Drake Responds To ‘Blackface’ Allegations Following Pusha T Diss Track
31 May 2018, 11:19
The rapper faced backlash after the images surfaced.
Drake has released a statement in response to the cover art used by Pusha T for his latest diss track 'The Story Of Adidon'.
The image, which was taken by photographer David Leyes in 2007, features the Canadian rapper in 'blackface' and sparked major backlash online. It was later removed by Instagram.
Following the criticism, Drake clarified the true story behind the images, which were taken while he was working as an actor.
The Complete History Of Drake & Pusha T's Rap Beef
“This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career,” he wrote on Instagram, "I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast."
"The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment."
Drake added that he and his 'Degrassi' co-star Mazin Elsadig "were attempting to use our voice to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors at auditions."
Read the full statement below.
Drake speaks on “blackface” photos circulating. pic.twitter.com/y3SrOl9DcQ
— Word On Road (@WordOnRd) May 31, 2018
After the image initially surfaced, Lupe Fiasco attempted to add more context.“Yes it’s two pictures of 6 in blackface… the one Pusha has as the cover is connected to another one but it’s cropped off,” he said in a since-deleted tweet.
“The one you saw is happy, the other is dark and sad. Both together actually presents a powerful duality of representation and race and its expectations on art.”
Meanwhile, Drake is reportedly prepping his response to Pusha's latest barbs, which saw him accuse Drake of hiding a secret child as well as taking shots at his producer, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.
