In all of the ups and downs throughout his career, Drake has always remained on top. The Pusha T feud couldn’t take him down. Even the rough knockout from Kendrick Lamar in their 2024 beef only kept him down for so long. Fast forward two years, and the Toronto MC decided the highly anticipated Iceman wasn’t enough. He needed two more albums to release on the same day.
In celebration of the 6 God absolutely flooding the market with new music, Noisey has decided to whittle down what his best songs are to date. In doing so, it’ll highlight exactly what made him so dominant in the first place.
4 of the Greatest Drake Songs of All Time
‘Tuscan Leather’
After a massive statement album with Take Care in 2011, Nothing Was The Same could’ve been an easy victory lap. But songs like “Tuscan Leather” show an artist not content with his position in hip-hop. It’s not just enough to be one of the best— he has to be the best.
Consequently, you get the apex of Drake’s skills as a rapper, where he still has immense hunger despite his positioning in hip-hop’s hierarchy. “I’m tired of hearin’ ’bout who you checkin’ for now/Just give it time, we’ll see who’s still around a decade from now,” Drake declared in his second verse.
Over a decade later, he’s still at the top, through thick and thin.
‘Passionfruit’
Even with all the sharp braggadocio, Drake’s greatest skill as an artist was his ability to tap into his softer side. His best work shows a yearner, his music nakedly longing for a meaningful connection amidst his fame and success. It’s why songs like “Passionfruit” work, where he croons about a relationship that will inevitably die out with their distance. “I think we should rule out commitment for now ’cause we’re falling apart,” Drake sings.
‘Feel No Ways’
Views is a particularly complicated album. Conceptually, it’s supposed to depict the changing of seasons for Drake’s stomping grounds of Toronto. The problem is that sometimes, the thread can feel a bit loose musically. Mix that with some below-grade rapping by his standards, and it makes for a choppy listening experience.
But records like “Feel No Ways” capture the exact energy Drake aimed for on Views. It’s gray, moody, and despondent, where Drake’s frustrations boil over onto the hook. “I tried with you/It’s more to life than sleeping in and getting high with you,” he sings like a partner reaching their breaking point. By the outro, the violins play like a cold, overcast sky, slowly fading out. If only Views maintained this same magic consistently throughout the album.
‘The Ride’
Arguably the quintessential Drake song, where we understand all of his raw emotions and quirks as an artist. As The Weeknd croons in the background, Drake sighs about the growing isolation that came with his success. There’s a part of him reluctant to embrace this new reality, wondering if the sacrifices were worth it. His first two verses end exasperated, scoffing at the idea that anyone could claim they feel him.
The last verse sees an acceptance and a real shift into the all-encompassing pop culture figure we know today. Drake wonders about the goings-on in his stomping grounds in Toronto. But he’s too consumed by the women he’s going to have sex with. Even the ‘mo’ money, mo problems’ rhetoric doesn’t faze him. Bills, taxes, whatever. He spent millions without even having to think about it. Consequently, he teased in his last lines that his next projects would make him bigger. In the end, he was right.
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