Drake pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in his hometown of Birmingham

Drake has paid tribute to the late Black Sabbath‘s Ozzy Osbourne in his hometown of Birmingham.

On Tuesday (July 22), the iconic singer was announced to have died at the age of 76, with his family saying he was “surrounded by love”.

Tributes have been pouring in for the heavy metal legend – including one unexpected acknowledgement from rapper Drake. The Toronto musician is currently on his ‘$ome $pecial $hows 4 UK EU’ with PARTYNEXTDOOR, where Drake was coincidentally playing some shows at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena when the news of Osbourne’s death broke.

According to The New York Times, the rapper was seen paying his respects to the singer at the Black Sabbath Bench yesterday (July 23), where he gathered with other fans mourning the loss of the frontman.

The publication reported that Drake poured some tequila on the ground for The Prince of Darkness and told them: “I just came out to pay respects to someone who lived it to the fullest”. He went on to hail Osbourne as a “cultural touchstone” – even for those who weren’t familiar with Black Sabbath.

Later that evening, Drake would perform his final show at Utilita Arena, where he walked out to Black Sabbath’s classic hit ‘Iron Man’ and proclaimed: “Hey Birmingham! Rest in peace to the legendary Ozzy Osbourne.”

Take a look at the moment below:

Drake walked out to ‘Iron Man’ by Black Sabbath in Birmingham tonight in honor of Ozzy Osbourne pic.twitter.com/hOGibJsugJ

— ALMIGHTEE. (@realalmightee) July 23, 2025

Recently, Tommy Iommi has spoken out on Osbourne’s death, theorising that the singer “held out” for the giant ‘Back To The Beginning’ concert before passing away.

Held at Birmingham’s Villa Park, the concert saw the original lineup of Osbourne, guitarist Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward reunite for the first time since 2005. Guns N’ Roses, KoRn, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Alice In Chains, Gojira, Anthrax, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler also played on the day, with the gig become the highest-grossing charity concert of all time.

Speaking to ITV News, Iommi said the show “meant everything to him”, adding: “This is what we built up for, for that big ending where he could see all the people and we could all see all the people, and close it in that way. But we didn’t expect to close it so quick with Ozz.

“We didn’t expect him to go that quick, really. Well, we didn’t expect him to go. So it’s been a shock.”

Meanwhile, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Ghost, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Yungblud, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Jack White, and Gojira have all written their own tributes for Osbourne – you can read them here.

In other news, Ozzy Osbourne‘s final memoir, Last Rites, is set to be posthumously released later this year.

The post Drake pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in his hometown of Birmingham appeared first on NME.