Emojis were born in 1997 — a bit old for Drake’s tastes, though that hasn’t stopped the rapper from impregnating a dozen of them for the official cover artwork of his new album Certified Lover Boy.
The horrifying image is not a figment of a nightmare, though we at Consequence have tried pinching ourselves in the hope that the dead-eyed avatars would disappear. Drizzy — nope, not gonna call him that, too easy to imagine him drizzling all over his phone keyboard — Drake shared the cursed artwork in an Instagram post on Monday, August 30th. Here it is, in all its stomach-roiling glory:
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In the process, he tagged conceptual artist Damien Hirst, who is believed to be guilty responsible for the depiction. Hirst is a man after Drake’s own heart; as the richest living artist in the UK, he’s constantly surrounded by obscene wealth, and has used the ethos of “make what you know” to construct artifacts like a skull made out of diamonds. Lifeless, costly imitations that make you wonder if being alive is even worthwhile? Sign Drake up.
Certified Lover Boy will slide into your DSPs September 3rd. Drake announced the release date on SportsCenter for some reason. The lead-up has rekindled the feud between Drake and Kanye West, which saw Ye post Drake’s home address, and Drake fans respond by vandalizing Yeezy’s childhood home. The CLB artwork has already proven to be influential, and in the hours since it’s been announced, Lil Nas X has shared a depiction of his updated artwork for Montero. Check it out below.
