Since debuting in April 2012, it’s amassed more than 46-million views on YouTube, spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and won awards for Best Hip-Hop Video at the MTV Video Music Awards and Video of the Year at the Junos. The video wasn’t just iconic – it was huge. This was a watershed moment for pop-culture Judaism, whether the Jewish community likes it or not. The video even opens with real-life footage of a young Drake, all dressed up for a bar mitzvah in Toronto, standing with his mom and dancing to 1990s pop hits. Filmed mostly at Miami’s posh Temple Israel synagogue, the video depicts the fantastical bar mitzvah Drake wishes he had: there’s challah on the table, menorahs on the wall, frum men in the crowd – but also an endless supply of booze, pot smoke filling the room, manic laughter and grinding dancers of all races and ages, with cameos by rappers Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, Trey Songz, Mack Maine, E-40 and Noah “40” Shebib.
So it’s significant that he decided to make a music video for the song HYFR that depicts him having a bar mitzvah – albeit a glorified, intensified bar mitzvah full of hip-hop stars. With three Grammy awards, an estimated net worth of $100 million and more than 30-million followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, there’s a solid case to call Drake – the hip-hop star who grew up as Audrey Graham in Toronto’s Forest Hill neighbourhood – the most influential Canadian Jew alive. In honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, The CJN presents essays on 10 significant moments in Canadian Jewish history.