Trying to Understand Drake’s House

With many of us now spending most of our time indoors, images of lavish celebrity homes in magazines seem to taunt us with their expansiveness. Get that infinity pool out of my face! However, after seeing Drake’s breathtakingly obscene mansion in Architectural Digestthis morning, we found ourselves more grateful for our humble abodes.

Drake gave fans a quick tour last week (in the dark) for his new video, “Toosie Slide,” but he opened up his Toronto home Cribs style for the cover of AD’s May issue on Wednesday. As you can see, the 50,000 square-foot space looks like a luxury mall. Designed by fellow Canadian Ferris Rafauli, it is stuffed with marble and gold trimmings, Swarovski chandeliers, furniture upholstered in dyed ostrich skin, and — of course — art by Kaws. There’s an NBA regulation-size basketball court and an indoor pool made of black granite. The 3,200 square-foot master bedroom houses a “Grand Vividus” Hästens mattress with a headboard that is also a bar. And we haven’t even gotten to the best part: the two-story closet displaying Drake’s mythical Birkin bag collection, which is currently collecting dust for his future wife.

In a phrase that could be interpreted as a backhanded compliment, AD merely describes Drake’s house as an “astonishing domicile.” Drake, meanwhile, calls it the Embassy. “It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong,” he told the magazine. In 100 years, our ancestors can visit the Drake Museum. The Birkin bags might still be there, unclaimed.

Below, the Cut staff takes a tour.

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Just hold on, we’re going home…..to Drake’s place. The megastar built his pleasure dome from the ground up in his hometown of Toronto, and it is fully loaded. Indoor NBA-size basketball court? Check. Awards room? Of course. Recording studio, custom grand piano designed in collaboration with artist Takashi Murakami, hall of sports hero’s jerseys? Check, check, check. @champagnepapi worked on this stately manor, dubbed “The Embassy,” with Canadian architectural and interior designer Ferris Rafauli (with @ferrisrafauli in the lounge, last image) for six years, starting when the musician was only 27 years old. “Because I was building it in my hometown, I wanted the structure to stand firm for 100 years. I wanted it to have a monumental scale and feel. It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong.” Wise words from a true poet of rap. See it all in May AD, online now, and via link in bio. 🇨🇦 📷 @jasonschmidtstudio text @mayer.rus styling @colinking fashion styling @mellanysanchez cover look @tomford & @nike

A post shared by Amy Astley (@amyastley) on Apr 8, 2020 at 5:33am PDT