Anyone who follows Drake’s Instagram – or has seen his “Toosie Slide” video – has a pretty good idea what the inside of his Toronto mansion looks like.
Now, the rap superstar is showcasing his 4,645-square-metre home in the pages of Architectural Digest.
“Because I was building it in my hometown, I wanted the structure to stand firm for 100 years,” Drake told the magazine. “I wanted it to have a monumental scale and feel. It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong.”
The custom-built mansion, dubbed “The Embassy,” is located in Toronto’s tony Bridle Path neighbourhood, where Gordon Lightfoot lives and Prince once had a home.
The first stop chez Drake is, of course, the awards room. Home is where the Grammys are, right? pic.twitter.com/Cu7UIZMKxt
— Architectural Digest (@ArchDigest) April 8, 2020
No tour would be complete without a stop by Drake's tantalizing black-marble pool. This house *literally* has everything. pic.twitter.com/cx2kcSl8Cl
— Architectural Digest (@ArchDigest) April 8, 2020
Drake enlisted architectural and interior designer Ferris Rafauli to create something unabashedly extravagant.
“It’s overwhelming high luxury,” the rapper said. “That message is delivered through the size of the rooms and the materials and details of the floors and the ceilings.
“I wanted to make sure people can see the work I’ve put in over the years reflected from every vantage point.”
Among the highlights are the 1814-kilogram black marble bathtub, the Hästens bed in the 300-square-metre master bedroom, an indoor swimming pool of black granite and an NBA regulation-size basketball court topped with a two-square-metre skylight.
The great room, which boasts a Bösendorfer grand piano designed with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, features a chandelier with more than 20,000 pieces of hand-cut Swarovski crystal – the second largest installation of its kind in the world.
Drake’s abode also has a room for his collection of awards and a hall of sports jerseys.
“The house shows that I have true faith in myself to take on this task when I was just 27 and see it through,” the 33-year-old said. "I also think the house says that I will forever remain solid in the place I was born.”
Jealously reigns on social media, where a handful of people expressed their distaste for Drake’s house. Comments range from “it doesn’t have a single green or living thing in the whole place” to “it just looks like another Hilton in Shanghai.” One person described it as “tacky” and “gaudy” and someone else opined that “Drake is 33 with the interior design taste of a 50 year old mobster’s wife.”