© 2026 ABC News

It forced Drake to explain why he participated in the photo shoot, which he did late Wednesday.

Drake finally gives an explanation for that blackface image... pic.twitter.com/XrXLrQChTf

— Martha Tesema (@martesema) May 31, 2018

\"This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career,\" Drake explained as he was wearing clothing from Canadian street wear brand, Too Black Guys, that displays a Jim Crow cartoon.

\"This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast. The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment,\" he continued.

\"Me and my best friend at the time Mazin Elsadig who is also an actor from Sudan were attempting to use our voice to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors at auditions. This was to highlight and raise our frustrations with not always getting a fair chance in the industry and to make a point that the struggle for black actors has not changed much,\" Drake concluded.

\"PHOTO:
Ross Gilmore/Getty Images
PHOTO: Drake performs at The SSE Hydro, March 23, 2017, in Glasgow, England.
>

Adrian Aitcheson, the founder of Too Black Guys, the street wear brand featured in the photo, also released a statement to Slate Wednesday.

\"The photo in question was not from a Too Black Guys photoshoot however it did feature clothing from Too Black Guys’ JIM CROW COUTURE/HOUSE OF CROW collection which was released in 2008. The collection featured several graphics that highlighted the painful and dangerous period of the Jim Crow Era,\" the statement began.

\"Too Black Guys has a history of representing the black experience in an unapologetic way. Although this was not an image from any of our photoshoots, we feel that Drake, who is a long-time friend of the brand, was brilliantly illustrating the hypocrisy of the Jim Crow Era,\" the statement continued.

\"The subtleties of Drake, a young black man, mimicking how white men used to mimic and dehumanize black people may be lost in a rap battle but we should not be distracted from the issues that are still affecting our communities.\"

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/drake-explains-dressed-blackface-struggle-black-actors-changed/story?id=55558915","legacySlug":"/culture/story/drake-explains-dressed-blackface-struggle-black-actors-changed-55558915","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"16:10","publishDate":"05-31-2018","updatedTime":"19:01","updatedDate":"05-31-2018","socialImage":{"alt":"Rapper Drake looks on prior to the International Champions Cup soccer match between Manchester City against Manchester United at NRG Stadium, July 20, 2017, in Houston, Texas.","credit":"Aaron M. Sprecher/AFP/Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/drake-file-gty-jef-180531_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"5/31/2018 16:10:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":55558915,"headline":"Drake explains why he dressed up in blackface","mediaAssetTitle":"MCKENZIE_DRAKE_BLACKFACE_180531","description":"The rapper said he did it to \"raise our frustrations\" from being typecast.","duration":"4:07","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/03/180315_gma_pop_fix_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["52885035","53766375","133251595"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"February 6, 2018","headline":"Rapper donates $25K to high school, gives $50K scholarship to college student","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/drake-donates-25000-miami-high-school-50000-scholarship-52885035","id":52885035,"image":{"alt":"Rapper donates $25K to high school, gives $50K scholarship to college student","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/drake-1-ht-er-180206_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Jeffrey Duerk/Twitter","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"March 15, 2018","headline":"Drake breaks viewing record for Twitch videogame streaming","section":"culture","slug":"/video/53766375","id":53766375,"image":{"alt":"Drake breaks viewing record for Twitch videogame streaming","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/180315_gma_pop3_0810_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"May 23, 2026","headline":" Pop star Jessie J announces she is officially cancer-free","section":"news","slug":"/video/133251595","id":133251595,"image":{"alt":" Pop star Jessie J announces she is officially cancer-free","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/260523_abcnl_10a_ganss_popnews_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Drake explains why he dressed up in blackface","description":"The rapper said he did it to \"raise our frustrations\" from being typecast.","duration":"4:07","uploadDate":"05-31-2018","publication":"05-31-2018","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/03/180315_gma_pop_fix_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/03/180315_gma_pop_fix_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/drake-explains-dressed-blackface-struggle-black-actors-changed-55558915"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133220149","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133179167","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144373","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144059","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133143081","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133075455","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063114","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133015093","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998564","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998072","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132977374","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132977531","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132962364","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132958371","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132932494","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132927870","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132911868","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132911765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132880952","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"Drake explains why he dressed up in blackface","pubTime":"12:10","pubDate":"05-31-2018","modTime":"15:01","modDate":"05-31-2018","taxonomyTags":"none","id":55558915,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Drake explains why he dressed up in blackface","mediaAssetTitle":"MCKENZIE_DRAKE_BLACKFACE_180531","videoId":55558915,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/drake-explains-dressed-blackface-struggle-black-actors-changed-55558915"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/55558915","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/55558915","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};