Drake's Adding A 9-Foot Sade Sculpture To His Art Collection

Atop Drake’s long list of musical influences is newly named Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sade, and now his appreciation for the “Smooth Operator” singer has elevated to another level.

While typical fans may scour eBay for bargain, weathered copies of Promise or Diamond Life vinyl, the rumored billionaire had a different train of thought when he hired Rebecca Maria.

Maria is a sculptor, and Drake commissioned her to build him a nine-foot statue of Sade.

She posted a series of photos of her making the piece of art at various stages, from molding the clay to covering it with plaster, and eventually smoothing it and applying a black top coat.

The sculpture depicts a faceless (and topless) Sade with her arms wrapped around her chest and hair flowing down her back, clearly inspired by her 1992 album Love Deluxe.

Love Deluxe was Sade’s fourth project and featured notable hits such as “No Ordinary Love,” “Kiss Of Life,” and “Cherish The Day.”

It was a departure from her previous three much-lauded ’80s albums, Diamond Life, Promise, and Stronger Than Pride, because of its more modern sound, which earned it spots on Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums.

Maria took to Instagram Stories to talk about the challenges of sculpting the figure, given its size, writing, “there were times I really did not know how I was going to finish this sculpture, between issues dealing with the weight of the different clays I used to making sure the sculpture can stand on its own.”

She continued, “dealing with hundreds of pounds of clay. I also just sculpted this off of viewing an image off my phone or purely from memory. i made this the hardest possible way just to see if i could. So truly all your kind messages and comments mean so much to me, thank you.”

Maria’s got a history of taking cultural moments and turning them into sculptures. A quick look at her webstore shows similarly faceless figures that are still pretty recognizable.

There’s Allen Iverson’s iconic moment in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals, where, after knocking down a fadeaway jump shot, he stepped over Ty Lue while staring him down.

Wood Harris, Mekhi Phifer, and Cam’ron’s characters, Ace, Mitch, and Rico, are even depicted as they crowd around for a photo in Paid in Full, and another of Cam rocking his signature pink fur.

Others include Lil Wayne dripping in Bape, and one that appears to show Max B looking up at the sky as he firmly grasps a wad of money.

Prices range from $150 to $350 for the 8-inch-tall figurines, but we’re sure Drake’s gargantuan commission was way more expensive.

See how social media is reacting to Drake’s latest fanboy moment over Sade below.