was caught playfully mouthing to Drake, “what about me?”
Drake then continued his speech but was caught laughing at Nicki’s outburst, as she was sitting directly in front of the microphone.
To Ludacris, who co-hosted the show with Vanessa, Drake said the following.
“I want to say, Ludacris, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye but I’ve always been a big fan of yours. I got a lot of love for you. I want to let you know that face to face while I’m still here.”
Drake then gave Nicki Minaj the attention that she desired and declared his love for her.
“I wanna say, Nicki Minaj, I’m so glad we found out way back because I love you and I could never, ever see it any other way.
Nicky reacted by clutching her chest and mouthing “I love you,” back to the rapper onstage.
Nicki Minaj and Drake have a complicated history together. Both rose to fame around the same time, as artists underneath Lil Wayne’s management. In recent years, however, their relationship became strained due to Nicki Minaj’s relationship with her now ex, Meek Mill.
Family. For. Life. #MulaBayybeh!!! @liltunechi @champagnepapi @mackmaine4president
A post shared by Nicki Minaj (@nickiminaj) on
Their drama stemmed from the fact that Meek Mill released a diss track about Drake, where he claimed that Drake did not write his own raps. The tension between Drake and Meek Mill obviously affected Nicki’s relationship with Drake for months.
Whatever happened between Nicki Minaj and Drake seems to be over now. In January, after Nicki Minaj broke up with Meek Mill, she was photographed with Drake and Lil Wayne, which further proves that the drama that occurred between Drake and herself wasn’t exactly personal.
Drake went on to send love to Lil Wayne, who was seated next to Nicki Minaj in the audience. Drake and Lil Wayne have also had issues in the past, but it looks as if they’ve also put it all behind them now.
Drake ended his speech by calling out his father, whose fashion choices he obviously doesn’t agree with.
“My dad got on a purple suit with purple shoes. Boy, if you don’t stop!” Drake proclaimed before the camera panned away to the audience.
You can catch Drake’s full acceptance speech below and witness the super cute moment for yourself!
CONGRATS, @Drake ? "Views" was awarded the #BBMAs for Top Billboard 200 Album! ?? pic.twitter.com/zAZWBmFMtp
— Billboard Music Awards (@BBMAs) May 22, 2017
What did you think about Drake’s speech? You can sound off in the comment section below.
[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
