Switched on Pop - Drake's Slop Era

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

Canada’s favorite export Drake is back! This month, the Toronto singer-rapper extraordinaire released three albums simultaneously: the long-anticipated return to form Iceman, the sultry, R&B Habibti and the pop-focused, clubby Maid of Honour. All three albums have much different vibes, and are Drake’s first official solo efforts since his seismic beef with Kendrick Lamar back in 2024. There’s a lot of music to talk about. As a result, Reanna argues that we are living in an era of “Drake Slop” – low-effort, mass-produced dumps of music, often with confused intentions. On this episode of Switched on Pop, Reanna, Charlie, and Nate explore all that these three albums have to offer, and try to figure out exactly what is going on in the twisted mind of Aubrey Graham.  Links: ⁠Newsletter⁠, ⁠YouTube Songs discussed: Drake – Shabang Kendrick Lamar – Not Like Us Drake – Circadian Rhythm Drake, Central Cee – Which One Drake – NOKIA Drake – Make Them Cry Drake – Janice STFU Drake – Make Them Pay Drake, Future, Molly Santana – Ran To Atlanta Future, Metro Boomin, Kendrick Lamar – Like That Drake – 2 Hard 4 The Radio YG, Slim 400 – Word Is Bond Mac Dre – 2 Hard 4 the Fuckin' Radio Drake – Rusty Intro Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney – FourFiveSeconds Drake – High Fives Drake – Tuscan Leather Drake – Classic Drake – Teenage Fever Drake, Sexyy Red – Cheetah Print Drake, Sexyy Red, SZA – Rich Baby Daddy Afrika Bambaataa, The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock Drake – BBW Queen – Fat Bottomed Girls Drake – Princess A$AP Rocky – PUNK ROCKY Drake – Find Your Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from Fetch Pet Insurance. Do you have a pet? Every six seconds, a pet owner in the U.S. gets hit with a vet bill of over $1,000. And it's almost always an unwelcome surprise. That's where Fetch Pet Insurance comes in. Fetch is the most complete pet insurance. Get paid back up to 90% of vet bills. You can use any vet in the U.S. and Canada.

All vets are in network. Go to fetchpet.com slash save right now for your free quote. That's fetchpet.com slash save. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need.

It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, economy. and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-3 at O-D-O-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com. Welcome to Switch non-POP. I'm producer Rianna Cruz. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. Nate, Charlie, there has been a seismic level event in pop music recently. Toronto singer, rapper, glutton for punishment, Drake has released not one, not two, but three albums at the exact same time.

Iceman, Habibti, and Made of Honor. Manish on a beach, Chabangue. All of my ops, they did. Why do they gas me up? Where does it go? My head. How much I got a lot? Don't even gain. I won't. That's the song Shabang me do like rice and pussy-ass nigger and don't. That's the song Shabang off of Ice Man. And those three records, they're Drake's first solo records since 2023s for all the dogs. But more importantly, are also his first since his earth-shattering beef with Kendrick Lamar in 2024.

And that informally ended with the drop of Kendrick's Grammy award-winning track, not like us. trying to strike a chord and it's probably a minor. I think it probably us. They not like us. They not like us. They not like us. They not like us. You think the bag going to let you disrespect pop knicker.

I think that open show will be a let's stop, nigga. I think it probably hurts when an entire stadium at the Super Bowl all collectively calls you a pedophile. Yeah, I can imagine that bruised him a little bit. Which leads to a very interesting question. Given that I would say the consensus is that Drake got absolutely bodied in this beef with Kendrick Lamar. Correct. How do you come back when you're going to release your first album following this much publicized frockis? What is your strategy going to be?

I like the word frockis, Nate. Never heard that before. I didn't see it coming and I hope I said it correctly. Well, post-frocus, Drake fell off. the musical map for a little bit. He stayed out of the main spotlight, aside from appearances on Twitch or whatever, he got very ingrained with the streamer community. It seemed like he retreated with his tail between his legs,

which was probably for good reason. But nonetheless, over the past two years or so, following the Kendrick debacle, we've gotten brief dispatches from Drakeland, including, but not limited to. There was an EP called 100 gigs with songs like Circadian Rhythm. There was a single which gold I struck. Hey, how many funeral days

they play for me and I dodge it like the truck. Rap game like my sleeping pattern because how the fuck I'm still up? There was a single Which One featuring Central C, previously a Lucy, but now known to be on Made of Honor. Yeah, all the girls that's here for the shoot come put two hands on a DJ boot and

whine your waist on a real good dude and you want sent to your ex, which one? You want friends or success, which one? Tell us how man, spin this one. Play this for the gal, them, party. And there was also Loki My Sleeper Hit record of 2025, Drake's collab album with Party Next Door, Some Sexy Songs for You, which featured the mega hit Nokia. I feel like Nokia was him dipping his toes back into the waters of mainstream culture outside of the hip-hop community. It was a soft launch return to the spotlight to me.

