“Why do niggas that are not involved love to get involved” is a curious line from a dude guesting on someone else’s diss track - or a brilliant one, but Drake otherwise does little to distract from Nicki’s bum-bitch bolero, which among other things manages to turn a cred-hopeful underdog’s jail bid into the rap sheet it is. It’s the Ray J-sampling slow jam that talks about the woman who sued him over use of her voice in a previous slow jam - not the most memorable of its type, nor the least. Yet another in a long line of “Drake’s woman thinks he’s fooling around but he’s not” songs, “Redemption” actually goes so far as to list some of the women who he’s been with and where they are now. Drake’s an honest artist, and this track exemplifies that.
He’s equal parts fiery intensity and sighing love, the kind of thing you’d expect from one of the world’s greatest getting caught up equally in the game and his love for his mother. Can you imagine getting all those messages? On “You & the 6”, Drake discusses his relationship with his mom, her attempts at setting him up with her personal trainer, and his attempts at explaining his complicated love life and career aspirations to her. “Girls Love Beyonce” N/A (2013)Īpparently, Drake’s mom’s got Google Alerts set up to get the news on her son, which, frankly, sounds like a nightmare. Thank Me Later was a strong step in the direction, something that “Thank Me Now” recognizes.
And even with a beat that’s only decent, Drake isn’t able to elevate the track like he can with less than stellar beats now. The beat doesn’t quite bang like Timbaland’s usual fare, but it’s passable. What he left out was that he was also on the brink of being good, because this is one of those “close but no cigar” situations. In the first verse of this Timbaland-produced track, Drake raps, “I’m on the brink of influential,” and he was right. In “The Calm”, he pontificates on these problems: “Look what I became, tryna make a name/ All my first dates are interrupted by my fame.” Drake is truly famous, and perhaps, in his eyes, it’ll only get worse … sort of. –Pat Levyīy So Far Gone, Drake had already perfected the art of the humble-brag: part self-deprecating, part bragging introspection in which Drake raps about how fame unfortunately interferes with his personal life. Drake ups the ante from the original but still falls short next to the Clipse rapper, because when you’re on a track with a rapper who is really about that life, it’s easy to seem inauthentic like Drake does. The inclusion of Malice is what ranks this track higher than the original, because Malice actually fits over this beat. “Do What U Do (Remix)” Comeback Season (2007)īringing back that mixtape boom-bap, Drake teamed up with Malice from Clipse and Nickelus F for a remix of “Do What U Do” from his first mixtape. It’s an old trope, but delivered here faithfully. Other than that, it’s mostly a track about a woman who is coming after Drake despite having a guy back home, which he wants nothing to do with.
“And so she want this chap’s stick like Napoleon Dynamite.” With that line, Drake boils down this entire track, a goofy joke that only Drake could land with the sort of sincerity he does here.