The current issue of The Hollywood Reporter is the annual Next Gen issue, “celebrating Hollywood’s heaviest hitters under 35.” The cover was given to Drake, who is 31 years old. I know Drake isn’t the most popular celebrity we discuss here, but stick with this because his interview is actually pretty good. Drake and his manager Adel “Future” Nur spoke at length with THR about their long-term plans for total entertainment domination, not just in music but in films, television and beyond. Drake also talked about his Harry Potter addiction, and how he’s already collecting Hermes Birkin bags for his future wife. I sh-t you not. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
On his love for 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.'”
On his haters: “People sometimes lose perspective that you’re a human being and have feelings. They think they know you because they’ve read Wikipedia.”
Why he pursues the unexpected: “Being a young black guy, I think there’s definitely the chance to get typecast. But I also have been pretty adamant about showing range. I try to show it through different outlets, like Saturday Night Live, showing people that I can be funny,” he says of his well-reviewed hosting gigs, during which he poked fun at his various beefs. “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 says, referring to my surprise at his Harry Potter fixation.
A Harvey Weinstein story: Jay Z made a similar foray into Hollywood last year, but he bet on the wrong horse by aligning with (even then) financially troubled The Weinstein Co. on projects including In the Heights, Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said and an untitled Trayvon Martin film. Given Harvey Weinstein’s pariah status, those projects remain in doubt. Ironically, Weinstein chased Drake to star in and produce a film called The Heist, but Drake rebuffed the overtures long before the mogul faced dozens of sexual harassment and assault claims. “I vetted him with five people and got bad feedback about working with him,” Future says simply.
He had a bar mitzvah in Toronto & he identifies as Jewish: “I identify as Jewish. I am a person who, you know, I talk to God. I just try to live a very good life, to be a good person. I’m not necessarily extremely religious, but my mom and I always do the high holidays together.”
The Birkin bag collection: He reveals that he has been collecting Birkin bags for years, a gift for “the woman I end up with.”
Is it crazy or funny or smart that he’s collecting Birkin bags for his future wife/partner? Like, what if his future wife doesn’t like Birkin bags? Then again, if she dates and agrees to marry Drake, how could she NOT like Birkin bags? Plus, who truly hates Birkins? Imagine you were with a guy and he’s like “baby, I know you’re the one and I have something to show you” and he shows you a closet full of Birkin bags and tells you that they’re all yours. Would you like that? I would think it was weird and a little crazy, but I would totally pick out a Birkin to use right then and there. Mazel tov!
Also: that Weinstein story is very interesting, isn’t it? How is it that Drake and his manager did their research and said “no thanks” while Jay-Z got professionally ensnared?
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of THR.
He’s amazing. I love that he’s collecting purses for his future wife. I wouldn’t have thought of that as a thing, but it’s sweet. Good one for avoiding Weinstein.
Collecting for his future wife. Sure you are Drake.
kind of makes me wonder if he’ll be picking out her clothes and everything else… sheesh.
He sensibly buys underwear for his future wife too. Only the best lace, aired regularly for longevity.
Right?! Buying them for his future beard more like. Keeping them in his giant closet.
He is the most adorkable person. He deserves a good wife.
I’d be more into the 1st edition of the HP book, rather than the birkin. But it sounds like Drake wouldn’t give it up.
Mee too! I also wonder, who will get those bags in the inevitable divorce? I think him and his second wife.
“Here are some lightly used Birkins, baby. All yours!”
Kudos to Drake for refusing to work with Weinstein.
No comment on Jay Z.
Birkin bags are a good investment. He could sell them for a lot more than he paid. I can see the pre-nuptial now: All Birkins are the property of Drake and shall remain so in the event of divorce. And ex-wife shall pay to have all Birkins repaired of all wear and tear.
With my luck a pen would break inside and leak through.
Why do fu*kboys have to be incredibly charming 😪
What does this mean? I’m an old.
Did you miss the part about him being a human being with feelings?
Drake’s a womanizer, Jay-Z style. Though he hides it with this nerdy, cheerful charm that is difficult to resist.
I don’t know that phrase. Is a woman who enjoys sex a fu*kgirl?
Right? Drake stays extra and doing the absolute most. My brother had a friend like him who tried to chat me up some years back. Dude was entirely too enmeshed after just one or two conversations so I dropped the romance aspect and just kept him as a friend (a very wise choice). Drake seems like he’d be a challenge to be in relationship with- all hyper emotional and soggy (while also running around and gathering up adoring women). But I’d love to have him as a friend, though. I like quite a bit about how he presents.
Honestly? I’d run. Don’t care about the bags and I don’t need many and they are probably gonna be increasingly dated as the years go by and also they are heavy and couldn’t he donate some money to charities instead of buying birkins? If he got them as gifts he could regift them or donate or sell and donate the proceeds. I’m not telling him what to do but that’s a massive turn off for me personally, not like he would care.
It sounds kind of crazy and wasteful that he’s spending so much on bags for a future wife he might not ever even have. Would he say “if you marry me, you can have all of these expensive bags I’ve been buying to give to someone who is my wife “? Kind of pathetic
Seriously? “Status” bags for the 1%. Sell out.
I don’t wear leather. So I can not marry Drake.
Wait, i could marry Drake AND get Hermes bags? Sign me up! 🙂
we all know it will be rihanna
It is interesting that Drake, and his management team, can utilize some basic logical deduction skills, and avoid working with someone- whereas someone like Jay-Z, shows they absolutely do not care as long as they make money.
Jay, his wife, and the way they’ve done business, has always earned the side eye from me. Always.
It’s not possible he “didn’t know”. Especially living in NY.
Hell, I lived in NY for only 5 years and I knew.