Last week, rumors swirled around a mysterious flyer that said Drake was in DC filming a music video in Columbia Heights. The claim turned out to be false, and Tuesday night Washingtonian received an email that claimed to confirm his nonpresence from someone who said they were an artist relations manager at Drake’s record label OVO Sound. In it, the apparent spokesperson wrote: “Drake won’t be filming anything, his music producer DJ Prince ( not Future The Prince ) will be at Main Event on June 4th in Columbia MD.” Attached was a screenshot that purports to show a direct message on Twitter, between Drake and (presumably) the emailer:
Not gonna lie, pretty confusing message! But at least we got this apparent gem from Champagne Papi: “Thanks 🙏🏾 I don’t like Rumors happening.” We don’t either. The short of it is: Drake is definitely not here. He wasn’t here last week. He won’t be here this week. However, in this supposed exchange, “Drake” appears to write “I’m going to be in town June 4th” in the same conversation as someone named DJ Prince, so…should we expect a Drizzy drop then? (FWIW: While most OVO Sound artists are distributed by Warner Records, Drake’s releases go through Republic Records.)
No. DJ Prince presents himself as a Suitland-raised music producer who claims—falsely, according to a Warner Media Group spokesperson, which says he has no affiliation to OVO Sound—to have signed to Drake’s label last year. The spokesperson says Warner Media Group’s legal team has sent multiple cease-and-desist letters to this individual, whom the company says has distributed fake press releases and created fake email addresses to connect himself to Drake and the label.
In a more recent interview—which ran as sponsored content on Delaware’s WRDE Coast TV—DJ Prince explained that he had a challenging childhood having spent a year in foster care as a teen. He now claims to have worked on major hits like PartyNextDoor and Rihanna’s 2020 track “Believe It” and says he plans to release a mixtape in July. It seems like he’s moved from Prince George’s County to LA, according to his Facebook page, but he has a less than active social media presence: 2020 “press releases” about him joining the label featured an Instagram handle that is defunct, he appears to have no Twitter account, and his Facebook features a few recent posts, one leading to an also broken TikTok link to one of his songs.
According to the email that Washingtonian received, DJ Prince is scheduled to perform at Columbia entertainment venue Main Event on June 4 (in a separate conversation, someone who says they are a spokesperson for the venue says the gig is a private event, not a show that fans can attend; we could not reach Main Event by phone). As for getting clarification on what exactly DJ Prince may or may not have been filming or whether Drake might actually be coming to the area that day, the person who originally emailed Washingtonian responded with photos that purport to show DJ Prince with various celebrities. The Warner Music Group spokesperson confirmed that the initial emailer does not work at OVO Sound.
Correction: This post originally said DJ Prince is signed to OVO Sound, which is untrue according to a spokesperson for Warner Media Group, who also says DJ Prince has published false press releases that claim otherwise. This post has been updated to reflect the fact that we have no idea who has been emailing us about Drake.
Rosa is a senior editor at Bitch Magazine. She’s written for Washingtonian and Smithsonian magazine.
