Drake is being called out by radio personality Ebro Darden, who believes the Toronto native has never “shown up” as an advocate for the Black community.
Ebro appeared on Apple Music’s Rap Life Review series where Drake’s recent jab at Donald Glover/Childish Gambino was discussed. Drake was performing at Chicago’s United Center earlier this month as part of his “It’s All a Blur” tour when fans noticed a headline referencing Glover’s past admission that his 2018 single “This is America” started as a Drake diss.
“The overrated and over-awarded hit song ‘This Is America’ was originally a Drake diss record,” the headline read.
While Glover originally penned the song with the intent to diss Drake, it ended up becoming a creative delve into Black people’s history of fighting for justice, which prompted all the praise it received
.With Drake taking aim at the socially conscious song on his current tour, Ebro called out the Grammy award-winning rapper for seemingly staying quiet
on issues of importance in the Black community.“Drake, who has never shown up, and y’all know I’m the biggest Drake fan on this show,” Ebro said around the 19:23 mark of the video.
“Drake has never shown up to have anything to say about anything going on in society with Black folks or anything other than himself.”
The hosts defended Drake, saying the “Nonstop” rapper has never spoken up on issues affecting the Black community and they wouldn’t expect him to do so now. A debate started on Twitter with one Drake fan
responding to Marc Lamont Hill, who believed Ebro was “100% correct,” noting one of Drake’s old interviews where he explained why he’s not more “outspoken” about political issues.“I prefer to talk about it amongst my people,” Drake said at the time.
“And if we’re going to do something, I prefer to go make the change or actually do something and not just post about it.”
Noting his actual community work as “legit” and “on the ground,” the “Hotline Bling” rapper believes his work isn’t credited because he’s not posting about it on social media for public approval. In March 2023, Drake donated $1 million in Bitcoin to the LeBron James Family Foundation.
In 2020, Drake donated $100,000 to the National Bailout Initiative. Most notably, in 2018, Drake donated his entire $1 million video budget to strangers in his “God’s Plan” visuals, with the donation helping one girl attend college.
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