Drake

An Older Couple Sitting Courtside Next To Drake Had No Idea Who He Was

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Drake is a notorious presence courtside at NBA games. While often in Toronto, the part owner of the Raptors often also shows up to big games outside of The Six. But last night, he was slumming it, so to speak, at the Oklahoma City Thunder versus Houston Rockets game in OKC. Folks were understandably perplexed as to why Drizzy would show up to see two cellar-dwellers play early in the season, but he was presumably there to show love to fellow Toronto native Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder. SGA heeded the call and the point guard dropped a cool 39 points in front of the rapper, albeit in a loss. But the big story of this game was the cute older couple that was sitting courtside next to Drake and had no idea who he was.

In a hilarious exchange during a break in play, the arena jumbotron cameras seemed to pan over to Drake. When the couple sitting next to him noticed that they were in the outskirts of the frame on the giant video board, hilarity ensued.

The gentleman taps Drake (who was playing it cool for the camera) on the shoulder and says “Hey man!” to get his attention and his wife leans over and jokingly tells Drake to “Smile!” for the camera. The three break out in laughter and the affable Drake tells the man that the cameras were for him. They shared a laugh and then Rumble, the Thunder’s mascot, came over to shake Drake’s hand. Drake later posted a selfie with the couple on his Instagram story with the caption “My new parents.” Ignorance really is bliss sometimes.

Drake, Dua Lipa, And BTS Top The ‘Billboard’ Year-End Charts For 2021

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The flood of year-end music round-ups has started over the past few days, as websites (like Uproxx) have shared their year-end lists and Spotify Wrapped has made the rounds. Now Billboard has chimed in with their year-end charts, and some expected figures have found themselves atop the ranks.

Drake was 2021’s top artist and following him on the list are, in order, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, and Morgan Wallen. As for Top New Artists, Rodrigo tops that list and is followed by The Kid Laroi, Giveon, Pooh Shiesty, and 24kGoldn. There’s also a lists of top artists that are duos or groups, and that’s led by BTS, as well as Glass Animals, Dan + Shay, Fleetwood Mac, and AJR.

When it comes to Billboard 200 albums, Morgan Wallen reigns supreme with Dangerous: The Double Album, ahead of Rodrigo’s Sour, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, Swift’s Evermore, and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. Meanwhile, Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” leads the Hot 100 Songs chart, followed by The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears,” The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” 24kGoldn and Iann Dior’s “Mood,” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U.”

Check out all of the year-end charts here and below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Best Hip-Hop Projects of 2021

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2021 will be remembered for these projects. Continue reading…

No One Could Figure Out Why Drake Was At A Rockets-Thunder Game In OKC

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For some reason, Drake was sitting courtside from Wednesday night’s Oklahoma City Thunder-Houston Rockets showdown in Oklahoma City.

The logical reason for Drake to be at this game is probably to support Thunder guard and Toronto native Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (and Lu Dort, who is also a Canadian on OKC’s squad). But why this specific game to do so? At some point, Gilgeous-Alexander will be back in Toronto playing with the Thunder. And this isn’t even a good opponent to see the Thunder play against. No offense to the Rockets, but they are among the worst teams in the league (although now riding a 4-game winning streak) and don’t even have their top pick (Jalen Green) available right now due to injury.

Frankly, getting to the bottom of why Drake is at Thunder-Rockets on a Wednesday night in December is worthy of some kind of investigation. He was in Toronto as recently as two days ago, but perhaps he’s just really into Josh Giddey’s passes (or maybe his TikTok) or loves Alperen Şengün’s flair as a center in addition to wanting to support his countrymen. It’s so random that it deserves a random explanation, one that many on Twitter were searching for.

Drake also made friends with an older couple he was sitting next to in his courtside seat, posting to his Instagram story that they are his ‘new parents.’

It turned out to be a pretty good game, with Houston winning 114-110 thanks to a big fourth quarter comeback, so maybe Drake is smarter than us all, a savvy shopper for what had to have been some relatively cheap courtside seats to take in a pretty entertaining game.

Bad Bunny Takes The Lead As Spotify’s Most-Streamed Artist Globally In 2021

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It’s that time of the year again — Spotify Wrapped is here. While many are spending the first day of December decorating for the holidays, music lovers around the globe are checking their Spotify account to see a round up of their most-streamed artists, albums, and songs of the year. The data shows that Olivia Rodrigo had a massive year, as she had the most-streamed song and album worldwide. But there was another artist whose music was streamed the most times around the world on the platform: Bad Bunny.

Thanks to Bad Bunny’s prolific songwriting, the Puerto Rican rapper received the most streams on Spotify out of any other artist around the world. According to Spotify’s data, rapper was streamed 9.1 billion times globally this year, an impressive feat for an artist who didn’t even release an album in 2021. Following behind Bad Bunny in worldwide streaming numbers is Taylor Swift at No. 2, BTS at No. 3, Drake at No. 4, and Justin Bieber at No. 5.

When Bad Bunny found out the news, he still remained humble. The musician said he makes music for the love of it and his goal was never to be the most-streamed artists around the world.

While Bad Bunny may have been the top-streamed artist around the globe, the stats look a little different in the US. Bad Bunny was the fifth-most-streamed artist on Spotify in the US, while Drake took the No. 1 slot. Taylor Swift was behind Drake while Juice WRLD came in at No. 3 and Kanye West at No. 4.

See a video of Bad Bunny finding out he’s 2021’s most-streamed artist above.

Check out more Spotify Wrapped data here, and to get your own Wrapped info for 2021, check out the Spotify mobile app.

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A year full of rising rap newcomers and seasoned vets that delivered a solid soundtrack over the last 12 months. Continue reading…

Drake Made A Surprise Appearance During Giveon’s Toronto Show — Which Even Surprised Giveon

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Although Long Beach-bred R&B singer Giveon was well on his way to a healthy recording career before connecting with Drake, there’s little doubt that the superstar’s cosign on their Dark Lane Demo Tapes collaboration “Chicago Freestyle” helped launch Giveon to a new level of stardom himself. So it’s fitting that during Giveon’s Toronto tour stop, Drake — the city’s unofficial ambassador since 2009 — made a surprise appearance, popping out from backstage to greet his hometown crowd and bless the show during a performance of their collaboration.

Funnily enough, no one seemed as surprised as Giveon when Drake appeared from the smoke on stage to wrap him up in a bear hug as he played the piano. Although Drake quickly returned backstage, Giveon was left grinning bashfully as the crowd continued to cheer for his surprise guest.

Giveon himself later posted an Instagram Story expressing his disbelief at the sneak attack, writing, “Can’t believe my brother surprised me tonight! Toronto! I love you guys. So much love every time!”

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Drake has had a habit of surprising collaborators and artists he enjoys, although it hasn’t always gone to plan. In 2019, he bestowed his blessing on YSL rapper Lil Keed in Los Angeles and at DaBaby’s Toronto tour stop, and in 2020, he popped out at Post Malone’s show in Toronto. However, fans at Tyler The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival booed him after waiting at the main stage all day in hopes of catching Frank Ocean. He took the moment of humility in stride, joking that he’d put in a 10-year residency at the festival if Tyler let him. Fortunately, this time around, he didn’t have to.