Drake‘s mixed heritage was a hot topic during his battle with Kendrick Lamar, and now Dr. Umar Johnson has publicly called on the Canadian rap star to “clarify” his racial identity.
The controversial activist shared a video on Instagram on Monday (July 15) in which he urged the 6 God to set the record straight on whether he identifies as a Black man first and foremost or sees himself as mixed race.
“For my brother Drake, I need you to clarify whether or not you are a Black man,” Umar said. “Some people are claiming my brother Drake, who I love and respect, that you embrace a mixed-race identity, that you do not embrace a Black-first identity. So, I have to ask my brother Drake to clear the record for me, Dr. Umar Ifatunde.
“Maybe we can have a sit down when I come to Toronto on October 5th and 6th, but I need you to clarify that for me, brother Drake. Brother Drake, I need you to clarify: are you a Black-first Black man? Or do you identify as mixed race?”
“Or do you identify as untouchable first? Do you primarily identify as an untouchable? Do you identify as mixed race? Or are you a Black-first Black man?” he continued.
“I need to know this, my brother Drake. You have to clarify this for me. Some people believe you only claim Black when it’s convenient. I’ve never seen you do that but I don’t follow you that closely.”
Dr. Umar requests clarification from Drake on whether he considers himself a black man. pic.twitter.com/3I0PZq2Fli
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) July 16, 2024
While Dr. Umar is putting him in the hot seat, Drake previously received support from another media personality after Kendrick Lamar questioned his Blackness on his diss songs “Euphoria,” “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.”
In May, author Michael Eric Dyson publicly criticized the Compton rapper over the way he went about dismantling Drizzy during their high-profile feud.
In a column for The Philadelphia Citizen, Dyson wrote: “The astonishing and deflating speed with which Drake was tarred and feathered as inauthentically Black says less about him and more about the reactionary nativism of cults of pure identity that police the boundaries of Blackness like a rogue and racist cop.
“In a single spurious stroke of Kendrick’s claustrophobic Blackness, Drake went from a brilliant embodiment of rap’s genius to a cultural carpetbagger who must prove that he deserves to be called Black when a white supremacist culture sees him as little else.”
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Speaking to Stephen A. Smith, Dyson expanded on his comments, saying: “I’m pissed that Drake gets dismissed, off the scene, when he’s been Drake for 15 years and you act like you didn’t know that. Now he’s not really Black?
“Challenging his racial identity and saying he’s a culture vulture when he’s a Black man? ‘He’s from Canada, he ain’t real!’ Idris Elba is from the UK; people still love him on The Wire! So why is it that being from outside of our nationality raises suspicions about Drake.”
He continued: “Kendrick Lamar is a brilliant rapper and a formidable foe. But so is Drake. And what he’s done to expand the horizon of Hip Hop is underestimated, even artistically […] We have to stop this narrow, punishing, pernicious, limited viewpoint about Blackness.”