It was clearly super successful. The song went multiple times platinum, reached number two on a Hot 100. But again, that was a collab record. These three albums are his first solo efforts. We have three different vibes. 43 songs. I've done a lot of listening to these records for over a week now. And my overwhelming feeling is that we are now in an era of Drake Slop.

Drake Slop. Let me explain. So the definition of Slop I see in the monies. modern age connotates a certain kind of low quality mass produced content. And I think that's exactly what these Drake records are. The quality aspect, kind of debatable. I think for objectivity's sake, it's maybe more low effort. But there's not much overt curation on these albums. He's mass producing music, much like the data dump of 100 gigs. He's just dumping whatever on the track, on these albums in the sheer volume of the records again, 43 songs total. But also internally, he wants

it to seem like it's low effort and he's not trying too hard. And in that, it's kind of just him spilling out his guts, not really going through an editor, whatever that may be. So it's more like a triple mixtape than it is three different albums, if you will. I kind of see it like that. Yeah. I mean, for what it's worth, I think Drake has always needed to pair stuff down and always has flooded the market to maximize his streams or whatever. But here he has a kind of no fucks given slop strategy that I think he's using to great effect to tell us something, right? Like he's not really holding anything back on these three albums.

And I find that kind of fascinating. So I want to look at select songs from each of these three records, Iceman, Habipti, and Made of Honor and try to figure out what is Drake saying here as he's. he adapts to this new era of his career. How is the slop strategy paying off for him? Rihanna, I'm excited and I must warn you in advance. I'm going to have a lot of questions. I'll try to answer.

I'm not as ingrained in the Drake community as you may think I might be, but I'll try my best. Fair. Some of these may be just basic Gen Z literacy questions. But where do we begin, first of all? Well, each of these albums have a different vibe. We got to go with the marquee record, the album. Iceman. It's Drake's first personal statement post beef. The big question on everyone's mind was, what are Drake's first solo words to the public going to be? We find them on the first track

titled Make Them Cry. I'm an only child. No one could have made another. I have to father my mother and treat my son's grandfather like my older brother. The skies are gray in Toronto. They're not a golden color. I'm feeling like BTS because it took the whole career for me to be so discovered. I believe he's commenting on the distance between himself and his father by describing him as his son's grandfather. Thank you. Essentially, you know, cementing this idea that he doesn't have a, you know, strong relationship

with him. He has to treat him like a brother, not like a father figure. So that phrasing is meant to do exactly what you do and make you think through it. I'm surprised you guys brought up those lines because the, The one that I am more curious about that I can't really parse is the line I'm feeling like BTS because it took the whole career for me to be so discovered. I'm really confused what he's trying to say. I have a theory.

I think he's saying soul discovered. Is that possible? I'm feeling like BTS because it took the whole career for me to be so discovered. Soul discovered. Whole career, he's kind of pronouncing it like Korea. maybe he's trying to do some wordplay. Is BTS just behind the scenes? He's taking us behind the curtain.

Does it have a triple entendre? But if it's so like the capital of Korea, then it kind of makes sense. Right. I mean, he's really, it's a bold stroke because, you know, this first track is like a very sparse kind of beat. His vocals are way out front.

Yeah. It's giving this vibe like, I'm going to get real, you know? I'm going to be really honest and vulnerable. And he's taking some big swings. And some of them you're like, Okay, I think that works, but maybe I'm thinking a little harder than I want to. I am surprised that we are starting so close and then all of a sudden immediately going around the world and invoking another group. I'm curious how he's going to sort of bring it all together.

If any members of the Army, BTS's fan base, want to articulate the meaning of this line to me, feel free. I'm very curious as to what you think. But other than that, in these opening lines, you're right. Like it is very personal. Drake's speaking about his family. He's addressing his parents. He is addressing directly his son Adonis, who famously was a point of contention in his previous beef with push a tea. He's laying it all out right in front of us. It's an intimate song off the bat. It feels like you're sitting down for a conversation with Drake, talking to you like a friend. But it also establishes something up front in these lines. It's pretty clear that he's giving this album, Iceman, in total. a lyrical slant and also communicating by referencing his family and his kid, nothing is off limits. Like he's not being cagey by any means. And that becomes more and more clear the further the song goes.

Because Drake just starts to kind of let it rip lyrically. With that back in 2024 was a big piece. So it's like the shit is me, but it isn't me. Y'all keep on asking me what it did to me. That's what it did to me. When I dig deep, they say dig deeper. Tell us how I felt to me the grim reaper. This album better have some big features.

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm all alone for my mentor. Whoa. I feel like this line where it's acknowledged that he lost this rap battle, died, basically. He's asking, you know, how did it make me feel? Well, it made him feel like I can kind of transcend it. I can flip the beat. I'm going to just keep on moving.

