Drake’s CN Tower Ice Stunt Required 300 People and $15 Million in Gear

The Toronto rapper’s promotional spectacle for three new albums involved months of planning, global equipment sourcing, and a team of local creatives. It was the culmination of a series of stunts that included frozen arena seats and a park explosion.

Last Thursday night, the CN Tower appeared to freeze over. A blue, ice-like glow crawled up the 553-meter structure, broadcast live as part of the midnight rollout for Drake’s three new albums. The display wasn’t some simple lighting trick. It took a crew of 300 people, 75 projectors sourced from around the world, and about $15 million in gear just for the machines, with lenses worth millions more on top.

Anil Mohabir and his Toronto-based firm Studio AM, commissioned by Drake’s creative team DreamCrew, had three weeks’ notice to make it happen. They mapped the tower’s 3D geometry and used real-time computer animation to create the freezing effect, then shifted into an ambient light sequence. “We showed it freezing all the way to the top,” Mohabir told CBC. “Once it reached the top