Music fans were stirred into a frenzy on Wednesday as rappers Drake and 21 Savage announced they'd be making a joint appearance on NPR's beloved Tiny Desk Concerts series, ahead of their coming collaborative album, "Her Loss."
In a short video shared Wednesday, the pair appears in an office setting nearly identical to the iconic Tiny Desk backdrop, both acting as if they're about to unveil a handful of unreleased album cuts.
"What's up everybody?" Drake begins. "Appreciate you joining us today. All the audience everybody at home.
"My name is Drake...and this is our Tiny Desk," he continues.
"Let's get it!" Savage exclaims.
Posted on Drake's official @champagnepapi Instagram account, the video clip has racked up nearly 800,000 likes.
Unfortunately, this announcement is fool's gold.
Much to the dismay of hip-hop fans from Atlanta to Toronto, neither Drake nor 21 Savage are actually scheduled to appear on NPR's Tiny Desk—not even to promote "Her Loss," set to be released this Friday.
But while NPR has confirmed the Instagram trailer is not for an actual concert, the door is still cracked open.
"Let's do it forreal tho," NPR wrote, tacking on smirking and clapping emojis in a quote-tweet of the viral clip.
let’s do it forreal tho 😏👏🏾 https://t.co/FqdhuNoQBF
— NPR Music (@nprmusic) November 2, 2022
Since 2008, the Tiny Desk concert series has served as a premier platform for artists to showcase their talents and newest releases in one of most intricate and intimate settings for live music: NPR's office in Washington, D.C.
Recently passing the 1,000-video mark, the platform has played host to a massive array of artists, spanning numerous genres and levels of popularity.
Its relationship with hip-hop, however, has become increasingly undeniable. And this year, Tiny Desk was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Platform at the 2022 BET Awards.
In the past few months alone, rappers Symba, JID, Denzel Curry, Larry June and Curren$y all made appearances.
Over the last half-decade, hip-hop icons like Wu-Tang Clan, Big Boi and Big Daddy Kane have graced the Tiny Desk stage, along with contemporary acts Chance the Rapper, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, Freddie Gibbs, Tyler the Creator and the late Mac Miller.
In light of the harmonious link between NPR's Tiny Desk and hip-hop's biggest stars, many are hopeful that the fake trailer featuring Drake and 21 Savage might just foreshadow an actual concert at some point.
"Drake and 21 Savage trolling with the tiny desk but that s*** would actually be fire," Twitter user @big_business_ tweeted, racking up more than 1,200 likes.
"I can't believe they fooled so many folks with this!" @PontiacRed_ echoed. "They have to be trolling for a music video or something. Wish they would really do one though."
"Drake is brilliant!" Carl Chery, creative director and head of urban music at Spotify, chimed in on Twitter. "I fell for the Tiny Desk pump fake."
Newsweek has reached out to Tiny Desk Concerts for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Taylor McCloud is a Newsweek staff writer based in California. His focus is reporting on trending and viral topics. Taylor ... Read more
