Photo Credit: Jordan Nicholson

Earlier this week, Drake provided his fans with a spontaneous insight into his personal top five rappers of all time. Drake announced his list including Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, Notorious B.I.G. and Toronto-based rapper Young Tony (also known as OVO Hush), via the comments section of Instagram on Thursday.

He took to Young Tony’s comments, on a post displaying Tony’s early mixtapes, writing “My top 5 is Biggie, Hov, Wayne, Young Tony and 3000 since nobody asked.”

This spur-of-the-moment comment, unsurprisingly, attracted an abundance of likes and comments from his fans.

Whilst it may not come as surprise to his fans, these listed rappers have had a major influential impact on Drake, with elements from each artist being heard within the rapper’s own music. Having also collaborated with the majority of those mentioned, or at least having them referenced in a song, proves Drake’s admiration for those who have inspired and helped him define his own artistic style.

Drake and Nike fans will be excited this morning as rumours broke of a collab between the two, in the form of the classic Air Force 1 trainer.

The Canadian rapper has a history of partnerships with the sportswear brand, so this won’t come as a complete shock to followers. In 2013, the two nearly came together after Drake signed with Jordan- Nike’s subsidiary- and a few co-branded crepes were released. After this, there were rumours Drizzy would be moving over to competitor Adidas, but this never became a reality after the brand was caught up in a feud between him and Pusha T. Since then, Drake has shown constant support to Nike by wearing the sports brand, especially custom made kicks as pictured below.

However, yesterday (8/6/20) an account reported that an OVO x AF1 trainer will be dropping in 2021. Complex magazine has hinted at the release of another sneaker next year, but they couldn’t confirm exactly what style.

Stay tuned for updates!

UK rap star Stormzy has pledged to donate £1 million every year for 10 years to organisations, charities and movements that aid racial inequality. Speaking out about black empowerment, he said: “”We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born.”

This is not the first time the grime star has pledged to help injustice and inequality in the world, in 2018 he announced the Stormzy Scholarship which would pay the tuition and maintenance fees for an undergrad at Cambridge University for two students.

Also in 2018 he partnered with Penguin in a publishing deal, to help young authors become well know. The partnership, known as #MerkyBooks, began with the print of his autobiography Rise Up, and has seen the release of two books a year since.

“Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it” Stormzy commented, and he sure is dedicating his success to help the current racial imbalances. Stormzy is amongst many musical stars pledging to help the cause, Michael Jordan has donated $100 million to groups fighting racial and social injustice, along with Drake who has donated an undisclosed amount to the bail fund of those arrested for protesting in the US.