Drake, A Living Meme
The Canadian rapper who began his career acting as Jimmy Brooks, the paraplegic character on Degrassi, started from the bottom now he’s here, as one of the most prominent rappers in hip hop culture. Whatever Drake raps about is immediately accepted and echoed by his fans around the world. In 2011, Drake popularized YOLO, meaning You Only Live Once, which was just about the only thing seen on social media, and everyone’s reason before doing something. Further, Drake rebranded his hometown, Toronto, by calling it the ‘6ix.’ Now that is the city’s nickname. Clearly, he has immense power and influence over his fans because he has always been true to himself, the best and only way he can be.
Drake gains a large audience because his identity, which is so-bad-it’s-good, makes it that everything he releases, everything he raps about, and all of his mannerisms, are seen as iconic. In his, “Hotline Bling,” music video, he dances in blank colourful rooms. The colourful visuals of the changing background initially catch the viewers’ attention, then paired with the cha-cha-like rhythm, gets the viewer feeling ways. But it’s Drake’s dance moves inside the rooms, that are the most noticeable. There is a lot of bending forward, leaning backwards, and swinging his arms around. At one point, it is almost like his arms are doing front crawl in slow motion, while stepping back and forth, and side to side.
The director of the video, Director X said, “That’s him going for it. That’s him doing him. You can’t choreograph that. That’s just a man dancing.” Drake makes room for his fans to laugh and make fun of him, however, Drake is always in on the joke. He laughs at himself with the rest of his fans, thereby making the celebrity-fan experience much more personal.
Anything he releases has the ability to become a meme. Today, memes are so prevalent due to social media, whereby cultural symbols or social ideas can easily spread online. Most internet memes you stumble upon are photos that become humorous because of the captions, which can easily be recaptioned to have a new meaning. In the “Hotline Bling” music video, it didn’t take long before a particular part of Drake dancing was converted into various memes. He has become a piece of online culture that virally spreads, ultimately increasing and enhancing his fan base on different platforms.
It’s hard to pick my favourite Drake meme, but there are some obvious winners from the many mashups and remakes on this music video. These are the memes that, to this day, still make me laugh. Please Enjoy below.
When compared to other rappers in the game, Drake has created a counter-culture image. He has never chosen to display himself as the stereotypical rapper that is gangster and masculine, but instead as the soft, dorky, dad-like figure that everyone can relate to. I mean, his ‘HYFR’ music video begins by showing him as a young boy at his Bar Mitzvah getting his groove on. The rest of the music video is him getting re-bar mitzvah’d to show his commitment to the Jewish religion.
Additionally, his face is particularly expressive, where he exudes this unmatched enthusiasm with a huge smile that could light up any room, which is all part of the reasons the public loves him. Drake has always been aware of how he is perceived. I mean, this is the same guy who featured his mom in his music video.
He is a conscious dork that believes in himself and his talent, while persistently believing that whatever he considers is, in fact, cool. The popularity from his “Hotline Bling” music video attracted T-Mobile to feature him for their Super Bowl commercial. These high-profile television ads are the most memorable commercials to the public. T-Mobile used Drake in the same setting of the music video to capitalize on his popularity. This advertisement is the fourth most shared ad of Super 50.
Drake is able to capitalize on his identity, where whatever he does, whether that be breaking out into a silly dance move, or repping his mascot of an owl, which in no way symbolizes being tough or fierce, is nevertheless seen as dope. This is because, in the end, we are his fans that love the music he releases. So, his dorky persona is just a bonus.
Now, whatever Drake posts is almost instantly turned into memes, which only propels his career forward. Being that he is a superstar who loves doing corny things, which he truly thinks are cool, it inevitably results in endless memes created that try to match his persona.
Clearly, Drake is successful because he knows exactly how to sell to us. He can easily break the internet with a simple frown, because in approximately 2.493 seconds, that exact photo will have permeated through all social media platforms, with relatable captions that only make the fans feel closer to him. At the end of the day, we love our memes just as much as Drake loves them. It is these comedic reliefs that distract us from reality and leave us with pure moments of content.
Cailey Bisgould
Citations:
Bassil, Ryan. “Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ Video Is Boring, but It Doesn’t Matter.” Noisey, 21 Oct. 2015, noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/64y7zp/drakes-hotline-bling-video-is-boring-but-it-doesnt-matter.
Brown, Kara. “Drake Is the Biggest Dork in Hip Hop and He Knows It.” The Muse, Themuse.jezebel.com, 20 Oct. 2015, themuse.jezebel.com/drake-is-the-biggest-dork-in-hip-hop-and-he-knows-it-1737486548.
Ducker, Eric. “Behind the Scenes of Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ Video.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2015, www.rollingstone.com/music/news/director-x-on-making-drakes-dance-crazy-meme-ready-hotline-bling-20151023.
Kornhaber, Spencer. “… ‘Hotline Bling’ Had Me Like ‘Hotline Bling’ Had Me Like ‘Hotline Bling’ Had Me Like …” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 21 Oct. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/10/hotline-bling-had-me-like/411628/.
