EbonyPrince2k24

Submission 10,913

Part of a series on Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake Feud. [View Related Entries]

About

EbonyPrince2k24 refers to the Twitter / X account of an unknown man who leaked items allegedly owned by rapper Drake. A photo of EbonyPrince2k24's items was notably used as the cover art for Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss track "meet the grahams." EbonyPrince2k24 posted cryptic videos and photos with the items in May 2024 amid the Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake feud, seemingly taken in the Mark Hotel in New York City. Many speculated that EbonyPrince2k24 was a former employee of the Mark Hotel who purportedly knew incriminating evidence against Drake that transpired on January 22nd, 2023. Included in EbonyPrince2k24's accusations was disabled Queens Daily Eagle reporter Christopher Alverez who was shown in security cam footage with a man alleged to be Drake in January 2023. Also, DJ Akademiks was namedropped by EbonyPrince2k24, purportedly linked to the incriminating information. In viral reactions, many called EbonyPrince2k24 The Riddler or compared his hotel lobby photo to David Lynch's Twin Peaks.

Online History

On May 10th, 2024, X^[1] user @EbonyPrince2k24 shared his first tweet which was a poster-like image reading "Ebony" in cursive and beneath it reading, "Est. 1978 Brooklyn," with more North American, European and South American cities listed resembling tour dates. The tweet received over 1,300 likes in three days (shown below).

Soon after on May 10th, @EbonyPrince2k24 posted a video to X^[2] in which a laptop was playing Kendrick Lamar's song "meet the grahams." The cameraman (presumably @EbonyPrince2k24 himself) panned around the room to show multiple items included in the cover art of "meet the grahams," including a print copy of the Queens Daily Eagle, a photo and a statue of Toronto's CN Tower, a Holt Renfrew bag, receipts from a store called Popular Jewelry, a short-sleeve button-up shirt with a dog and fire hydrant on it and prescription bottles for Ozempic and Adderall. The camera panned to the window, showing the view from the room: the New York City skyline.

The caption of the video tagged Kendrick Lamar and Drake, as well as DJ Akademiks, telling the latter two that they "have until noon Monday 5/13/24 to retract your claims of theft, or my attorney Ms. Adrienne Edward and I will exhaust every legal option available." Over three days, the tweet received roughly 9.8 million views and 41,000 likes (shown below).

#1. King kendricklamar</a> is not a liar, and I am not a thief!<br><br>#2. Mr. Aubrey Graham (<a href="https://twitter.com/Drake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Drake) & Mr. Livingston Allen (@Akademiks) have until noon Monday 5/13/24 to retract your claims of theft, or my attorney Ms. Adrienne Edward and I will exhaust every legal option available. pic.twitter.com/Mm6TBjMiXc

— EbonyPrince2k24 (@EbonyPrince2k24) May 11, 2024

Soon after on May 10th, 2024, @EbonyPrince2k24 posted a photo to X,^[3] taken from the security camera of a hotel lobby with black-and-white striped floors. The footage was timestamped "1-22-2023 Sun 03:19:03." The caption read, "To Mr. Aubrey Graham (@Drake), may this photo help jog your memory as to where you discarded those items. The issue in the photo should also jog your memory. Jimmy Brooks would not have been proud of you that night…"

In the photo, Queens Daily Eagle reporter Christopher Alverez is seen in his motorized wheelchair with a hooded man alleged to be Drake. Over three days, the tweet gained roughly 4.9 million views and 17,000 likes (shown below).

@EbonyPrince2k24 posted multiple tweets on May 10th, carrying into the following days. For instance, on May 11th, he posted to X,^[4] writing, "You've had many things discarded on your behalf over the years. I wonder if you can remember them all…" receiving over 9,100 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Later on May 11th, 2024, he posted to X,^[5] furthering his claim that Drake had left the items somewhere, writing, "Had you not lied, I would've just waited until you died to sell my goods…" receiving over 7,400 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Online Reactions

As @EbonyPrince2k24's tweets went viral, users on X reacted to them, such as X^[6] user @AnimeSerbia on May 11th, 2024, who compared @EbonyPrince2k24 to The Riddler, receiving over 2,300 likes in two days (shown below, left).

Later on May 11th, 2024, X^[7] user @YaHateTwoSeeIt posted a similar meme comparing @EbonyPrince2k24 to The Riddler, gaining over 10,000 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Also on May 11th, 2024, X^[8] user @SilentDawnLB wrote, "We've officially reached the David Lynch portion of the Drake/Kendrick beef," earning over 1,600 likes in two days (shown below).

Online Presence

Online Theories

Various conspiracy theories about @EbonyPrince2k24 surfaced in May 2024.

For instance, on May 11th, 2024, an X^[9] user allistic ashley highlighted that the security cam photo was taken at the Mark Hotel in Manhattan. The X user linked the hotel to Jeffrey Epstein's "Black Book," citing a New York Post article about protestors outside the Mark Hotel picketing while Drake was there. The article, however, is about how a wealthy Upper East Side teenager paid the picketers to protest under false pretenses because he was routinely denied alcohol at the Mark Hotel bar because he was underage. Regardless, the tweet received over 1,000 likes in two days (shown below).

On May 12th, X^[10] user @CAWBBBB tweeted that DJ Akademiks originally claimed that the items in the "meet the grahams" cover art were stolen from Drake's dad Dennis Graham. The X user then stated that "Akademiks confirmed those items were actually Drake's as he stayed in The Mark Hotel and that he is indeed taking ozempic," receiving over 24,000 likes in a day (shown below).

On May 11th, 2024, Redditor^[14] Night_Fev3r shared a post to /r/KendrickLamar that was "@EbonyPrince2k24 backups, in case they're deleted." The post gained roughly 5,000 upvotes in two days. The post included all of @EbonyPrince2k24's tweets but also theories related to his claims.

For instance, "The video from EbonyPrince2k24 matches a balcony from Harriet's Rooftop & Lounge" and "The luxury hotel [Mark Hotel] is in close proximity to the Apollo Theater and Barclays Center, where Drake performed during that month [January 2023]," among others (shown below, click to expand).

DJ Akademiks' Reaction

On May 12th, 2024, DJ Akademiks reacted to @EbonyPrince2k24's X posts on a Rumble livestream. Among many things stated in the three-hour video, Akademiks said that he had a good idea of who @EbonyPrince2k24 was and he was going to hire a private investigator to confirm. The full-length stream was posted to YouTube^[11] (shown below).

X^[12] user @HuntsmanLone posted a clip from DJ Akademiks' stream, receiving over 16,000 likes in a day.

Christian Alvarez's Response

On May 13th, 2024, Christian Alvarez and Mary Frost published a piece on The Brooklyn Eagle^[15] in which Alvarez fully responded to the rumors based on EbonyPrince2k24's posts. Among many things, Alvarez confirmed that he was with Drake on the night of January 22nd, 2023, after his show with 21 Savage at the Apollo Theater. Alvarez stated, "I am not in the position to talk about his character outside of our meetings but I can say I was not violated in any way."