Drake stunned his fans on Wednesday night after taking to the stage for the first night of his tour with a giant inflatable sperm hovering above the stage – before putting dozens of holographic sperm began swimming around him.
The 36-year-old rapper put on the rather graphic display while performing his 2016 hit Child’s Play on-stage in Chicago – bringing a very different meaning to the title of the track.
The visual spectacle accompanying the number – which loosely chronicles a conflict with a girlfriend – apparently took a biologically literal spin on the refrain: ‘Girl, that’s just some child’s play.’
For better or for worse, the extravaganza certainly seems to have left an impression on fans and haters alike – and ensured that the opening night of Drake’s It’s All a Blur tour certainly received some buzz online.
Drake’s live rendition of Child’s Play on the rapper’s It’s All A Blur World Tour apparently took the title with biological literalism as the set design for the number
A swarm of holographic sperm flew in a circle above the audience’s head
A single, supersized inflatable sperm hovered above the stage during the number
‘WHY TF DRAKE HAVE A SPERM FLYING ABOVE HIS HEAD,’ queried one baffled Twitter user.
‘[A]verage draketivities,’ mused a more nonchalant fan.
Another emphatically expressed disappointment at having to sit out on seeing Drake, born Aubrey Drake Graham, perform live, writing, ‘WHY AM I BROKE I SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE AUBREY’S SPERM.’
‘It’s a semen bro … whatever my brother. Drake is so crazy,’ another chimed in.
‘[Y]eah drakes fully lost it,’ agreed someone else.
‘[H]e doin some weird s**t lately,’ echoed yet another.
Others readily offered up speculation on the symbolic meaning of said sperm.
‘Drake going through a mid life crises rn,’ wrote someone else.
Still others were openly critical of the sperm-ridden sight.
Many were baffled at the biologically realist display
Some couldn’t resist bringing up Drake’s hot-sauce-in-condom debacle
‘All this talk about black women’s respectability policies and Drake in here with a damn floating sperm,’ one user fumed.
‘He’s gross and I’m not even joking,’ lambasted another.
One armchair culture critic lamented, ‘There’s too much sexual s**t in the media man, why tf is drake performing and there’s a floating sperm cell ova there wtf.’
Some couldn’t resist bringing up Drake’s hot-sauce-in-condom debacle.
In the January 2022 incident, an Instagram model who claimed she had slept with the rapper alleged that he added a packet of hot sauce into a used condom in order to kill his sperm after the two had sex.
After he disposed of the condom she admits that she took it out of the trash and attempted to impregnate herself inside of the bathroom, not realizing what it contained.
The woman revealed the accusations to the Too Much Hot Tea blog, saying that after she screamed due to the burning sensation, Champagne Papi – as he’s known on Instagram – ran into the bathroom and allegedly admitted to pouring hot sauce in the condom.
‘Where’s the hot sauce?’ one user cheekily wrote in response to the sight of sperm swimming above the audience.
Users were divided over the spectacle – with a few stepping in to defend the rapper
A UFO hovered over the rapper during his rendition of 2011’s HYFR (Hell Ya F**king Right)
Scream murderer Ghostface loomed behind Drake as he performed 2021’s Knife Talk
Elsewhere, an enormous statue of late designer Virgil Abloh towered over the stage
The sperm-centric set design was just one element of a hyper-theatrical set design program across the tour’s 48-song setlist.
Elsewhere could be seen a UFO hovering over Drake as he performed 2011’s HYFR (Hell Ya F**king Right) while a puppet of Scream-franchise murderer Ghostface loomed behind him during 2021 track Knife Talk.
What’s more, an enormous likeness of late designer Virgil Abloh holding a paper airplane was reportedly situated near the stage throughout the performance.
Taking it all in, one Drake-defender may have put it best in tweeting, ‘He is a visionary … Let him cook.’
