S. Samuel
Young Money's Drake may have "Started From the Bottom" but he's living life atop the entertainment world these days and now a former stylist has put him out on front street over some major debts.
According to reports, an ex-Drizzy stylist has taken legal action against him for owing nearly $80,000.
Drake spends over $30,000 per month on expensive stylists — whom he also flies around the country — plus thousands upon thousands more on clothing and jewelry … and now the mounting bills are biting him in the ass. A stylist formerly employed by the rapper has filed a lawsuit against Drake, claiming Drake owes him $76,490 as of December 2012 … including consulting services, hotel bills, plane tickets, and endless shopping expenses. The stylist Michael Raphael says Drake hired him in August 2012 for consulting services at a monthly rate of $39,583 — services that include styling, clothing and graphic design for Drake’s company OVO, brand direction, photography, etc. (TMZ)
While the Young Money star paid his bills initially, the plaintiff claims Drake abruptly stopped last December.
According to the lawsuit, the wages do NOT cover the exorbitant expenses Raphael also incurred on Drake’s behalf — dropping stacks at stores like Nike, Diesel, American Rag, and countless boutiques … plus insane travel expenses (SLS hotel, anyone?). Raphael even includes a bunch of receipts to show just how much he spent — one Nike receipt was for $1,162, one for Diesel was $1,483, $714 at American Rag, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Raphael claims Drake faithfully paid his bills from August to November last year, but suddenly stopped paying in December — a month where Raphael racked up nearly $40,000 in shopping and other expenses on top of his monthly salary … for a total of $76,490. Raphael is now suing Drake for the full amount. (TMZ)
Earlier this summer, the Toronto native talked about his love for money and wanting to secure real wealth.
“He muses aloud about money. Yes, he wants it–for what it can buy, for what it signifies. He vowed he’d bank $25 million by the time he was 25–and he did–and now he’s wondering what it would take to run his life, with a wad of perpetual pocket money, at the level he wants. With the private jets and cribs, the vacations and hotel suites for the crew. He’s talking about Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and owner of the Chelsea Football Club, whose yacht Drake believed cost $550 million. ‘Do you know that even if I had $250 million in the bank, I couldn’t buy half of that?’ he says. (Turns out the yacht actually cost $1.5 billion.) ‘Rappers aren’t the really rich ones. We all have nice houses with studios and cars, but you need a piece of someone’s business to be super wealthy.'” (GQ)
Recently, Drake delved into feeling comfortable in his own skin and not worrying about having personal insecurities.
“Do I think that if I didn’t have, for lack of a better term, a unique look about me, if I was from somewhere in America and if I hadn’t been on a kids TV show [Degrassi: The Next Generation], would I be as famous? I don’t know, man. Honestly, I don’t think so. I was just some young kid on a TV show. And I haven’t become anything else while I’ve been in this position. It’s not like I got here and was like, “Oh, got to switch up my image.” I don’t wake up nervous. I feel like maybe a lot of these guys do. How old are you, really? What is your background, really? What have you really done in the drug game, in the thug game?” (XXL Magazine)
