TORONTO - Musicians who host the Juno Awards typically take some hardware home from the show, so there were a few raised eyebrows when rapper Drake came up empty Sunday night.
"Hmmmm...... Drizzy wit no Junos in Toronto?" tweeted Drake's Juno-nominated producer Boi-1da, a native of Ajax, Ont.
"Really?"
Indeed, the shutout for the 24-year-old Toronto rapper -- who had a leading six nominations -- was especially surprising considering how past hosts have fared.
At the 2007 show in Saskatoon, Victoria songstress Nelly Furtado hosted and -- fresh off the success of her rump-shaking club smash "Loose" -- was feted with five awards, including album of the year and artist of the year.
Country crossover superstar Shania Twain was similarly successful back in 2003, the same year her succession of hockey-themed dresses sent tongues wagging.
Twain won three awards that night, including artist of the year.
Celine Dion was similarly dominant when the beloved Montreal chanteuse hosted back in 1993, claiming four awards including single of the year and female vocalist of the year.
The only recent examples of Juno hosts who went home empty-handed -- the Barenaked Ladies in 2002 or Alanis Morissette in '04, for instance -- occurred because those artists hadn't released material during the eligibility period.
But Drake won two Junos last year -- and that was prior to the release of his smash debut LP, "Thank Me Later," so he seemed destined to claim at least one award out of his six nominations.
A representative for Drake declined to comment.
Though Drake didn't nab any awards, the show's youngest-ever host did receive plenty of glowing reviews for the way he capably steered the telecast.
A day later, Twitter was buzzing over two of Drake's skits -- one in which he quizzed senior citizens on their hip-hop knowledge, and another that involved the rapper sparring with teen-pop star Justin Bieber over Skype -- and he received positive notices in the press, too.
Gossip blogger Elaine Lui -- who also works for Junos broadcaster CTV -- wrote that Drake was "everything that (Oscars host) James Franco wasn't," Macleans called him "charming" and deemed the Junos "more entertaining than either the Grammys or the Oscars," while Billboard reported that Drake "proved a solid emcee, with equal amounts of respect, well-timed jokes and pre-planned bits."
Even Bieber -- a two-time winner this year -- showed his support for Drake on Twitter: "to my big bro (Drake) i share these awards with you because you deserve them too. .greatfriend and a .greatartist."
