Drake released Iceman and two surprise albums, Habibti and Maid of Honour, after an elaborate Toronto rollout capped by fireworks and a blue-lit CN Tower.
Drake turned the release of Iceman into a triple-album event Friday, delivering the long-teased project at midnight alongside two surprise albums, Habibti and Maid of Honour.
The three projects total 43 songs and include appearances from artists such as Future, 21 Savage and Molly Santana. The surprise expanded what had been billed as a major album drop into one of the most ambitious release nights of Drake’s career, with Toronto positioned at the centre of the spectacle.
The rollout culminated Thursday night with an almost 10-minute fireworks display along the waterfront and the CN Tower lit in icy blue projections. Hundreds gathered near the landmark after Drake teased the moment on Instagram, while hundreds of thousands more watched a YouTube livestream of “Iceman Episode 4,” which previewed tracks before the albums arrived.
The livestream also featured an “Iceman” truck heading toward the CN Tower and footage of Drake at well-known Toronto locations, including City Hall, where he appeared to wear the mayor’s chain while rapping.
The volume of new music immediately became part of the story. CBC reported that Spotify and Apple Music both saw disruptions and outages as listeners rushed to hear the albums.
Reaction online ranged from admiration to fatigue. Some fans praised the scale of the release, while others questioned how listeners could absorb three albums at once. The Guardian, in a sharply negative review cited by CBC, called the comeback a “boring, bloated disaster.” Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby was among the public figures offering praise, calling Drake “GOATED” on X.
For some Toronto listeners, the drop recalled the citywide energy around Views , Drake’s 2016 Toronto-focused album. Tristan “Triz” Douglas, a host at Flow 98.7, told CBC the new material has the kind of songs listeners use to get ready, party and feel good. “It’s definitely going to be a Drake summer,” Douglas said.
The release follows nearly three years of teasers, livestreams, leaked songs and public stunts linked to Iceman . In recent weeks, the campaign included a loud explosion at Downsview Park and a large ice block installation that revealed the album’s release date.
It also arrives after Drake’s highly publicized feud with Kendrick Lamar, whose chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us” turned Drake and Toronto into targets of wider cultural attention. CBC reported that Drake appears to reference the conflict again across the new releases.
Mark Campbell, an associate professor of music and culture at the University of Toronto, told CBC the rollout’s local imagery fit a long-running part of Drake’s public identity. “He worked hard to let people know that he’s from Canada and that he’s from Toronto,” Campbell said.
Whether three albums can sustain that momentum on the charts is the next question. For now, Drake has made the release itself a citywide event: part album launch, part public spectacle and part bid to refocus attention on the Toronto roots he has long foregrounded.
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