Drake’s new album, Certified Lover Boy, finally came out tonight after its initial announcement a little over a year ago. JAY-Z, Future, Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla $ ign, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Lil Baby and Project Pat all appear on the album (as promised on a recent poster campaign). Listen to it below.
In addition to the features listed, Nicki Minaj offers a spoken word cameo to “Papi’s Home”. The first song, “Champagne Poetry,” samples the Beatles’ “Michelle” and credits John Lennon and Paul McCartney as co-authors. “Love All” begins with a sample from Notorious BIG’s “Life After Death Intro”. “Way 2 Sexy” samples and interpolates the Right Said Fred hit “I’m Too Sexy”. R. Kelly is credited with “TSU” as a composer / lyricist.
JAY-Z has an additional credit on “N 2 Deep” and Charlotte Day Wilson is credited on “Fair Trade”. The album’s producers include Noah “40” Shebib, Oliver El-Khatib, Metro Boomin, PARTYNEXTDOOR (who also sings on “Fucking Fans”), TM88, OG Ron C, Vinylz and Nineteen85.
Drake announced the album in August 2020 with the Lil Durk collaboration “Laugh Now Cry Later” and said it would be released in January 2021. Last week he teased today’s release date with a cryptic ESPN promo set in the midst of a re-kindled feud with Kanye West that dates back to 2008. The resuscitation was sparked when Drake, who was a guest on Trippie Redd’s “Betrayal,” rapped, “Ye ain’t change shit for me, it’s set in stone.” Kanye responded with Instagram stories of antagonistic text messages and one quickly deleted Drake’s home address revealed.
In the days leading up to the album’s release, Drake revealed features and some lyrics on billboards in New York, Toronto, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Although Certified Lover Boy is the 2018 successor to Scorpion, Drake has released some new material in between, including last year’s Dark Lane demo tapes. The project was Drake’s first in a decade that didn’t make a Billboard # 1 debut.
Drake released the three-song Scary Hours 2 EP in March and joined Smiley and Brent Faiyaz on songs this year, as well as Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj on Seeing Green. He also released tracks with Lil Yachty, DJ Khaled, Future, Lil Wayne and Popcaan. Outside the studio, he launched his own cannabis brand and was named Artist of the Decade at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards.
Certified lover boy:
01 champagne poetry
02 Daddy’s home
03 girls want girls [ft. Lil Baby]
04 In the Bible [ft. Lil Durk & Giveon]
05 All the best [ft. JAY-Z]
06 Fair trade [ft. Travis Scott]
07 Way 2 Sexy [ft. Future & Young Thug]
08 TSU
09 N 2 deep [ft. Future]
10 pipe down
11 Yebba’s heartache
12 No friends in the industry
13 Knife talk [ft. 21 Savage & Project Pat]
14 7 a.m. on the bridle path
15 races with my mind
16 wells [ft. Tems]
17 Get along better with each other [ft. Ty Dolla $ign]
18 You only live twice [ft. Rick Ross & Lil Wayne]
19 IMY2 [ft. Kid Cudi]
20 damn fans
21 The repentance
This article was originally published on September 3 at 1:04 am Eastern. It was last updated on September 3 at 1:38 am Eastern.
