【Esther Studer】

Drake and Esther Studer21 Savage have been busy promoting Her Loss, their joint album released Nov. 4. They've appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert and Saturday Night Live, performed a COLORS show, graced a Voguecover, and were interviewed by Howard Stern.

Except none of these things actually happened.

The pair's press tour is largely fake, the rappers have forged these materials and recordings, much to the amusement of fans and the chagrin of others, including Condé Nast. What's going on?

The Vogue issue

Starting in late October, Drake and 21 Savage began to roll out their alleged press appearances and other promotional events. The Vogueissue came first, picturing the two stars on a highly realistic but fabricated cover, complete with a quote from 21 Savage. In a now deleted Instagram post, Drake thanked the magazine's commander-in-chief Anna Wintour, writing, "Thanks @voguemagazine and Anna Wintour or the love and support on this historic moment."

They even distributed copies of the zine-like edition. Rolling Stone deputy music editor Simon Vozick-Levinson tweeted about the magazine on Oct. 31, writing that the fake magazine was "a photoshopped version of Vogue's October issue". Others also posted about being handed the fake magazine on the street.

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Condé Nast, the owner of Vogue, was unimpressed by this gimmick, and is now seeking up to $4 million in statutory damages. On Monday, the publisher filed a 30-page lawsuit against both Drake and 21 Savage, stating that the defendants went "so far as to create a counterfeit issue of Voguemagazine — distributing copies in North America's largest metropolitan cities". The suit also states that Wintour had "no involvement" in this promotion and that neither the magazine nor its editor "endorsed it in any way".

Praise for their stunts

Others who Drake and 21 Savage set out to troll or mimic, including Howard Stern and NPR, seemed to appreciate the album promotions more. The radio host praised the interview, which uses clips and questions from Stern's other interviews and edits the pair to look like they're responding in the show's studio. "Drake did such a good job that the news outlets are reporting on it as if it’s real," he said.

NPR, meanwhile, genuinely invited the duo to perform a Tiny Desk Concert, the broadcaster's series of intimate performance conducted against a signature backdrop of bookshelves, after their stunt. Drake and 21 Savage's team faked the artists sitting in NPR's instantly recognisable office corner, with the pair mimicking the style of the series in clips posted across social media.

An NPR spokesperson said, "If Drake and 21 Savage want to perform at the real Tiny Desk, we'd love to have them."

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Each of the stunts have been meticulously executed — and realistic to the point of belief. That includes their SNLperformance, in which actor Michael B. Jordan played host. The tone of their campaign is largely facetious, seemingly prodding at — and resisting — the lengthy promotional cycles artists undergo pre-release.

Her Losshas proved to be controversial in other ways since its release, including backlash over a supposed dig at Megan Thee Stallion. More broadly, the album and Drake himself has been accused of displaying ingrained misogyny.

The album is set to make waves, though. The Wall Street Journalreports that "the music business" is expecting to see sales soar by the end of this week. Elsewhere, Billboard sees Her Lossas a possible contender to Taylor Swift's record-breaking Midnights.