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The pictures, which were taken by photographer David Leyes, have been circulating since Pusha-T used one of them as the cover art for his scathing diss track “The Story of Adidon.”
Many initially thought the picture was photoshopped until Pusha hopped on Twitter to say that they were indeed real.
Please stop referring to this picture as “artwork”...I’m not an internet baby, I don’t edit images...this is a REAL picture...these are his truths, see for yourself http://www.davidleyes.com/portraits.html
Drake has now taken to his Instagram Story to provide context to the blackface photos. Peep a screenshot of it below:
For those who don't know, Mazin Elsadig is an actor who worked on Degrassi: The Next Generation with Drake. Elsadig played the role of Damian Hayes on the show, while Drake portrayed the character Jimmy Brooks.
Here's a short film starring both Drake and Elsadig called Us & Them from 2008:
On Wednesday, a statement from Too Black Guys founder Adrian Aitcheson was relayed to Complex. “The photo in question was not from a Too Black Guys photoshoot however it did feature clothing from Too Black Guys’ JIM CROW COUTURE/HOUSE OF CROW collection which was released in 2008,” Aitcheson said.
He continued, "The collection featured several graphics that highlighted the painful and dangerous period of the Jim Crow Era. Too Black Guys has a history of representing the black experience in an unapologetic way,” he said. “Although this was not an image from any of our photoshoots, we feel that Drake, who is a long- time friend of the brand, was brilliantly illustrating the hypocrisy of the Jim Crow Era. The subtleties of Drake, a young black man, mimicking how white men used to mimic and dehumanize black people may be lost in a rap battle but we should not be distracted from the issues that are still affecting our communities."
Let's see if Drake goes beyond IG to drop a "Duppy Freestyle" follow-up in the coming days.
