In Defense of Drake
By Jaylen Adams (@jaybirdfeathers)
After the catastrophe that was Taylor Swift tour ticket prices, I was absolutely ecstatic to secure a bargain for Drake’s It’s All a Blur concert tickets. I have always loved music, but journeying out to see an artist in their true habitat is a foreign experience for me. However, with Beyoncé, Doja Cat, and other lyrical masters all hitting the road… Well, I have begun to change my habits.
Where am I going with this? My very good friend (and Drake enthusiast) sent me an Instagram post. There he was, the man, the myth, the legend — Champagne Papi himself, preparing for the first concert of his tour. “Hairs did, nails did…” ShadeRoom’s caption read. Drake’s nails were pink, his braids were tightly coiled, and his edges were laid.
I’m sure my friend thought I would cheer; after all, we would be seeing his hair, nails, and edges in the flesh in a few short months. Instead, I raised my eyebrows at the sight. Immediately after, I found myself questioning my reaction. I have never been taken aback by a man doing something as harmless as wearing nail polish. My best friend is a man who regularly paints his nails. I’ve offered to do his. My friends and I — a group of mixed genders — plan trips to the salon for mani-pedis. I have always been the first to dive into the turbulent waters of Twitter wars when I catch wind of a suspiciously conservative reaction.
And this time, I had the suspiciously conservative reaction.
It was a long time coming. I have been, for months now, one of the many people who laughed at Drake for being… well, Drake. I loved every TikTok with people singing, in poorly installed wigs and dresses, “21, can you do something for me?” I laughed even harder when I found out Drake’s name was Aubrey. I joked about how he held himself and reposted every “Drake’s the type of guy to…” meme.
These, to me, may not have been innocent, but they were harmless. I would still listen to Drake’s music, buy his concert tickets, and support all of his Drake antics. But what exactly were his antics? Behaving in ways I considered to be feminine? Or worse, mannerisms I categorized as queer?
In truth, I had never seen a male artist prepare for his concert in that way — maybe a mark of my inexperience. It had always been hype men, screaming, drugs, and women. And so, in a moment of startling conservativeness, I raised my eyebrows. I quickly identified a divergence from the standard, and I considered Drake to be strange — something I had been primed to do with every like, repost, and giggle.
This is more than an exposé. This is a cautionary tale. Jokes about ‘wow, he’s zesty” or “how fruity” quickly become something else, even for the socially progressive. In the end, I was not only laughing. I was perceiving a difference between him and the norm, and I was making a joke out of him for not performing to the standard. I made a man the laughing stock for not being “man enough”. It is an idea that permeates society. It affects how we communicate, how we love, and how we are. My relationship with my father is a complicated, often fraught, one. However, upon further investigation, I can probably trace back every issue to how he thought he should act or communicate or be. Unlike Drake, he leaned into what he — and, whether or not I knew it, I — thought a man should be. Today, any negative emotion from him that is not anger — i.e., sorrow, loneliness, fear — is strange and alien for me to witness. This is, of course, similar to how Drake in a fresh manicure and braids was strange and alien for me to witness.
Societal expectations of people (and ourselves) live inside of all of us, even if we think they don’t. The smallest of comments, of jokes will… They all feed into this preconceived notion of what makes people people. To combat this, we must think of why we are behaving, thinking, or even joking about something. If the answer does not make sense, then maybe the joke, behavior, or thought has no place with you.
