It seems we have some drama brewing with ‘The North.’ All was supposed to be good after the Raptors unveiled their new primary ‘We The North’ logo to much applause. That’s not counting the accusations of copying the Nets logo, but that’s for another story.
The Drake-inspired Raptors redesign. Could've been worse. Also, could've been a whole lot better. pic.twitter.com/8wgkTUxZ43 (h/t @_Marc_W)
— cathalkelly (@cathalkelly) December 19, 2014
At the time, most of the conversation centered around the theme and concept being inspired by Drake. Aubrey Graham is not going to take credit for something that was unveiled to such criticism.
“Actually this redesign was executed without me. My collaboration with [clothier] Mitchell & Ness comes out next season.”
Drake reportedly isn’t happy with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the company which owns the Raptors, for several reason.
First, the “execution.” By that, he apparently means the way in which the images were released. They were first shown briefly in a video released on Friday afternoon. That was quickly followed by a colour image posted to the team’s Facebook page. That was hastily pulled down, replaced by a black-and-white image. Then, much later in the day, a variety of logos were released, in varying colour schemes.
Kelly goes to claim that Drake is even more upset with the color scheme, which he had wanted in black and gold. “He wasn’t overruled,” said an MLSE source. “Overruled isn’t the right word, because it’s not like he had the final say.