August 23, 2023
In honor of what would have been Kobe Bryant's 45th birthday, Drake commemorated the legacy of the NBA icon during his recent performances on the It's All a Blur Tour at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
During these shows, he also took a moment to reflect on his initial meeting with Bryant. As he spoke to the crowd between songs, a fan gave him one of Bryant’s jerseys and he said, "I'm gonna hold this up, 'cause we gotta show love to Kobe one time," he said, according to fan-filmed videos on social media.
"Y'all make some noise for Kobe one time," he went on, as the crowd cheered.
In the midst of the second Crypto.com concert, Drake paused to recount his initial encounter with Bryant. He reminisced about the time when he flew to Los Angeles to finalize a record deal, marking the first step in his journey out of his hometown of Toronto. Interestingly, he highlighted Los Angeles as the first place he settled in after leaving Toronto.
"When I had to move away from home, move away from my mother, move away from my friends, the first place to ever take me in was Los Angeles, California," he told the audience. "The day I got flown out to get signed... I was on Lil Wayne's tour bus. I'll never forget."
"He said, 'Man, I got this album coming out. It's called Tha Carter III. I want to play it for you, but we gotta wait for somebody to get here first," added Drake, revealing that they waited about 90 minutes for the mystery guest.
"Finally, this tall figure walks through right through the doorway of the bus, and it's Kobe Bryant," he recalled. "And that day I got to sit there, and I got to listen to Tha Carter III with Kobe and Lil Wayne."
The probable timeline places this listening session around the early months of 2008. This aligns with the release date of Tha Carter III, which occurred in June of that same year. Drake and Kobe Bryant became friends after that first meeting.