Over - Intellectual

Drake not letting the “Young Money ship sinking” means he’s not going to let the label be forgotten and will continue to put out hits. On June 2010’s “Miss Me,” YM CEO Lil Wayne shared a similar sentiment about Drake:

Ha ha, damn! I’ll be gone ‘til November
But fuck it, I ain’t trippin’, I know Drizzy gon' kill ‘em

“I know way too many people here right now That I didn’t know last year, who the fuck are y’all? I swear it feels like the last few nights We been everywhere and back But I just can’t remember it all What am I doin’? What am I doin’? Oh, yeah, that’s right, I’m doin’ me, I’m doin’ me I’m livin’ life right now, man And this what I’ma do ’til it’s over, ’til it’s over But it’s far from over”

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In 2009—the year before this song’s release—Drake released his third and debut commercial mixtape, So Far Gone. The mixtape was essential in launching Drake’s career as it received universal acclaim from many critics and hip-hop fans alike.

Additionally, his June 2009 single “Best I Ever Had” was Drake’s real first taste of success as a solo artist as it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song.

These achievements essentially set the tone for the rest of Drake’s career in the following years as he continues to release successful projects after projects—both commercially and critically—with ease and shows no sign of falling off anytime soon.

Set It Off is a 1996 critically acclaimed heist film, which is about four best friends who decide to rob a bank so they can provide better for themselves and their families. The movie stars Jada Pinkett as Lida “Stony” Newsom, one of the four friends.

To “drop the ball” means to make an error or miss an opportunity. This was a shot at a radio host named Star, who said Drake had “dropped the ball.” He responded in an August 2010 segment of his radio show.

Call out to Lauryn Hill’s “The Sweetest Thing?”

Lauryn’s “Sweetest Thing” was love, but Drake’s is fame and influence.

Drake is about to thrill you, as did a young Michael Jackson in the classic music video, “Thriller”, in which he wears a red jacket with superfluous zippers.

Funnily enough, Drake portrayed the King of Pop in an episode of Degrassi.

In 2010, Canadian interviewer Nardwuar the Human Serviette interviewed Drake and “40”. Known for his extroverted style and seemingly inane qualities, he often surprises people with profound gifts and knowledge of his interview subjects. He presented Drake with ‘a fucking red jacket with some zippers’ during his interview. Drake:

“This is my first time ever wearing an actual red jacket with the zippers–a fucking red jacket with the zippers.”

Drake stated that his interview with Nardwuar was the “best that I’ve ever done in my entire life.”

Drake packs high-quality smoke, pronounced with some “izzle-wizzle” playfulness à la Snoop Dogg, into a Swisher blunt wrap.

The first few bars of this verse echo the beginning of “Hip-Hop” by Dead Prez, which in turn references “Trenchtown Rock” by Bob Marley.

One thing about music:
When it hit, you feel no pain
White folks says it controls your brain
I know better than that. That’s game
And we ready for that…

Drake wants to remain as visible as possible, so he flashes the high beams on his car whenever he drives by someone and suggests his competition put in some eye drops so that they can properly “see” him.

When someone asks you “How are you doing?” You may answer nonverbally with a thumbs up. In this case, shit is going so great for Mr. Do-Right-And-Kill-Everything that it deserves two thumbs up.

Siskel and Ebert are film critics who pioneered the “thumbs up/thumbs down” rating system. After Gene Siskel died of a brain tumor, Richard Roeper replaced him as Roger Ebert’s thumb buddy.

Drake’s come-up consisted of an early acting career, three mixtapes, two key music videos and one tour with Lil Wayne before signing to Young Money.

His 2007 music video Replacement Girl got him featured on BET and gained the attention of Lil Wayne who invited him on Tha Carter III Tour.

Since music videos and touring are standard means of promotion, he’s likely boasting in his achievement of fame in spite of no major label assistance. In that sense, Drake’s success coincided with a wave of rappers who came up through independent internet distributers such as Youtube and Datpiff. One parallel artist would be Tyler the Creator whose debut mixtape Bastard was released the same year as Drake’s breakout So Far Gone.

Probably the closest of Drake’s contemporaries to “do it like he did it” would be Childish Gambino who also began his showmanship as an actor, released his first mixtape in 2008, and released his first major label debut three years later in 2011 which was also promoted through a music video (Freaks and Geeks).

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Drake was getting a lot of popularity after releasing his mixtape “So Far Gone”, and working with fellow rapper Lil Wayne. This escalated Drake and he gained popularity rapidly, which is why he says it couldn’t’ve happened any quicker.

Young Money is the record label Drake is signed to. Around this time many members of Young Money (mainly Lil Wayne) would scream Young Money over intros, hooks and outros to songs.

Drake was only 23 when this song dropped, but he had the money/respect of someone that had been in the game for years. Drizzy often plays on this idea in his raps, as he has described himself as “the rookie and the vet” and “young as an intern, but money like I built this shit”.

Since So Far Gone, Drake has made his affinity for strippers and strip clubs well-known through his music. He even went as far as to promote his second album Take Care with a single called “Club Paradise,” named after his favorite strip club in Toronto.

In this line, Drake indicates his wealth by saying that he can afford to make it rain $100 bills in strip clubs instead of the customary $1 bills.

Drake later expresses a similar sentiment on his August 2011 song, “Headlines,” where he raps about drinking to the success he has achieved in his rap career:

Drinkin' every night because we drink to my accomplishments
Faded way too long, I’m floatin' in and out of consciousness

The word kosher is in reference to the Jewish dietary code, which prohibits the consumption or pork and shellfish among other things. Drake himself was raised Jewish by his mother, having attended a Jewish sunday school and had a Bar Mitzvah. To this day, Drake seems to be proud of his heritage, particularly that eventful night that was his Bar Mitzvah. He recreated it on SNL and later themed his 31st birthday party around it.