Drake sculpture goes viral

A nine-foot sculpture tied to Drake spread across social platforms this week, putting artist Rebecca Maria’s hand-built work in front of millions of viewers. (hypebeast.com) The piece is not a sculpture of Drake himself. Hypebeast, Complex and iHeart reported that Drake commissioned Rebecca Maria to make a nine-foot sculpture of Sade inspired by the cover of her 1992 album *Love Deluxe*. (hypebeast.com) (complex.com) (iheart.com) Rebecca Maria said she spent six months making the work by hand and used five different kinds of clay. Complex reported that she said the weight of the clays and the need to keep the piece standing made the build difficult. (complex.com) The sculpture started circulating widely after Rebecca Maria posted it on April 15, 2026, with behind-the-scenes footage of the build. iHeart reported that the post showed the finished work and clips from the six-month process. (iheart.com) The burst of attention landed because Drake’s commission turned a familiar kind of fan tribute into a room-sized object. Instead of a framed portrait or a tattoo, the work recreated a recognizable album image at roughly nine feet tall. (hypebeast.com) (complex.com) It also fit a longer public pattern in Drake’s relationship to Sade’s image and music. Rap-Up reported in 2017 that Drake had spoken publicly about wanting to work with Sade, and multiple outlets have noted that he has two Sade tattoos. (rap-up.com) (essence.com) Rebecca Maria’s own studio describes her work as rooted in nostalgia, sound and album-cover imagery from hip-hop culture. Complex also reported that she had previously made three-foot Dipset sculptures for Drake and other music-related pieces for A$AP Rocky and Lil Yachty. (rebeccamaria.studio) (complex.com) That helps explain why the sculpture traveled beyond fan accounts and celebrity-news pages. The image carried three ready-made hooks at once: Drake’s collecting habits, Sade’s instantly recognizable *Love Deluxe* cover, and the scale of a hand-shaped clay work that took half a year to finish. (hypebeast.com) (complex.com) (rebeccamaria.studio) By Friday, April 17, the sculpture had become less a single post than a circulating image: a nine-foot Sade commission for Drake, built by Rebecca Maria, and shared widely enough to pull a niche art object into mainstream celebrity conversation. (hypebeast.com) (iheart.com)