Drake Claims Nigerian Roots After Father’s Ancestry Test.
Written by AIGBOKHAEBHO OKHUELEIGBE on May 9, 2023
Canadian music star and Grammy-winning international singer, Aubrey Drake Graham, popularly known as Drake, has stirred the emotions of Nigerians on social media following an Instagram story where he revealed that he is a Nigerian by his ancestry.
The rapper shared a screenshot of his dad’s DNA result, He then jokingly asked whether it finally made him a “Naija man.” The result, which he said was sent to him by Dennis Graham, his dad, showed he is “30 percent Nigerian”. He said:
This my dad’s results, does this mean I’m a Naija man finally?
The screenshot also showed Nigeria has the highest percentage of ethnicity followed by Cameroon, Congo, and Western Bantu Peoples, which is 28 per cent, then Ivory Coast and Ghana, 11 per cent.
The results further showed Drake’s father has a multi-ethnic background, including roots in Mali, Benin, and Togo. The post has since triggered a floodgate of reactions from the Nigerians Twitter community.
The multi-award winning rapper and musician has had a good run of collaborations with Nigerian musical arts in the past, with Wizkid being the first known of them. The Nigerian Afrobeat hit maker did “Come closer” in 2016 with Drake. Other arts like Tekno, Sarz, the most recent work with Tems alongside Future earned Tems her first Grammy award.
Drake was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario. His father is an African-American Catholic drummer from Memphis who once performed with country musician Jerry Lee Lewis.
