Drake’s Dad Dennis Graham Had Lung Cancer, Says He’s Clear Now & Still Smoking

Drake dropped three albums on May 15, 2026, and one track had everyone concerned about his family.

On “Make Them Cry” from the ICEMAN album, he rapped about his dad battling cancer, but the real story came later when Dennis Graham set the record straight.

Graham showed up outside Bar Jubilee in West Hollywood and talked to photographers about what Drake had revealed. He explained that the cancer battle was actually in his past, not his present.

“No, that was a while back,” Graham said. “I’m okay now. I’m wonderful. My phone’s been going off all night. Thank you guys for the concern. I love you all. From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it. It was lung cancer at first. Fortunately, I got a message that it disappeared. So here I am. I have a puff every now and then. But I’m not smoking like I used to. I want to thank everybody for being concerned about me. I love you all. Peace.”

The confusion came from Drake’s lyrics on the track. He rapped, “My dad got cancer right now, we battlin’ stages,” using present tense language.

Drake had been working on these three albums for years since his last project, For All the Dogs, in 2023, so the timeline between recording the track and its release created confusion.

Drake released ICEMAN alongside two other albums on May 15, including Maid of Honour and Habibti, his first major studio release since 2023, and fans have been diving into the emotional content across all three projects.