And I think it also emphasizes what you, you put out at the beginning, which is now, I think Slop is maybe a little bit not totally generous, but it's kind of like, I'm going to do this effortlessly. Like, I'm just going to keep on going. Yeah, I do think there's a level of self-awareness that is present on this song that maybe has been a little bit obscured in previous strike eras. Like right off the bad, he mentions 2024. He recognizes the looming storm over this whole record already kind of seems to go on the defense. You know, like he tries to nonchalantly deflect with the statement, that shit is me, but it

isn't me. And then we get this beat switch, which kind of comes out of nowhere. Can we hear that again, Rihanna? Goes half time. It's like he's turning to end so many people. I almost forgot the intro. Been so sure on my words that I haven't used a pencil. Been so paranoid that nothing in this world seems coincidental. Goes half time. It's like he's turning the page on that moment. Literally with the music switching up. It's like, okay, I addressed it. Now let's leave it behind. I'm on my own. And I'm literally going to give a like usher in this new moment through this beat switch. That's one interpretation at least. I could see where you get that impression. But I think there's something different happening here. I think Drake is trying to appear unbothered, but is

most certainly not unbothered by the whole situation. In fact, he is extremely bothered by what happen with Kendrick. This is not a new attitude from Drake by any means. During the beef, you know, he seemed pretty agitated, juxtaposed with Kendrick's attitude of effortless trolling that we heard on tracks like, not like us. But it's clear what Iceman is supposed to be in this moment and this song writ large. It feels like Drake is using this album as a chance to kind of clear his throat about the whole affair. And while those lines are attempted nonchaliener, Lanz. This album establishes where Drake is at mentally, and that state is pretty petty.

It's vindictive. Even the title, Make Them Cry on this song. It's clear what the intention is. It's not about him. It's about them. And what he wants them to feel. Yeah, he doesn't keep it on his chest. He goes on to rap about, you know, trying to talk to his therapist, and he's getting

so real, but he can only get so real because he's too attracted to his therapist, which is, like, It's really embarrassing admission. It's very Tony Soprano. Yeah, he can only be so truthful, even to the person he's supposed to be most truthful to because he, you know, he thinks from his pants. He's very driven by the id. Niggas want to talk about a battle. I'm battling patience. Nigga, I battle frustration.

I'm about to turn 40 dog. I'm battling an agent. I'm battling the fact that the album ain't even dropping already. Their ass is complaining. Fuck it. I battle the label. Fuck it. I'll battle the majors.

I'll battle the stations to my asses. rotation. Shout out to the real fans that knew what I had. Bro is miffed. He's outwardly mift. He's miffed that people bringing up the beef in the first place. He's miffed out his fans. He's miffed out the radio and record labels for what he feels is sliding him.

He feels like he had something to prove. I mean, as someone who just turned 40, I do find some of this relatable. Compelling. On one hand, you know, I'm happy that Drake is hungry again. I think that's been missing from his work for a while. while. I think he's gotten too comfortable. And now he's on the defense. So I appreciate the lyrical dexterity here. But I do think the ankle that he's taking comes off as a little bit tryhard and a little bit lazy. I wonder what the album would be if he took your approach, Nate, of kind of

letting it slide and moving into new lyrical territory. Most of Iceman expands on this idea of pettiness as practice. And of the three records, I think it's the weakest as a result. Going back to the slop idea of like mass produced, unedited, lowest common denominator music, kind of just taking low blows. They're shots on most of these songs. There's notable lines on the song, Janice, STFU. White kids listen to you because they've been some guilt and that's how your soul gets fulfilled.

Handing out turkeys on camera inside of your hood. Then you go back to the hills. How many hives do you build? How many souls would you build? There's also the track Make Them Pay, which kind of goes scorched earth towards a lot of people. DJ Khalid gets beef. Rick Ross gets beef. It recalls the original lines that started this beef back in 2023 when Drake was talking about the idea of a big three.

And Kendrick called that out unlike that. Fuck a big three anyway. There was too many chefs in the kitchen. It was a mess to begin with. And now they got a new gold And we got to test the position Damn, who is this guy for real? I guess a magician

100 million streams vanished No one got questions for niggers If I have my facts right It was Jay Cole who initially Rapped about The Big Three to which Kendrick replied Fuck a Big Three There's only Big Me or something along those lines

But you're absolutely right That is a reference to the initial start Of that whole saga So these lines are on nearly every song but there are a couple tracks on Iceman that go about this vindictiveness in a way that's a step beyond lyrical diary dumping. One of the songs to take off has been the track, Brand to Atlanta, featuring Future and Molly Santana. There's a few layers to this song.

In Not Like Us, the Final Nail of the Coffin was a verse from Kendrick Lamar, where he methodically outlined all of Drake's culture vulturing from different parts of the Black diaspora, revolving around a killer bar about Drake's relationship with Atlanta. What two chain say you good, but he lied. You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars. No, you're not a colleague. You're a fucking colonizer. Lethal.

