Certified Lover Boy

Lil Nas X Comes Through With A Perfect Parody Of Drake’s Supposed ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Album Art

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This morning, Drake confirmed that his album Certified Lover Boy is set for release on September 3. He did so with an attention-grabbing image, featuring a 4×4 grid of pregnant woman emojis. It appears this image may actually be the album cover, as Ebro Darden has “confirmed” is the case.

Whether or not this image ends up being the actual Certified Lover Boy art, the jokes are already rolling in. Perhaps the best of those, though, has come from Lil Nas X, who decided to parody it by jokingly (probably) revealing his Montero cover art, which looks suspiciously like Drake’s cover. In fact, it’s basically the exact same, except all the female heads have been replaced with male ones.

What’s not a joke is Lil Nas X’s recent accolade: He’s now one of the ten most listened-to artists on Spotify with over 55.4 million monthly listeners. He shared a reaction to that news today, writing, “WOWW THIS IS HISTORY! I LOVE YALL SO MUCH! ‘MONTERO’ THE ALBUM OUT IN 18 DAYS! ITS OUR TIME!”

Meanwhile, he recently wrote of Montero, “creating this album has been therapy for me. i’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who i am, what i can do, and where i will be. i’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.”

Drake Fans Are Pretty Skeptical About ‘Certified Lover Boy’s Emoji-Laden Cover Art

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After months of delays — perhaps prompted by Drake and Kanye’s ongoing feud — Drake’s new album, Certified Lover Boy, officially got a release date when he made the announcement with an emoji-laden Instagram post. However, now fans are feeling skeptical about the album — or at least its ostensible cover art — after Ebro Darden confirmed on Twitter that the picture Drake posted is actually the album’s cover. Of course, Drake’s been roasted over questionable art before, but this picture — which features a grid of pregnant woman emojis in various skin tones and different colored shirts — doesn’t exactly scream “album of the year.”

Fans were quick to drag Drake’s decision to use, as one put it, such an “unserious” picture as his actual album cover. I’m old enough to remember the reaction to his Take Care album cover, which was derided for the exact opposite reason, so maybe this is Drake’s way of telling us this next album will be fun and lighthearted — or at least full of baby-making music that can be appreciated by people of all types. That hasn’t stopped some fans from being convinced that he’s “sabotaging his own rollout” and declaring that it’s “worse than the Donda artwork.” However, as Kanye recently proved with the chaotic release of his own recent release, these are two artists who exist in their own echelon, where rollout won’t matter as much as the music and the communal experience of streaming along with the rest of the word whenever the album drops. Check out more responses below.

Certified Lover Boy is due 9/3 via OVO and Republic.

Drake Officially Confirms The ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Release Date And It’s Very Soon

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Last week, it looked like Drake finally announced the release date for his upcoming album Certified Lover Boy: Some cryptic video popped up on ESPN’s SportsCenter that all but confirmed that the album is set for release this Friday, September 3. Now, the time for speculation is over, as we now know for sure that Certified Lover Boy is indeed set for September 3.

Drake confirmed the news with an Instagram post this morning. The image features a 4-by-4 grid of pregnant woman emojis, in varying skin tones and hair and clothing colors, and he took to the caption to announce the date.

The album has been pretty much ready to go for at least a month now, as Drake noted in July, “Album’s ready… album’s cooked, looking forward to delivering it to you. Certified Lover Boy on the way and that’s for anyone in the way.”

We don’t know much about the album yet, but it appears Lil Baby is set to appear on it. Not only that, but he’s actually going to put effort into his contributions, as he said recently, “I don’t really care what I say on a song, you feel me? I just freestyle. But with Drake, I be trying to think about it. And that’s what makes it harder for me ’cause like, I’m thinking. When I don’t even think, I just rap. So then like, ’cause it’s Drake, I get kind of like, damn… So I gotta make sure.”

Drake Seemingly Announces His ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Release Date By Sneaking It Into ‘SportsCenter’

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For months now, fans have wondered just when Drake’s upcoming album, Certified Lover Boy, will be released. While Drake has periodically offered updates on the album’s expected release date, nothing had been set in stone yet… until today. This morning, viewers of ESPN’s flagship program SportsCenter were surprised by the reveal of the album’s release date, which is set for September 3.

