It's here. It's finally here! Drake's long awaited fifth full-length album, Scorpion, has dropped across everyone's favourite streaming platforms. And whether you're into Drake's music or not, you're going to be seeing a lot of him and his Instagram-friendly lyrics on social media over the next few days.
Scorpion follows the chart topping singles God Plan and Nice For What? which dominated the airwaves a little earlier in the year. The album boasts a whopping 25 songs - great if you're a Drake fan, long if you're only in because of culture FOMO - which have been split across a nostalgically familiar 'A Side' and 'B Side'.
Whether you listen to the album or not, rest assured that it's going to be all up in your social media feeds for a number of reasons. There was a lot of speculation around what to expect by way of collaborations, and whether or not Drake would purposely go down the R&B route he teased an interest in a few years ago. The Nice Guy of Hip Hop has boasted a commercially-friendly sound for a while now, and with the security of God's Plan and Nice For What? already smashing the streaming numbers, the musical court could've been blown wide open for our mate Drake.
But beyond the worthy, nitty gitty music stuff, there's lot's of juicy insights into Drake's life to unpick too. ICYMI, rapper Pusha T and Drake had a feud and in a dis-track released a couple of months ago Pusha claimed that Drake has a secret son. As expected, Twitter had a meltdown, Instagram meme-accounts had a field day and we all sat and questioned how invested we are in the whole thing.
We can report that the internet is thoroughly relieved to hear that Drake addressed his supposed fatherhood on the album. Curious? We all were. Here's a brief rundown of what else everyone else will be talking about.
Drake's Son
It has been confirmed, ladies and gentlemen. Drizzy is a daddy and his son has had the belated kinda-forced honour of an album shout-out. In Emotionless, which samples Mariah Carey's chart-topping track at the beginning, Drake lays the situation on the line to clarify why he hadn't mentioned the fact he had a son before Pusha T outted him in the midst of their fall out.
'I wasn't hiding my kid from the world, I was hiding the world from my kid', he raps. 'Breaking news in my life I don't run to the blogs / The only ones I want to tell are in my phone I can call / They always ask "Why let it run if it's false" / You know a wise man once said nothing at all'.
The secret was for the benefit his son (who's name is believed to be Adonis, btw), says Drake.
He goes on to explain a bit more about how he feels about the whole thing all the way in March 14, at the very end of Side B. 'I used to challenge my parents on every album / Now I’m embarrassed to tell ’em I ended up as a co-parent / Always promised the family unit / I wanted it to be different because I been through it, but this is the harsh truth now'.
Drake's Atlanta Episode
Drake is pretty meta at the best of times, but he one-upped himself at the end In My Feelings.
It's the track we're anticipating to be one of the few Scorpion songs that'll rear it's catchy little head at most social occasions over the summer, but the most-Drake moment of the song comes in the final 10 seconds or so when he samples some dialogue about himself, taken from an episode of Atlanta in which there's a house party at Drake's house. 'I don't even care, I need a photo with Drake because my Instagram is weak as fuck', Zazie Beetz's character Van.
Drake Instagram Caption Lyrics
We all knew this was coming. And if you didn't here's a clue to all those Instagram pictures you've seen over the years (coincidentally within the first month of a new Drake record) that have boasted the same, almost existential captions. Drake On Cake do it best, of course, but here are some others to look out for. Or use. We won't judge.
The Caption: 'Work all winter, shine all summer' from That’s How You Feel
The Scenario: This will be the holiday caption as used to demonstrate having been really stressed in the office and being just, like, so grateful to be out candid-posing in the sunshine.
The Caption: 'How can you be angry on a night of July' from Summer Games
The Scenario: Any post throughout the month of July.
The Caption: 'Who's gonna love you on your worst day?' from Ratchet Happy Birthday
The Scenario: A backhanded break-up post or something forced, but sweet of you and your bessie mate looking faux-hungover the morning after a big night.
The Caption: ‘I always need a glass of wine by sundown’ from Final Fantasy
The Scenario: Those standard 'here's my hand holding a drink and blocking a beautiful landscape' photos.
The Caption: 'Scrolling through life and fishing for praise' from Emotionless
The Scenario: The humble-brag 'I look great in this' outfit posts.
Scorpion's Editor's Notes
Drake's inherent self-awareness precedes him. He's low-key funny on Instagram, sportingly lols and double taps deprecating memes about himself and references his persona a few time on the album. In Final Fantasy Drake samples a clip from an episode of tabloid talk show Maury: 'Who'd they say that baby look like? "Drake!"'
But Drake did it best in the Editor's Notes for the Apple Music version of the album. They read: I HATE WHEN DRAKE RAPS, DRAKE SINGS TOO MUCH, DRAKE IS A POP ARTIST, DRAKE DOESN’T EVEN WRITE HIS OWN SONGS, DRAKE TOOK AN L, DRAKE DIDN’T START FROM THE BOTTOM, DRAKE IS FINISHED, I LIKE DRAKE’S OLDER STUFF, DRAKE MAKES MUSIC FOR GIRLS, DRAKE THINKS HE’S JAMAICAN, DRAKE IS AN ACTOR, DRAKE CHANGED, ANYBODY ELSE > DRAKE ...
'YEAH YEAH WE KNOW', it ends.
No. There's nothing else you can say to that really, is there? Drake doesn't give a toss. Noted. Appreciated. Well done.
Follow Jazmin on Instagram @JazKopotsha