EXCLUSIVE

Drake knows what makes for a cool summer — ice cream! — so he threw down some cash to have it handed it out in a lucky L.A. neighborhood.

The ‘Scorpion’ rapper and singer paid more than $10,000 for 1,000 individual frozen treats at 5 different locations in the L.A. suburbs Friday. We’re told 4 stands were set up in Hidden Hills and one at The Commons at Calabasas … all giving away free goodies.

Sources close to the giveaway tell us Drake did it to promote his new album — lyrics are plastered on the sides of the Ice Cream Occasions carts — and because he thought it’d be a “cool thing to do on a hot day for the community.”

We’re told the community — especially the kids — shared in his feelings.