Rapper Drake arrives at the 55th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California February 10, 2013.MARIO ANZUONI/Reuters
Every day is a day at the beach for Drake, even at night.
The visuals for 5AM in Toronto, the follow-up single to Started From the Bottom, appeared online early Tuesday. The dimly lit video involves the coolly boastful rapper and his back-watching flunkies taking in an indoor beach-volleyball affair, we're guessing around 5 o'clock in the morning. Despite the volleyballing and the athletic female participants, the video does not promote amateur athleticism seriously, given the amount of smoking involved.
Truthfully, mostly what is being promoted is Drizzy in full, punny swag – "Sinatra lifestyle, I'm just being frank with you" – and Toronto's Beach Blast, the sandy party spot where the filming took place. It's a far cry from the star's highly watchable Started From the Bottom vignette, that glorious shout-out to Shoppers Drug Mart.
"Doing it for the city this time around," Drake tweeted about the new video.
The relentless civic pride from this self-conscious Torontonian is beginning to earn yawns. It's 5 a.m., and Drake oughta give it a rest.
Brad Wheeler