Drake has been trolling the internet all week to promote his new album and it's genius
Drake and 21 Savage have been doing the absolute most this week to promote their new album, Her Loss, using a truly unconventional marketing strategy — one involving a fake Vogue cover, a fake NPR Tiny Desk appearance, a fake Howard Stern interview and several hardcore Hentai screenshots.
It is genuinely one of the most brilliant, blatantly sarcastic publicity tours I've ever seen — something made all the more ironic by the fact that Drizzy needs no press at all to get attention for his work.
"The rappers have spent the past few days engaging in a bizarre, labor-intensive press cycle of fake opportunities around their new album Her Loss," wrote Vulture of the extended gag. "And all it makes us want to do is actually see them do these things."
Drake and savage putting out the fake fake interview clips and alllll the blogs picking them up is really a genius rollout. Everyone was sitting to see the full tiny desk performance 😂😂😂
— TZ (@UpfrontTZ) November 4, 2022
Reaction to the album itself among fans has so far been mostly positive, albeit marred with controversy over lyrics involving famous figures like Megan Thee Stallion, Serena Williams and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Some say Drake was simply courting more publicity with his celebrity insults, and they've certainly got people talking. But not as much as the Toronto rapper's apparent penchant for animated Japanese porn...
drake…. pic.twitter.com/T0U3fCw4mx
— exist (@existwtime) November 4, 2022
Let's go back to the beginning of this bizarre week, when Drake and 21 Savage posted a joint Instagram post showing off what turned out to be a fake (but very convincing!) issue of Vogue featuring themselves on the cover.
On newsstands tomorrow @Drake & @21savage cover VOGUE Magazine
— OVO Sound (@OVOSound) October 30, 2022
‘HER LOSS’ NOV. 4TH pic.twitter.com/A1dyJ3mGIy
Members of the project team went so far as to hand out free copies of the fake Vogue in New York City.
Those lucky enough to have scored one say the magazine was merely a dupe of Vogue's October issue, filled with fake ads featuring Drake and 21 Savage, a 30-year-old Atlanta rapper who was born in the U.K.
Someone on Canal St in NYC asked me if I wanted a “free” Vogue…
— Big Ben 🔤🧣 (@NFTBruv) October 31, 2022
Little did I know… 👀🔥 #HerLoss #Drake #21Savage #Vogue pic.twitter.com/EpcrZXXl0v
On Wednesday, the artists started circulating a promo for their own episode of NPR's Tiny Desk, sparking mass hysteria among fans who were thrilled for the chance to see Drake and 21 Savage on the popular live concert series.
Thank you to @nprmusic @tinydesk for having the gang @Drake @21savage let’s go crazy 🔪🦉#HERLOSS pic.twitter.com/cBpG9SgARI
— OVO Sound (@OVOSound) November 2, 2022
Alas, the ad was fake — a really good fake, actually, with a near-identical replica of NPR's set that must have taken plenty of money, research and time to create.
The spot was so realistic that it reportedly left NPR staffers scrambling to confirm whether or not the segment was real.
In the end, the non-profit media organization clarified that it hadn't, in fact, filmed an episode of Tiny Desk with 21 Savage and Drake, but that it is very much open to the idea.
great headline https://t.co/cnqeRXAjw1 pic.twitter.com/5O02OduQsq
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 3, 2022
Last in his trio of faux promotional appearances was an apparent interview with radio legend Howard Stern.
Stern himself was not involved — the project team merely used footage of the shock jock from older interviews to prompt some specifically outlandish replies about porn and dating from Drake.
"[I watch the] highest tier of top givers," said the Canadian Grammy winner when asked about what kind of porn he likes, noting that he watches porn "on a daily basis."
Drizzy also admitted in the fake clip to dating "four or five" women at a time.
Drake and 21 on the Stern Show 😂 pic.twitter.com/Qr7YoE0cCZ
— Drake Direct (@DrakeDirect_) November 3, 2022
After releasing the album's cover (featuring nail artist and exotic dancer Qui Yasuka) and official tracklist in two separate Instagram posts on Wednesday and Thursday, Drake got people hyped up ahead of the 12 a.m. Nov. 4 release of his latest album last night with a series of Instagram Stories.
Fans and critics alike exploded with chatter when the artist posted a screenshot from a Hentai (anime porn) film showing a woman with large cartoon breasts and the subtitle "this is heavenly."
Perhaps pleased with how big of a reaction he got, Champagne Papi posted three more Hentai screenshots in the hours that followed.
Was the initial screenshot a bizarre album promotion, or did Drake accidentally post something meant for his hentai finsta? If the latter, posting more would have been a good cover... which many say Her Loss sorely lacks.
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