So Drake has responded with the song Ran to Atlanta. To trap track, naturally. Drake makes a trap song, names it ran to Atlanta, which is already extra enough. Then he takes it further and gets future on the track. Yeah. Mind you, this is the same man that Kendrick name drops and not like us and is the same guy that was an architect of the beef in the first place because future and Metro Boomin's song like that had the original anti-Drake Kendrick feature back in 2024. Wow. the lore is deep.

It's loaded. And granted, Drake and Future have collaborated before together on numerous occasions. They have the 2015 mixtape, what a time to be alive. But bringing Future back into the fold is kind of a distinctive jab. Can't even tell you we're dead. She pulled her right out of the person. She planned it. Note on the sheet that she landed. About a condo of the street and she's standing. Bring out the freaks to France and the sprint up.

They want to play Miles Santana. To cook a hound of my tan. The way we were boxing. So you have Molly, you have future, you have Drake, kind of dream team. But again, the music is not enough for Drake. He needs to go over the top and deliver more pointed lines. Iceman turn. Iceman turned like we moved at the tables with ice man back outside for the greater good fuck you pussy but shot of your neighborhood. I can mention a lot by a bunch of people that I wish I never met.

We're sharing women that I already fucked at the height of my success. Lots happening. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. was upset and also something that we haven't talked about yet is the name ice man i mean what is cooler and more collected this is sarcasm than developing a fake superhero alter ego to demonstrate how unbothered you are and then talking about it for 18 straight songs i have to say i don't love how many times he says the word ice on this album in general i just don't like hearing it frankly

Not the time. In this day and age, it's just like, think of another metaphor. Yeah, I feel kind of weird about Drake identifying himself as Iceman. Very insensitive. You know, in this very politically charged time when ICE is literally stealing people off the streets. Yeah. In Los Angeles, where Kendrick Lamar is from. Don't really love those optics.

I have one of the questions that I promised earlier because I'm a little hung up on the album art for Iceman. We didn't even mention that. that. Yeah, it's a bedazzled glove that seems to clearly be referencing Michael Jackson. It's like kind of a blurry photo of the gloved hand against a black background. What does that mean? I'm so perplexed by it. I mean, I think you said it yourself. I think he's trying to draw connections between himself and Michael Jackson, maybe because the media persecuted both of them. Wow, that's crazy. But there's also a line on like that that Kendrick Lamar says that I'm recalling now where he says Prince outlived Mike Jack, referring to Kendrick Lamar as Prince and referring to Drake as Michael Jackson. So maybe it's referencing that. Maybe it's referencing the public perception of Michael Jackson. I am not really sure, again, the messaging around this album I find very cloudy and not super thought through.

Kendrick used the line, you know, A minor. Yeah. And I think it's a very off-color thing to say, I'm going to compare myself to someone who has many allegations of sexual abuse against children. Yeah. It's just, I'm stunned that anyone would choose to be, I have been compared to that person in that same way. Very strange choice. There's another song on the album that responds to the beef musically, and that's the track too hard for the radio. I make real-time smags

Boy, you know the model Got a push you to the Mac That when they was at Some hour Davidson was at Now everybody got a blue 30 on their bag Must have heard about us

Got a catch up to the slas Yeah, once it's me and YG rap Fags, 900 million for the trades Ray City Brianna, did I hear something about some condiments?

You heard a reference to capital M mustard, the DJ, who produced Not Like Us and is also Boys with Kendrick It's pretty clear Here, on Too Hard for the Radio, Drake is trying to do

a California rap thing. He's intentionally aping the styles that Kendrick Lamar, who again is from California, deals in. Kendrick's last album, GNX, released on the heels of this beef, was very indebted to this sound.

And this track, too hard for the radio, is even produced by the artist Pelo, who has crafted the California Bay Area sound on songs like Word is Bond by YG, who was also mentioned in these lyrics. If I told you, I was, This is.

I run a left side of the map and that's what it is. My homie got that pack and that's what it is. This is getting very conspiratorial. I know. I might have my tinfoil hat on a little bit, but I do think... No, no. You're in the music. I do think it's intentional, though, because there's lines in too hard for the radio that straight up call out Oakland.

I'm white Nike shoes. I got a mic to use to talk bad about you, pussy's. I don't like you fools. Got an Oakland show tonight, baby. It's both the call out to the bay and the sound, but also again, he's not unbothered. He references not like us, and the line where Kendrick says that Oakland show

going to be a last stop. I think there's a bigger issue here, which is that Drake is not too hard for the radio. No way. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's a fundamentally false promise that, as you pointed out, Rihanna, he even sort of negates on that first track we listen to, make them cry.

You know, he's talking about his, his need to produce hits. So there's like some kind of crisis of identity crisis, I think, happening here, which is kind of fascinating. And it produces what we academics like to call a rich text. There's a lot to unpack here. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the statement too hard for radio is an interpolation. It's a reference to the Haifi rapper Mack Dre and his song Too Hard for the fucking radio.

and it's a direct interpolation. Let me play the two. Oh, yeah. And here's Drake's version. Yeah, it's been so hot for the fucking radio. I'm not buying it, but I don't know. I'm also intrigued by just the sheer slop of it. Again, there's so much here.

