--- title: Drake Barack Obama Meme Tribute PHOTO description: The 'Views' rapper shared a face mash-up of himself and the departing president to his Instagram following POTUS's farewell speech. canonical: https://time.com/4631323/drake-barack-obama-meme/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-11T17:42:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:05.053Z og:title: Here's How Drake Paid Tribute to Barack Obama With a Meme og:description: The 'Views' rapper shared a face swap of himself and the departing president. og:url: https://time.com/4631323/drake-barack-obama-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Drake Paid Tribute to Barack Obama With a Meme twitter:description: The 'Views' rapper shared a face swap of himself and the departing president. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Drake Paid Tribute to Barack Obama By Giving Him a Drake Beard in This Picture  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 11, 2017 5:42 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 11, 2017 5:42 PM UTC [_Views_ rapper](http://time.com/4319128/on-views-drake-offers-a-snapshot-of-his-messy-relationships/?iid=sr-link5) and self-described “Champagne Papi” Drake may hail from north of the border—he’s a proud Toronto boy—but that didn’t stop him from paying public tribute to exiting president Barack Obama following [POTUS’s farewell speech in Chicago](http://time.com/4631007/president-obama-farewell-speech-transcript/?iid=sr-link1) on Tuesday night. “As a Canadian that calls America home for part of the year I will always carry your words and the memory of your time in office with me as inspiration,” he wrote as a caption on his post. “Big up yaself O.” The image itself—a Photoshopped shot of Drake’s distinctive facial hair and fade superimposed on Obama’s face—is intended to be an homage to the departing leader. This isn’t the first time Drake has expressed admiration for Obama; in 2012 the former Degrassi actor mentioned an interest in playing the politician in a movie. “Anytime I see him on TV, I don’t change the channel. I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice,” [he said then.](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/drake-obama-movie-impersonation-286067) And while Obama—a [known hip hop and rap enthusiast](http://time.com/4629441/barack-obama-playlists/?iid=sr-link5)—has admitted a slight [preference for Kendrick Lamar](http://time.com/4549512/obama-on-favorite-rappers/?iid=sr-link6)‘s incisive verses over Drake’s chiller rhymes, he’s also confessed he (and his daughters) love Drake, calling the rapper “unbelievably talented.” Plus, he was spotted [breaking it down](http://time.com/4543490/obama-dances-to-drake-hotline-bling/?iid=sr-link1) to the smash hit “Hotline Bling” at a BET event in October. See the full message below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4631323/drake-barack-obama-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4631323/drake-barack-obama-meme/"},"headline":"Drake Paid Tribute to Barack Obama By Giving Him a Drake Beard in This Picture","datePublished":"2017-01-11T17:42:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:05.053Z","description":"\"Big up yaself O.\"","url":"https://time.com/4631323/drake-barack-obama-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4631323/drake-barack-obama-meme/","name":"Drake Paid Tribute to Barack Obama By Giving Him a Drake Beard in This Picture"}}]}] ```