Rethinking The Drake

At the start of the season when the Raptors announced Drake as their global ambassador I was on hand. While it never really seemed clear what that meant at the time I saw it as a move that could possibly help and at worst couldn’t hurt anything. A few months into this whole thing I am starting to change my mind on the whole issue.

I think it might just have been a bad idea after all. Drake at the end of the day may just be out for Drake. Imagine that a guy in the Rap business being out for his own interests, what a shocking and unusual concept that is. I mean this whole thing of a Drake night seems pretty damn silly to begin with. Ironically enough against the Brooklyn Nets who were tied to some guy named Jay-Z at one time weren’t they? This is just a happy coincidence I am sure that Drake night happens to be against this team.

While the Raptors have done totally stupid promotion nights before including bringing back rap acts from the past such as Vanilla Ice, Rob Base and Toronto own Fresh Wes this is on a different level. Drake is influencing the Raptors re-branding that is set to take place in line with their twentieth season in the league. The rumours of black and gold Raptors does not exactly instill confidence in me. 

Let me say that I have little issue with Drake in fact of musicians today he is one of the very few that I actually don’t mind.  I did know he wasn’t Dre unlike Jack Armstrong a few years back when seeing him at a Raptors event.

I do see this more as being Drake extending this idea of him being this Toronto breed product that has always been part of his package he is selling. He is in my view just using the Raptors to expand on that. It also as mentioned seems to be the latest cool status symbol in Rap music to be involved with management of a sports team.

Keep in mind Drake was the same guy that got denied being able to go in the Miami Heat locker room to celebrate with his buddy Lebron James. He might have also said what’s up to Chris Bosh if Bosh was so fortunate. Sure he has been to Raptor games prior to this season and let’s face it the Raptors have not given Drake or any of us much to be proud of in the last five years. Still this all seems like more PR hype than substance for me on the part of Drake.

The obvious question is how a large company like MLSE could be part of this whole thing. They have to be at least a little concerned about this don’t they? Maybe they see Drake as being able to do something that they are not able to do or understand. Which is what is cool and hip for a generation of young people that the folks at MLSE are desperate to have embrace the Raptors. Perhaps in that desperation they lost sight of the fact the Drake may have his own agenda in this.

It all feels like that Sienfeld episode in which Jerry and the gang all started out loving The Drake but by the end of the episode the hated The Drake. If we end up with black and gold Raptors and get Drake jammed down are throats more than his Sprite ad or Andrea Bargnani’s Primo Pasta ad than I to may end up Hating the Drake.