Drake’s latest promo stunt for his forthcoming studio album, Iceman, is a gigantic ice block in a downtown Toronto parking lot, which the rapper posted to his socials will reveal the release date “inside.” This past weekend, an explosion in the north end of the city was confirmed by the City of Toronto to Rolling Stone as “a production associated with the artist known as Drake,” and the week before, his usual courtside seats at the Raptors game were “frozen” out.
How the big reveal manifests when the glacial block finally melts is anyone’s guess, but after the sun went down Monday, some fans tried every which way to find out. Social media posts show fans climbed onto the giant ice with sledgehammers, while another, ground-level, took a blowtorch to it, intensified by hairspray.
Earlier in the day, as people lined up to get a closer look, a security guard checked IDs because, as he told Rolling Stone, those under 18 are irresponsible and might climb on the structure. Turns out he was right.
Multiple signs positioned around the lot warned, “Danger Do Not Touch. This ice structure may break or collapse without warning, and falling ice or sharp fragments may cause serious injury or death,” reiterating, “Do not touch or interact with the structure. Any contact with the structure is at your own risk.”
Before the ice block “opened” to the public, Drake posted a fuzzy pic of himself measuring an ice block with a tape measure. Another pic over the weekend showed his 8-year-old son, Adonis, behind the wheel of a police car, with a camera person shooting the scene, but it’s unclear whether it was at the same location.
The ice block — made of hundreds of smaller blocks — is estimated to be 15 feet high, 20 feet long, and 15 feet wide.
Posts to social media showed workers in orange vests unloading dozens of pallets of ice cubes on Sunday and starting to build the massive ice sculpture, using a forklift to raise and lower the blocks.
Drake posted the Google Maps coordinates on his Instagram with the line, “Release date inside.” He also posted a photo of the completed sculpture, with the exact address in caps: 81 Bond Street, downtown Toronto.
Located at the intersection of Dundas and Bond streets, just a short walk from Ryerson University and the busy tourist hub of Sankofa Square, and opposite the landmark Eaton Center mall, the parking lot is cordoned off by metal barriers.
Just after 6 p.m., Rolling Stone talked to a handful of fans who had popped over to see the ice block and snap photos.
Sofia Bevilacqua, 19, is a Ryerson student and found out about the stunt on Instagram in the early afternoon. “It’s so cool and, wow, it’s huge,” she laughs. “And it’s so close to where I live, so it’s perfect. What good marketing.” She estimates it will take a week, “a month even,” to melt.
At the time, the weather was sub-zero, but now it calls for rain on Saturday.
Two other Ryerson students, Royal Quarcoo, 18, and his buddy Ethan Thompson, 20, learned about it on TikTok in the afternoon. “I thought it was bigger, actually, but it’s still very big,” says Quarcoo. Thompson had an exam, but came by as soon as he could, and feels it will take a few weeks to a month to melt. He thinks a statue might be underneath, while Quarcoo thinks the release date will be “spray paint on the ground.”
Both “big” Drake fans plan to swing by periodically to see the melting ice progress until it’s done.
The Butler family, in town from South Carolina, also came by, parents Shannon and Lucy, and their three daughters, Kierrah, Leilana, and five-year-old Kainao. Did she know what they were there for? “An ice block. Drake from Canada,” the little fan tells Rolling Stone.
Older daughter Leilani says, “We are on a family vacation for a wedding, and we were just eating K barbeque and saw Drake posted this and said, ‘We have to go see it. It’s perfect. It was a 7-minute walk. It was perfect timing.”
And what did she think when she saw it? “Insane. Ridiculous,” she says. “I’m wondering how long it’s gonna take for it to actually melt for us to see the date.”
“It’s gonna be too amazing once it thaws, Drake comes out. That would be amazing,” Shannon laughs.
“If Drake has been in there the whole time, I swear,” jokes Lucy.
“Some type of an illusion has been going on, some type of magic, and he just pops up, that would be amazing,” adds Shannon.
The rapper’s ice capades have been going on since last summer, when he put out the hour-long “Iceman Episode 1,” featuring a van from the local business The Iceman Toronto. He also dropped the single “What Did I Miss?,” followed by the Central Cee collab “Which One,” and “Dog House,” feat. Yeat. And Julia Wolf. He has since previewed “Somebody Loves Me Pt. 2.”
