Milwaukee DJs taking 'break from Drake' ahead of Raptors-Bucks showdown
'We gotta get the Drake curse away from us,' station says ahead of NBA Eastern Conference Final
No God's Plan. No Hotline Bling. And definitely no Nice For What.
A Milwaukee radio station is temporarily banning Drake's music from its airwaves as the Toronto Raptors square off with the city's hometown Bucks in the NBA's Eastern Conference Final.
"Drake's a big smack-talker on the basketball court," said Riggs, one of 103.7 KISS-FM's DJs, in an online video announcing the ban.
This point is fair. Drake is regularly spotted courtside at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena, barking at opposing players and cheering on the Raptors, and he serves as the franchise's global ambassador. Oh, and his record label holds the naming rights to the Raptors practice facility.
That's apparently too much for Milwaukee to handle.
In response, Riggs said his Bucks-loving station will take a "break from Drake" until the best-of-seven series is over. He and his colleagues defended the move on CBC News Network on Wednesday:
That will be tough for a station that usually plays Drake tracks or songs featuring Drake once or twice per hour — at least. But the DJs say it's crucial to the Bucks advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1970s.
Then there's the so-called "Drake curse."
Recently, the sports world has come up with a theory that whatever team the Toronto rapper cheers for goes on to lose — citing examples from Italian soccer clubs to the the Maple Leafs.
Apparently aware of this, Drake has been trying to reverse the curse.
After the Raptors' thrilling Game 7 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, Drake revealed he'd been wearing Sixers shorts to throw the hex their way.
It's a scary prospect for Alley, another KISS DJ.
"We gotta get the Drake curse away from us," she said.
As for the music, Drake probably won't notice — all 25 tracks from his 2018 album Scorpion appeared on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, with seven cracking the Top 10.
It's also unclear if Toronto stations will ban Milwaukee-made music in response. The best known song to come from the Wisconsin city? Blister in the Sun, by the Violent Femmes.