Elliott Wilson Helped JAY-Z & Drake Reconcile: ‘I Got Them Talking Again’

Elliott Wilson recently shared how he played a role in helping JAY-Z and Drake reconcile after their falling out in the mid-2010s.

In the latest episode of HipHopDX’s The Bigger Picture, the veteran Hip Hop journalist revealed that he encouraged the two rap icons to reopen communication and resolve their differences after their relationship had deteriorated.

“I got them talking again,” Wilson said. “Around the time Drake was touring with Lil Wayne and had a show in Queens, he came backstage, hugged me, and said, ‘I spoke to Hov. We’re figuring it out.’ He was excited that they had finally connected.”

When asked how he helped broker peace between Drizzy and Jigga, co-host Jeremy Hecht jokingly inquired if he had put them in a group chat. Wilson responded, “No, I just encouraged them to talk to each other, that’s all. I’m not Farrakhan. I didn’t orchestrate anything [laughs].”

You can catch the segment at the 29:50 mark below.

Though JAY-Z and Drake initially collaborated on tracks like “Off That” and “Light Up,” their friendly rivalry soon escalated when Drake appeared to challenge JAY-Z and his Watch the Throne collaborator Kanye West with the line, “I’m just feeling like the throne is for the taking / Watch me take it,” on DJ Khaled’s 2011 hit “I’m On One.”

Drake quickly downplayed any notion of a diss, tweeting: “Hov diss? Hov of all people has not lost it…that’s god body flow.”

The two reconnected for 2013’s “Pound Cake,” but their relationship cooled again after Drake criticized Hov in a 2014 Rolling Stone interview, stating, “It’s like Hov can’t drop bars these days without at least four art references! I would love to collect at some point, but I think the whole rap/art world thing is getting kind of corny.” (Wilson noted that Drake believed these comments were off the record.)

This led to a brief back-and-forth between the OVO and Roc Nation leaders. JAY-Z responded on Jay Electronica’s “We Made It (Remix)” with the lines: “Sorry, Mrs. Drizzy, for so much art talk / Silly me rappin’ ‘bout shit that I really bought / While these rappers rap about guns they ain’t shot / And a bunch of other silly shit that they ain’t got.”

Drake fired back on “Draft Day,” taking a subtle dig at JAY-Z’s status as a rap elder: “I’m focused on making records and gettin’ bigger / Just hits, no misses, that’s for the married folk,” while also teasing the former Brooklyn Nets owner during an NBA playoff game between the Nets and his hometown Toronto Raptors. “This is the people’s team out here tonight, you know what I mean? Toronto Raptors. JAY-Z’s somewhere eating a fondue plate,” Drake quipped during an on-court interview.

JAY-Z didn’t let it slide and responded on DJ Khaled’s “They Don’t Love You No More”: “N-ggas talking down on the crown / Watch them n-ggas you ‘round got you wound / Haters wanna ball, let me tighten up my drawstring / Wrong sport, boy, you know you’re as soft as a lacrosse team.”

After eventually mending their relationship, JAY-Z and Drake reunited on 2018’s “Talk Up” and have remained on good terms since.