Drake, renowned American rapper and actor, recently shared KwaZulu-Natal’s Northwood School’s war cry on his Instagram story.
Speaking to IOL, Gina Klingbeil, the schools social media manager said that it began when “I posted a clip on Instagram of the school’s unique rendition of Drake’s ‘Nonstop’, the boys began tagging Drake on the video.
“Nobody actually thought that Drake would see the video let alone share it on his official Instagram story! It was insane!,” Klingbeil said.
@northwoodschool A little warm-up at warcry practice today. 😉🔵⚪️ #northwoodprefects #bluearmy #northwoodwarcry #stick ♬ original sound - Northwood School
Impressed by the creativity and energy of the Northwood boys, Drake took to Instagram, sharing the video with his staggering 145 million followers.
The clip quickly gained traction, capturing the attention of ESPN and audiences worldwide. The school earned praise for its innovative blend of local tradition and global pop culture.
The video is currently sitting on 15.4 million views and 1.2 million likes on Tiktok and just under 400,000 likes on Instagram.
“What most don't realise is that the videos were simply captured on regular Thursday mornings as part of war cry practice - unedited and unstaged, a wonderfully authentic reflection of who we are,” Klingbeil said.
School war cries are spirited chants or cheers that students and supporters use to rally behind their school teams during sports events. These energetic chants boost team morale and create an electric atmosphere.
Klingbeil said that the boys at Northwood have total freedom in choosing their war anthems, within reason of course. They also have freedom on how they compile them and the responsibility of practising the songs on their own with no assistance from teachers or coaches.
The video was liked and commented on by several high profile figures and celebrities including South African actress Minnie Dlamini, NBA veteran Nate Robinson, US rapper Young Buck, celebrity influence Lorenzo Cromwell and many others.
“None of this would have been possible without War Cry Leader, Nigel Kambasha, and his war cry team leaders, our Prefects and Mrs Torgious, the talented war cry band, our Tech and Press Team, and of course, our amazing Squires and Knights on the stands giving it their all,” Klingbeil concluded.