There might never be a time in music that can replicate the YMCMB era. In 2008, fresh off of the release of Tha Carter III, Wayne embarked on the "I Am Music" tour with a bigger mission on his mind than to promote his Grammy award-winning opus. It was a moment that helped form the foundation of Young Money. Though artists like Gym Class Heroes, Keri Hilson, T-Pain, Porcelain Black, and Keyshia Cole served as Wayne's opening acts, the show's real stars had yet to fulfill their potential. The most notable artists? Drake and Nicki Minaj. At that point, they created a small but powerful buzz around their names without the global acclaim they have today.
The Young Money Reunion in Toronto celebrated Wayne's premonition of his team back in 2008. He placed faith in Drake and Nicki to carry his legacy at a point in his career where he had already proved to be the "greatest rapper alive." Nowadays, it seems like that title doesn't hold the same weight as it once did to Lil Wayne. However, Drake and Nicki Minaj's efforts to carry his legacy forward – from his incarceration to the present day – appear to be one of his proudest accomplishments in his career.
The day was scorching hot as fans awaited one of the year's most anticipated shows. A DJ breezed through recent hits from Lil Baby and Kevin Gates, but it wasn't enough to keep the crowd's attention after a while. Though the show was rumored to start at 8:30 p.m., more than an hour of delays prompted booing from the audience on two separate occasions. Finally, the lights dimmed, and a screen wrapped around the stage nearly produced a third boo. "Unfortunately, Lil Wayne had issues at the border," a message on the jumbotron read before hitting the ultimate "SIKE." "Fortunately, Drake runs the border," the screen displayed as the fog hit and Wayne emerged onto the stage to a sea of screams. Weezy entered with "Blunt Blowin" off of Tha Carter IV before running through cuts from that era of his career, like "I'm Goin In" (sans Drizzy or Jeezy), "Steady Mobbin," and "Right Above It." "Pop Bottles" was as far back in the catalog as he went. There was nothing from the early Cash Money days, records from the first two installments of Tha Carter series, or even deep cuts from Dedication. He largely kept to the evening's theme and played music from the YMCMB era while limiting mixtape cuts to No Ceilings and Sorry 4 The Wait. He reserved records like "John" and "A Milli" for his final moments on stage before offering a last message – the same one he presents to every crowd before the evening closes – "I ain't shit without you."
Aside from the show's fluidity, the decision to let Lil Wayne kick off the evening was symbolic of the vision for Young Money from the jump. Unlike many rapper-turned-CEOs, Lil Wayne wanted to see the budding stars on his roster eventually exceed him – and they did. It was as evident as when the lights started to go out for Nicki's set. As a dominatrix-influenced visual appeared across the stage's jumbotron, Nicki carried herself onto the stage with the presence of an artist with two-plus decades under their belt to louder applause than Wayne. Her pink wig followed behind her as she strolled across the stage to "Do We Have A Problem?" A green Louis Vuitton wallet attached to her belt matched the carry-on on her arm and a green-checkered shirt which she slowly started to unbutton throughout the show sultrily. Even as a new mom, Nicki hasn't lost an ounce of her sex appeal. The remainder of Nicki's set reflected her status as the cultural giant she became when her verse on "Monster" hit the Internet. Though that particular song was absent from her setlist, Nicki firmly reminded the crowd of her crown as the Queen Of Rap. There's not another rapper from the early 2010s – male or female – who has been as impactful as she's been consistent. The fanfare grew as she got deeper into her set and began diving into some of her earlier hits — even the poppier "Superbass," which ended up the closer. The only moment where the crowd response was more prominent than Nicki's was when she performed "Crocodile Teeth (Remix)" and brought out Skillibeng, who delivered a brief rendition of "Whap Whap" afterward and professed his love to Nicki.
