Drake is scrapping conventional album rollouts for his “Iceman” stay stream collection.

The Grammy-winning rapper ditched the standard album cycle, no teasers, no cowl artwork countdowns, no lead singles, as a substitute choosing cinematic stay streams on YouTube that mix unreleased tracks with surreal storytelling.

The first episode, which aired July 4 from an ice warehouse in Toronto, ran almost an hour and featured Drake dancing by means of the power and measuring ice blocks earlier than premiering “What Did I Miss?”

Drake informed music/a/eric-skelton/drake-iceman-ive-stream-album-rollout”>Complex that the thought for the live-stream format got here from his dissatisfaction with the repetitive nature of contemporary album releases.

“I was asked by a creative partner what I love and hate about rolling out an album,” he stated. “I expressed that I love the opportunity for a clean slate of thoughts and excitement and messaging when it comes to the music. What I hate is the redundancy of this formulaic approach that’s engrained in our brains from early label days. Single, video, single, video, album cover post, etc.”

His need to stretch his inventive limits performed a major function within the resolution.

“I have been dying to act and have been dying for a challenge,” he stated. “The game is extremely calm seas right now. Nobody is rocking any boat on the water and so once we discussed a live stream rollout, it just sounded like the perfect mix of risk and reward for me.”

The streams are formidable in each scope and manufacturing. According to Matte Babel, chief model officer at DreamCrew and a part of Drake’s administration crew, Episode 3 in Milan required “20 cameras, over 100 crew, over 10 locations.”

Babel additionally revealed that tight timelines and worldwide journey made it tough to safe permits, resulting in points mid-shoot.

“We lost a couple cameras mid-shoot because the police were like you can’t shoot here,” he stated.

Each episode weaves collectively narrative threads, together with mysterious characters like a Pinocchio-inspired determine, and options cameos from artists like Central Cee and Yeat. The format additionally permits for real-time viewers suggestions on unreleased songs.

“It wasn’t something we spoke about, but it’s inherently a byproduct of this idea,” Drake stated. “Being outside and getting a chance to interact with fans, and initiate audience participation as well as feedback has been amazing.”

Drake confirmed extra episodes are on the way in which and teased a serious finale.

“The finale will be our best work,” he stated.

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