<\/p>\n
Late last week, Drake dropped a barrage of new releases with the kind of spectacle that we\u2019ve come to expect from the rapper. In the run-up to the three-album and multiple music video drop, there were the usual livestreams and cryptic posts. But there was also a massive 25-foot ice sculpture erected in downtown Toronto (that fans attacked with flamethrowers and sledgehammers to uncover a hidden release date), a sprawling fireworks display over the city\u2019s waterfront (which included illuminating the CN tower, once the world\u2019s tallest freestanding structure, with lights that cost over $15 million), and even the participation of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who publicly welcomed the Toronto native to City Hall for a video shoot. The White House joined in the spectacle, posting an edited version of one of the album covers.<\/p>\n
Among the albums was one titled \u201cHabibti,\u201d an example of the rapper\u2019s long flirtation with Arab aesthetics and the Arabic language. But it was a set of bars, buried in the track \u201cMake Them Pay\u201d on the \u201cICEMAN\u201d album and aimed at a famous Arab American, that got everyone\u2019s attention: \u201cAnd, Khaled, you know what I mean \/ The beef was fully live, you went halal and got on your deen \/ And your people are still waitin\u2019 for a free Palestine \/ But apparently everything isn\u2019t black and white and red and green, damn \/ I\u2019m seein\u2019 everyone\u2019s true colors, for real, I\u2019m sensin\u2019 a theme.\u201d<\/p>\n
The line was referring to DJ Khaled, who has remained conspicuously silent on Gaza for nearly three years despite being perhaps the most globally recognizable Palestinian-American celebrity alive. Drake\u2019s lyric revived an old frustration (as Maysa Mustafa wrote in her 2024 Spotlight \u201cDJ Khaled\u2019s Disappearing Act<\/a>\u201d) that has followed Khaled since late 2023, when Palestinians and Arabs online began openly questioning how a man who had built an empire loudly performing Arab identity could become selectively mute as Gaza burned.<\/p>\n But the lyrics weren\u2019t well received by everyone. \u201cAnother example of Palestine being used as a gotcha moment,\u201d one user wrote on X. Others pointed out the obvious contradiction that Drake himself has never really attached meaningful political commitments to his carefully cultivated public persona. Another user posted that the move was \u201cpretty hypocritical considering this is the first time he\u2019s ever mentioned Palestine and it\u2019s only to drag someone he dislikes.\u201d Popular radio and TV host Charlamagne tha God, speaking on hip-hop and R&B morning radio show \u201cThe Breakfast Club,\u201d asked: \u201cWhat have you ever stood for, Drake? \u2026 I ain\u2019t never heard you say \u2018Black lives matter.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Though some users pointed out that Drake had quietly signed the Artists4Ceasefire letter in late 2023, the reality is that he\u2019s otherwise remained largely detached from any substantive advocacy. That\u2019s why, to many, his recent lines about Palestine don\u2019t really feel like solidarity.<\/p>\n Still, the exchange revealed something more than just another rap feud. Palestine has increasingly become one of the central ways audiences evaluate the authenticity of public figures. In the post-Oct. 7 world, celebrities and politicians are judged on what they say about Gaza, if anything at all.<\/p>\n The same logic recently showed up in debates on the American left after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized those aligning with consummate conspiracy theorist and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over Gaza, arguing that Greene\u2019s broader politics made her an unreliable ally. Critics responded by insisting that Greene had nevertheless taken political risks to oppose Israel\u2019s war and pointed to Cortez\u2019s closeness to Joe Biden, whose enduring support of Israel did not wane during its genocidal assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n Once again, the discussion drifted away from Palestinians themselves and veered toward adjudicating the hypocrisy and moral legitimacy of the people speaking about them. Perhaps the most frustrating part of it all is that this has the counterproductive effect of distracting everyone from the ongoing genocide, occupation and land dispossession that makes up the daily reality for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n For years, Khaled leveraged a caricature of Arabness with the \u201chabibis\u201d peppered throughout his speech and the maqluba dish he shared that went viral, but he was nevertheless embraced by many Arabs and Palestinians who saw in him a rare form of visibility in American entertainment. As Mustafa wrote, \u201cAny ounce of representation was appreciated, especially from one of our own.\u201d That is precisely why his silence on Gaza felt so jarring to many observers.<\/p>\n The frustration with Khaled was never really about expecting celebrities to solve political crises. Mustafa herself questioned that expectation at the time, asking, \u201cDo Palestinians really need him?\u201d And the answer, still, is probably not. The pro-Palestinian movement has hardly suffered from a lack of visibility lately. Massive protests erupted across the world, some of the biggest and most sustained of our time. Celebrities from Dua Lipa to Billie Eilish, Zayn Malik and The Weeknd publicly expressed solidarity. Palestinians themselves documented the destruction of Gaza in real time, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of celebrity advocacy altogether (and even being recognized with multiple awards and other accolades in the process).<\/p>\n