Credit: Alamy

It’s the stuff of a performer’s nightmares: taking to the stage, and getting booed right off it again. It’s the worst-case scenario, but it can happen to even the most seasoned and famous of performers. Just ask Drake.

In 2019, a time when Drake was arguably still at his absolute peak of cultural relevance, he was met by a chorus of negativity while he was on stage in Los Angeles. He had been a surprise guest at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival event, but the crowd wasn’t at all happy about it. They wanted someone else.

Established in 2012, Camp Flog Gnaw is a mixture of a musical festival and a carnival, complete with fairground rides. It was initially known as Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All Carnival, or just the Odd Future carnival, named after Tyler’s Odd Future collective. That’s relevant to note, because the festival’s Odd Future roots are precisely why people reacted so badly in 2019.

The crowd wasn’t annoyed by Drake showing up on stage as such. When Tyler invited him on, people were generally enthusiastic about it at first. Big cheers went up, as people were unexpectedly being treated to a surprise performance from one of the world’s biggest stars.

But the problem is that rumours had been circulating about someone else who was expected to appear that night. It was said that Frank Ocean, an Odd Future alumnus, was going to take to the stage, which was an exciting prospect for a bunch of Tyler and Odd Future fans. 

The crowd initially seemed to believe that Drake was just the cherry on top. They still expected Ocean to appear, so they enjoyed Drake’s performance for a while. But after he played his song ‘Wu-Tang Forever,’ reality began to set in. This was it. Drake was the only surprise guest, and Frank Ocean wasn’t coming.

The crowd was not happy about it. Palpably losing them, Drake was forced to address the issue head-on. He literally asked if they wanted him to carry on, and the answer was resounding. Chants of “we want Frank!” duly filled the air.

Drake took it on the chin. He didn’t stay where he wasn’t welcome, and off he went. “It’s been love, I love y’all,” he said, despite the lack of love he received in turn. He even thanked the crowd as he exited.

Tyler later sent out a tweet in which he admitted it had been “tone deaf” to bring Drake on stage, in light of the specific audience attending Camp Flog Gnaw. Drake, for his part, saw the funny side of it, joking about the incident on Instagram and threatening a ten-year residency at Tyler’s festival in future.