Drake loves a tribute tattoo, and it looks like the rapper has added another one to his collection.
Drake has a tattoo of himself in front of the Beatles on his arm. “I got more slaps than the Beatles…” pic.twitter.com/krzzFSF2Mj
— Word On Road (@WordOnRd) August 9, 2019
As reported by Complex, Drake has gotten a tattoo of The Beatles’ Abbey Road lineup on his arm. Judging from a closeup posted to a Drake fan account, the ink looks like a pretty accurate rendering of their iconic 1969 album cover, but with one puzzling addition. There are four Beatles — so who’s that fifth guy waving in front of them?
Fans seem to think it’s Drake himself. The account that posted the photo captioned it “I got more slaps than The Beatles,” a line from Drake’s 2018 Meek Mill collab, “Going Bad.” And Drake isn’t just bluffing. According to Billboard, he does, in fact, have more slaps than The Beatles.
After the release of his 2018 album Scorpion, Drake bested The Beatles’ long-held record for the most singles simultaneously in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10. (Drake had seven, and The Beatles’ record of five had been uncontested since 1964.) In October 2018, Drake had 12 tracks on the Hot 100’s Top 10 in a single calendar year, surpassing The Beatles’ record of 11, also set in 1964.
This June, Drake also surpassed The Beatles’ claim to the second-most Hot 100 Top 10s ever. (Drake has 35, and Madonna is the current record-holder with 38.)
Is Drake giving a friendly nod to the musical giants that came before him? Is he waving off the rockism of the past and ushering in a new era of hip-hop chart domination? Did he just want to imagine himself in the Abbey Road lineup? Either way, it’s a fun tattoo, and since it’s on Drake’s arm forever, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of it.
