Drake’s father, Dennis Graham, is recovering from a recent health scare. The 39-year-old rapper released a new track titled “Make Them Cry” on Friday, May 15, which subtly addressed his father’s battle with cancer. Shortly after the song dropped, Graham spoke to photographers outside of Bar Jubilee in West Hollywood, California, revealing that he was diagnosed with lung cancer “a while back,” but is now “okay.”
“I’m wonderful,” Graham said, emphasizing his gratitude. “Thank you guys for the concern. I love you all. From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you.” He added, “It was lung cancer at first, but fortunately, I got a message that it disappeared, so here I am.”
Now that Graham, 71, is in remission, he has cut down on smoking. “I have a puff every now and then [though],” he admitted. “I want to thank everybody for being concerned about me. I love you all. Peace.”
In “Make Them Cry,” Drake raps, “My dad got cancer right now, we battlin’ stages. Trust me when I say there’s plenty things that I’d rather be facin’.” The song also delves into Drake’s childhood. “I’m an only child, no one could’ve made another,” he says. “I have to father my mother and treat my son’s grandfather like my older brother.”
Drake continues: “I know for sure that my parents, they look at me and see an overcomer. I’m looking back at them and these days, I see an older couple.”
On Thursday, May 14, Graham shared a heartfelt Instagram post in celebration of his son’s new album. “The Ice Man and The Nice Man just doing what we do, don’t get it twisted, 🔜🙏🏽,” he captioned a black-and-white photo of them hugging. Fans flooded the comments section with well-wishes. One person wrote, “Get better Dennis we’ll be praying for you,” while another added, “Sending healing to you and so much love for your son. God bless 🙏🏽🙏🏽🧊.”
Graham, who is also an artist, previously released a song on Father’s Day in 2021 titled “Father and Son,” which highlighted his relationship with Drake. “A father and son will always understand each other’s heart, and they’ll always sit together until it’s all said and done,” he sings. “So there’s nothing, no, there’s nothing in the world like a love between a father and son.”
Despite their close bond, Drake and his father faced public tension in the past. Dennis once claimed that Drake lied about their relationship to boost his music sales. “I had a conversation with Drake about that. I have always been with Drake. I talk to him if not every day, then every other day. We really got into a deep conversation about that. I said, ‘Drake, why are you saying all of this different stuff about me? This is not cool.’ He said, ‘Dad, it sells records.’ Okay, well cool,” Dennis said in 2019.
In Drake’s song “0 to 100/The Catch Up,” he reflects on his father: “I’ve been ready, since my dad used to tell me he was comin’ to the house to get me. He ain’t show up. Valuable lesson, man, I had to grow up. That’s why I never ask for help.”
