Jimmy Cooks
by Drake (featuring 21 Savage)

Album: Honestly, Nevermind (2022)
Charted: 7 1
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Before finding global fame as a rap megastar, Aubrey "Drake" Graham co-starred in the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. Between 2001 and 2008, he portrayed basketball star Jimmy Brooks, appearing in 138 episodes. Here, Drake plays on his character's name by incorporating a line about preparing crack cocaine.

    I'm cookin' up ambition on a kitchen stove

    Drake is acknowledging his past as an actor while stressing he's now a hardcore rapper.
  • The rest of the Toronto MC's verse concerns his romantic conquests and a desire to throw a party for his longtime friends (day ones).
  • During the chorus, Drake pays homage to "Drama King" DJ Kay Slay, who passed away on April 17, 2022 of COVID-related complications.

    Rest in peace to Drama King, we was straight stuntin'

    The New York hip-hop DJ owned the man's magazine Straight Stuntin.

    Drake also salutes Lil Keed, an Atlanta rapper who passed away on May 13, 2022 from liver and kidney failure.
  • 21 Savage takes over in the second verse as "Jimmy Cooks" takes a confrontational turn. He boasts about his propensity for violence and issues threats to his opps. Savage interpolates his verse from his Certified Lover Boy collaboration, "Knife Talk," which contains similar repetitive melodies and gangsta wordplay.
  • "Jimmy Cooks" marks the fifth collaboration between Drake and 21 Savage. Apart from the aforementioned "Knife Talk," they also linked up on Drake's 2016 single "Sneakin," the unreleased leaked track "Issa," and "Mr. Right Now" from 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's joint album, Savage Mode II.
  • Vinylz and Tay Keith's production starts off with a direct sample from the Memphis-based rapper Playa Fly's 1999 track "Just Awaken Shaken."
  • "Jimmy Cooks" is the closing track of Honestly, Nevermind. 21 Savage's contribution is the sole feature on the album.
  • The song debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, giving Drake his 11th chart-topper and 21 Savage his second.
  • The Mahfuz-directed music video sees Drake and Savage rapping in a warehouse space. Released on October 23, 2022 the visual also served as an announcement of the two rappers' collaborative album Her Loss.

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