The Definitive Ranking Of Drake's Intros
Drake’s much anticipated sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy, was finally released on September 3 and has been a topic of discussion.
Athletes, fellow artists and celebs have been tweeting their favorite quotes, queuing bars for future Instagram captions and reacting all over social media in celebration of the Grammy-winning rapper.
And can you blame them? The Toronto rapper enlisted the upper echelon of rap, including Jay Z, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, Lil Baby and Lil Wayne, to name a few, on the 21-track project.
While it’s too soon to judge the entire body of work, the intro, which has been deemed an essential part of all of his studio albums, is an easily digestible segment to compare, especially given past intros are constantly ranked.
In honor of this monumental moment in hip hop and in honor of the BET Hip Hop Awards 2021, we took a stab at ranking all of his intros, including the most recent, “Champagne Poetry”, to see which reigns supreme.
"Tuscan Leather"
Everyone remembers where they were when Nothing Was The Same dropped. The 2011 sophomore effort from Drake is arguably his greatest body of work and the leadoff, “Tuscan Leather” set the tone.
Where do you even begin? The sped-up chipmunk sample? The “bench players talking like starters, I hate it” line that now lives in pop culture history? The beat switching up three times? The bars, wherein which the young man bares his soul?
“Tuscan Leather” will always be the gold standard Drake intro. That is, of course, until he tops it.
“Survival”
Fresh off his beef (which many felt he lost), with Pusha T, everyone was eager to see where Drake’s head was at. “Survival” makes such a high ranking because it paints that picture perfectly.
“N***** gambling their life for some content. That’s the type of lottery that could get your top picked,” Drizzy raps in a calm, focused manner on his fifth studio album, Scorpion.
“Keep the Family Close”
Views, Drake’s fourth studio album, wasn’t well-received when it was initially released in 2016.
Five years later, however, the critics are eating crow as it’s now considered the one album in Drake’s catalog that has aged the best. Cuts like “Jaded,” “Redemption” and “Fire and Desire” are cult favorites that complement the smash mega-hits of “One Dance” and “Controlla”.
The intro, “Keep The Family Close” is the same. The dramatic strings and grandiose production makes it a brooding opening record, which Drake pairs well with introspective bars that set the tone for the entire project.
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“Over My Dead Body”
Take Care is such a cohesively cognizant project, it’s hard to separate “Over My Dead Body” from the rest of the project. The warped synths his trusted engineer, 40, cooked up hits as soon as it begins and— in the blink of an eye — you’re not even on earth anymore.
The record is perfect and only ranks behind others because it’s less of a standalone.
“Champagne Poetry”
Given the song has not been out a full calendar year, “Champagne Poetry”, Drake’s lead-off record on Certified Lover Boy, having any ranking amongst his others is a good start.
Complete with emotionally aware, quotable bars you could send to an estranged ex, soul samples and a face-melting beat switch, don’t be surprised if the record moves up in pecking order on future versions of this list.
“Fireworks” ft. Alicia Keys
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the opening record on Drake's debut project, “Fireworks”, but, if you notice, compared to all of Drake’s other intro’s, it’s the only one with a feature.
Furthermore, the pace and vibe are off for a joint that’s supposed to kick off an album. I forgot the track order and was surprised it was the intro upon going back to check.
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