Drake Booed Off the Stage at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival — Tyler, The Creator Responds

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Is Drake becoming the Nickelback of Rap?

Drake battled a chorus of boos at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival over the weekend, and ultimately ended the set early. “Ya know… like I said, I’m here for you tonight,” Drake told the hostile crowd at the Tyler, The Creator-led festival. “If you want me to keep going tonight, I’ll keep going tonight, what’s up?” the Toronto rapper continued.

They didn’t, with many screaming ‘no!’ or flat-out booing.  “It’s been love, I love y’all and I go by the name of Drake, thank you for having me,” Drake stated while walking off the stage.

Brutally, many cheered as the rapper exited the stage.

Drake wasn’t announced on the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival bill, which may have been the problem.  The Toronto rapper was a surprise guest, marked with question-marks on the bill.  Speculation was pretty intense on who this mystery performer would be, with many hoping for Frank Ocean to assume the slot.  Other performers at Camp Flog were Solange, YG, Juice WRLD, DaBaby, Earl Sweatshirt, FKA Twigs, and Tyler himself.

In response to the blatant disrespect, Tyler, The Creator issued a blunt response.

“I thought bringing one of the biggest artists on the fucking planet to a music festival was fire!  But flipside, a little tone deaf knowing the specific crowd it drew.  Some created a narrative in their head and acted out like assholes when it didn’t come true and I don’t fuck with that.”

Continuing…

“Y’all represented me and Flog to my guest and made us look sooo entitled and trash… [this is] cancel culture in real life.”

Here’s a clip of Drake’s drubbing.

Camp Flog Gnaw boo’d Drake off the stage ???? pic.twitter.com/zPxdNKCTUw

— VERSACEBOYENT (@versaceboyent2) November 11, 2019

The surprisingly hostile response raises more questions about Drake’s long-term status among rap fans.  Panned at times as the “Nickelback of Rap‘ for overly-formulaic beats and rhymes, Drake may be suffering from years of overexposure.  Earlier, Drake lost credibility for using ghostwriters, a huge no-no in a genre the revolves around ‘realness’ and actual life experiences.

But not everyone is slapping on the ‘Nickelback of Rap’ label. “While we may look back on Drake as a cringy, surface-level, underwhelming moment that wasn’t as important as we thought it was, I still think it’s a major part of the culture,” said pop music critic Anthony Fantano. 

“Drake cannot be discounted in the way that you could theoretically cut Nickelback out of the history of rock and very little of value would be lost.”