Drake is a renowned musician who has won 192 awards, including four Grammys and the Billboard Music Awards’ Artist of the Decade award. 

He is a man with many talents, but his biggest talent is his ability to do anything and become a meme. 

Drake returned from his three year musical hiatus on Sept. 3, with his album “Certified Lover Boy”. The album had a lot of buzz surrounding it, but the majority of the attention was directed toward jokes and criticism.

The 12 pregnant woman emojis used for the album cover took the internet by storm when Drake gave fans a sneak peek at the artwork prior to the album release. The unique art created discussion across Twitter and people quickly made a meme out of it.

“When he first posted about the album cover on Instagram, I thought it was a joke or made by a three year old,” sophomore Hiranya Malladi said. “But then I realized that was the actual album cover and then I was concerned.”

Drake became the center of meme culture once again following the release of his album. The song “Girls Want Girls” captured the internet’s attention because of the lyric, “said that you a lesbian, girl me too.” 

“I think the line is pretty stupid, like people waited for this song just to hear that line be a part of the lyrics,” said freshman Vaishnavi Suresh. “It’s meme material though.”

Shortly before this, the world was sent into a frenzy after a mirror selfie of Drake and an Instagram Boomerang of him crouching over with his hands on his hips went viral. The viral images sparked speculation of Drake potentially getting cosmetic surgeries, earning him the title of “BBL Drake”.

“It’s really weird because it’s obviously not true,” junior Arianna Oliquiano said. “It’s just really random.”

BBL Drake is the reigning king of TikTok and Twitter as people’s timelines continue to be flooded with “Drake the Type of Guy to:” memes.

“I started seeing the memes like two weeks ago on my For You page,” freshman Sophia  Chen said. “It’s like they showed up out of nowhere.”

Every couple of years, the rapper’s followers like to kickstart the craze of thinking up the kind of things Drake would do, such as saying “oopsies” after dropping something or clapping when a plane lands.

“It’s so funny to see,” freshman Niranjan Prem said. “He doesn’t really do anything but people just make fun of him because it’s hilarious.”

Drake’s one-of-a-kind personality makes him a consistent trending topic, but it also allows him to stand out in the rap industry.

“The way he acts, like his brand of being a loverboy, is pretty funny so a lot of people tease him about it,” senior Mikal Mulugeta said. “But I think there is toxic masculinity in the rap industry so it’s good that Drake is not afraid to act like himself and defy the boundaries of the industry.”

Though most of his online presence is defined by his susceptibility to being memed, Drake became a household name because of his successful rapping career. Many fans were looking forward to the release of his new album, and the memes contributed to the hype around it.

“I was looking forward to it because it’s been a long time since he dropped something and he kept dragging the album release,” Mulugeta said. “I definitely turned it up the moment it came out.”

Memes and popular media culture surrounding Drake are not limited to this past year, and have been a constant in his career.

“Drake is a very influential figure so a lot of his actions end up being memed,” sophomore Trenton von Sosen said. “Like when he released ‘Hotline Bling’ a few years back, people were making fun of it then.

Drake has been a long running joke throughout his career. A reason for that may be the absurd headlines posted about him daily, the most recent of which was in reference to him allegedly suing the creators of the show “Degrassi”, where Drake got his big break. He’s upset the show made his character disabled because he thinks it makes him appear too soft.

“I think it’s a sign that he is sick of the jokes,” junior Melina Kamranifard said. “But hey, it’s keeping him relevant so it works.”

Even after being in the entertainment industry for more than a decade, Drake has managed to remain relevant in both the music industry and in social media culture. He has a very unique brand of cheesiness that can’t be found anywhere else. 

Drake is many things, but he is not the type of guy to let people be unentertained.