Drake Marks Stake's Ninth Anniversary With a Three-Hour Kick Stream, a Dating Show Bit, and a Warning to Rap Rivals
Drake spent Saturday night on Kick — the streaming platform affiliated with Stake, the crypto gambling company he is partnered with — celebrating the online casino's ninth anniversary with a roughly three-hour livestream that gave away more than $1 million in cash and prizes, including a $50,000 grand prize for one viewer. Stake had teased the event with an Instagram post advertising the giveaway. Drake's official Kick channel, at kick.com/drake, has approximately 470,300 followers, and the broadcast remains available as an on-demand video titled "STAKE 9th BIRTHDAY STREAM," categorised under Slots & Casino and flagged as 18+ mature content. (Kick)
The stream mixed spectacle with provocation. Drake was joined by NELK co-founder Kyle Forgeard, who presented an SNL-style parody of the 20-v-1 dating-show format — a comedic spin on the reality-dating template in which one person eliminates contestants one by one. In this version, Drake had to assign three women to three roles: one to "wife," one to hook up with, and one to make his best friend. The final three contestants were influencer Jordyn Lucas, adult-film star Lena the Plug, and goth streamer Pinkchyu. (Rolling Stone)
Drake placed Lucas in the best-friend category and gave her $25,000 and a Birkin bag. Lena the Plug received $25,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip — reportedly to New Zealand — and briefly removed her wedding ring after hugging Drake. Pinkchyu won the "wife" designation after she had Drake bark on command. Adult-content creator Lily Phillips also appeared on the stream and announced she was "rebranding as Drake's wife." (Rolling Stone)
Between the dating-show segments, Drake addressed his rap rivals directly. "These guys are dropping albums, like hello and goodbye," he said, "and careful with that reply 'cause the pen isn't dry." He also reflected on having released three projects at once, crediting himself for the rollout. (Rolling Stone)
Drake floated the idea of holding Stake's 10th-anniversary stream next year on a yacht, then immediately added that he hates boats. The commentator Akademiks, who was livestreaming Drake's stream on his own channel, wondered whether the yacht remark was a subliminal shot at Lil Yachty — known as "Boat." Drake denied it. (Rolling Stone)
Drake also joked on the stream that "Roc Nation subpoenas" were "about to be cleared," apparently referencing a What's The Dirt video speculating that Roc Nation played a role in a federal class-action lawsuit targeting Drake and Stake. Nine days before the stream, a Virginia judge ordered the plaintiffs' claims against Stake into private arbitration and paused the remainder of the case, including the claims naming Drake directly. (Rolling Stone)
The stream sits at the intersection of several threads Drake has been running simultaneously: his ongoing partnership with Stake, a legal case now partially paused, and a competitive streak in music that the "pen isn't dry" line made explicit. Whether any of those resolve before the 10th anniversary remains an open question — assuming Drake can find a venue that is not a boat.
