Grab a vest, because some shots were fired. If you’ve been a fan of Drake, or have even listened to his music for 3+ years, you’d know that this isn’t the first time that he’s been one to take jabs at people who have been getting at him for whatever the case may be. In the city of Toronto, it’s a small circle that somehow and someway, everyone is linked to – so news definitely spreads like wildfire when it drops.

On the last episode of ‘(insert time here) in (insert city here)‘ by Drake, it was before his debut album had come out, he was riding the wave of success from So Far Gone, and if you live in Toronto , you couldn’t help but to know about the Drake & Page tension that pretty much separated the Hip Hop community in the city. You were either ATF/OVO or TYPD. At this point Drake hadn’t been the big star that he is now, but the fact that he aired out his frustrations in that type of way, it showed that he had (at least) the bravado to hold his ground for the future:

“This one is for all the niggas from my city trying to diss
Without a response from me you really fail to exist
And I love to see you fail, that feeling there is the shit
I swear, pussy nigga get your bread up
Enjoy the seat that the stewardess just forced your ass to let up
Why your scary ass looking down, pick ya head up
No one told you your disguise was the most ridiculous get-up?
With nose-plugs in now, I can smell the set-up
So you just wasting your time, you only making me better, yeah
I try to tell them don’t judge me because you heard stuff”

          That was then, this is now. His 2nd album won a Grammy, he’s about to put out his 3rd, Started From The Bottom (catchy, yet annoying) has Hip Hop on a vice-grip hold at the moment, and he’s one of the hottest MCs in the game – not much to argue there. Given all of the drama with Chris Brown, and legal allegations, and the suspect behaviour, it was in due time that Drake & Boi-1da got back in the booth to knock out a track. Drake couldn’t have said it better, really:

Produced by @boi1da like it should be.

— Drizzy (@Drake) March 7, 2013

So, what exactly was on Drake’s mind for this one? Plenty – it seemed. Drake doesn’t name names (a lot of people wish that he did; I know I do), but it’s not exactly inconspicuous to know who he’s talking about. Aside from the subliminal shots, I can’t lie, Drake did bring the fire in this verse, and it’s probably his best ‘rap’ since his Stay Schemin’ verse. ‘Mixtape Drake’ as the people call it, is what many of his old fans (especially in Toronto) prefer, so this is a good sign if it’s anything that will be relevant on the album. The Weeknd & Chris Brown were standout subs that a lot of people might have missed. I heard them, but I wasn’t sure why. The Weeknd is more spicy, so I’ll focus on that:

“Some nobody started feelin’ himself
A couple somebodies started killin’ themself
A couple albums dropped, those are still on the shelf
I bet them shits would have popped if I was willin’ to help”

“This is all first verse – all first verse” – Loaded Lux

Now, everyone knows that memorable night when Drake tweeted out the House of Balloons mixtape that had the internet going mad, and thus – The Weeknd was spawned to everyone (the hipsters, obviously were mad because ‘THEY KNEW ABOUT HIM FIRST BEFORE THE HYPE *pouts and folds arms*’). Two mixtapes afterwards, and a couple of appearances on Take Care, The Weeknd was well on his way to being something big. Now – here’s what people were telling me and things started to sort of make sense to me. Apparently, Drake & The Weeknd have had their issues with each other long before this line, but the main thing is that when The Weeknd had signed to Universal Republic and not OVO, a lot of people had taken that as a shock, whereas many others felt it was a good thing because there were still ties to YMCMB with OVO. Now, I don’t know the exact details, I’m just going off by what I was told. It could simply be a business decision, it could be an ego issue, but the truth of matter is that this was said, and no one had really known that there was an issue about it.
The feud with Chris Brown isn’t exactly on the ‘hush hush’, and there were a couple of lines throughout the track that stood out about him, but the line about ‘albums on the shelf’ could be related to Chris Brown, seeing as his album did severely underwhelming numbers, Drake felt like if he was on it, he could move some units – as cocky as it may sound, that’s probably not that far off from the truth.

“Give these niggas the look, the verse, and even the hook
That’s why every song sound like Drake featuring Drake”

Drake is an innovator, and he’s pretty much single-handedly changed the rap game as far as people singing their hooks or the style that they bring. People have said that he’s used Kirko Bangz style before people even knew about Kirko Bangz (there are similarities), and obviously Drake isn’t the first to rap and sing (Mos Def, Lauryn, Wyclef, J.Cole)  but he seems to have the most impact because of his ability to make hits and it leaves everyone having to play catch up. I’m not a fan of his album music over his mixtape music, but I can’t deny that he’s become a big star and has surpassed a lot of rappers with what he’s been able to do. All of that was emphasized on this track, and it seems like he brought a lot of fire with him on this to propel him towards (what hopes to be) the release of his best body of work since So Far Gone. Only time will tell, but in the meantime, we’ll have to just sit back and wait. 2013 has been pretty interesting/entertaining thus far, and it’s only the 3rd month. Let’s see how this goes.

That’s My Word & It STiXX