Drake's latest album, Scorpion, is many things. First and foremost: It's a record-breaking project. After just three days, the double album broke the one-week U.S. streaming record, with 435 million on-demand streams. Aside from that, Scorpion has the run time of a full-length movie, at an hour and 30 minutes. With contemporary rap album run times settling around 45 minutes, and Kanye West's 7-track production experiment changing everyone's perception of what a full-length album could be, Drake and the gargantuan Scorpion are choosing to take a right turn while everyone else heads straight or slightly left.
A byproduct of a lengthy project is we, as listeners, have many, many more things to listen for. But let's not front: We all scrambled to find every relevant bar about Drake's now-confirmed son, Adonis. (Thanks again to Pusha-T for bringing the truth to light.) Drake wasn't shy about finally fessing up to the world in that regard, but in our pursuit of Drake's paternal admissions, we low-key missed a bunch of other things on the album. There's some dirt; there are some hat-tips; and there are more (!) details about his son that we simply glossed over the first go-round.
After making our way through the very long Scorpion a few more times, we picked up on seven small tings you may have missed after an initial listen. Let see if you peeped them too.
Drake's Son's Date of Birth
That's Not Young Thug on "Mob Ties"
Upon first listen of "Mob Ties," my immediate thought was: Oh! Drake put Young Thug on this with no credit. I made my way through the rest of the song, and left it at that. It wasn't until I started wondering why Thugger would be uncredited that I was compelled to investigate. A very scientific Twitter search of Thug's name and the track title led me to conclude that: 1) That's not Young Thug, that's Drake doing his very best to sound as easy, breezy, and flexible as Thug is at any given moment; and 2) I'm not the only one who heard the similarities.
Young Thug showing Drake how to flow on that mob ties pic.twitter.com/XThNE11WRO
— young hibachi (@sergrande1) June 29, 2018
Drake tried to sound like young thug on mob ties
— Zolee (@Zoleeofficial) June 29, 2018
I thought Young Thug was featured on Drake's "Mob Ties" when I first heard it.
— Ani Caribbean (@AniCaribbean) June 29, 2018
Maybe leave the Thugger flexing to the OG, Drake? —Kiana Fitzgerald
Drake Confirms Diddy Punched Him on "Survival"
Homage to Notorious B.I.G. on "8 Out of 10"
On "8 Out of 10," a woman's voice chimes in to verify everything Drake is claiming. "I don't like to talk when there's nothin' else left to say," Drake raps in the first verse. The line is immediately followed by a very distinct "Truuue." If you'll take a trip down memory lane with me, you might recall the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa": "Conversate for a few, 'cause in a few we gon' do/ What we came to do, ain't that right, boo?/ Truuue." The ad-lib of authenticity also appears throughout Biggie's hook on Lil' Kim's classic "Crush on You" featuring Lil Cease. —Kiana Fitzgerald