Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
“Who’s giving out this much return on investment?”
So sings Drake on Survival, the cinematic overture to his sprawling, 25-track double album Scorpion, which was released overnight.
He’s certainly prolific. The 90-minute opus arrives just a year after his More Life mixtape, and features two UK number ones – God’s Plan and Nice For What.
But does Scorpion have a sting in its tail?
It’s tricky to assess such a multi-faceted record after a couple of plays. In fact, it’s hard not to collapse completely under the sheer weight of the music. But here are some initial impressions.
Drake admits to having a son
Earlier this year, Pusha T unleashed a storm when he rapped that Drake had a secret child with porn star Sophie Brussaux, on the vicious diss track The Story of Adidon.
Drake addresses the story on Emotionless – a soulful track that samples Mariah Carey’s MTV Unplugged performance of Emotions.
“I wasn’t hiding my kid from the world,” he raps. “I was hiding the world from my kid.”
On the closing track, March 14, he adds: “She’s not my lover like Billie Jean, but the kid is mine.”
He continues: “I’m out here on front lines just tryna make sure that I see him sometimes. It’s breaking my spirit/A single father, I hate when I hear it.
“I used to challenge my parents on every album/Now I’m embarrassed to tell them I ended up as a co-parent.”
Michael Jackson’s vocals on Don’t Matter To Me appear to come from previously unreleased music.
“All of a sudden you say you don’t want me no more,” sings the King Of Pop, who died nine years ago this week. “All of a sudden you say that I closed the door… It don’t matter to me.”
Paul Anka is listed as a co-writer on the track – dating it to 1983, when he collaborated with Jackson for his album Walk a Fine Line.
Summer Games is an early stand-out
Prior to release, reliable Drake source OVO Mal suggested Scorpion would be divided into two halves – a rap side and an R&B side.
The record basically cleaves to that template, showcasing the star’s twin loves – sunshine state hip-hop and sad-boy soul (never forget, this is a man who has a tattoo of Sade on his torso).
But Summer Games, the second track of “disc two”, is a revelation – a story of a summer romance that’s powered by the sort of sinister, pulsing synths you’d expect to hear on Stranger Things.
BBC