Did you notice Drake’s bomber jacket during the Raptors’ Victory Parade?
I mean … how could you not notice it?
First question many people asked was how Drake possibly could have had that jacket made so fast. It had an OVO symbol, a cartoon velociraptor biting a basketball, 2019 Champions lettering, a Canadian flag, a Drake #6 reference — hell, it had everything.
The Raptors had only become NBA champions a few days prior. So how’d that jacket get here so quickly?
Lucky guess? Inside info? Faithful and prepared?
Let’s go right out on a limb here and guess that Drake has connections.
Just who sat down and dutifully stitched on the appropriate crests, patches and appliqués for this celebratory Raptors’ jacket is probably a carefully guarded fashion secret.
But is Best In The World a generic patch? Does it refer to Drake or to the Raptors? Yeah? What makes you so sure?
This much we can tell you: Drake’s jacket comes from Alpha Industries, a 60-year-old company that got its first U.S. Department of Defence contract making Air Force parkas in 1959.
The unfortunate military connection notwithstanding, Alpha makes cool stuff, and their jackets have been seen on all the cool kids — Kanye West, Rita Ora, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, David Beckham, etc. etc.
But you probably already knew that.
Since this kind of apparel is so popular, we have some ideas for Drake’s next Alpha Industries bomber jacket.
First, some history.
Nobody loves Toronto more than Drake does. He has recorded that sentiment many times.
Back in 2015, two people were shot dead outside Muzik, the nightclub hosting the official OVO after-party. For two weeks, Drake was silent, but finally wrote on a blog that he was pained by the violence that continues to escalate in our city.
He wrote: “Although Toronto is globally viewed as a major city, at the core we are still a small close-knit community, and it is our public responsibility to ensure the safety and wellbeing of one another. We need each other to further our communities for generations to come.”
“I pray for better times and better understanding.”
Yeah, thoughts and prayers.
In 2017, after Drake’s good friend Anthony Soares was shot, police asked the rapper to tweet to fans to motivate anyone with information about the murder to go to police.
Soares was gunned down in the lobby of a Scarborough apartment building. Drake was a pallbearer at Soares’ funeral, but he never did comment.
Last year, a man was shot dead outside Drake’s ‘Pick 6IX’ restaurant on Yonge St. after leaving a private party for Drake at the venue. Again, Drake was silent (Pick 6IX is now Pick 6IX Sports, having been reopened as a sports bar earlier this year. Business as usual, you might say).
But back to Drake’s next jacket.
Some idiot started shooting at the Raptors’ Victory Parade. As some Raptors are fathers, too, they probably don’t want anything to do with guns anywhere near them or their kids.
One of the reasons to be happy to be in Toronto — versus a U.S. city — is this town’s relative safety and the generally dim view of firearms.
So this is an ideal time for Drake to make a statement. Even though he hasn’t had much to say about gun violence so far, maybe he can wear his heart on his sleeve. Literally. And make it clear to his fans that guns are a non-starter here.
Please, Alpha Industries, ensure that Drake’s next bomber jacket from you has a large ‘No Guns’ logo across the back. Maybe a nice circled Draco with a line through it, international-symbol-style? A Glock 19? You guys know best.
Could it also read: ‘Best In The World’ over a big picture of the CN Tower somewhere else on the jacket? Or maybe over a big picture of Drake sitting on the CN tower. Something like that.
Then maybe a few Toronto patches — a raccoon, some legal dope, a diversity symbol — and these words:
“It is our public responsibility to ensure the safety and wellbeing of one another.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
