Drake Calls for Sam Bankman-Fried’s Release in New Song

Drake released three albums totaling 43 songs on Friday. On Iceman track “Dust,” he sings, “An FTX penthouse high-riser, yeah,” followed by, “Samuel Bankman, free all my guys up, yeah,” and later refers to himself as “a BTC crypto big-timer.” Reviewers reacted quickly to the albums and to the lyric that appears to call for clemency.

Sam Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence at a federal prison in California after his conviction on fraud charges tied to his operation of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange formerly based in the Bahamas. Since the president returned to office, Bankman-Fried and members of his family have sought a presidential pardon; the president has indicated he does not plan to grant one. Bankman-Fried has posted from prison in recent months praising the president’s decisions and noting recent activity by the Washington crypto lobby.

Some figures in the cryptocurrency industry and members of Congress have opposed a pardon, arguing that distancing from Bankman-Fried is necessary because of his role in FTX’s collapse. The debate over a possible pardon has drawn attention from business and government officials.

Drake faces separate legal scrutiny tied to cryptocurrency. He is a named defendant in multiple lawsuits alleging his promotion of Stake, an offshore online casino that accepted cryptocurrency, contributed to the platform’s growth. Those suits remain pending.

Reviewers criticized the simultaneous three-album release and the volume of new material. Listeners and commentators pointed to the Bankman-Fried lyric as an unexpected element in the rollout and noted its intersection with ongoing legal and political discussions around the FTX collapse.