Drake is a man of many descriptions. A rapper, singer, actor, media mogul, social media addict, waverider, global superstar. But no matter how many masks we wear, an essential foundation remains underneath everyone’s surface and Drake is no exception.
So what’s hidden underneath Drake’s façades? Simple. No matter how big he becomes, Aubrey Graham is a cornball.
I mean that of course as a loving, teasing gesture. Because that cornball bedrock is what media critics and profile writers use to insinuate Drake is “relatable.” Personally I don’t need my celebrities to be relatable cornballs because, well, I know plenty of relatable cornballs in my personal life. But for Drake’s I’m sure that’s what they want!
That, anyways, is why a recent Hollywood Reporter profile about Drake’s ventures into the film and TV world couldn’t resist divulging the multi-hyphenate’s obsession with Harry Potter.
For the past four years, he has been chasing a first edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and it’s finally on the market for $160,000. “Yeah, I read them all,” he says of J.K. Rowling’s series, two tiny diamonds glinting from his front teeth as he breaks into a wide smile. I tell him I’m reading the series to my kids, and he immediately peppers me with questions, “What book are you on?” “Goblet of Fire,” I respond. “What part?” Then, as if to talk himself into the purchase, he says: “I should get it. My birthday’s coming up. Maybe I’ll buy it for myself as a treat.”
It’s such a juicy detail about a superstar like Drake that the writer loops back to the nugget by the piece’s end. His Harry Potter obsession represents Drake’s desire to still surprise people about who they think he is.
“When I get back into acting, I want to do things that make people go, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that.’ Like, it’s nice to hear you say, ‘You know, I didn’t expect you to like those things,” he told THR, in reference to the writer’s “surprise at his Harry Potter fixation.”
Drake’s a sly savant at navigating the media. The piece ends with the writer following up weeks later if he bought the $160,000 book. “Nah, not yet,” Drake replies, laughing. “But I will. My birthday is still a few days away.”
You almost wonder if Drake ever intended to buy the Harry Potter book in the first place, almost as if that anecdote served to underscore and reinforce that cornball relatability his fans love so much about him. Makes you wonder is all I’m saying.
