DrakeDrake has made headlines after a mammoth ice structure was erected in Toronto to promote his upcoming album, Iceman. The structure attracted so many people – including fans trying to climb the 25-foot-tall behemoth – that the Toronto Fire Services worked to bring it down.
The Canadian rapper’s team indicated that the album’s release date could be found within the structure, prompting fans to climb its walls and teams of people to use blowtorches in an attempt to melt it.
Crowds of fans, curious onlookers and influencers gathered in Toronto this week after Drake revealed that the ice installation contained the release date of his forthcoming album on his Instagram.
Hours after the structure was completed on Monday (20 April), people hacked at the ice with different gardening and house tools. Drake himself made a cameo at the site as fans tried to break into the ice structure and discover the album’s release date.
The New York Times reports that after a whirlwind couple of days of the structure promoting Drake’s album, firefighters brought it down on Wednesday (22 April).
In a statement, Toronto Fire Chief Jim Jessop said the events of the last few days posed an “immediate threat to life,” leading to the structure being taken down.
“Large numbers of individuals have gathered to attempt to melt the ice using flammable liquids and open flames in an uncontrolled environment, which results in an immediate threat to life,” Jim Jessop said.
The Iceman structure followed another incident in a north Toronto suburb, in which Drake terrified fans with a “controlled pyrotechnic blast” he used for a new music video.
Drake has since confirmed that his forthcoming album will be released on Friday, 15 May.
Iceman is the rapper’s ninth album and his first since entering a feud with Kendrick Lamar in 2024. The latter ended up winning said beef in the eyes of fans and the Grammy Awards.
