If you enjoy imbibing the smooth, rap-like music of Drake, but wish it had a slightly aged, oakier finish, then you’re in luck: Drake’s father Dennis Graham is preparing to release his own album of sexagenarian sex jams titled Kinda Crazy, and TMZ has offered up a preview of the title track for your listening pleasure. It will most definitely make you say, “That’s Drake’s dad? All right then.”
Indeed it is! As occasionally referenced in his songs, Drake and his dad may have had a somewhat-estranged relationship while he was growing up, but Dennis has since been able to put bygones aside and be there for his wealthy, famous son—even appearing in Drake’s video for “Worst Behavior,” where he gave his son’s repeated declarations of “motherfucker” some much-needed Oedipal subtext.
And just like Drake has done for owls and cozy sweaters, Dennis Graham has now become a beloved part of the OVO empire, turning up in interviews where he discusses how the summers Drake spent with him in Memphis greatly influenced his music, schmoozing in photos with excited fans, and inspiring lists about how he’s cooler than your dad, as though that were some noteworthy accomplishment. Drake’s dad was also the subject of an actual song called “Drake’s Dad” by Canadian band The Arkells, whose lyrics evocatively recount the time they met Drake’s dad.
The elder Graham also has his own music cred, having played drums for Jerry Lee Lewis back in the day and served as backing brother to Larry Graham, of Sly & The Family Stone and slap-bass-inventing fame. So naturally, it’s time for Graham to make his own forays into musical stardom. Joining in on this nepo-tastic affair is producer Jamie Iovine—son of Interscope Records head Jimmy Iovine—who’s laid down a bed of silky funk guitar for Dennis to prop himself up in, where he croons to all the ladies/mites out there about how kinda crazy it is that he “can feel you underneath my skin.” Say, that is kinda crazy. That is actually kinda what a crazy person would say.
Anyway, in the sadly brief snippets of video here, we get a few shots of Graham, clad in baggy white suit and OVO owl necklace he hopefully got at a family discount, relaxing in a throne that’s lit by a single, distant candelabra, as he serenades a much younger blonde woman from a nearby shampoo commercial. We also get a couple flashes of Graham out to dinner with said blonde lady and what looks like her own dad—who probably has some reservations about his daughter burrowing under the skin of a much older man, but okay, he’s agreed to keep an open mind and be civil here. There is also all the dry ice in Canada; sorry, Canada, you have no more dry ice.
Unfortunately, we’ll just have to wait until the full video debuts sometime later this month to see where it goes from here, and whether it contains a panty-dropper line like, “I am Drake’s dad / Biologically Drake’s dad / Could probably get him on the phone in under 48 hours / If I text his assistant.”