“A lot of people just hit me up when my name is mentioned. Shoutout to KD, we relate, we get the same attention.”
Two minutes into “Weston Road Flows,” the sixth track on Drake’s fourth studio album, “Views,” the Canadian rapper delivered one of a few lines that would catch the ear of any hoops aficionado. And while the bar itself is representative of both Drake and Kevin Durant finding themselves at similar junctures in their respective careers in 2016, it’s rooted in a deeper relationship that the superstars have developed over the last decade.
In response to the namedrop, Durant said, “When your favorite rapper puts your name in a song, it makes you feel like you’ve made it, no matter what you’ve done,” a strong statement considering he had already been named NBA MVP.
Seven years later, the two remain at the top of their respective games and are still garnering the same type of attention. Now, instead of just having his name mentioned in the lyrics, Durant’s name can be found in the album credits. Here’s a look into the relationship between two global superstars.
Kevin Durant and Drake relationship, explained
It’s not entirely clear just how far Durant and Drake go back, but the two have been friends for more than a decade.
Long before Drake’s shoutout on wax, he and Durant would interact on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Hours after he was named MVP of the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, Durant made sure to give a shoutout to Drake, who was seated courtside at the Amway Center in Orlando.
(NBAE via Getty Images)
Their friendship extended beyond sports and music, as Drake was present for Durant’s 25th birthday party in 2013 and Durant made his way to Toronto in 2014 to attend Drake’s OVO Festival.
In the years since, Drake has shouted out Durant on “Weston Road Flows” as well as “Free Smoke,” and their friendship takes on a competitive edge whenever Durant’s team faces the Raptors, for whom Drake has been the Global Ambassador since 2013.
In 2016, the Raptors hosted “Drake Night” when Durant’s Warriors were in town, and fans got a chance to see the nature of their friendship during Durant’s walk-off interview, which Drake purposefully interrupted by bumping into him.
The two also exchanged friendly banter during the 2019 Finals prior to the Achilles injury that would keep Durant out for the entirety of the 2019-20 NBA season.
After Durant returned to full strength, he and Drake played one-on-one as part of the music video for Drake’s “Laugh Now, Cry Later,” which was partly filmed on Nike’s campus in Beaverton, Ore.
In more recent years, the friendship has evolved into a partnership, as Durant and Drake have gone into a number of business ventures, both in the worlds of sports and music.
In July 2023, it was announced that Drake was among a group of investors in the Brooklyn Aces, a Major League Pickleball franchise co-owned by Durant, Rich Kleiman, Michael B. Jordan and Steve Stoute.
In September, Durant accompanied Drake during the ring-walk-like entrance during the Austin, Texas, stop of his “It’s All a Blur” tour.
This would prove to be a precursor of things to come on the music side.
Ahead of the Oct. 6 release of Drake’s eighth studio album, “For All the Dogs,” it was announced that Durant would be an A&R (short for artist and repertoire), which, by definition, is involved with talent discovery, music creation, marketing and promotion. He would later be named as an executive producer on “For All the Dogs: Scary Hours Edition,” a deluxe release that had six additional tracks.
And most recently, Durant was tabbed to model the launch of a new basketball collection for NOCTA, Drake’s collaborative lifestyle brand with Nike
Given Durant’s involvement in music and clothing and their partnership in sports ownership, it’s only a matter of time before the duo branch out into more involving the game of basketball.