While y’all are shook up, Drake’s here on the cook up.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken the country by storm, forcing millions of people to stay inside over these last few weeks. Rappers have been spending their quarantine doing everything under the sun, but a good handful of them, like the 6 God, have been using this isolating period to both work on and preview new music.
It’s been nearly two years since Drake’s last project Scorpion, but new Drizzy music has been everywhere from Hit-Boy’s Instagram Live session to TikTok. It all started with the “Toosie Slide,” a dance challenge previewed on Twitter just days before its' official release on April 3. Shortly after, Drake tapped into OVO Mark's Instagram Live session and previewed more music that included collaborations with Playboi Carti, dancehall artist Popcaan and Fivio Foreign.
Almost a week later, on April 12, Drake called into Diddy’s Dance-A-Thon and confirmed that despite the slew of leaks that have surfaced over the past few months, all of his upcoming material has yet to be unearthed. "A lot of little stuff has been trickling out but all the stuff on the album is fresh, it's brand new," he shared. "I'm excited. This is probably the most music I've ever been sitting on. I'm hyped," he said.
Considering how 2019 ended without drops from Drake, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, who have all taken a two-to-three-year hiatus, fans are eager for the next major rap release. Will the 6 Man be the next to drop? On April 30, he announced Dark Lane Demo Tapes would arrive on May 1. "My brothers @oliverelkhatib @ovonoel put together alot of the songs people have been asking for (some leaks and some joints from SoundCloud and some new vibes) DARK LANE DEMO TAPES out everywhere at midnight…also my 6th STUDIO ALBUM DROPPING SUMMER 2020!!! Lucky number 6 😈 soon fwd," he wrote on his Instagram page.
Since we've been on lockdown, here's every song (some with snippets and some without since Drizzy's team works fast to get them off the ’net) that Drake has previewed during quarantine ahead of his new album, coming this summer.
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“Toosie Slide”
Drake
As the story goes, Toosie, whom the song is named after, got a DM from Drake months ago. Drizzy asked Toosie for his help with creating a dance to the then-unfinished song that would eventually become "Toosie Slide." Alongside Toosie's crew members Hiii Key, Ayo and Teo, the Atlanta-based dancer confirmed and cooked one up. Days after the preview was uploaded to social media on March 29, Drake posted the cover art, revealing that it wouldn't be long until the song was officially released. The OZ-produced record dropped on April 3 with an accompanying music video that flexed his decked-out mansion. The song already hit No. 1 in the country.
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“Pain 1993”
Drake and Playboi Carti
On April 7, in the midst of a DJ session hosted on Instagram Live by OVO Mark, Drake made a surprise appearance and played a snippet of an upcoming song he has with Playboi Carti. "I put some ice in her hand/I let her take an advance/Shit wasn't going as planned/I put her shit in the van,” Drake raps in his true wine and dine fashion. The Pi'erre Bourne-produced record, known as “Pain 1993,” was rumored to be on Carti’s highly anticipated album, Whole Lotta Red. The song is actually appearing on Drake's Dark Lane Demo Tapes. This marks the first collaboration between the two rappers.
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“Demons”
Drake, Sosa Geek and Fivio Foreign
Drake is still taking a stab at these drill beats. Following his Behind Barz freestyle and the recent release of “War,” Drake previewed another drill-themed song. This time, he's alongside New York rappers Fivio Foreign and Sosa Geek. The JB MadeIt-produced track was previously teased in February on Sosa Geek’s Instagram story but has yet to officially drop. With the drill wave exploding in New York City right now and Drake’s inherent influence from the U.K., we might get a few more of these drill records in the future.
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“Rollin'”
Drake
B-side Drake stepped back into his bag for a song that is being referred to as “Rollin’.” During the same Instagram Live session from OVO Mark, Drake slowed things down and revealed another collaboration from himself and 40. “Dressed in fatigues, I rep the East with my trustees/ Smokin' on crushed leaves/They turn they back on everything we built then they must bleed/I've seen splatter hit the snow when the blood freeze,” he raps. The song is dedicated to Drake’s day one Husher.
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“Righteous”
Drake and Popcaan
The last time most people probably heard of a collaboration between Drake and Popcaan was in 2016 with “Controlla”. Although Popcaan’s verse was snubbed from the album version of Views, Drake confirmed in OVO Mark’s Instagram Live session that the two have more songs in the tank. The previewed track, speculatively titled “Righteous,” doesn’t overtly sound Caribbean like “Controlla.” But with a couple of smooth-riding verses, it does show the artistic potential Drake and Popcaan have as a unit. With both artists slated to release music this year, who knows which project it’ll end up on.
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“Too Turnt”
Drake
Out of all previews on OVO Mark’s live, this one has the least amount of depth. While the OZ-produced beat slaps from the jump, the preview merely shows the chorus of the song and nothing else. “I'm outside in an AMG/Right outside, TT/Too turnt baby, girl you know me/Still with the dogs that I grew besides/All the niggas ’round me ride or they die/Gotta watch the time 'cause it's flyin' right by,” Drake sings. Deemed as “the ultimate ‘life is good’,” Drake probably has a few top-notch verses on the official version.