Drake - the artist formerly known as Aubrey Graham - has been able to keep a relatively
clean reputation in the public eye, especially for someone with so many scandals attached
to his name.
But if you scratch past the surface of Drizzy's demeanor, you'll find quite a bit of dirt.
Bottle-throwing brawl
In June 2012, Drake and Chris Brown reportedly got into a bottle-throwing bar fight at a
New York City nightclub.
According to TMZ, Brown's face was injured, as were members of Drake and Brown's respective
entourages and innocent bystanders.
The club also suffered significant property damage from the incident.
A club promoter who was at the club that night claimed to Complex that Brown sent a bottle
of champagne to Drake, who returned it with a vulgar note about Rihanna.
TMZ reported that Drake started screaming at Brown from his side of the VIP section.
Both Brown and Drake left the scene before cops arrived and denied any wrongdoing - and
neither faced any charges.
Stealing the spotlight
Drake went beyond public with Rihanna leading up to the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, even
going so far as to rent a billboard gushing over her.
At the ceremony, the tuxedo-clad rapper gave a fawning speech about RiRi, effectively making
her moment all about him.
"She's someone...she's someone I've been in love with since I was 22 years old."
While Rihanna was quiet about the moment at the time, she later opened up about how uncomfortable
it was for her, telling Vogue in June 2018,
"Waiting through that speech was probably the most uncomfortable part.
I don't like too many compliments; I don't like to be put on blast."
She added that, while she and Drake aren't friends anymore, they don't necessarily have
any bad blood either.
Career-ending track
In light of Drake's feud with Pusha T, Drake collaborator J Prince revealed on the Sway
In The Morning Show that Drake wrote a response track to Pusha T's diss track, but the world
may never actually hear it.
J Prince claimed that he told Drake to stay out of Pusha T's personal digs, leading Drake
to not drop the song.
He went on to say that Drake majorly dissed Pusha T's producer - none other than Kanye
West - in the unreleased track, alleging that Drake's insults about West's lifestyle could
hurt West's family and livelihood.
J Prince explained,
"I saw this going to a place that I feel would have ended [Kanye's] career if Drake would've
put out this song that he had on him.
It definitely would've hurt families and we're not in it for that.
That's not Drake's character to tear a man down to that extent."
So, if it's not Drake's character to tear a man down in that way, why did he write the
song to begin with?
Fake relationship
Drake allegedly used Jennifer Lopez to make his own star shine a bit brighter in 2016
when the pair plastered their PDA all over social media.
Music industry sources told Page Six that Drake and J.Lo were using public speculation
about their relationship status to promote a collaboration.
The outlet specifically cited video and photographic footage of the maybe-couple kissing while
listening to a song they worked on together, noting that the setting was actually just
a music video set and not a real party.
One insider dished,
"This relationship is fake, it is just a publicity stunt to publicize their record together.
If Jennifer and Drake were really dating, they'd be way more private about it."
Indeed, in March 2017, Drake dropped the song "Teenage Fever," which sampled Lopez's first
hit, "If You Had My Love."
Signing a criminal?
Drake signed his close friend and former bodyguard, Baka, to his October's Very Own label in June
2017 after Baka was released from jail.
Baka was behind bars for 11 months for a major crime.
According to the Toronto Sun, he pleaded guilty to and was convicted of assaulting a 22-year-old
escort, allegedly his girlfriend at the time.
He was initially also charged with human trafficking and accused of forcing the woman into prostitution,
but she declined to testify against him, so those charges were dropped.
He had prior convictions of armed robbery, assault, and possession for the purpose of
trafficking and had previously spent 13 years in prison.
BET reported that when Drake signed Baka, he said in a statement,
"When [Baka got out of jail], there's a lot of different paths that he could have took.
And he decided to focus on music.
[...] It's an honor and a pleasure.
I just want to give this pen to my brother.
I love you, G. Trust me.
You've been holding it down for a long time."