Drake Joins Nicki Minaj Onstage for Live Debut of ‘Needle’

It has taken close to half a year since the release of Pink Friday 2, but Nicki Minaj and Drake have finally performed their collaboration on the album “Needle” together. The Canadian rapper surprised Minaj’s fans on Tuesday by striding out to deliver his lines about driving around in his Maybach and his cheesy pickup line, “You’re like a needle, life’s a haystack” (not that you can really hear it in the videos posted to social media since Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena could double as an echo chamber).

But what you can see in the video is almost as important as what you can hear: Drake crouching and rhyming while Minaj wiggles on the other end of the stage. They then unite centerstage and strut down the catwalk hand in hand.

Billboard reports that Minaj acknowledged how special the moment was. “Make some noise for the king, Toronto,” she said. “Make some noise for this icon, this legend.”

Drake also performed “Rich Baby Daddy” and delivered a quixotic kiss-off: “I love you,” he said. “You know what time it is — you know what I have to do.”

Do we, though? The most plausible explanation for what was on his to-do list was to stand backstage with his phone in hand and catch up on all his mentions. Earlier in the day, Kendrick Lamar released the diss track “Euphoria,” a response to Drake’s controversial “Taylor Made Freestyle.” In fact, what Drake had to do was go to his Instagram stories and source Julia Stiles’ 10 Things I Hate About You monologue.

From Rolling Stone US.