Drake took to social media late Wednesday to explain the origins of the photo used by Pusha-T as the cover art for his latest single “The Story Of Adidon."
The image of Drake in blackface makeup was taken by Toronto photographer David Leyes, who had it removed from Instagram within hours of the release of Pusha-T's diss track.
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Drake explained: "This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and 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.”
The former Degrassi star added that he and best friend at the time, Mazin Elsadig, were attempting to use their voices “to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors at auditions.
"This was to highlight and raise our frustrations with not always getting a fair chance in the industry and to make a point that the struggle for black actors had not changed much.”
Drake has yet to specifically comment on Pusha-T’s controversial lyrics about the Toronto rapper in the song, including a claim that he has a secret son.