Music Gripes: Drake Fesses Up, Rihanna Played Him!

G. gave me the heads-up about an article that’s supposed to be coming out in the N.Y. Times on Sunday. Supposedly, in the article, rapper Drake admits that he had a fling with Rihanna and goes into some details about the singer’s treatment of him. According to the news circulating the Internet including on this site, Drake says that Rihanna used him as a “pawn” and strung him along. Just like’s he’s done with many women. It may be little of me to admit this but it’s always good to hear when guys get a taste of their own medicine.

The fact that the industry-proclaimed ‘second coming of hip hop’ got his heart broken is not newsworthy to me but it got me wondering about how many celebrity relationships are really built on love and mutual attraction and how many are generated in some publicity machine. Obviously, since a lot of these people are in the same industry they are bound to see a lot of each other. It’s not farfetched to believe that they would form mutual attractions and develop true feelings. In fact, there are many celebrity couple who seem to be blissfully happy together (whether they really are is another story). But you have to wonder about some couples. Are they together because of something real or because of what the other person can do for their career?

We can look at Rihanna’s situation and see why being paired with Drake would be a good look for her. I mean, he’s garnered a lot of publicity surrounding his music even before he put out his first album! I’ve heard of other artists who’ve made a name for themselves from mixtapes but none of them were the answer to the claim “hip hop is dead”. Not before Drake. Or so they say. I’ve heard the singles that Drake released and they’re okay but I don’t really know what all the hype surrounding him is about. Who really knows? I just know that if it’s true that Rihanna really did give him a taste of what he’s been dishing out, she did womankind a good turn.

Celebrity(?) Sighting

I am no longer sure what classifies one as a celebrity but for the purpose of this post, I am expanding it to include reality TV personalities such as Hung Hyun. Hung is the Season 3 winner of Top Chef Miami and I had the pleasure of seeing him yesterday afternoon (he’s one of my favorite contestants). He was departing a crowded D train that I was waiting to board and struggling with what looked to be a heavy bag (of cooking ingredients?).He was dressed casually in a beige t-shirt and jeans and his hair is exactly the same. My fellow straphangers and I watched for what felt like a full minute for him to make his way through the crowd and allow us to board. He kept his head down most of the way but when he did look up, there is no mistaking that it was him. I wish I had thought to ask him for the name of his restaurant but oh well. I’m glad to see he hasn’t gotten too big to ride the trains.

This brief encounter with Hung reminded me of some of the other close encounters that I’ve had with celebrities. There was Don Cheadle, also riding the train, years ago around the time Hotel Rwanda came out. There were only a handful of people in our car so I had an unobstructed view of him. He pulled his hat low and kept his head down when he caught me staring at him. I guess keeping the head low is typical celebrity behavior. At the West Indian parade 3 or 4 years ago, Buju Banton was sitting on a truck and ducked his head when he saw that I was trying to take his picture with my phone. He didn’t look up for a long time and by then, the truck had already moved beyond my camera phone’s reach. He is still my favorite reggae artist though. Much more recently 50 Cent came to my office and seemed very pleasant in that he kept his head held high and even smiled when he caught me staring at him. I guess he couldn’t exactly avoid me as I was standing in the hallway, specifically waiting for him to exit the bathroom. Of course, since I work in a professional environment I conducted myself accordingly. I’m sure these guys have all appreciated my restraint but maybe next time I see a celebrity, I’ll at least say hello.