Drake’s ice sculpture announcing the release date for his highly anticipated album, ICEMAN, has reportedly been roped off by the police due to potential ice shifting. The Canadian rapper unveiled the sculpture near Bond Street in Toronto on April 20, 2026, as part of the rollout for his upcoming album, promising that the project’s release date was embedded between the blocks.
Following this, fans flocked to the site with pickaxes, sledgehammers, and blowtorches, eager to dent the sculpture and retrieve the album’s release date. On April 21, Toronto-based streamer Kishka reportedly broke through the sculpture and found a blue bag. He then drove over to Drake’s house, where he was allegedly gifted $100,000, and announced the release date as May 15, 2026.
Meanwhile, The Breakfast Club‘s Loren Lorosa took to X to report that the Toronto Police have blocked the ice sculpture due to potential ice shifting, deeming it “unsafe.”
“DRAKE ICEMAN UPDATE: A spokesperson for Toronto Police tells me: Drakes ice installation has been blocked off & deemed “unsafe” by police as of a certain time today 4/21/26.. Why? I’m told it’s potentially because of ice shifting (but police couldn’t confirm that being the exact reason why.. although they mentioned it) Toronto police say they’d only responded to Drakes ice sculpture two other times before this, strictly for crowd control,” she wrote on X.
In a follow-up post, she further added that this occurred after the release date was revealed.
Police barricaded Drake’s ice sculpture after fans swarmed the structure
Drake’s rollout for ICEMAN has been interesting, to say the least, and the rapper appeared to have taken the album’s name to heart with an ice-themed rollout. Earlier this month, the Hotline Bling rapper’s courtside seats at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto were iced out.
And on April 20, the rapper’s new sculpture renewed buzz about the much-awaited album, causing fans to swarm the structure with tools to break it down to find out the album’s release date. Videos show fans climbing atop the structure and starting a fire in hopes that it would melt faster. However, the police arrived at the scene at around 11 pm that night for crowd control and managed to barricade the structure.
A spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service addressed the incident in a statement to Now Toronto, saying it created a “dangerous situation” for people after some began climbing the structure and chipping at it from above.
“It was reported that there were people on top of a 25-foot-high ice sculpture refusing to come down. They were breaking off chunks of the ice with pickaxes and hammers and throwing them. A fire was also set atop the structure,” the statement read.
It added:
“Large pieces of ice began falling, creating a dangerous situation for people on the ground, as well as those who climbed the structure. Officers attended and remained on scene out of concern for public safety and to assist with crowd and traffic control.”
According to Pitchfork, Professor Valentin Crépel, a theoretical quantum physicist at the University of Toronto, estimated that the structure might take at least two weeks to melt fully.
Drake’s ICEMAN is his first solo album since For All The Dogs, which was released in 2023. It’s also his first full-length solo project since his 2024 beef with Kendrick Lamar.
Edited by Juhi Marzia
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