Drake Covers Slam Magazine

One night in mid-March, megastar rapper Drake and Toronto Raptors All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry gathered at the team’s practice facility to shoot the SLAM 198 cover. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it went down.

Shot by acclaimed photographer Atiba Jefferson, the cover features a dapper Drizzy in a suit and the young Raptors in their black-and-gold uniforms with the tagline “6 Gods.”

@slamonline @demar_derozan @kyle_lowry7 @raptors Another very important moment in my life to be on the cover of one of my favorite magazines of all time. #6SIDE #VIEWS

A photo posted by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Mar 30, 2016 at 8:53am PDT

SLAM editor-in-chief Ben Osborne teased the “Playoff Blowout” with a piece on SLAM Online, explaining why the mag decided to roll with this cover, blending rap and hoops.

“It had to be the right rapper, which Drake, with his millions of fans, upcoming album and official role as the Raptors Global Ambassador, is,” he explained. “And it had to be the right players, which Kyle and DeMar, fresh off their All-Star spots and still hungry for their first SLAM cover, certainly are.”