It gives you a lot to chew on as a listener at the very least. Another thing they have in common is that in the original, he talks about he's going to be rapping until he's 80. And I have no doubt that we are going to be getting some like 12 album drop when Drake turns 80. He's turning 40 right now. So I think the oove of Drake is only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. There's hyperinflation in the Drake economy. The oom? The ove, I think, is what you meant to say, Charlie.

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. So ultimately, you know, the question is, beyond being petty, ten toes down, what is Drake trying to say with Iceman? I'm kind of getting mixed messages. When you hear Iceman, you think about someone who literally doesn't get here. who's able to dodge the bullets, so to speak, has the ability to easily cool off. And instead of getting that record, which I could imagine would be a little bit bespoke, we have just a nonstop airing of Drake's grievances and beef. And this to me has never been Drake's strong suit. I don't like Drake when he gets into this dark and vindictive mood. I feel like it bogs him

down. It doesn't let the joy and fun of his work shine. Only when he was going after Meek Mill on songs like back to back. Do we get vicious lyrics and clarity on the same time? What he refers to as his Iceman thing, when he's in that mode, the power of Drake gets lost. Yeah. I think Drake is trying to say one thing, but instead saying another, and it leaves him in a weird in-between place. And in a different world, when this is the only album, it would be kind of hard to tell where he goes from there. The good thing, though, is that there are two more records, not named.

named Iceman that are so much less heavy because they actually say new and exciting things about Drake himself. The record Habib T is less risky than Iceman. It's also less risky than Made of Honor, which we'll get to in a little bit. But it also has still a distinct sound and purpose. All three of the albums have different sonic vibes that Drake is trying to put out. You know, Ice Man is the rap record. Habibti is the R&B record. It's more R&B coded. And I think Drake on this album is trying to be less lyrical and more musical. At the same time, he's trying to take us out of the present and connect us back to previous eras of Drake, as well as a larger canon of musical context to rehabilitate his image. And I think the two of you will be pleased with the intro of Abibti,

the track Rusty intro. Okay. all the sweethearts And the dates I've had I wonder what they'll say about me How would they describe me as a man? I know I'm no angel But I try

And God made me With the left hand I cannot do everything right So can we declare bingo? I mean, it's not twang But that is Americana I think Drake went country I was going to say

Do I dare to say That Drake finally goes country. Wow. We predicted it at the beginning of the year on our annual bingo episode. Wow. The moment has come. I would feel better if there was like a little fiddle or banjo in there.

But yeah, given how country has basically become hip-pop, this feels like Drake's version of country. So, yeah. It reminds me a little bit of almost like four or five seconds, the Rihanna Kanye-McCartney track. Now I'm four, five seconds from Wiling. And we got three. More dance till Friday. More acoustic guitar, Americana, than it is actual Nashville country.

But I'm going to give it to him. I think there's a lot of country elements in here. It's immediately a pivot from the in-your-face brashness of Ice Man. Totally. He's mentioning lyrics about his sweetheart's. There's mentions of God and angels, even the title of the song Rusty intro, Rust, big country music metaphor, I think. All of these are lyrical references, and there's a guitar instrumental. And in a great review of the song by Alphonse Pierre for Pitchfork, he makes the point that this track aligns itself with pain wrap.

Pain rap? Is that like when you touch the rust and then you get tetanus and you get a shot, you do pain rap? And then you rap about how sad and emo you are and how much you're hurting and how much ladies have broken your heart and left you to the wayside. like country music and pain rap are shaking hands. And as Alphonse says in his review, Morgan Wallen does pain rap as well. And with the blurring genre lines of country music and rap music, I think this is a country song. Wow. He's done it.

He has done it. But it's not super straightforward. I mean, there's the auto-tuned vocal. And in the back half of the track, the form breaks. And it sounds like nothing else on these three albums. This is a dj tag This dj frisco 9, 5, 4 yo

Tell the bartender fuck it Give me everything you have I'm on an orange full moon right now So I don't want to ask This DJ tag comes in Stuttering the beat repeats over and over The whole vibe changes

The vocals even sound a little bit sped up Maybe trying to reverse engineer Or mimic a TikTok moment Kind of baffling to me Feels unfinished though I mean, to your point, it's kind of sloppy. Yeah, it feels like a demo. You know, he kind of chopped it up a little bit in Ableton or whatever and just kind of threw it out there.

Where does he go from here, Rihanna? Well, unfortunately, Rusty intro is the most interesting song on the record by far. Okay. In the other tracks on Habibti, we got this idea of Drake trying to connect himself and this era, two previous Drake eras to maybe remind us of what we loved about. him prior to all this drama. The track, high fives, by and large, feels like first draft Drake. And I mean that derogatorily.

