Just Blaze gives Drake a track with a sky-kissing mix of gospel choir, gauzy R&B sample and stomping beat: itвЂ™s busy and overheated and a nice break from the usual sparse, slow Drake production style. Over taut hi-hat clicks and synthed-up guitar flares that sound like youвЂ™re hearing them through a wall of cotton candy, Drizzy celebrates a the kind of girl whoвЂ™s fine with a complex mind, as Nicki Minaj comes in for a characteristically hot verse (вЂњdouble-d up hos, dolly partin!вЂќ) and a searing vocal hook on the chorus. So, if youвЂ™re ever in Toronto and youвЂ™re looking for where the gangstas are, just tell your cabdriver, вЂњUptown, you Hoser!вЂќДЄll of DrakeвЂ™s alleged girlfriends are in the house. Opening with a gangsta Simon and Garfunkel reference, this pumped up track has a Lil Wayne-like flow and a liquid diamond-spoked Southern rap track from 9th Wonder Drake tells his Horario Alger-like story of going from underground to superstar, from riches to more riches: вЂњItвЂ™s been two years since someone asked me who I was.вЂќДЄ relatively thugged-up track for Drake his voice distorts as he sings about how down he is and a Canadian buddy comes in to big-up вЂњthat Uptown shit,вЂќ as in uptown Toronto. But even in abjection, Drake comes through with his own special savoir faire: Who else calls his ex and complains heвЂ™s been having too much empty sex this week and probably gets her sympathy? Here, at eight epic minutes, it enters the canon of greatest drunk-dial songs of all time (up there with the ReplacementsвЂ™ вЂњAnswering MachineвЂќ). Only Drake could take a song this dark and sleepy and make it resonate the way it has.

ItвЂ™s crushed out R&B heaven: вЂњIвЂ™ve loved and IвЂ™ve lost,вЂќ she sings, and they spend the song reassuring each other that theyвЂ™re worth trusting. Guitars scrape across the sky like fighter jets and tom-toms roll over sad house music pianos. The Drake and Rihanna duet moment does not disappoint.

Of course, with Drake you worry he just might get in the ring, and sit down in the middle and cry.ДЇeaturing Toronto singer The Weeknd, itвЂ™s some avant-R&B lushness: echoing snare shots, finger snaps that sound like they were recorded in a cathedral and crooned background vocals that go вЂњtake your nose off my keyboard / What you bothering me for.вЂќ ItвЂ™s a tender ode to metaphorical family in the face of a world where everybody wants a little Drake. The songвЂ™s martial beat and strobe-flash strings suggest the superstar entrance of a champion prizefighter. In the context of this dark-tinted album, the straightforwardly flashy вЂњHeadlinesвЂќ sounds practically joyful, even as Drake apologizes for his fame. bucket.A bass drum like a heartbeat leads into a ballad complete with Eighties synths Phil Collins might croon over, as Drake pours over the wreckage of an old love: вЂњMay angels protect and heaven accept you.вЂќ When you break up with Drake, you donвЂ™t just get an ex-boyfriend вЂ“ you get a benediction. lected>a.pg-vertical-entertainment.pg-section.

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