DJ Akademiks Weighs In On Theories That Drake Couldn’t Pull Off A Stadium Tour

It goes without saying that Kendrick Lamar has had a big year, and it looks like 2025 will be no different. Last week, the Compton rapper announced his co-headlining “Grand National” tour with SZA. They’ll kick things off with a performance in Minneapolis next April and go on to perform at 18 other stadiums around North America. They’re even stopping in Drake‘s hometown of Toronto for not one, but two shows.

Unsurprisingly, the announcement has prompted some comparisons to Drake and has even led some to claim that he couldn’t pull off a stadium tour if he wanted to. During a recent livestream, DJ Akademiks shared his take on this theory, arguing that it couldn’t be further from the truth. According to him, Drizzy simply makes more money by performing at arenas over stadiums. For this reason, he says Drake prefers to stick to arenas, but that this doesn’t mean he’s unable to take on a stadium tour.

“Kendrick’s doing two dates in Toronto, do I think this makes Drake look bad? No,” he began. “I don’t think it makes Drake look bad at all […] Somebody that’s heavy in touring hit me up and told me this. They said it’s more work that Drake does four or five nights at the garden instead of one or two nights at Yankee Stadium, but he gets paid more. Drake is one of them guys, so he care about the money he don’t care about the look, I would think.”

Akademiks isn’t the only person who’s come to Drake’s defense amid this debate, however. During an episode of Joe Budden‘s podcast last week, he also stuck up for the performer when his co-host claimed that he couldn’t do a stadium tour. “I’m not gonna say that Drake is not a stadium act, let’s deal with facts, he hasn’t done one yet,” Budden said at the time. That’s it.”