Every Pop Culture Reference on "Nothing Was the Same"

Image via Complex Original

Lyric: "I reached heights Dwight Howard couldn't reach, nigga/Prince Akeem, they throw flowers at my feet, nigga"

The Coming to America reference is a rap staple. J.Cole and Meek Mill have both used Prince Akeem to document their come-up on their mixtapes. Drake would appreciate your flowers, thanks.

Lyric: "Yeah, Tom Ford Tuscan Leather smelling like a brick/Degenerates, but Ellen love our shit"

Apparently, we can add Ellen Degeneres to Team Drizzy. (Is there any record of her publicly supporting Drake? Does she serenade Portia de Rossi with "Shut It Down"?) She should invite Drake to the show for a dance-off. We'd tune in for that.

Lyric: "The Fresh Prince just had dinner with Tatyana, no lie"

Tatyana Ali played Ashley Banks on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It would seem that Drake has taken her to dinner, and more impressively, got Uncle Phil's blessing. Which is wild—because Uncle Phil is a fictional character.

Lyric: "Lately I've been feelin like Guy Pearce in Memento/I just set the bar, niggas fall under it like a limbo"

In Christopher Nolan's Memento, Guy Pearce's character suffers from short-term memory loss to haunting results. Thank goodness Drake was spared that condition, or he might still be recording that first song for weeks on end. He might have to get tattoos to remind him to record songs that aren't "Tuscan Leather." Admittedly, Tuscan Leather is a long song with many parts so some level of confusion wouldn't be surprising. But, you know, thank goodness for Drake's good health.

Lyric: "The family all that matters, I'm just out here wit my kinfolk/Off everything my pen wrote we went from Bundy to Winslow"

A TV fan's wet-dream double feature of Married... with Children and Family Matters—Drake, you're too much. Is the Toronto MC suggesting his rise to fame and riches in the rap game is similar to going from a schlubby shoe salesman to a police officer? Is that a substantial change with regards to coolness and prowess on the mic?

Lyric: "Life is soundin' crazy, 40 on Martin Scorsese/And I wouldn't change a thing if you paid me, now real nigga, wassup"

Always happy to give a nod to his best "old" friend and acclaimed producer, Noah '40' Shebib, claiming his other hit-making half has reached Scorcese's level of influence in hip-hop. Is "Fuckin Problems" 40's Hugo?

Lyric: "My ex-girl been searching for a 'sorry'/Couple bitches tryna have me on the Maury like nigga it's yours/You should be supportin' but where you been at? On tour, gettin' money"

A nice moment of humor that complicates one of the album's more sensitive cuts, this referenec also serves as public service announcement to women everywhere that the chances of catching Drake slippin' doing a backflip on Maury Povich's stage is very unlikely.

Lyric: "Girl, you don't love me, you just say that shit to get to me/Girl, cause you got the Batphone in my workline/ You should call it You should call"

The dark knight himself, Batman gets a shout out—more specifically, Batty's secret phone line. Drake has one too, and he just might answer if it's the right girl.

(For real: What sense does this make? Does drake have a secret phone line? Does he have a signal?)

Lyric: "People like Mazin who was a best friend to me/Start to become a distant memory"

Reflecting on a dear friendship Drake had with a former Degrassi co-star on a track called "Wu-Tang Forever"—sound about right. Wu-Tang is for the kids, after all.

Lyric: "This ain't the son you raised who used to take the Acura/5 a.m. going shoot Degrassi up on Morningside/For all the stunting, I'll forever be immortalized"

Drake is a very long way from driving a modest Acura sedan to get into his Jimmy Brooks character for the Canadian teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation. Worth noting that Drake has never mentioned the show as much as he does on this album.

Lyric: "Bar mitzvah money like my name Mordehigh/Fuck you bitch, I'm on that high"

It is hard to hear the words bar mitzvah in connection with Drake and not picture the touching clip of young Aubrey shimmying seriously on the dance floor. But we have to ask: What is going on in this lyric? Is he really punning off of Mordecai, the character from the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. If so, is calling himself Mordehigh a little sacrilegious?

Lyric: "Thinking 'bout Texas back when Porsche used to work at Treasures/Or further back then that, before I had the Houston leverage"

Looking back over his life on "From Time," Drake sees the women who have meant the most to him. As it turns out, some of them used to dance at Treasures, an iconic strip club in Houston, a city Drake credits with shaping his growth and sound.

Lyric: "Now it's therapeutic blowing money in a galleria/ Or Beverly Center Macy's where I discovered Bria"

You know "Bria's Interlude," the lonely sketch of a song from So Far Gone? That was for video model Bria Myles, who Drake was once talking to. During the second verse of "From Time," Drake flips through his life by remembering the women he's been involved with. Bria, forever linked in Drake's mind to a Macy's, makes her expected appearance.

Lyric: "Your momma used to live at the church on Sunday/You just go to LIV after church on Sunday"

If church can't save her, Drake definitely can't. The 305, Miami's zip code, is the home of the hard-partying girl in the song and famous hot spot Club LIV is her sinful oasis, even on the Lord's day. Getting turnt is a full-time gig.

Lyric: "Backstage at Warehouse in '09 like 'Is Bun coming?/Fuck that, is any one coming 'fore I show up there and ain't no one there?'"

Angry and frustrated, Drake ruminates on an early show in his career, an '09 show in Houston. Bun B did show up and the pair performed. Don't fret, Drake! Hang on to that good memory!

Lyric: "The contract like 91' Dan Marino/I swear this, got Michael Rapino boostin' my ego"

Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation, earned over $11 million in 2011. This is who Drake is securing live performance deals with these days. This man, who makes such powerful bank, is boosting Drake's ego. And now the result is Nothing Was the Same, an album made by a person feeling relatively comfortable with his kingdom.

Lyric: "Shoutout to Worldwide Wes/Everywhere we go, we live a worldwide mess"

Jay Z (the Gordon Gekko of luxury rap) gives us a glimpse into his life and the life of high-profile baller consultant extraordinaire William Sydney Wesley, a.k.a. Worldwide Wes. And they're leaving countries all over the world in tatters. How much ballin is too much ballin, Jay? Have we learned nothing from Iraq and Afghanistan?