Headlines

Album: Take Care (2011)
Charted: 57 13
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single by Canadian rapper Drake, from his second studio album, Take Care, was produced by his longtime producers and collaborators Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels and Noah "40" Shebib. It first premiered on Drake's blog, October's Very Own, on July 31st, 2011 and was made available free to download.
  • The song finds Drake thoughtfully ruminating about the consequences of fame. "I might be too strung out on compliments," he raps. "Overdosed on confidence / Starting not to give a f--k and stop fearing the consequence."
  • Drake told Billboard magazine why he released this as the first single from Take Care. "By no means is it the best song on my album, it's really just the song for this moment, right now," he said. "I always try to put forth a song with a message. A lot of people pick their single by what's the strongest song. I don't really do that. I like to make sure that the content is very relevant to right now. I want people to party to it but at the same time the fans, the people that care about my career, the people that follow me, will hear a message in it."
  • The video was directed by OVO crew members Lamar Taylor and Hyghly Alleyne and shot in Drake's hometown of Toronto, Canada. It is a family affair featuring members of some of the rapper/singer's friends such as T-Minus, Noah "40" Shebib, The Weeknd, Boi-1da and Kromatik, but none of his Young Money label mates.
  • Shebib told MTV News how he and Drake had radio in mind when they cut this track: "That's a catchy song. 'They know, they know, they know,'" he said. "It's corny, it's catchy, it's perfect. That will run on radio all day. You balance with those evils when you make music. I understand what's going to work on radio as much, sometimes I want to make different types of music. But the thing is, you want to win. You want to have your cake and eat it too."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Music Video Director David Hogan

Music Video Director David HoganSong Writing

David talks about videos he made for Prince, Alabama, Big & Rich, Sheryl Crow, DMB, Melissa Etheridge and Sisters of Mercy.

Rock Revenge Songs

Rock Revenge SongsMusic Quiz

John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Martin Page

Martin PageSongwriter Interviews

With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."

Chad Channing (Nirvana, Before Cars)

Chad Channing (Nirvana, Before Cars)Songwriter Interviews

Chad tells tales from his time as drummer for Nirvana, and talks about his group Before Cars.