Can-con heart warmer: Gonzales and Drake make nice at the Junos

Last weekend’s Juno Awards ceremony may not have been this season’s red carpet high point, but it seems as though it was the venue for some old-fashioned hatchet burying. Judging from his opening skit, Drake seems to have struck up a new friendship with his one-time detractor, oddball pianist and songwriter Gonzales (a.k.a. Chilly Gonzales a.k.a. Jason Beck). The two looked positively chummy onstage, performing a mash-up of Canadian hits during the hip-hop host’s opening monologue (see video, left).

We take it Drake has never read the interview Gonzales gave Toronto-based fashion mag Corduroy back in October of 2009. When asked if he was aware of the uncredited inclusion of his song “The Tourist” on Drake’s acclaimed So Far Gone mix tape, Gonzales was characteristically blunt:

“Really? Drake sampled me? I don’t know how I feel about that. I mean, that Solo Piano album has reached across many genres—it’s given me shout-outs from the hip-hop world all the way to the classical world. I’m pleasantly surprised whenever it makes its way to an unknown genre. Although, I must confess, I’m not a Drake fan. I guess Canadians should be proud that they finally have the closest thing they’ll ever have to a credible hip-hop personality, but I’m sorry, I’m just not a fan.”

The two artists had definitely met before Juno night, but we’re still not sure what triggered Gonzales’ change of heart. Could it have anything to do with the velour Tom Ford slippers that Drake apparently lent him for the performance, we wonder?

• Interview: Gonzales [Corduroy]
• Chilly Gonzales reveals next album + Drake incident [Data Transmission]