Eight Peak Drake Shenanigans From His ‘It’s All a Blur’ Tour

We’ve transitioned from a very 6 God summer to an Aubrey Graham autumn with Drake’s massive It’s All a Blur tour coming to an end (sort of) ahead of the release of his seventh studio album, For All the Dogs. The album was actually slated for last month, and while he’s said canceling shows would have helped him get closer to that deadline, he’d rather continue the concerts. His trek across North America, assisted by 21 Savage, began with 54 scheduled dates kinda wraps this weekend in his hometown of Toronto, though right now two shows in Denver, New Orleans, Columbus, and Nashville are in postponed limbo — even after Drake promised fans he wouldn’t cancel any shows to finish the album.

Once whatever happens with the shows-in-waiting, it’ll mark the conclusion of a stream of clips of the rapper being flung enough bras to stock your local Victoria’s Secret, performing in a swirling sea of sperm, and showing off his impressive collection of celebrity friends and fans onstage. What we’ve seen since he hit the road three months ago has been peak Drake: a swath of hijinks that exaggerates his stature as one of the silliest and sometimes sinister superstars working. We’ve curated a list of them that best reveal Aubs’ essence:

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Drake is unserious: As we all know, Drake got his start as a star of the popular Canadian teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation, which was very much a drama, but the Boy can also be funny. One of the best mainstream displays of this is how ridiculously he behaves in the video for the single “Way 2 Sexy” as a hip-thrusting aerobics instructor, an old beach bum, and a Michael Jackson parodist. Somehow, his charm and humor were powerful enough to rope two rap stars (Future and Young Thug) into it who aren’t nearly as known as jokesters. Drake has kept the jokes coming since “Best I Ever Had.” Here are the best displays of his sense of humor on It’s All a Blur:

He Indulged DJ Khaled’s Shameless Self-Promotion

Drake has been having famous guests accompany him on his walk to his arena stages like a heavyweight boxer, and in Miami, local legend, super producer, and motivational speaker DJ Khaled was the chosen one. But whereas folks like Meek Mill, Bow Wow, and more made their way out with some relative chill, DJ Khaled took the opportunity to announce an album arriving next year (and the fact that Drake is on it) with a white poster that said as much in bold black text. Drake giggled his way through the innards of the arena next to Khaled’s walking ad. Hey, he’s got mouths to feed.

He Played Along When His Dad Sent an “Alien” Bra Onstage 

When Dennis Graham contracted Toronto-based designer Zoba Martin to whip up a bra so big it stood nearly as tall as Drake when it got thrown to the stage in Inglewood, he perhaps clarified the genetic basis for the rapper’s sense of humor. “If these were real, I don’t know if I’d even wanna see ‘em, ’cause then I’ll believe that aliens exist,” he says upon receipt of the giant pink brassiere. Drake first seemed to try to control the bit, claiming the card attached to it was too nasty for him to read aloud. However, when he’s clued into where it came from after prodding, he does: “Dad’s wishing big things for you. I love you and making sure you’re breastfed correctly!” Drake asks, “What’s wrong with this man?” — an almost-certainly hypothetical question that he knows the answer to.

Drake is petty: When the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals, Drake decided to celebrate with two songs, and one, “Omertà,” told us exactly who he was. “The petty king, the overseer of many things,” he raps after laying down a scheme to buy someone’s “personal belongings when they up for auction” (a thing he ended up doing and characterized diabolically as a diss to Pusha-T). From his bars to the way he markets them (i.e., ripping off Vogue so hard they sued) petty king is a rightful title.

He Dissed Childish Gambino in Neon Lights

What does Drake do on opening night of his first tour since 2018? Relish in the adoration of his fans and broadcast bold digs at his enemies — in this case, Childish Gambino, perhaps for revealing that his 2017 pop-political smash “This Is America” originated as a playful Drake diss (would love to hear more about the through line there). Subsequently, the Boy incorporated a text scroll on the stadium’s screens that called the Grammy-winning song “overrated and over-awarded.”

