Drake’s compound tucked away in the Los Angeles Hidden Hills community is what hip-hop dreams are made of.
WHEN Drake told us in 2015 he “got it rollin’ in all kinda ways, lump sum and residual,” on his song No Tellin, he wasn’t joking. The Canadian rapper is worth a reported $180 million as of 2021 and his famous YOLO Estate in California is a testament to his lavish lifestyle.
Drake has been building his real estate empire over the last decade and spends a lot of time at his $100 million custom-built mansion in his birthplace of Toronto, but his property in California is a true playground for the rich and famous, covering three acres and including 13,500 square feet of living space.
The neighbourhood caught Drake’s eye in 2009 when he saw the property listed for $27 million, but some shrewd business on his part saw him secure it for just $7.7 million from former owner Larry Pollack of Saddle Ranch Chop Houses.
The God’s Plan rapper spent the next four years renovating, and to name just a few incredible features, the YOLO pad has its own indoor movie theatre, a game room and wine cellar, a spa, a massage room, and a state-of-the-art gym.
The Toronto Raptors fan makes no secret of his love of basketball, so he built his own multi-purpose tennis/basketball court on the property.
Famous for his lavish parties, Drake promised neighbours he would buy their houses if his lifestyle disrupted their privacy, and he stood by his word. Since 2009 the rapper bought two houses in the YOLO Estate’s vicinity – a nearby ranch-style house for $3 million and another one later for $4.5 million.
Elsewhere on the grounds, Drake is the proud owner of a five-stall horse stable, and while it’s hard to imagine Drizzy riding around LA on a white stallion (actually, maybe not), the lucrative nature of horse racing is something that appealed to the music mogul.
Built in a classic English Tudor style, the estate has 6 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms – more than enough space to entertain his A-list neighbours such as the Kardashians, Kanye West, French Montana and The Weeknd.
The old house is full of history, and Drake revealed that it came fitted with a secret chamber to an old-fashioned wooden-panel library that provides an entrance to his bachelor suite.
Rolling Stone claimed in 2014 that when he brings women over, “he delights in flipping a switch beside a bookshelf, which swings open to reveal his bedroom.” So that’s what he meant on Nonstop.
In the same interview, Drake told Rolling Stone: “One of my goals in life is to have the biggest residential pool on the planet,” and it appears he has pursued this dream at the YOLO Estate.
At the centre of the property is an extravagant swimming pool with cascading waterfalls that can be remotely controlled to increase or decrease pressure. There is also an eighty-foot-long rock waterslide and a man-made grotto with a built-in wet bar, TVs, and lit torches.