"In a world full of sheep 1da stayed solid"—Internet reacts as Boi-1da calls Drake "the greatest rapper of all time"
Boi-1da (pronounced Boy Wonder) recently showed love towards his fellow Canadian artist Drake, dubbing him "the greatest rapper of all time." For the uninitiated, the record producer and the Canadian rapper have frequently collaborated, with the former co-writing Drizzy's Grammy-winning 2018 song, God’s Plan.
On March 30, 2025, Boi-1da accepted an International Achievement Award at the Juno Awards, held at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. During his acceptance speech, the record producer gave a shout-out to Drizzy, calling him his brother.
“I’m extremely humbled by this award and just to be mentioned among the legendary names as well – man I can’t even describe it. I want to have a huge shout-out to my brother Drake, the greatest rapper of all time, the greatest artist of all time and he’s from Canada – Drizzy Drake – that’s my brother," he said.
Boi-1da's speech praising the Hotline Bling rapper went viral on social media, with several neitzens commending the record producer for giving the Canadian rapper his flowers following his high-profile rap beef with Kendrick Lamar.
"Real n***a. In a world full of sheep 1da stayed solid."
Several netizens echoed this sentiment, applauding Boi-1da for staying by the Canadian rapper's side after the beef.
"He’s always stood by Drake’s side. A real one (owl emoji)," one person wrote.
"Glad his real friends are still in his corner!" another person exclaimed.
"Keep the six solid I love to see this , give my man his flowers and shout to boi 1da ,congrats to him and more," someone else commented.
"Real friends never switch up," another user posted.
Others claimed Boi-1da was right for praising Drizzy, adding that many people wouldn't be where they were without him.
"A lot of ppl wouldn’t be where they are if it wasn’t for Drake!!" one person exclaimed.
"Boi-1da got 7 diamonds but 5 of them are from Drake… Yea," another person tweeted.
"Drake put on all his friends, friends kids & people he grew up with. This is the biggest flex ever in life. None of Drake guys look dusty or on here begging people for money," someone else added.
"We started this together, we did this together" — Boi-1da to Drake in his acceptance speech
In his acceptance speech for the International Achievement Award, Boi-1da directly addressed the Canadian rapper, thanking him for paving the way for his fellow artists.
The record producer also said that he was in his position today because of the 6 God, adding:
“Listen…Drake, love you bro, we started this together, we did this together, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for Drake and all the sacrifices he made, all the doors he kicked down for a lot of people man, so shout-out to Drake. Thank you for life, man, I love that guy.”
According to Billboard, Boi-1da, born Matthew Jehu Samuels, moved to Toronto from Jamaica at the age of three. He first collaborated with Drizzy when he was 18, working on two tracks from his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement, released in 2006.
Boi-1da has also worked with Kendrick Lamar on his albums like To Pimp a Butterfly and Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
The record producer also helped produce Push Ups and Family Matters, the diss tracks Drizzy released targeting Kendrick Lamar and other rappers in May 2024. In Family Matters, the Canadian rapper also name-dropped Boi-1da in the song, rapping:
"I'm losin' perspective on beef, Boi-1da send beat and I'll kill you for fun."
In December 2024, record producer Mustard, who produced Lamar's Grammy-winning diss Not Like Us, took to his Instagram Story to share screenshots of his alleged text thread with Boi-1da.
According to the screenshots, Boi-1da allegedly complimented Not Like Us, writing, "Good s**t. Beat hard AF." However, in another message Mustard shared, the latter allegedly insulted West Coast beats, calling it "a**" and claiming no one outside LA liked it. Boi-1da has not responded to this issue as of this article.
In other news, Drizzy's legal battle against Universal Music Group continues, with the record label filing a motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit regarding Not Like Us.
On March 17, UMG filed the motion for dismissal, claiming that Drizzy sued the company to “salve his wounds" after he "lost a rap battle."
"Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice,” the motion read.
Following this, the Canadian rapper's lawyers accused UMG of being a "greedy company" in a statement to Variety, claiming the record label filed the motion to "avoid accountability." As of this article, the judge has yet to make a ruling regarding the motion.
