The Raptors installed a ‘Hotline Bling’ light box for fans to dance in on Drake Night
The Toronto Raptors’ Wednesday night matchup with the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers will also serve as the latest edition of the club’s ongoing “Drake Night” series, in which Canada’s lone NBA franchise celebrates its official partnership with the Toronto-born megastar/6 God. Previous iterations have seen Drake and Future give out OVO Air Jordan Xs at halftime and Drizzy-freestyled player nicknames, leading us to wonder what the Raps had in store in terms of Aubrey-fied entertainment options for Wednesday evening.
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We already knew that the Raps would be wearing their new black and gold OVO-themed alternate uniforms, which Drake debuted this summer, and that fans in attendance would receive an October’s Very Own-branded headband and long-sleeved shirt. (Points deducted for it not being a turtleneck.) But what else would the Raptors come up with? What would make this the Drakiest Drake Night yet?
In honour of #DrakeNight, @Raptors fans are invited to do their best Drake impression in our replica box. pic.twitter.com/GkFYAIoVgy
— MLSE PR (@MLSEPR) November 25, 2015
Well, that can only mean one thing.
Yes, that’s right — the Raptors installed a James Turrell-style light box — just like the ones in which Drake cut all of the rugs that have ever existed in the video for his hit “Hotline Bling” — outside of Air Canada Centre, and have invited fans to come on down to get their own phone-circles-around-their-ear two-step on before tipoff.
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The dance party began — as seemingly all things Internet-y do in Toronto these days — with Toronto City Councillor Norm Kelly:
Great moves, @norm & @CityMelanie! https://t.co/SFBUSkEZjj
— Breakfast Television (@BTtoronto) November 25, 2015
Check out the 6 Dad, doing things his boy taught him, gettin’ nasty for viral activation. I’d tell Norm he should just be himself, but hey, maybe this really is the 74-year-old civil service living his best and most authentic life.
After Kelly and The Raptor set it off, fans began streaming in to try their hand at turning on the magic of colored lights:
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Now, is it a little bit weird that fans of all ages, races and stripes are so gleefully getting down to a tune about a pretty/very sexist song about how a girl shouldn’t go out when Drake is not around? Yes, very much so. And yet, it’s hard to get mad at people for locking into an infectious beat and having fun with a huge light installation in downtown Toronto. Whatever Drake Night brings to the Raptors and their fans, it has if nothing else produced what seems to be a pretty fun day for an awful lot of folks.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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