Late Thursday night, Drake was interviewed by Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio. The interview accompanied the release of the rapper’s long-awaited album, Views, which hit iTunes and Apple Music shortly after 11 p.m. EST. It was a wide-ranging interview, touching on everything from a possible mixtape with Kanye West and his relationship with Nicki Minaj. Drake discussed another relationship in the interview, the one between himself and his hometown of Toronto, also known as “The 6.”
Of course Toronto wasn’t always “The 6.” Drake christened the city that in July of 2014 when he announced the title for Views, which back then was Views from the 6. The nickname refers to Toronto’s two area codes: 416 and 647. The name didn’t take at first, but Drake believes it’s finally caught on.
“I think the announcement was more than just the album title it was a shift in the city—we saw an opening there. The name took on a life of its own. Now the city is obviously referred to as was it is.”
It should be noted that Toronto has had nicknames before Drake bestowed “The 6” on it. Sure, they might not sound as cool, but we can’t punk history like that. And actually, after doing some research, I learned that Toronto either has or had a handful of colorful and interesting monikers.
There’s Muddy York, which dates back to the early years of the city and the city’s dirt roads, which frequently turned to mud after it rained, and there’s Hogtown, which seems to have two origins. One is that it could have been due to the large amount of meat packing industries in the city, while the other is that Toronto was referred to as “the hog” by people in Canada’s smaller cities. I have to admit that Views from Muddy York or Views from Hogtown aren’t exactly the coolest album titles out there. Some of Toronto’s other nicknames are/were Toronto the Good (referencing the city’s strict moral code in the 19th century), Hollywood North (because of the amount of movies filmed in the city, The Megacity (coined in the late ’80s, when the surrounding towns were absorbed into Toronto), and T.O. (short for Toronto, Ontario).
But Drake knows branding and he knew Toronto (also known as T-Dot, if you’re keeping score) needed a newer, fresher alias, and who better to come up with one than Drizzy himself? Because Drake loves Toronto; Drake is Toronto.
Later in the interview, Drake talked about how the city influenced Views and the role it played in him making the album.
“The album is based around the change of the season in our city. It starts around in wintertime. Starts with “Keep The Family Close.” Winter to summer and back to winter again. It’s just to show you the two extreme moods that we have. We love our summers but we also make our winters work…You start to value your days a lot more when most people won’t go outside type of thing…It creates a different person. I thought it was important to make the album here during the winter.”
Winter in Toronto; not just for hockey, I guess.
(via The Fader)
