Drake performs in Concert

PHOTO: PRINCE WILLIAMS/WIREIMAGE

 

Drake’s Certified Lover Boy is officially here!

 

The 34-year-old rapper’s sixth full-length studio album dropped early Friday morning over a year after it was first announced. The release was delayed for months after it was originally promised for January.

“CLB FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE EVERYWHERE @ 2AM EST,” Drake announced at midnight on Instagram with hand-written copy of the tracklist.

Fellow artists including JAY-Z, Travis Scott, Lil’ Wayne, Future, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Ty Dolla $ign, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, Lil Baby, and Project Pat all appear on the 21-song album. Nicki Minaj also performs a spoken word cameo on “Papi’s Home.”

CLB, the follow-up to Drake’s 2018 album Scorpion, is full of inventive twists. The fifth song, “Love All” featuring JAY-Z, begins with a sampling of the “Life After Death Intro” from Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 album, while “Way 2 Sexy” plays with the 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred.

For “Champagne Poetry,” the first track on CLB, Drake credited John Lennon and Paul McCartney as co-writers for sampling The Beatles’ “Michelle” from 1965 on the track. R. Kelly received a composer/lyricist credit on “TSU” as well.

Drake In Concert

PRINCE WILLIAMS/WIREIMAGE

The four-time Grammy winner dedicated CLB in part to the late Nadia Ntuli and Mercedes Morr. Complex reported that Ntuli was a friend of Drake’s who died in a motor vehicle accident earlier this year, while Morr was allegedly killed in a murder-suicide in August.

 

“A combination of toxic masculinity and acceptance of truth which is inevitably heartbreaking. Executive produced by me, Noah ’40’ Shebib, Oliver El-Khatib, and Noel Cadastre. Dedicated to Nadia Ntuli and Mercedes Morr. RIP 💖,” Drake wrote of the album in a note for Apple Music.

On Monday, he teased the upcoming release of CLB on Instagram with an image of 12 different emojis of pregnant women, leaving fans guessing.

Shortly before the release of his sixth studio album, Drake’s mom Sandi Graham penned a poem-like letter to her son in celebration of the new music. The rapper shared a snapshot of the card on Instagram.

“It’s finally come, the countdown has reached one, with each new album my heart skips a beat, being your mother has been my life’s greatest treat,” wrote Graham, 61. “It’s been a long hard road together, now there’s one more day to go. I wanna celebrate you son, more than you’ll ever know.”

“Love you more now and forever,” she signed the note.