Crushable Quotable: Drake Is Scared Of Tumblr

Thanks to Twitter and Tumblr, a huge, passionate fanbase made up of preteens and teens have brought their teen/young adult idols to the forefront of pop culture. And for the most part, stars like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez use social media to interact back with the fans who’ve built them up. But there’s at least one young star who pushes back against excessive tweeting and tumbling: Canadian rapper Drake, who thinks that Tumblr is downright scary.

He told The Source that he legitimately hates social media:

I’m really scared for my generation, you know. The thing that scares me most is Tumblr. I hate what Tumblr has become. Because it like, it reminds me of those clique-y girls in high school that used to make fun of everyone else and define what was cool, but in five years, when you all graduate, that shit doesn’t matter. No one gives a fuck about that shit.

Instead of kids going out and making their own moments, they’re just taking these images and living vicariously through other people’s moments. It just kills me. Then you’ll meet them and they’re just the biggest turkey in the world. They don’t actually embody any of those things. They just emulate. It’s scary man, simulation life that we’re living. It scares me.

I based my thesis on the idea of oral tradition and passing down the same stories, so let me tell you that it’s not as dire as Drake makes it sound. While obviously fans can go to extreme lengths, there’s nothing wrong with posting photos of what you love, or writing fan fiction, or making .gifs of your favorite reality-TV moments. Sure, the kids who post on Tumblr are scarily devoted to whatever topic — posting screenshots of the Biebs’ award-show appearance within minutes and crying when their idols don’t win — but as failings go, it’s not that bad.

Let’s not forget that in Drake’s past life he was Aubrey Graham, star of Canadian soap Degrassi: The Next Generation. While it’s more the new crop of stars who pop up on Twitter and Tumblr, mentions of the show on the site is what’s getting new fans to look up the old episodes. Furthermore, he got his start as Drake in 2009 when he posted his mixtape to his MySpace.

Drake says he got burned by an asshole fan who told him on Twitter that he hoped Drake’s mom would die when she went in for surgery. “Like, you know you’re going to see something bad. Out of 1000 compliments, it’s so crazy,” he says.

Um, duh. That’s the definition of the Internet: There will always be someone out there to say shit about you. We’re surprised Drake doesn’t have a tougher skin. After all, this is Jimmy Brooks, who got shot in the back and lived!