Despite being from Toronto, Drake has a long connection to Houston, Texas, dating back to when he traveled to the city as an unsigned artist to meet with Lil Wayne. That’s why he hosted his second Houston Appreciation Weekend over the weekend — and why he used the celebration to reveal plans for his new upscale dance club residing in the city.
On Sunday night, Drake launched his “classy” dance/strip club called The Ballet. The kick-off event saw Drake DJing and unwrapping wads of cash while women dressed in fishnets and string bikinis danced on stage and humped poles. But don’t get it twisted, because Drake wants you to know this isn’t really a strip club.
“There’s a culture out there of dancing. And it’s not about no strip club shit,” Drake explained from the pop-up club’s DJ booth. “It’s really about these amazing women that we got in one spot. This music that we got. This Houston culture that we got.” Well, if this is Houston culture, it sure looks a hell of a lot like a strip club. Not that that’s a diss to either the city or Drizzy’s new club; it’s just about calling a spade a spade and a thong a thong.
However The Ballet ends up actually being classified, it’s confirmed to be opening in H-Town in the early part of next year. “Tonight is a different take on how it should be done in Houston,” Drake wrote in an Instagram post announcing The Ballet. “Treat yourself don’t cheat yourself. Where the women are on a pedestal and the surroundings are unforgettable. The Ballet pop up tonight for HAW. Grand opening early 2017. ???? #HelloWorld.”
See that post and some relatively SFW clips from the Ballet HAW event below.