Drake's latest goofball-ass stunt is leading to some goofball-ass consequences. Since last summer, Drake has been teasing the release of a new solo album called Iceman. Earlier this week, Drake posted an Instagram photo of a giant new ice structure in downtown Toronto, captioning it "Release Date Inside." The idea, it seems, is that all this ice will melt and that we'll all learn the Iceman release date when it gets hot enough in Toronto. But some fans, it seems, would rather not wait.
If the images don't make it clear, this ice thing is big. According to Billboard, MAWG Design created the giant ice block, and it weighs one million pounds. Pitchfork spoke to a theoretical quantum physicist from the University Of Toronto, who estimates that the ice should take at least two weeks to melt and that the energy to melt it would be "comparable to the annual energy consumption of a Toronto household or to the energy released by 15 tons of TNT." Meanwhile, TMZ estimates that it'll take a week, and various Drake fans have been consulting with AI agents. Depending on which AI you ask, it'll take between five and ten days.
However you look at it, then, it shouldn't take that long before the Iceman release date is revealed to the world. But Drake stans, who gathered at the structure on Monday night, are doing their best to expedite the process, to the point where Toronto police had to intervene last night.
Apparently, the Iceman structure is surrounded by signs telling fans not to touch the ice because it's dangerous.
They're not listening. TMZ has posted footage of one fan attacking the ice with a blowtorch. Other fans have attacked it with pickaxes and sledgehammers, even climbing on top of it to do so. Some of them also started a campfire atop the ice, then threw giant blocks of it to the crowded ground below. Please enjoy some absolutely stupid images.
In the best footage I've seen from last night, a streamer named Kishka got into it with one very patient and polite Toronto cop, and it went a little something like this:
COP: It's just, we have concerns with people's safety. Just because Drake wants it doesn't mean...
KISHKA: You know what you're doing right now, right? You and all you other officers, 51 Division that is patrolling [something Canadian], are prolonging! Prolonging the drop of Iceman! You guys are the reason.
COP: But the issue is, it's going to warm up, so it's going to melt anyway. You guys...
KISHKA: So! So, so! [Something Canadian] would you want to wait? Are you the type — do you like winter, or do you like summer? What's your favorite season?
COP: I like both.
KISHKA: You like both? I like summer more, personally. And especially, when I'm in control of the heat?
COP: [Walks away.]
My boss Scott Lapatine also notes this about Drake: "Apparently in 2024 he posted about Allan Kaprow’s Fluids (1967) on his finsta."
Drake is really keeping Toronto authorities busy, as a pre-approved explosion, staged for a music video shoot, alarmed residents last week.
