We don’t know how old you were during the “Y2K” scare, but some of us were already fully grown adults with emerging careers (and, in some cases, families). So leave it to borderline-problematic fave Drake to throw some peak-millennial shade, reminding us that he was but a tender 14 years old at the turn of this century by throwing himself an early aughts party to celebrate his 32nd birthday on Wednesday. (Excuse us for a moment; it’s time to take our Metamucil.)
We didn’t think we’d ever be nostalgic for Blockbuster’s video wall (if you don’t know what that is, please stop reading now and finish your homework), but Drake recreated it—along the set of 106 & Park, the booth from Rap City and a 7-Eleven setup serving Slurpees. (Wait. They still serve those, right?)
And of course, there was early aughts attire. We don’t know where they’re still selling this shit, but guests came through in Pelle, Von Dutch, Baby Phat, Ecko Unlimited, Ed Hardy, Jacob & Co., way too many bandanas and a whole bunch of labels we’d really rather forget ever existed (some House of Dereon might’ve made it in there, for all we know). Suffice to say, it was not exactly an era of high style (kind of douche-tastic, actually, but we’ll just leave that there). However, we were kind of feeling Drake’s costume change—from a Fabolous homage into a velour Sean John set (with one leg hiked up, of course).
And not content to simply send up the era in which he hit puberty, Drake sent guests home with a memento: T-shirts airbrushed with his school photo. But don’t think Champagne Papi is cheap; he also raffled off Chanel bags to lucky attendees (we’re guessing the quilted box classics).
And, of course, there was no shortage of celebrity friends on site, including French Montana, Swizz Beats, Future, Justine Skye, Kendall Jenner and ... Chris Brown (???), who were all on hand to help Drake celebrate another year of being in his feelings (see, told you: problematic).
Do we wish we were there? Honestly? No. We’re “once I get in the house, I’m not coming back out” age. But we’re glad the kids had a good time with their “throwback” moment. We were there the first time.