A superstar rapper and his signature owl have ruffled the feathers of the city’s legal eagles.

Drake, one of Toronto’s most famous and proud cultural ambassadors, failed to ask permission to use a modified version of the official city logo on a Gardiner Expressway billboard promoting his smash-hit new album, a city spokesperson says.

The billboard, located at Dufferin St. and Springhurst Ave., features the word “Toronto” in the distinctive style of the logo. And in the spot on the logo where the image of City Hall is located, to the left of the “Toronto,” the billboard substitutes the owl emblem of Drake’s personal brand, October’s Very Own.

The album’s name, Take Care, and release date, Nov. 15, are below. The very bottom of the billboard, however, reads “Population 2,753,609” in the style of an official welcome-to-town sign.

“We would suggest,” city spokesperson Francine Antonio-Forte said in an email, “that the treatment of the word Toronto used on the billboard is very similar to the wordmark that forms part of the Toronto logo. The similarity of the wordmarks, in conjunction with other creative elements used for the billboard, may cause some confusion about the source of the information.”

Although the billboard went up in October, Antonio-Forte said city officials only learned of its existence late last week. They are now “reviewing the matter.”

“While the city is proud of its local and international talent, we have a general practice of reviewing and addressing reported or known cases related to the possible misuse of the Toronto logo,” she said.

The chorus of one of Drake’s songs, “City Is Mine,” goes as follows: “Yo, the city is mine/Which one?/T-O-R-O-N-T-O.” It is not clear whether he mistakenly believes his ownership of the place extends to its intellectual property; his management company did not respond to a request for comment.

Drake, full name Aubrey Drake Graham, was raised in Forest Hill. The 25-year-old former Degrassi: The Next Generation star has endeared himself to Toronto fans by maintaining a vocal hometown pride throughout his rise to worldwide renown as a rapper — collaborating with Toronto artists, shooting a video at the Rogers Centre and Scarborough’s Guildwood Park, launching a local music festival, and promoting the city in songs such as “Successful” (“Word to Toronto”), “Ransom” (“Toronto, I got you”), “Underdog” (“I got my city buzzin’/You should take a trip and view it”), and "I'm On One" ("All I care about is money and the city that I'm from").

Take Care debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 631,000 copies in its first week.

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