Canadian rapper Drake has been made memes more times than any one celebrity can count, as hip-hop fans are quick to roast him over his light skin. However, the bi-racial artist has shared that he has more African ancestry than his fans and critics might think as he questioned if the Nigerian posse is ready to accept him.
The rapper revealed his father Dennis Graham’s ancestry DNA test result on Sunday as he asserted his African ancestry. Drake has only claimed to be black, but he is biracial with a black father and Caucasian mother.
However, it seems that hip-hop jokes about his braids will have to subside now as he revealed that his father had 30 percent West African heritage, specifically from the capital of Afrobeat, Nigeria.
The elder Graham’s genetic makeup consists of 28 percent Cameroon, Congolese, and Western Bantu Peoples, 11 percent Ivorian and Ghanian, eight (8) percent European (English and North-western Europe), 5 percent Malian, and 4 percent of Benin and Togo descent. This means that Drake’s father is approximately 78 percent of West African descent.
Resharing the post, Drake quipped, “This is my dad’s results. Does this mean I’m a Naija man finally?”
Fans of the artist reacted with the hashtag, ShayoPapi, while others cracked jokes about Nigerians now claiming Drake and will begin to say they “run hip hop.” “Everybody wanna be Nigerian now,” one fan reacted with laughing emojis. Another fan had a more ominous view, “Drake is warning us b4 he takes over Afrobeats.”
Some fans also defended the artist, noting that if you are by blood and genetics Nigerian, there is no reason to shame that person for claiming their heritage.
“Nobody is trying to be Nigerian. We are Nigerian because it’s in our bloodline. We don’t have to try to be anything that’s directly in our bloodX so all the Nigerians saying we are trying to be something sound foolish,” one person commented.
“Oluwa Drake” (Yoruba meaning God Drake), another fan wrote, which elicited more than a thousand likes and dozens of laughing emojis.
Some fans joke that Drake will debut his Nigerian accent on his next album, much like he used his Jamaican accent in his music and life over the years. The best and most interesting part is that Drake is getting ready for his stadium tour starting this summer, and as such, some fans are hoping he will add Nigerian singer Tems, whom he has collaborated with more than once, to the tour’s roster.