Take this line that I haven't stopped thinking about since I heard it. Rhyming Peach Bellini with Sidney-Sweeney is nasty. work. Which follows Prenini, which is nice. You know, we haven't had another Panini since the Lil Nas X song, so that's interesting. And there's also another reference to the diamond glove. So yeah,

he's really on this MJ tip, which is, as we discussed, you know, maybe not the most savory connection. It feels like he's throwing a lot of spaghetti against the wall with this one. Sloppy spaghetti? Sorry. You're incorrigible.

But high fives, musically, is founded on this sample of reverse the lyrics. And I think it's intentionally trying to evoke whether it's the same sample or not. The vibe of the first track on Drake's 2013 record, nothing was the same, the song Tuscan Leather. Here's the beat of Tuscan Leather. Chipmunk's soul. The first. And here's what he's got going on on high fives. Fuck yes.

Oh, yeah. Whippoor for the game? So it's the same sped-up chipmunk soul kind of thing where the vocals are super high-pitched, but then also reversed. Yeah, and maybe it's a coincidence. You know, it's not super novel to reverse sped-up soul vocals. But I do think that Drake may be intentionally trying to remind us as fans who may have strayed from Drake's light to recall the hits and remember why we may have liked him in the first place. And Tuscan Leather is regarded as one of Drake's best songs, so I don't think it's an accident that these tracks sound similar. Yeah, I mean, I'll give it to him.

On this album and throughout his entire discography, he works with great producers who know their stuff. Like, maybe part of the reason why Kendrick accuses him of culturalism is that it's true. Drake travels around the world and works with producers that know how to evoke different feelings and vibes. It's very rarely do I think it's entirely accidental. On this album, Habibti, Drake is also trying to do something else, as I mentioned, which is connect to a larger canon of musical context. One of Drake's problems when it comes to pop, R&B, and rap, it's hard to identify him with one particular genre, which goes back to the mission of these albums. It's to establish himself in each of these apartments. Iceman's the rap album.

Habibti is the R&B album. Made of Honors the pop album. And whether or not I agree with the approach, I do think he's actively trying to. to become not just a Jack of All Trades Master of None, but a Master of All. And Habibti is the music-focused R&B-oriented album. And I find the song classic to be the record's mission statement in that vein by throwing it back to previous eras of R&B. a time that's chewing well girl you know what never mind it's like it's like it's

very 90s very 2000s there's the nods of Horel with the four count instrumental twinkling synth pads here smooth vocals blown out 808 it's as if it's coming through like a car speaker or something and the narrative he immediately starts off is like talking to a girl you know he heard some rumors. It's very usher confessions vibe. This is smooth, suave Casanova character, Drake. If Iceman is a character, this is another character. My issue here is that I have a problem with this romantic Drake though. Though I really enjoy his melodies, I actually really like his vocal approach. I think that his vision of female pleasure is what a 17-year-old boy imagines. And I can't speak for all people and their desires,

but I actually think he's singing more from imagined male adolescent ideas of sexuality than a grown-up man. I completely agree. And maybe Drake hedges those complaints by having this track classic function as two halves, where the first half is him singing, doing his R&B thing. And then the back half is actually an extensive sample of the already existing 90s R&B track. Don't beat around the bush by just cause. Once again, I don't understand why Drake is bringing up, like, youth and sexuality after his accusations from Kendrick. Massive cognitive dissonance here.

Like, he opens the album being like, I'm 40 or I'm near. Charlie 40. Why are we going back to teenage romance? Maybe it's connected to, you know, what Rihanna was saying at the very beginning of this conversation, flood the zone, right? That's the, that's the playbook. That's the slop aesthetic. Just put so much stuff out there. Some of it good, some of it controversial, some of it negative. It overwhelms you in a way. Sure. I was going to draw a connection to another Drake track, which is a little bit ironic considering what you just said, Charlie. But I was going to say this song reminds me of Drake's song Teenage Fever on More Life because that song uses an extensive sample of J-Lo for that track's hook. So this is something that he's done before.

It's a good sample. It's a really good sample. Good beat. One of the best Drake songs, maybe ever. So the classic sample is doing two separate things, both in the realm of kind of musically rehabilitating his image. For one, he's directly connecting himself to vintage R&B. There is an element to it where the band just cause, I gather, is pretty obscure. So I wonder if he's trying to infuse his image with a little bit of curatorial taste to lend

him a little bit more credibility. Right. But more than that, and this is going off of the teenage fever connection, I think he's trying to put himself in conversation with what we know to be old Drake. We see it on high fives. We see it on classic. And we've been seeing this a lot from rappers of Drake's class as they enter the third decade of their career. I'm thinking of Kanye West's, I love Kanye. I miss the old Kanye dialogue on life of Pablo. Like these rappers, as they age and they're going into an era where they're scared of losing their relevance.

It feels like the only thing that they know how to do is call back what they were doing 10 years ago and be like, remember that? You love that shit. Yeah. It's hard to be an aging pop star. Pop stardom is often a young person's game. And hip hop moves, I think, often faster through its stars than other genres. But the thing is, Drake is a pop star.

