The Weeknd Performs At First Show In Toronto

If you haven’t already heard of The Weeknd aka Abel Tesfaye, where have you been this past year? After releasing the quite brilliant House Of Balloons mixtape (download here), and with the help of a few Drake tweets, he quickly became one of the hottest artists on the internet. The purposefully generated mystery behind The Weeknd proved to be a great e-marketing strategy and left fans craving for more. Even pictures and videos of Abel were hard to come by at one point but of course that didn’t last long; you can’t hide much from the internet.

Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up The Super Bowl With Bold Drake Diss And Surprise Guests

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl 59 halftime performance was nothing short of legendary, leaving fans buzzing with surprise cameos and bold moments that took his long-running feud with Drake to new heights. Kicking off with an unreleased song snippet and followed by “Squabble Up” from his latest album GNX, Kendrick immediately set the tone for a game-changing performance. Fans eagerly waited to see if Kendrick would play his diss track Not Like Us, especially with Drake's ongoing lawsuit against him and his label for defamation and harassment. Lamar's performance included an unexpected appearance by SZA and a quirky cameo from Serena Williams, along with Samuel L. Jackson’s comedic interruptions, all building the suspense around the Drake drama. In the middle of his performance, Kendrick turned up the heat, looking straight into the camera and directly addressing Drake with his famous lyrics, “I heard you like them young," as fans held their breath. Despite the tension, Kendrick censored himself when it came time to call Drake a "certified lover boy" and avoided saying “pedophile,” which had been widely speculated. Social media lit up with mixed reactions, with some fans mocking the performance as a "mid mashup" and others noting the intense hostility toward Drake. With the hashtag #KendrickBowl trending, it’s clear that Kendrick’s performance was a cultural moment that pushed boundaries—but has he gone too far, or is this just another chapter in hip-hop history? Only time will tell, and Drake has yet to respond.

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Demand for tickets for his first show in his home town was unsurprisingly sky high, with a few very well known guests showing up including Drake, Justin Bieber, Birdman and Diddy.

Sidenote: This was really just a warm-up, his next performance will be at Drake’s OVO Fest on July 31st.

Keep reading for parts 2 and 3.

Props: Now Magazine.