“So tonight, I want to say — Vanessa Hudgens, you look incredible tonight,” he began, calling out the Billboard Music Awards co-host.
He then turned to Hudgens’ co-host. “I want to say, Ludacris — I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye but I’ve always been a big fan of yours. I got a lot of love for you. I want to let you know that face to face while I’m still here.”
Drake then turned his attention to Minaj.
As fans remember, the two rappers were close friends at the beginning of their breakout success — both members of Young Money Entertainment, Lil Wayne‘s record label. But their friendship cooled off for about a year and a half after Minaj’s then-boyfriend, rapper Meek Mill, claimed that Drake does not write his own rap lyrics.
The accusation, which came in the summer of 2015, prompted a fierce feud between the rappers — with diss tracks and social media posts flying between the two.
It wasn’t until Minaj called it quits with Mill in January that she and Drake came back together — meeting in Miami together with Wayne later that month (and sharing photos of their reunion to their social media platforms on Feb 1).
“I want to say, Nicki Minaj — I’m so glad we found our way back because I love you and I could never ever ever see it any other way,” Drake said. “I want to say Lil Wayne, if it wasn’t for the risks you took, none of us would be here tonight,”
Minaj cheered Drake on from the audience, saying “Thank you. I love you. I love you.”
While repairing relationships may have been the focus of Drake’s acceptance speech, he ended it with a shoutout to his father. “My dad got on a purple suit with purple shoes. Boy, if you don’t stop!”
In his final acceptance speech for the night, Drake gave another shoutout to Minaj.
Accepting the Top Artist award from Michael Jackson's son Prince Michael Jackson, Drake said: "I've got my whole family up here. Look at my dad looking all sharp. I got the man [Lil Wayne] that's responsible for me being here. I got the love of my life, too."
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE
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