The fire department is melting down Drake’s Iceman monument
The album release date was discovered just in time
Well, Drake’s Toronto ice block was lit while it lasted—literally, people climbed to the top of it and built a fire, hoping to melt through the layers and get to the album release date hidden inside.
For several days, fans flocked downtown at all hours with various tools—including gasoline, lighters and blowtorches—to chip away at the massive structure, until content creator Kishka filmed himself discovering what appeared to be a release date of May 15. (Drake seemed to confirm this date on Instagram.)
Related: Drake was spotted driving an ice delivery truck around downtown Toronto
Just before 3 a.m., fire crews arrived at the parking lot near Sankofa Square, where Drake’s Iceman promo-monument had stood.
Fire Chief Jim Jessop said in a statement that per the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, he’d decided to initiate melting the structure down due to “dangerous and unsafe activities,” and an aerial fire truck was sent to the scene overnight.
“My top priority is keeping Torontonians safe,” Jessop said in the statement. “Large numbers of individuals 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.”
At an unrelated media briefing, Mayor Olivia Chow said she didn’t hold the spectacle against Drake, despite the police and fire services required to manage it in the end. “Drake is a big supporter of our city and there’s so much excitement across our city towards this new Drake album. I’m excited too,” she said, according to CBC, echoing that safety was her biggest concern.
She did say she may have a “chat” with him, however. We assume she wants to know what kind of other elaborate Iceman antics we can expect between now and May 15.
Related: Olivia Chow won’t be sending by-law enforcement after Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