As the dust settled from Nicki's stellar performance, the anticipation in the crowd crescendoed for their hometown hero. OVO Fest has been a staple in Toronto for nearly as long as Drake's career, but in the wake of the pandemic, Drake has hardly spent more than 15 minutes on stage in Toronto – or elsewhere. Drake has spent a large portion of the post-Certified Lover Boy era as a special guest for other artists, including Kanye West, Lil Baby, and the Backstreet Boys. The Young Money Reunion was the first Drake show in Toronto since OVO Fest in 2019.
Drake entered the stage as the People's Champ. Wayne and Nicki had grandiose entrances from the side-stage before they grabbed the mic, but Drizzy walked through the security pit before Odell Beckham Jr., who went largely unnoticed by the crowd, welcomed him to the stage. Drake, donning a black jacket and matching pants, basked at the beaming camera phone flashes and faces in the crowd as an edit of Yebba's "One More Smile (Live At Electric Lady)" rang off. The lack of general touring in the years since Scorpion has played a role in Drake's setlist. He largely kept his song choices set geared towards bangers that have yet to be performed live. Launching into "Jimmy Cooks" to the shimmering YMCMB graphics on the screen allowed Drake to salute Young Thug and Gunna on stage while paying respects to the late Lil Keed. Unfortunately, 21 Savage couldn't make it across the border to perform the record, which Drake later acknowledged, despite his apparent pull with Canadian Customs. For the most part, Drake's set was guest-free, except for Smiley, who pulled up to perform "Over The Top" and later received a warm birthday wish from the crowd. It was a full circle moment for Smiley since the only other time he performed at OVO Fest was in 2019; he was largely unknown and entirely inebriated.
After rolling through a stripped-down medley primarily consisting of hits off of Honestly, Nevermind (and acknowledging the Zara memes), which he described as the greatest addition to his catalog, he finally warmed up the crowd for the main attraction – the Young Money Reunion. In what Drake outlined as the "Young Money audition," he launched into a barrage of bangers consisting of "Sticky," "Way 2 Sexy," and finally, "Knife Talk" to test just how loud the crowd could get. What followed next was a tribute to "where it all started." Mannie Fresh and Birdman reunited for a brief three-song set that initiated a proper trip down memory lane, beginning with the Cash Money days of the Big Tymers. There wasn't as much of a warm welcome for the Cash Money duo as there should've been. Sure, people were getting their roll on, but for many fans whose entry point to hip-hop was the YMCMB era, the Big Tymers appeared to be entirely foreign to them.
From the moment Lil Wayne entered to perform his verse on "Bedrock," a rush of energy gushed out of the crowd. Still, Nicki's infamous bar, "Maybe it's time to put this pussy on your sideburns," captivated the audience with little prompt. Thirteen years after We Are Young Money dropped, it's safe to say men and women are still willing to scream that bar at the top of their lungs, even if we don't know what that means exactly.
The beautiful part about watching Young Money gather together – Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, and Mack Maine included – is that it genuinely did feel like a family reunion rather than a structured set of predetermined songs and diligent staging. The chemistry was vibrant and playful between everyone on stage, bringing flashbacks of the YMCMB performance at Summer Jam '14. Drake frequently referred to Wayne as the "bossman," while Nicki's humor shined at moments like when she asked Drake if he still had COVID-19 and jokingly yelled, "You made it through monkeypox!" But even after going through songs like "HYFR," "Moment 4 Life," and other records that secured their status as hip-hop's Holy Trinity of the early 2010s, Drake made a concerted effort to ensure that the artists he came up with received their flowers. He boldly stated that "none of these h*es can fuck with Nicki" at a time when so many women in the industry are prospering thanks to the doors Nicki broke down. And while Drake had much to celebrate himself (including his negative COVID-19 test), it was a night to honor Lil Wayne, who said little on stage and watched his two protegés like a proud father.
"You are truly the most selfless man on planet earth. To find all these people across the mothafuckin' world, bring us all together, give us all a shot. This is me, by the way. I'm your son! Look at this shit," Drake told Lil Wayne before redirecting his attention to the city. "I will go to the ends of the earth for this man. You changed my fucking life, and you changed this city forever."
