A Drake and Rihanna Relationship Timeline – The Making of “AubRih”
IT’S FINALLY HAPPENED. LET THE WORLD REJOICE. IT’S OFFICIAL AGAIN. DRAKE AND RIHANNA ARE DATING. AUBRIH IS A REAL THING AGAIN!!! Sorry for yelling, I have been waiting a little too long. The love life rumors held over the heads of two of the world’s most popular entertainers have been going on for years, but what’s been going on in the world since the time it began? Let’s back track to where it all started and see.
May 2009: Love at First Strike
Drake was three months off the one year anniversary of his beloved mixtape So Far Gone, working on his major label debut Thank Me Later. Rihanna’s voice was all over the radio, and I mean ALL OVER. From featuring on T.I’s smash hit “Live Your Life” down to what I still consider her catchiest song to date in “Disturbia”. Rumors began to spread that Drake was making out with everyone’s favorite Barbadian at the Lucky Strike bowling alley in New York. At this same time, LeBron was outscoring his opponents left and right, Obama was barely 4 months into his first term of presidency and same-sex marriage had been legalized in the state of Maine. Rihanna denied any and all rumors referring to a intimate connection, Drake responded by saying they were just friends.
June 2010: July 4
Here we are a year removed from all the rumors, not much talk on the topic up until this point. On June 15th, Drake released his freshman LP Thank Me Later full of catchy hooks, dense cadences and the epitome of what was the short trend of hashtag rap. On the intro “Fireworks” Drake did what he does best, got into his feelings. A pair of bars directed toward RiRi went a little something like “I could tell it wasn’t love, I just thought you’d fuck with me/Who could’ve predicted Lucky Strikes would have you stuck with me?/What happened between us that night it always seems to trouble me/ Now all of a sudden these gossip sites wanna cover me”. It’s crazy how minimal Drake’s spotlight used to be as opposed to what it is now. Back in the days of what was once ‘minimal’ attention for Aubrey, Woody and Buzz Lightyear were finally making their third big screen appearance, Free Weezy t-shirts were the most popular article of attire since shutter shades, the Lakers beat the Celtics in unforgettable fashion, and the U.S soccer team advanced to the Round of 16.
October 2010-February 2011: Square Root of 69
Okay now we got some action. The very first musical collaboration for Drake and Rihanna couldn’t be missed, an ultra mega hit begging to be mocked on your favorite Facebook page. The music video for “What’s My Name” released and everyone could tell the romantic tension was as heated up as it could’ve possibly ever been. Adding fuel to the fire, they performed the smash single off Rihanna’s Loud album at the 2011 Grammy Awards where the two were all over each other, somewhat reminiscent of their Brit Awards performance. Throughout these months, Kanye released his magnum opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Mark Zuckerberg’s douchebag persona was exposed to the world in The Social Network, LeBron made his South Beach debut and most importantly, Rihanna dyed her hair red, teaching me what it really feels like to fall in love.
November 2011: Take Care
Some people consider the second song Drake and Rihanna made together, “Take Care”, to be a tender sequel to the more sexually driven “What’s My Name”. The title track off of Drake’s Grammy award winning album balances out the romantic life of the two, Drake rapping about what they’ve both been through and why the two belong together. Other significant events that took place around this time include J erry Sandusky’s sex abuse scandal and the infamous UC Davis pepper spray incident
September 2012: Breezy’s Back
What?????? Why would she go back to Chris Brown?????????????? To this day I don’t understand at all. Drake’s heart is falling into pieces and the music world could literally hear it. Unbelievable. Along with this tragedy, there was a pair of others. The passing of Academy Award nominee Michael Clarke Duncan and the abysmal referees that had to kick off the NFL season.
February-March and August 2014: East End
One of Drake’s major interviews following the release of his third studio album Nothing Was the Same was a Rolling Stone cover story. One in which he described Rihanna as his “ultimate fantasy”. Aw, how sweet. A month later, Drake released the woozy ballad “Days In the East” where he sheds light on the topic of not wanting to shed light on the topic of his dream girl. A song presumably directed straight towards Rihanna, which includes a chopped up Rihanna sample, which Drake performed at the fifth annual OVO Fest with a backdrop depicting Rihanna to be a sort of devil figure. Champagne Papi took to Twitter to address any form of controversy he may have caused by doing so. That same month of August, a Drake song leaked which gained the title of ‘Views From the 6’ though there was little to nothing official about it excluding a heavy Rihanna influenced subject matter through Drake’s verse.
At this same time was the breakout of the Ebola virus, LeBron’s return to Cleveland, the police shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown, and the passing of the legendary Robin Williams.
January-February 2016: Workworkworkworkwork
Every factor since August 2014 has changed immensely. Drake is now known as the 6 God. Drake released one of the most popular and critically acclaimed mixtapes of all time. Drake thinks he’s Jamaican. Drake spent his summer ruining careers and providing the world with unforgettable dance moves. Drake’s beard has grown ridiculously thick. Everywhere you go, you hear his voice. What can’t this guy do?
The Drake and Rihanna dancehall inspired riddim has become one of the most trending songs of 2016, a twerking anthem and a Vine favorite. Followed by an incredibly intimate Brit Awards performance to spark as much gossip as there has been since 2011. As the love life began to slowly take form once again, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors were tearing teams apart piece by piece, Kanye had the biggest AUX party in music history, and Leonardo DiCaprio tried his best not to look shocked as he walked on the Oscars stage to sustain his first Academy Award ever.
April-July 2016: !!!!!!!!!
Drake’s album, Views sat atop the Billboard for nine weeks as of now, and ‘Too Good’, another relationship based hit features the two of them going back and forth as to how they both deserve better. But they don’t deserve better because as of July 1st, Drake and Rihanna had officially become an item once again. 5 years worth of sexual and musical energy can really do wonders.
Today we are living in a world that the city of Cleveland has sustained its first championship in 54 years in historic fashion, Donald Trump is the Republican presidential nominee, and Dory has finally found her parents after a 13 year wait. But if we’re being completely honest, does any of that really matter now that these two are finally together? I’ve been waiting for this as long as Drake has. Okay, well, not necessarily, but you know what I mean.
August 2016: VMAs
We basically got to see Drake profess his undying love for his woman on the MTV VMAs stage. It wasn’t pretty, but it was genuine.
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