{"id":65765,"date":"2015-11-26T05:01:05","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T11:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=65765"},"modified":"2015-11-26T05:01:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T11:01:05","slug":"raptors-annual-drake-night-still-surreal-for-toronto-based-rapper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/26\/raptors-annual-drake-night-still-surreal-for-toronto-based-rapper\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors\u2019 annual \u201cDrake Night\u201d still surreal for Toronto based rapper"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Canadian<\/a>
Canadian rapper Drake (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2013 It\u2019s been three years since the first annual installment of \u201cDrake Night\u201d at Air Canada Centre, but the Canadian rapper behind the event still can\u2019t believe it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

Nor will he take much credit for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is surreal,\u201d Toronto-born Drake said prior to the Raptors\u2019 103-99 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. \u201cEven though it\u2019s my name it\u2019s something we always do for the city. We try to get the crowd up and create exciting moments. Yes it\u2019s named after me but it’s definitely dedicated to the city of Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans at the game were given free black and gold Drake-inspired t-shirts and headbands, which the rapper and his clothing line\/record label OVO designed.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has been involved with the Raptors for the past few seasons after being named a \u201cglobal ambassador\u201d for the team in 2013.<\/p>\n

He even helped design the Raptors\u2019 alternate gold and black jersey, new this season, which he unveiled at his OVO Fest concert in Toronto over the summer. The team wore them against the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it lasts forever,\u201d Drake said of his partnership with Canada\u2019s only NBA team. \u201cAgain, the Raptors are an institution in this city. I always like to be here to get the city excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a hometown boy. I\u2019ll never stop supporting. As long as we have wonderful guys like Masai (Ujiri, the Raptors general manager) here, I\u2019m sure the partnership will grow and blossom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drake, who was at Staples Centre last week to watch the Raptors easily beat the lowly Lakers, said he wasn\u2019t too concerned with the stiffer competition for Wednesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

That included Cavaliers superstar and four-time league MVP LeBron James.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeBron\u2019s like my brother,\u201d Drake said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of my closest friends in the world. But tonight is about Toronto. I\u2019m not really worried about LeBron or the Cavs. It\u2019s about our city, our team. Right now, it\u2019s a Raptors thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of many Canadians to dominate the Billboard charts recently \u2013 his latest single \u201cHotline Bling\u201d is currently No. 3 on the Top 100 behind Adele\u2019s \u201cHello\u201d and Stratford, Ont., native Justin Bieber’s \u201cSorry\u201d \u2013 Drake said he was thrilled to be able to watch a number of Canadians thriving in the NBA as well.<\/p>\n

Three of them \u2013 Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, Raptors guard Cory Joseph and Raptors forward Anthony Bennett \u2013 were in uniform for Wednesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll good friends of mine \u2013 Tristan, Cory, Anthony,\u201d Drake said. \u201cI think basketball in Canada is growing as a whole and we\u2019re all excited about it. I talk to Masai about it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing these kids develop, being high draft picks, I think it\u2019s only going to get bigger. Hopefully they find their way back here one day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2013 It\u2019s been three years since the first annual installment of \u201cDrake Night\u201d at Air Canada Centre, but the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-65765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-original","mauthors-melissa-couto","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}