John Silva has worked with plenty of VIPs during his 40-year tenure as a go-to ice supplier in Toronto. But nothing prepared him for the overwhelming response his company received after linking up with Drake for a promotional livestream that was shot in part at his cold storage warehouse.
“It’s a great feeling, but I’m telling you, we did not know what was coming,” Silva, 63, who owns The Iceman Toronto, told the Star. “The number of people contacting us, and the response we’re getting from friends and family, it’s just crazy.”
The excitement began on Saturday, when Drake posted a surprise livestream on YouTube titled “ICEMAN EPISODE 1.” The nearly hour-long video, which fans suspect is part of a rollout for a forthcoming album, features footage of Drake decked out in Iceman gear hanging out in the company’s cold storage warehouse. Later, the stream shows Drake cruising through the city in an Iceman supply truck, singing along as his music blasts from speakers and interacting with fans on the street.
The livestream also featured a brand new song, titled “What Did I Miss?” in which Drake appears to make reference to his explosive rap feud with Kendrick Lamar that commenced last spring.
Within minutes, Silva was inundated with phone calls from across North America, with fans asking to purchase merch and other paraphernalia from the small business.
“I got stuff like that for my staff, but I haven’t got enough to be selling off to people,” said Silva, adding that they are working on a plan moving forward.
Silva founded The Iceman Toronto in 1987. For the past 14 years, he’s operated the company out of a warehouse on Adelaide Street West alongside his son Jake, who manages the company’s daily operations. The company, which describes itself as “Toronto’s largest distributor of packaged ice, dry ice and ice machines,” currently employs about 50 people and ships up to 150,000 pounds of ice per day in the summertime.
“I have a lot of appreciation and respect for the fact that Drake’s team was willing to work with a relatively small company like ours,” Jake Silva told the Star. “It’s pretty clear that even though he’s an internationally known artist, he still tends to come back here to work with local creative people, and he’s willing to spotlight small companies like ours.”
(Indeed, it’s not the first time that Drake has helped put a family-run business on the map. Last year, after Kendrick Lamar name dropped the name New Ho King in a diss track, Drake shot a music video at the Chinatown restaurant.)
The link between Drake and the Iceman was first made earlier this year, when one of Jake’s friend’s who had previously worked with the rapper heard rumblings of a project underway titled “The Iceman.” The friend reached out to Drake’s circle and suggested they connect with the actual Iceman of Toronto.
Months passed, and suddenly Jake received word from Drake’s camp. “I hadn’t heard anything until last week, and they just said we’re coming in and let’s make this happen.
“They shared with us kind of what they wanted to do and, you know, I had just a few hours to kind of decide whether it was something that we wanted to or not — it’s not like we could shut our operations down for two days to facilitate this,” Jake added. “So we came to an understanding that we were going to be able to continue to operate around their production, which they were very accommodating with and my employees, of course, were understanding of the fact that their workspace was going to be a little disturbed for a few days.”
In the livestream, the warehouse looks completely empty: the video shows a solitary Drake measuring blocks of ice, warming up some food in a microwave and watching old clips of himself perform on an old break room television. But behind the scenes was a bit more chaotic.
“They called us on Wednesday and like 50 people show up on Thursday, and a hundred people on Friday,” Silva recalled. “And they sorta start taking over and you’ve got to say: ‘Buddy stop! We’re a business to run! You got to stay on that side of our warehouse and we’re going to work on this side.’
“Respectfully, we’ve got to keep our everyday customers happy,” he added with a belly laugh.
And yes, Drake really was driving an official Iceman delivery truck through Sankofa Square on Friday. “He wanted an older one,” Jake noted, saying that he had to get the stunt cleared with his insurance company.
Overall, Jake said the shoot was a professional and positive experience. He also had a chance to speak with Drake himself. “He was great and all the people that he had working on this were great. He was also interested in our company and he took some samples home of the product, so I think he’s not just a fan of the brand, I think that he’s also a fan of the product.
“Honestly, I am just really happy to have a brand that my father and all of our colleagues have worked so hard to grow highlighted like it was last week.”
