Musicians, especially the famous ones, often feel the need to insert themselves into situations that they have no real connection to. It happened with Eric B. and Rakim before (allegedly) and music's greatest dork, Drake, deemed it upon himself to make the official statement on U.S. President Barack Obama's departure. While his disturbing, uncanny Photoshop fusion was rightly condemned by Twitter, that Drake followed his rival Meek Mill's own Instagram blunder by mere hours is…. not a conspiracy by any means but ponderous, and also demonstrates the gulf of self-meme-ing skills between the two.Meek, a talented and impassioned rapper, was unable to really make fun of himself during his and Drake's 2015 beef. He played the game straight, dropping response tracks that unveiled embarrassing incidents in Drake's life. They would have been effective at any other time but Drake just kept laughing, rendering Meek impotent. More than a year later, Meek still has his core fanbase and his appeal as a pure rapper, but the crossover momentum of Dreams Worth More Than Money has faltered along with his #goals relationship with Nicki Minaj. The stairs video may have been Meek's attempt to show that he acknowledges his status as a living L, but its late timing and bungled, vague execution sabotaged it.
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Drake, meanwhile, knows exactly how to pull off viral jokes. He realizes that "random" goofiness like the lint rolling (these tend to be moments that undermine traditional ideas of toughness, by the way) is even more irresistible when he plays along. The ObamAubrey Instagram post is absurdist, which provokes an instant reaction. Like Carlos from the Magic School Bus, an exasperated moan of "Draaaaaaaake" is probably what was desired. But this time, it scans as tone-deaf. Obama is leaving amidst incomprehensible political turmoil in the States and the atmosphere around his farewell speech was that of a requiem, not celebration. For Drake to bring this very complex situation back to himself in a humourous manner is a sign of either powerful narcissism or just boredom following his simultaneous commercial peak and critical fall-off of 2016.Drake has nothing left to prove, so he probably didn't think twice about doing that Instagram post out of sheer apathy for the larger world around him. It wasn't an intentional, insidious distraction, but it pushes at the limits of how much is too much meme-ing, specifically in regards to turning one's self into a meme. Drake has spoken about social issues before like gun violence in Toronto and police brutality in the States. This isn't to say he should become self-righteous but should perhaps show some tact. Everything's not always funny all the time, only when it needs to be.Phil is always ready for a good meme but come on. He's on Twitter.