He Promised a Fan $50,000 to Spite Their Ex

In the video for his good friend Lil Yachty’s “Oprah’s Bank Account,” Drake played a guest of Yachty’s spoofed daytime talk show, but on this tour, Drake played Oprah (or perhaps just wanted to appease fans after some mild horror at his ticket prices). Over the course of the tour, he’s told specific audience members that he’s giving them luxury handbags, tens of thousands of dollars, and even a honeymoon in response to fan interactions. However, one gift was wicked after he spotted a fan’s sign explaining “I spent all my savings buying tickets for me and my ex, but honestly, nevermind, it’s really her loss.” After reading it with conviction, he asks, “What the fuck is wrong with her?” before promising “I’m-a give you 50 grand just to flex on her.” The crowd had been chanting “Fuck that bitch!” To which Drake responded, “Fuck that young lady.”

Drake’s got some weird gender stuff going on: Drake’s peculiar relationship with women in his work ranges on a scale from benign to harmful. He’s known for bars about spoiling, longing for, and whining over women that can be artful, raw, or funny, but lately, there’s been a dark side to them, like trivializing Tory Lanez’s shooting of Megan Thee Stallion with a crude line about lying or pretty much all of his latest single with SZA, “Slime You Out.” These two events speak to the spectrum of Drake’s attitudes. See:

His Excitement About Being Thrown a Realistically Large Bra

Drake was in the middle of performing an edit of his hit “One Dance” when he went from dancing with the bra that was thrown at him to inspecting it. “Damn, 36G,” he said, looking taken aback. “Locate this woman immediately!” he said before smiling and handing it off. This is fine. This is cute. And, this helped the bra owner out in her career by earning her a Playboy partnership.

His Second Deeply Unnecessary Dig at Megan Thee Stallion

Right on the heels of pissing off Halle Berry by bypassing her ask that he not use a photo of her as the single art for the venomous “Slime You Out,” Drake brings up Megan in his show after disrespecting her on the Her Loss track “Circo Loco.” In Houston, Thee Stallion’s hometown, he shouted out a different Megan  — Megan Sumpton, a photographer based in the city that he’s known for over a decade, she tells Rolling Stone, who was shooting from the pit. He calls her a “real H-Town legend,” before saying “Not that Meg, this Meg,” pointing in the audience with a straight face and stern wave of the hand. Given how vehemently Megan Thee Stallion tweeted about the violence she faced being made into a joke (and by rappers especially) right after the “Circo Loco” lyric doing so dropped, he could have made the differentiation between the two clear without bringing the rapper into it at all. It appeared to fit into a pattern of misogyny that has been alleged against Drake, especially in recent years.

Drake is well-connected: One could probably count the celebrities who would screen a Drake call on a single hand. Even after Drake decimated former enemies like Tory Lanez (making the post-shooting digs at Megan even stranger) and Meek Mill, they haven’t been able to hold a grudge. Maybe that’s maturity, or maybe that’s his star power. On Its All a Blur, Drake has shared the limelight with folks like LeBron James, Aaron Judge, Tom Brady, Lil Baby, and many more. These two moments, however, are the most quintessential of his celebrity relationships.

He Honored Virgil Abloh With a Massive Statue

When the tour opened in Chicago, it did so with a large statue of the late Louis Vuitton executive flying a paper kite, a homage to an image from his first fashion show with the luxury house in 2018. Drake has a similar tattoo of the Chicago native. The statue’s paper plane can be seen taking flight in footage from the show.

He Calls J. Cole “One of the Greatest“ Onstage

When J. Cole appeared in Montreal, Drake was sure to broadcast the North Carolina MC’s impact on him, introducing him as “one of the greatest rappers to ever touch a microphone.” Drake and Cole are close after emerging from the blog era to the upper echelons of rap, with Drake headlining Cole’s Dreamville Fest this year.

Correction: This story was updated at 5:40 p.m. on October 7 to clarify Drake’s statements as he referred to Megan Sumpton, after previously mistaking that he dismissively forgot her last name.

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