On Saturday, Drake continued his ongoing forays into the world of content creators, hosting a stream on Kick, which is affiliated with Stake, the crypto gambling company Drake is partnered with, which saw the rapper, fresh off the release of three new albums, flirting with a goth streamer, gifting out birkins, and sending not so subtle warnings to the rest of the rap game, noting that his “pen isn’t dry.”
The roughly three-hour broadcast marked the ninth anniversary of Stake, the online crypto casino that has sponsored Drake’s livestreams for years. The company announced the stream with an Instagram post advertising more than $1 million in cash and prize giveaways, including a $50,000 grand prize for one viewer. During the actual stream, things moved quickly beyond gambling, turning into something closer to a chaotic Drake variety show. Drake also used the opening portion of the stream to reflect on his recent releases, patting himself on the back a little for dropping three projects at once. He also has a warning for anyone considering taking more shots in his direction. “These guys are dropping albums, like hello and goodbye, and careful with that reply ’cause the pen isn’t dry,” he said.
Drake has been, of late, repping his Canadian upbringing pretty heavily, so it isn’t much of a surprise that he was joined by NELK co-founder Kyle Forgeard, who presented Drake with an SNL-style take on the popular 20-v-1 dating-show format. The women cycled through conversations with the rapper, who eventually had to choose one to “wife,” another to hook up with and a third to make his best friend. The proceedings included a contestant asking Drake to demonstrate his favorite sexual position and an appearance from adult-content creator Lily Phillips, who went viral in late 2024 after a documentary chronicled her having sex with 101 men in a single day. Phillips announced that she was “rebranding as Drake’s wife.”
Drake barks for a goth girl during his 20v1 dating show. pic.twitter.com/xsSjuiJI4q
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 9, 2026
The final three were influencer Jordyn Lucas, adult-film star Lena the Plug, and goth streamer Pinkchyu. Drake placed Lucas in the best-friend category and gave her $25,000 and a Birkin. Lena, who briefly removed her wedding ring after hugging Drake, received $25,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip reportedly to New Zealand. In something of a callback to his September 2025 appearance on Bobbi Althoff’s podcast Not This Again, where he said his destiny was to end up with a “goth baddie,” Drake leaned into his self-described type by giving Pinkchyu the “wife” designation. This after she had him bark on command.
The night also fueled more rap beef speculation. Drake floated the idea of holding Stake’s 10th-anniversary broadcast next year on a yacht, then quickly added that he hates boats. Given rumors that he and Lil Yachty, better known as Boat, have fallen out, Akademiks, naturally livestreaming Drake’s livestream, wondered whether the remark was a subliminal shot. Drake denied it.
In another moment already being heavily clipped online, Drake joked that the “Roc Nation subpoenas” were “about to be cleared.” The remark appeared to refer to a recent What’s The Dirt video speculating that Roc Nation had played some role in the federal class action targeting Drake and Stake. Nine days earlier, a Virginia judge had ordered the plaintiffs’ claims against Stake into private arbitration and paused the remainder of the case, including the claims naming Drake.
The stream was the latest example of the new norms of online video, where viral clips can quickly come to flood the feed thanks in no small part to companies like Kick’s well-reported army of clippers, dutifully turning each newsworthy moment into viral fodder.
It ultimately worked like a compressed version of Drake’s current internet strategy—especially the giving away huge sums of money part. Yet another signal that Drake sees real value in this emerging media ecosystem. On “First Person Shooter,” from 2023’s For All the Dogs, he famously rapped, “My youngins richer than you rappers and they all stream,” and has since enmeshed himself even more deeply in the world of streamers and content creators. During this year’s Streamer University, hosted by Kai Cenat, Drake delivered a prerecorded address to attendees and left care packages in their rooms stocked with cologne, Nocta clothing, Pokémon cards and other gifts. “I hope you learn something,” he told the class. “I hope you’re able to teach each other things.”
Swiftiephylus amator and Swiftiephylus taylorae, two of the bugs named after Taylor Swift because of their blonde and red coloring. Courtesy of Brad Balukjian, Ph.D.