Pop up style: Views from inside Drake's surprise NYC event
At about 1p.m. on Monday, Drake dropped a cryptic Instagram with a location and time just three short hours away. And yes, if you're reading this, it's too late.
Many fans (correctly) guessed it would be a pop-up shop, which is now a ritual fans have come to expect with the release of a highly anticipated rap album.
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A couple hours later, the line was already wrapped around the block, and people patiently awaited wristbands to ensure entrance. A security guard on the scene told Mashable 1,000 people would make it inside.
“People in New York wait all day for stuff like this to happen, because you never know what’s going to happen,” Cory D’Angelo, who was waiting on line, told Mashable. “People are always ready to hop on a train or get an Uber and get down to the next thing.”
And so, without any promises of what to expect, the people waited as information slowly filtered in. For most people, the best-case scenario was a preview of the album — the Beats by Dre products in glass cases visible from the street kept people optimistic. And, of course, a chance to load up on previously unreleased Drizzy merch.
Serious Drake fans looked to history for their predictions, because he has done this before. A pop up for Nothing Was the Same gave out free tees in NYC before the album dropped.
Pedestrians walked past the line yelling, "Drake's not here!" but no one really thought an in-person appearance from the would be part of the deal. "They're just getting a stupid ass shirt," laughed one woman, but if people felt they were being ripped off, they didn't express it. What a time to be alive.
The Nothing Was the Same pop up was a similar affair, though the increasing importance of social media played a bigger role. It's not about getting a free shirt, it's about letting everyone know you're getting a free shirt and a very Instagrammable summer '16 look. Anyone who waited in the line (typically for about two hours) was definitely in strangers' Snapchats.
And it wasn't just an investment of time — people openly discussed skipping work and school to be there. Two men in suits got citations for drinking in public when their paper-bag-over-Budweiser-tall-boy scheme didn't work out.
Image: Corey d'angelo
The space itself was sparsely decorated, save for Beats by Dre logos and Drake's Views logo.
Image: Corey d'angelo
Image: tricia gilbride/mashable
The prize? A T-shirt in black or white handed over in a commemorative bag "compliments of Drake" before fans were quickly ushered back outside. Plus bragging rights, of course.
Unlike Kanye's The Life of Pablo pop up shop, a reseller's dream, there was nothing for sale and a strict one tee per person policy.
That didn't stop people from trying to turn a profit, though. Just beyond the doors, a man was buying shirts for $50 a pop. Considering the merch is already on eBay for $200+, it wasn't a great deal.
“It’s cool that he did it like this, because being free is a total 180 from what ‘Ye did, where he was all about selling 1 million dollars worth of merchandise though his space,” said a man who preferred to remain anonymous.
Image: tricia gilbride/mashable
“Oh, people will buy it. But the worst part is people make fakes within 24 hours. I mean, those, “I Feel Like Kobe’ T-shirts [the shirt Kanye West wore to Kobe Bryant’s last game] went on eBay within... they weren’t even released before that happened,” he continued. “I like to think that because of how not-packed it was when I first got there, that it’s not mostly resellers. It’s people who are excited for the album.”
Based on the momentary frenzy a car passing by blasting Drake from its speakers caused, it's safe to say there was plenty of that.
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Video: Jake Fertig, Noah Throop