Yes, he is. As well as a hip-hop star, as well as an R&B star. leads me into the final record of the three. What really excites me about Drake is when he pushes the boundaries, tries new stuff. That's why Nokia was so good. That's why I loved rusty intro on Hibibti. And made of honor, the third album, takes a whole different approach to anything else we've heard today. It's a pop record. It's the riskiest of the three. And if I press play on the song, a cheetah print featuring sexy red. You get the vibe right away.

This is song of the summer, by the way. All right. You heard it here first. Smacky. First day and I get consent. I am a gentleman. Girl, your face is a a egg and your ass is a tin. Drake is back in the club and thank God.

I'm thinking of what you said earlier, Rand, if you described him as pure id, this is even. more like primal. This is like lizard brain, smack it. You know, this is just, this is elemental hornyness right here. In a way that is, I feel more comfortable with, honestly, than some of the other things we've heard. Totally. I'm sorry to take it there, but I'm very glad that he asks for consent at the beginning.

Because this song is a straight up reference to Planet Rock. It's the Electro style. It's got the vocoder. Yeah. African Mombada, another person with a lot of allegations of predation. And so trying to flip that narrative around and still use that sound. I do think it sounds like Planet Rock, but Planet Rock isn't the only electro song. I think he's like trying to just get people dancing in the club by throwing it back to these old vintage house and techno aesthetics.

For sure. And it's a style of music that is foundational to hip hop. It's really the place where hip hop fit in the club from the very beginning. It's party music. It is fun music. This is definitely much more of a move towards pop and dance culture. What stands out to me is his sample of the DJ Peggy Goo's song. It goes like nah, nah, nah.

That's been a staple of dance music sets since it dropped a few years ago, kind of went platinum in the gay clubs. I think he's pandering in a way, but I'm not mad at it. And you can hear him having fun a little bit on the other side of the microphone. Like, I kind of adore this song. Until I leave a print Smat that ass Smat that ass

Until it's Cheetah Print I smack that ass Until I leave a print I smat that ass Smat that ass Until it's Cheetah Print Yeah Cheetah Print is party music

And you could really, really tell When Sexy Red gets involved Ork 5 There's the orc hit Got the Chachas slide Come on, who thinks of this stuff? Come on, who thinks of this stuff? Who thinks of Chachaw Slide Interpolation, recounted by sexy red.

Shout out to the Fairlight CMI orc five sample. Staple sound of all electro music. Stravinsky, Firebird Suite. The energy just builds and builds and reflects a core truth about Drake, something that Kendrick Lamar has said and what we all kind of know as pop fans since the Take Care era, Drake's best work has been in the pop space. His best songs are songs that people could pop ass to. He's super comfortable.

And there's something about sexy red in the past few years that has brought this energy out of him. The two of them work really well together. And she's featured on Habibti, but I specifically think of 2020's track, Rich Baby Daddy, featuring Cizza as well, that I see is kind of the older sibling to Cheetah Print. There's spiritual similarities here. I mean, sexy red on Rich Baby Daddy is also giving instructional ass moves to the audience. But, you know, for the record, Rich Baby Daddy is the most popular song off of that album for all the dogs. So something is working.

Instructional ass moves. I'm proposing that as an alternate title of this episode. I know you guys want an out to stop talking about. Sheet of Prince. So another favorite of mine off of Made of Honor is the song BBW. It is a slow build simmering R&B pop hybrid for most of it. It starts off with Drake over these dark, Moeg-esque synths. Big girl, I won't show you what I made her.

I can handle it if you could take it. Come closer. I'm not afraid. As it goes like I'm going to need no bed if you're jumping on me like that As it goes on, the percussion comes in slowly layer by layer, and it feels like you're walking into the club like it's coming through the walls. It just builds and builds in a really satisfying way. The production is sultry.

His vocal is as well. Lyrically, again, I think he gets into teenage boydum on this song. there is a lyric just because your body ain't PG-rated, so much ass, you should be cremated. I'm like, who is that for? Who is he enticing with that? And what does it mean? What does it mean? Seriously, what does that mean?

Is it like ash? Like ass? Is he trying to make a connection there? Oh, see, that's good. I mean, I think it might be that you wouldn't fit into a casket. Wow, Charlie, the dark horse. Wow, I like that right. That's definitely what it means.

100%. What a strange way to demonstrate your appreciation. Again, this is a grown man. He's 40 years old. I'm not buying it. Almost 40, Charlie. But what do you say the same about fat bottom girls? Like, by queen?

