Drake meme just appeared in the strangest of places
The City of New York wants to make a Brooklyn park more accessible by installing a ramp. What better way to illustrate the impact that this could have on residents than with a rendering of Drake, in a wheelchair, rolling up to some style bloggers?
The artists appear in a59-page-long proposalreleased this week by the city's Parks Department, which apparently has no fans ofDegrassi: The Next Generationon staff. Or perhaps it's the opposite. Maybe this is a hip hop lovers Easter egg waiting to be found.
In the "proposed entrance area" sketch, Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbsof Street Etiquettecan be seen laughing in the foreground.
Drake appears in the background as Jimmy Brooks; the wheelchair-bound teenhe played on Degrassibefore striking it huge in real life as a rapper.
The Parks Department hasn't yet said if this was done on purpose or by accident, but either way, it's attracted lots of attention.
Perhaps tellingly, the image of Kissi and Gumbs appears onseveral websites and Pinterest boards致力于“种族多样化呈现人。”
When I did a reverse image search on the photo, Google's "best guess for this image" was, in fact, "diverse people cut out."
The image of Jimmy (or "Wheelchair Drake," as he's come to be known online) is the same one used in a very popular internet meme dating back to 2010.
Drake better be ready for another wheelchair cuz@xxxtentacionis out of jail!pic.twitter.com/yXK4bZ7IC9
— A.Torres (@ALEX_TORRES_22_)March 30, 2017
It's almost like somebody's dad in the Parks Department punched "young man in wheelchair" into Google and didn't recognize the photo. Or maybe,as Brokelyn suggests, "an intern at the New York City Parks Department is currently getting fired."
When asked about the rendering, a spokesperson for the Parks Department was coy.
"Started at the bottom of Fort Greene Park's signature hill, now we're here with the final design," he saidto the New York Post. "Which takes care to create a more welcoming park entrance — with improved views."
Looks like that intern is proving useful after all.
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