LONDON -- Drake may have made a surprise appearance during Rihanna's Brit Awards performance Wednesday night, but he didn't stick around for the after-party.
Instead of heading off to groove with the likes of Justin Bieber or Adele after the show was over, the Canadian artist joined UK grime artist Skepta on-stage at a Section Boyz gig in London.
DRAKE X SECTION BOYZ. pic.twitter.com/U3eTWCRt19— GRM DAILY (@GRMDAILY) February 24, 2016
DRAKE IS REALLY ON STAGE WITH SECTION BOYZ. cc @SectionBoyz_ @Skepta @Bonkaz pic.twitter.com/pGDht0ULpn— GRM DAILY (@GRMDAILY) February 24, 2016
boy better know @Drake @Skepta @SectionBoyz_ https://t.co/yVNUZPSrh3 pic.twitter.com/uSc2HNWeVu— still (@illroots) 25 February 2016
Trappin ain't dead. @Drake @SectionBoyz_ pic.twitter.com/e6lbJL5MQ5— Word On Road (@WordOnRd) 25 February 2016
My ones. #OVO #Section A photo posted by SKEPTA (@skeptagram) on Feb 24, 2016 at 3:09pm PST
The news comes in the aftermath of the #BritsSoWhite hashtag surfacing on Twitter in recent days, and many speaking out about a lack of diversity among the nominees.
Reading about artists talking about BRIT Awards + lack of diversity. I just looked at the nominees and it’s kind of sickening…— Marina Diamandis (@MarinasDiamonds) February 24, 2016
How can you ignore the likes of Lady Leshurr, JME, Skepta, Stormzy, Lethal Bizzle and others that had huge success last year? #BritsSoWhite— Jonathan Richard (@JonRichard) February 24, 2016
A Brit Awards spokesperson sent a statement to Mashable saying they take the issue of diversity very seriously.
"There are no individual awards for specific genres," they wrote, "and since only a small number of Brits are awarded every year, the artists who are honoured tend to be those who have achieved the very highest levels of chart success."