Drake is one of the most famous Toronto natives of all time, so it makes sense that he would have a deep love for the city's culture. But one local slang term is so important to the rapper that he decided to get it tattooed above his eyebrow.
Canadian rapper Drake recently debuted a new face tattoo based on a popular Toronto slang term
He debuted the new ink, which says "miskeen," at a party in Toronto last week. The term, which originally comes from Arabic and Amharic – a similar Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia – has several different meanings. The literal translation is a poor or pathetic person, Now reported. But Toronto residents often use the word to denote a sweet or innocent person. The latter meaning lines up well with Drake's public image, which is often centered on the musician's willingness to wear his heart on his sleeve.
By getting a face tattoo in a foreign language, Drake is aligning himself with the deeply cosmopolitan youth culture that's arisen in his hometown in recent decades. Immigrants made up more than 46% of Toronto's population in 2021, which is nearly twice the rate in Canada at large, according to a document released by the city government.
Toronto's music has long been informed by its large and diverse immigrant culture. Snow, whose reggae-influenced hit "Informer" topped the U.S. pop charts for weeks, was introduced to the genre when Jamaican immigrants began moving into his Toronto neighborhood in the 1980s. The Weeknd was born in Toronto after his parents migrated there from Ethiopia.
Drake's fresh ink was first spotted at a party on Friday, which is when the extended edition of his October album For All the Dogs was released. The updated version of the LP contains six new tracks. The original cut of the album made it to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. This was not Drake's first face tattoo. Last year, he got the initials "S.G." inked below his left eye in honor of his mother Sandra Gale.
The singer's impact on Canada's culture and image abroad extends far beyond the world of music. At age 15, he began his role as Jimmy Brooks on the teen television drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. The character ended up paralyzed from the waist down and confined a wheelchair in the wake of a shooting.
