Songfacts®:

• "National Treasures" is Drake's two-part hometown anthem recorded for his Iceman album. The song opens with the relaxed confidence of a hometown king surveying his city from familiar territory before abruptly pivoting into something far more defensive and sharp-edged.
  
  The first half finds Drake in classic ambassador mode. He positions himself not merely as Toronto's biggest rap star, but as one of the defining public symbols of the city. The mood is celebratory and communal, with Drake sounding comfortable inside the mythology he spent years building around himself as the "6 God."
  
  Then the beat switches, and so does Drake's temperament. The second half abandons the warmth almost instantly as he turns his attention toward rivals, former allies, critics, and perceived disloyalty. Much of the tension centers on the lingering fallout from his widely publicized 2024 rap battle with Kendrick Lamar. Drake dismisses Lamar's post-feud cultural elevation and questions the sincerity of both his activism and his fanbase, framing the industry's response to the feud as opportunistic and performative.
• One of the song's most discussed moments targets former NBA player DeMar DeRozan, once the face of the Toronto Raptors and a longtime Drake associate.
  
  We used to be plannin' our Mexico trip in the spring
  We must've been dealin' in the spur of the moment
  Kawhi did we think you could get us a ring?
  
  Drake layers multiple basketball references into a remarkably petty piece of wordplay. "Spur of the moment" alludes to DeRozan being traded to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018 as part of the blockbuster deal that brought Kawhi Leonard to Toronto, while "Kawhi did we think" twists Leonard's name into a rhetorical punchline. The underlying resentment is difficult to miss: DeRozan spent nine seasons leading the Raptors without reaching the Finals, while Toronto won its first and only NBA championship immediately after trading him away. Drake appears to frame DeRozan's later comments about feeling blindsided by the trade as another example of someone he once trusted turning emotionally distant, a theme that runs throughout Iceman.
• Drake concludes his second and last verse with the line:
  
  Ironic 'cause the Iceman was a nice man, now I'm hot and cold.
  
  For years, Drake was known as a "nice guy" in the hip-hop world, but after years of intense industry feuds and the 2024 rap civil war, he's now embracing a more cutthroat persona. The lyric also doubles as a knowing joke aimed directly at Drake's own fanbase. Before Iceman was released, fans on TikTok began parodying the inevitable rhyme scheme, predicting Drake would somehow rhyme "Iceman" with "nice man." AI-generated parody tracks spread online, including one especially viral version featuring the gloriously idiotic bars:
  
  I am the Iceman
  I'm a pretty nice man
  I'll cook some rice, man
  
  Rather than avoiding the meme, Drake leaned into it by writing the actual "nice man" line into the song, demonstrating either admirable self-awareness or the modern musician's growing realization that resistance to internet jokes is about as effective as arguing with weather.
• An earlier version of "National Treasures" leaked on November 5, 2025, and included a guest verse from Pressa, one of Drake's longtime Toronto affiliates. For the final album version, Pressa's contribution was removed and replaced with the dramatic beat switch and additional Drake rhymes, though Pressa retained a songwriting credit.
• The track boasts one of the largest production teams on Iceman, with contributions from Boi-1da, OZ, London Cyr, Nico Baran, Patron, Ben10k, Ryan Bakalarczyk, and Wraith9.
  
  Boi-1da (real name: Jason Martin) is a Jamaican-Canadian producer and one of Drake's longest-standing collaborators, known for his work on Eminem's "Rap God," Rihanna's "Work" and dozens of Drake records stretching back to his earliest mixtape days. His presence on "National Treasures" anchors the track in a lineage of hard, Toronto-adjacent production.
• "National Treasures" closes with the producer tag of Wraith9, a British recording artist and producer known for working with UK artists including EsDeeKid ("Phantom" and "4 Raws"). Ending the song with Wraith9's producer tag links Drake's Toronto-centered anthem to the darker, UK-influenced production style dotted throughout Iceman.