Drake, the rapper, actor, and living embodiment of a raw nerve, has, it turns out, been running through his critics’ DMs with his woes. Prompted by Anthony Fantano (who runs YouTube channel The Needle Drop) giving his recent releases less-than-glowing reviews, the musician decided to act like a Certified Hater Boy, send a late-night private message to Fantano, and then make that message public so the whole world could see that he’s the kind of celebrity who sends his critics DMs when he’s mad at them.
This all started when Fantano posted a video yesterday to say that Drake sent him a message on Instagram just after midnight earlier on the same day. He reads out what he received through an edited shot of the post, pretending that the musician got in touch to say he politely disagreed with Fantano’s criticism of his work, thank him for enjoying past releases, and pass along a vegan cookie recipe.
Apparently appalled that Fantano responded to the real DM with a friendly joke, Drake then took to his Instagram stories to post a screenshot of what he actually sent.
The burn he was so proud of—the one he refused to let anyone believe was a reasoned response to a music critic reviewing his work—reads: “Your existence is a light 1. And the 1 is cause you are alive. And cause you somehow wifed a Black girl. I’m feeling a light to decent 1 on your existence.”
Having seen Drake make a goofy insult that plays off of the musician’s knowledge of both Fantano’s personal life and review format public, the critic hopped on an Instagram Live this morning for a video (captured here) where he basically can’t stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the entire situation.
In it, Fantano says he was confused why Drake would even DM him since he’s not a teenage girl, says the poor quality of the message is “why he has ghostwriters,” and basically makes fun of the idea that a critic sharing his opinion bothers an extremely wealthy and successful pop star enough that he has to not just DM him in the first place, but then show what he wrote after being lightly goofed on for it. Fantano ends the whole thing by restating that he likes some of Drake’s past work and that, ultimately, he just finds the whole situation really funny.
Maybe this kind of reaction will cause Drake to reflect on the uselessness of his many beefs. Or, hey, maybe it will inspire him to reveal that the Fantano DMs are all the work of a strange shadow self. Maybe he’ll finally speak about the evil doppelganger who emerges from beneath his bed at night to record his worst verses and pick dumb fights: The notorious Fake Drake.
Send Great Job, Internet tips to gji@theonion.com