Drake bought 21 Savage a Ferrari for his 24th birthday. That's one hell of a flex, being able to hand a Ferrari to someone you just met. I think the last gift I got one of my friends was a bottle of whiskey that we ended up splitting.
For Drake, giving away a car probably requires little effort. He hits OB O'Brien on the walkie, "Yo, buy 21 a Ferrari," and that's it. But it still seems like an excessive gesture. It took years for Tyga to get Kylie Jenner a car, and he didn't even spend money on it. If someone buys you a Ferrari, you kind of owe that person. You have to be nice to that person. You can't really blow off or diss someone that just bought you a Ferrari. You should probably give that person at least three features.
All it took was one act of kindness for Drake to put himself in an excellent position with one of the hottest young rappers out. If you think that's too much praise for 21 Savage, listen to the kids. Metro Boomin performed at ComplexCon, and as he ran through his hits, nothing set the crowd off more than when 21 came on. The crowd went wild. Drake has always had his ear to the streets, and he knows exactly when to paddle out.
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Since "Tuesday," Drake has hopped on wave after wave, few being of his own creation. He's had a love affair with grime and he's dabbled in dancehall. He released a collaborative effort with Future right as Future completed a legendary run of releases. Gucci Mane's release from prison was one of the biggest moments of the year, and Drake was one of the first people at Guwop's house. The two dropped "Back On Road," and plans of a project together were revealed. When the "Gucci Home" hype died down, talk of 6ers disappeared. Kodak Black is one of the few to escape Drake's net after a co-sign: after "Skrt" was played on OVO Sound Radio, Drake posted a video of himself dancing to the song. Kodak's response was blunt: "If you’re trying to show me that you fuck with me, call me. Throw me on your album so I can get me some royalties.” Zaytoven has gone on to say, “When you work with Drake you don’t really work with Drake. You send him the song, he rap on it then y’all done worked together."
Now Drake is in the studio with Kanye West one day and Taylor Swift the next. An artist's ability to change their sound is vital for longevity in the game, but when Drake released Views in 2016, it felt like he got his signals crossed: it was the most predictable Drake album yet, an amalgamation of pop hits and twice-filtered dancehall that was missing features from any of Drake's alleged champions, most notably Popcaan and Skepta. The creative energy was seemingly spent perusing the forums, looking for the next local hit to mount in his trophy room. The latest: British rapper Dave's "Wanna Know."
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