Clothing Brand Founder on Shirt Drake Wears in Blackface Photo

Drake had people talking last night (May 31) when he issued a statement about a photo of him in blackface that shocked the hip-hop community. The photo was unearthed by Pusha-T and used as the cover art for a savage diss track against Drake, "The Story of Adidon." Now that Drake has said his piece, the clothing company that the Toronto rapper is wearing in the photo has spoken out as well.

The shirt Drake dons in the photo is a well-known image symbolic of the Jim Crow era. The company who made the shirt, Too Black Guys, wanted to make it known that they supported Drake's creative vision in wearing their clothing during the controversial photoshoot.

Too Black Guys released a statement to XXL expanding on their position. "The photo in question was not from a Too Black Guys photoshoot however it did feature clothing from Too Black Guys’ JIM CROW COUTURE/HOUSE OF CROW collection which was released in 2008," it begins. "The collection featured several graphics that highlighted the painful and dangerous period of the Jim Crow Era. Too Black Guys has a history of representing the black experience in an unapologetic way. Although this was not an image from any of our photoshoots, we feel that Drake, who is a long- time friend of the brand, was brilliantly illustrating the hypocrisy of the Jim Crow Era."

The statement concludes, "The subtleties of Drake, a young black man, mimicking how white men used to mimic and dehumanize black people may be lost in a rap battle but we should not be distracted from the issues that are still affecting our communities."

The clothing line appears to support Drake's statement posted to Instagram about his choice to wear blackface that he made on Wed, May 30, in that he wanted to raise awareness of the prejudices Black actors face in the entertainment industry.

Following the release of Drake's statement, Pusha-T accused him of staying silent on Black issues in the years since the photo was taken.