Many have claimed that Drake co-opted British culture in the past. In fact, when it was rumored that he and Skepta would star in the reboot of Top Boy, he was accused of "appropriating" working-class British culture by a writer from The Independent. Many corrected her, citing the general correlations between Toronto and the U.K.
By now, you probably heard that the rumors of him actually acting in Top Boy aren't actually true but he is the executive producer of the show which returns for its third season on Netflix on September 13th. Ahead of the premiere, the rapper sat down for a rare interview with HeyUGuys where he finally answered the question as to why he has such an attraction and connection to the U.K. The rapper explained that he first got on the show when it was on YouTube and got deep into the show.
"I got attached to the characters, the story really drew me in. I think there's so many parallels between Toronto and London -- obviously, we don't have the same accent but we speak the same. So it reminded me of people that I grew up with or guys that I know and situations that I've witnessed. So I felt super connected right away," he said. "Then it disappeared on me."
Thankfully, when you're making Drake money, you could afford to bring back your favorite show. After doing some digging and ultimately finding out it was canceled, Drizzy spoke to his manager who also agreed that they should bring it back. Admittedly, buying the rights to Top Boy was initially for his own pleasure but he realized that this story is even more important to marginalized communities in the U.K. as a whole.
Peep the full interview below.