Drake, the Canadian Jewish musician who has sent six albums to the top of the charts since 2010, released his seventh studio recording, “Honestly, Nevermind,” last week.
And to celebrate that auspicious milestone, he released a music video to a new song, “Falling Back,” in which he portrays a groom in a wedding officiated by an Orthodox rabbi in a black hat.
An Orthodox rabbi who apparently has forgotten about the ban on polygamy proclaimed by Rabbi Gershom ben Judah 1,000 years ago. The wedding features Aubrey Drake Graham with 23 brides.
Get The Jewish Standard Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories
Free Sign Up
That punchline isn’t revealed until a few minutes into the video, when the rabbi officiating the wedding ceremony, which takes place under a white floral chuppah, asks the bride, “Do you commit yourself to being a good wife, according to our values and traditions?”
To which she answers, “I do” — and 22 other women in white behind her echo her answer.
After each bride receives her ring and gives the yarmulke-less Drake some form of a secret handshake or high five, the camera pans to a person who appears to be Drake’s mother, Sandi Graham, who is Jewish; she’s a blonde woman dressed in black (and bears a striking resemblance to Barbra Streisand). “I think he’s really taking this one seriously,” she remarks. (Drake has never been married, but does have a son, Adonis, whose existence was brought to the public eye during a feud between him and rival rapper Pusha T.)
A raucous celebration full of mixed dancing and strobe lights follows the ceremony.
At one point, one of the brides is lifted in a chair for the hora as she waves a napkin in the air.
A few moments later, Drake is also seen dancing with a napkin in his hand, and later in his mouth.
The video was produced by Adam Rodness, a Canadian actor and producer who also has starred in a short film called “The Seder.” The rabbi is played by Ari Sitnik, whose social media pages appear to identify him as a Toronto-based IT specialist who formerly worked for Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto.
This isn’t the first time the multi-platinum-selling artist has invoked his Jewish background in his musical career. The music video of his 2011 single “HYFR” centered on his “re-bar mitzvah” (which included his reading from the Torah before a packed congregation) and he posed with a kiddush cup and Shabbat candles for the cover of his 2012 album “Take Care.”
More recently, on a mixtape last year, he rapped, “I should probably go to a yeshiva.”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
