One of the reasons Drake has had such longevity in pop culture is his self-awareness. Although he’s been the butt of plenty of jokes over the years, he’s never let it get to him. In fact, he’s embraced many of the memes, doubling down and even creating business opportunities out of them.
Most recently, his sassy intro on the Her Loss song “Rich Flex” in which he implores his rhyme partner 21 Savage to “do something for me” inspired a slew of cheeky memes on TikTok. In them, fans imagine the Canadian superstar rolling his neck, putting his hands on his hips, and generally using body language that matches his saucy tone. While 21 himself was floored by the memes during a recent interaction with Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, Drake got to share his own reaction during a live stream with betting app Stake (which he helped promote over the weekend by putting a million-dollar parlay on the World Cup — he lost, but Argentina won).
He said that during a recent club outing, a female companion questioned him about being the butt of so many memes. In response, he explained, “I understand after all these years that, I feel like I have a polarizing presence. I’m almost a character in people’s movies and therefore there’s a running a dialogue. There’s jokes, you’re either the villain to some people or hero to some people. It is what it is, it just comes with the territory… I’ve always been able to laugh at myself, but I really do feel now that I mentally am able to separate the two. So I just want to stay in that zone, that’s kinda my resolution.”
You can check out Drake’s livestream with Stake below.