Ahead of the arrival of Drake’s highly anticipated new solo album, Iceman, the Toronto rapper took the time to offer DJ Akademiks some congratulations.
During a recent stream, a clip of which can be seen below, DJ Akademiks suggested that Drizzy reached out to him to congratulate landing the top spot on the 2026 edition of Complex’s Hip-Hop Media Power Ranking. “Shout out to my boy Drake, ya know?” he said. “Number one media personality, number one rapper… It’s like Shaq and Kobe over here. It’s all good. A lot of people reached out, and I really appreciate it.”
Akademiks, who landed at the No. 2 spot on last year’s list behind streamer extraordinaire Kai Cenat, was featured at the No. 1 spot on Complex’s Hip-Hop Media Power Ranking. The list also includes people that Akademiks has notably beefed with in the past, including Ebro, Kid Mero, and Anthony Fantano. He’s been a huge fan of Drake since the start of his career as a streamer and media personality, famously taking the 6 God’s side in the bitter rivalry with Kendrick Lamar, and gassing up the release of Iceman, which drops later this month (May 15).
Despite his hype for Iceman, Akademiks recently admitted that he told Drake to delay the album because he thinks the rapper’s “haters” have become “delusional.” After mocking fellow Hip-Hop Media Power Ranking personality Anthony Fantano for reporting the album could arrive “in the next 36 hours,” he said that people had been “making up fallacies,” but Iceman would be arriving “soon.”
Drake has made several unique moves to promote Iceman, including a giant ice sculpture in Toronto that had the release date hidden inside, and iced-over courtside seats at the Toronto Raptors’ Scotiabank Arena. He was also recently spotted shooting a music video in his hometown ahead of the album’s release, which is just over a week away.
