Nick Krewen
Special to the Star
Drake not only dropped a new three-song EP called Scary Hours II at midnight: he also dropped a new video and – to top it all off – a new 24-hour fully curated radio channel.
With short notice on Thursday night, the man who has been setting hip-hop trends for the past 11 years shared on his Twitter and Instagram feeds that he’d appearing on SIRIUS-XM satellite radio at 10:30 p.m. to debut his new EP with his co-host and manager Oliver El-Khatib to launch Sound 42 via their flagship program OVO Sound Radio, formerly on Apple Music.
Considering that several deadlines for Drake’s highly anticipated and previously announced Certified Lover Boy album have come and gone following the May 2020 release of The Dark Lane Demo Tapes – and that the pandemic and what seemed to be an injury had laid the singing rapper low for a while – the 24-hour notice of the release of Scary Hours II – and what that might contain – had his fans in a frenzy of speculation.
After the first set of music – including “Talk To Me,” the Drakeo The Ruler track released last week featuring our local global sensation – some answers were provided after El-Khatib asked the questions.
“People wanna know what’s up with you. They wanna know what’s up with CLB?” he said.
“Well, first and foremost, I’m just grateful to be back, back on my feet,” Drizzy replied. “I went through a little bit of a tough stretch with an injury, and I’m back in tip-top form, so that’s a blessing.”
Then he got to the meat about the status of Certified Lover Boy.
“CLB is currently being “chef’d” in every way possible; me and (producer/engineer) Noel (Cadastre) grinding for a long time; back in the studio with “40” (producer Noah Shebib) tough and I’m just really excited about the music that we’re making.
“I feel like I’m locked into a zone where I’m really trying to execute on a project that’s fulfilling for my soul. You know, I’ve been doing this for a set of years now and it’s a blessing to still be going, but I’m excited for what the future holds.
“I don’t have an exact date but just know it’s in a pot and it’s coming soon and I’m definitely excited to get the ball rolling tonight.”
With that, Drake from State Farm introduced Scary Hours II’s three new joints: “What’s Next,” “Wants and Needs” highlighting Atlanta’s Lil Baby and “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” featuring Champagne Papi’s old buddy Rick Ross.
“What’s Next” is similar to Drake’s August smash “Laugh Now, Cry Later” in its minimalism; only in this case, there’s a see-sawing two-chord synth/organ riff over a backdrop of peppered beats where the rapper almost resentfully addresses the public scrutiny of his private life with rapid-fire flow:
“Summer, all I did was rest, okay? And New Year’s, all I did was stretch, okay? And Valentine’s Day, I had sex, okay? We’ll see what’s about to happen next, okay?”
Drake also dropped a Theo Skrudas-directed video of the track six minutes after the song’s radio premiere, a wintry spectacle shot in and around his beloved Toronto (he’s back on the outer rim of the C.N. Tower and there’s a late night/early morning sequence at the Yonge Dundas Square) that ends with his collaborative crew standing around him.
On “Wants and Needs” featuring fellow hip-hop streaming sensation Lil Baby, there’s an intriguing reference to Kanye West that suggests the relationship between the two may still be strained, despite Drake’s best efforts, with the ghostly atmospherics in the background suggesting a Frank Dukes touch on the production side.
Rick Ross has a go at it for about half of the six-minute-plus “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” – co-produced by Pickering sensation Boi-1da – before Drizzy inserts his presence on the track, an unidentified female singing in the background as he addresses the past, the future, mentions his son, and offers such observational gems as “These days fame is disconnected from excellence.”
In other words, classic Drake wordplay that will ensure appetites are further whetted for Certified Lover Boy whenever the man decides to release it.
Whether the 12-and-a-half-minute Scary Hours II follows the footsteps of 2018’s Scary Hours – that two-song EP provided the chart-topping “God’s Plan” – remains to be seen, but the new project indicates that Drake is still at the top of his game and won’t be abdicating the throne anytime soon.
As if this certified lover boy would.