“Forever” and “Best I Ever Had” drew international attention to the mixtape Drake released in February of 2009: the career-launching So Far Gone. And what better way to establish yourself than have the three gods of modern rap music hand the torch over to you themselves? Instead, he fronted “Forever” - one of the most stacked posse cuts of all time - making it clear that he was to be taken seriously. But while the likes of Sean Kingston and Hurricane Chris all drowned in their indistinct impermanence, Drake refused to do the same. Writing him off as another urban-lite crooner lost in the wave of the late ‘00s mess of ringtone rap should have been easy. “Forever” followed that summer’s “Best I Ever Had,” which introduced the Canadian artist to the public as suburbia’s latest contemporary R&B icon: a new one-hit wonder to energize the country’s middle school dances. The young newcomer’s face dissolves thrice, briefly, to introduce his guests: Kanye West, silhouetted alongside pillars of fire, sparks raining from the ceiling Lil Wayne, surrounded by women, diamonds lining his teeth Eminem, flanked by his crew, eyes merciless and cold.Īs the chorus fades out, Drake glances downward at the three biggest rappers of his generation, the undisputed kings of the last decade, and scowls.

An air horn blares overhead, and Drake sings the song’s hook as it moves to the instrumental, his gaze cast downward. In the music video for “Forever,” released in 2009, a 22-year-old Aubrey Drake Graham towers over the camera against a massive backdrop of pyrotechnics and flashing lights.

Drizzy thank me later album