Like, it's the same energy. You've got fat bottom girls. You make a rocket. Totally. The song as a standalone is one thing. The entirety of Drake as he's presenting himself is giving me this impression. But the song is romantic. It's really in contrast to all of the other ways that he's expressing his own desire that feels very juvenile to me. The image of Drake that I know is discordant with how he wants to present. I mean, in his defense, he's like you said earlier, Charlie, he's in a tough spot. And as Rihanna said, he has to play the hits. He has to continue that

persona, even if it's not authentic anymore, because what is he going to do? You know, as... Grow up? Well, as Andre 3000, you know, famously said a few years ago, what am I going to do, rap about my colonoscopies? Like, it's a tough position to be in. How do you maintain your relevance while reaching out to, you know, younger fans? I don't have an answer, but I can also appreciate it's not this necessarily. On your point about what is authentic to Drake, I would maybe argue that this is him at his most authentic. I think he's kind of trapped in the constraints of what being a popular rapper in 2026 allows for. Like, he can't really get silly.

I can't see a song like BBW or Cheetah Print existing on a normal Drake album, you know, because I think he feels a little bit constricted in what he has to do, and that's why Iceman to me felt a little laborious, because it seemed like he felt a need to clear his throat, not necessarily a want. On Maid of Honor, I think he's just having fun and letting loose, and that to me feels like the most authentic version of Drake. On BBW, the back half of the track I keep thinking about,

because it's so bonkers, genuinely. Put your back in it. What's you waiting for? Put your back in it. More at work five. Wait, this is great. So that is the Apple voice that you can get a Mac to talk to you. You can actually do this on an Apple computer still today.

Put your back in it. What's you waiting for? All right. All right. So I'm going to add that to the genius. com lyrical annotations. But can your text speech do this? Put your back in it.

What you're waiting for? Put your back in it. Put your back in it. No, my accessibility mode on my computer does not make hot beats like that. That is a fire outro, though. Drake is doing bi-lifunk dance music. There's a sample of work by Denise Belfon on here. I've kind of been on this tip.

a little bit that Brazilian funk music, which is different than American funk music, you know, Parliament, George Clinton, as we know it, is the next wave in dance music and hip-hop music. And again, going back to Drake's Slop strategy, he's kind of just throwing shit out the wall. But at the same time, he will still be able to tap into something that is a little bit ahead of the curve. But the song I want to leave us on today is coincidentally the last song on Made of Honor. We've already had something akin to Drake Goes Country with Rusty intro earlier, but would you believe me if I said that on the song Princess, Drake goes shoe gaze? Ooh.

First time I saw you. Wow. You wouldn't give me time a day. Now that I probably should have walked away. I saw my princess laying in a bathroom laying in a bathroom. She got too little. Okay, maybe shoegaze is a stretch. But this is kind of noise rocky. There's pop punk melodies. It's radically different than any other Drake track we've heard in general,

especially in this very drop. I feel like Aesop Rocky did it a few months ago on punk rocky. I thought I fell in love. I thought she felt it too. I thought he was in love. She's just another flu. I thought you was the one. And, you know, to get conspiratorial, both been in Rihanna's orbit.

I didn't even think of that, Charlie. That's really smart. It's working for me. Returning to our earlier conversation, you know, maybe this is actually a path forward for Drake to move into genres that allow him to be a little more emo. Where his heart on his sleeve without having to constantly remind us that he, He's too hard for radio. Maybe that's the next step for Drake to get in touch with his sensitive side, not only lyrically, but musically.

Emo Drake. Hold on, we're going home. Exactly. Hold on. We're going home. Find your loving. These are some of the best Drake songs and are emo tracks. You know, when you really start, you're loving, I better find your heart.

I bet if all. You know, when you really start. strip away all of the glitz and glamour. Like, he's in pain. He's whining on those songs. And that's where, historically, Drake has found the most critical success, the most fans. I do see this, as you said, Nate, as a path forward into the future of Drake. And I think ultimately through these three records, we get a pretty good and clear picture

of who Drake is and what he wants to say. down like. Iceman feels like a slog to me because it's him indulging maybe his worst instincts, you know, his pettiness mostly. But Habibti has some good moments and made of honor is a standout to me. And while Drake is dumping whatever out into the world and flooding the market with Drake's slop, maybe there's glimmers of diamonds in the Drake Slop to throw some imagery out there. What I will say is that I'll take slop from someone who continues to surprise me over boring, mediocre slop any day. Switched on Pop is produced by Ranak Cruz, edited by Lissa Soap, engineered by Brand McFarlane, illustrations by Ira Scottley, video by Nick Rips. Our theme music is by Jocci Adams, the exact scenario of arc hours.

Remember for the Vox Media Podcast Network production of Vulture, which is part of New York Mag. And subscribe to nymag.com slash pod. Tell us what diamonds you have unearthed in the avalanche. of Drake Slop at Switch on Pop on Instagram, TikTok and all the other social media things. We want to know what you're hearing in this album. So come talk to us and, uh, yeah, that's it. Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack. Go to our website.

There's merch for you to buy. And we'll be back again next Tuesday with a brand new episode. Is that it? Yeah, that's it. That's good, folks. Until then. Thanks for listening. Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets?

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