The reveal wasn’t a grand affair, but rather, snuck in for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. During the show’s introduction, there were brief clips of a sign that read, “CLB September 3.” While there’s nothing here that explicitly says “Certified Lover Boy,” given Drake’s association with and love for the sports world, it seems more than likely that he worked with the worldwide leader in sports on this announcement.

It would make sense that the album would have a release date that’s not too far away, as he said recently that Certified Lover Boy is finished and on the way: “Album’s ready… album’s cooked, looking forward to delivering it to you. Certified Lover Boy on the way and that’s for anyone in the way.” It would seem Kanye West won’t be making an appearance on the album, as he and Drake have revived their feud in recent days.

Drake Reveals ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Is ‘Ready’ And Finally On The Way

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The wait for Drake’s highly-anticipated sixth album Certified Lover Boy is nearly over. The Toronto rapper has kept fans waiting for the project’s release for the better part of a year. It was originally set to arrive back in January after Drake shared a nostalgic trailer for the release. It was later delayed as a result of Drake rehabbing from knee surgery for than he expected. While a new date was never announced, many hopped that Certified Lover Boy would arrive by the end of the summer and now, it seems like that will be the case.

Drake hopped on Fri Yiy Friday, a show on Sirius XM’s Sound 42 station which is led by his OVO Sound team, to share a new update about Certified Lover Boy. “Album’s ready… album’s cooked, looking forward to delivering it to you” he told the show’s hosts, OVO Mark and OVO Noel. Drake then took a shot at the competition with his next statement. “Certified Lover Boy on the way and that’s for anyone in the way.”

This comes after Drake revealed the project was in the mixing stage earlier this month. “You know Uncle Drake’s on his way back home to mix the album,” he said on a July 9 edition of the Fri Yiy Friday show. Elsewhere, Drake recently teamed up with Smiley for “Over The Top” before signing on to executive produce a documentary about the experiences of Black hockey players with LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Adel “Future” Nur

You can listen to Drake’s announcement in the video above.

Drake Reveals ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Is Complete And Will Be Mixed Soon

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Drake promised fans they would get his sixth album Certified Lover Boy by the end of January. A knee surgery forced that back, and since then the rapper has been extremely tight-lipped about a new release date, only going as far as to say it would be out by summer’s end. And, as of now, at least, it seems he’ll make good on his promise.

Drake made a surprise appearance on the Sirius show Fry Yiy Friday, where he slipped in a casual update about Certified Lover Boy. “You know Uncle Drake’s on his way back home to mix the album,” he said on the show, adding that there’s “a bunch of new tracks coming.” While there isn’t a timetable for the album’s mixing stage, fans can rest assured knowing Certified Lover Boy is very close to arriving.

While the wait for Certified Lover Boy has been a pretty long one, at least Drake has been releasing new music. He recently teamed up with Brent Faiyaz for “Wasting Time,” which arrived after he lent verses to Migos and Nicki Minaj for their respective tracks “Havin My Way” and “Seeing Green“.

You can listen to Drake’s comments in the video above.

Drake Confirms ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Will Arrive By The End Of The Summer

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Drake’s upcoming sixth album, Certified Lover Boy, is by far the most anticipated album of 2021. However, it’s also a project that fans should’ve already had in their possession if things went according to plan. Back in October, the rapper announced that the album would arrive in January, but he was later forced to delay the project after he had to take time away from working on it in order to rehab from knee surgery.

Since then, the rapper has continued work on Certified Lover Boy without sharing a new release date for it. Thankfully, during a recent interview, Drake revealed when fans can expect the album.

In a sit-down during the URLTV battle rap league’s NOMEXI event, Drake was asked when Certified Lover Boy arrived. When interviewers tried to get a specific release date out of him, the rapper kept things tight-lipped. However, when an off-screen guest asked if the album would be here by the end of the summer, Drake replied, “Oh yeah, I’ll be there. My album will be out by then.”

This comes after Akademiks previously reported that Certified Lover Boy would be released by the end of April. Obviously, that month came and went without the album’s release, but Drake’s biggest supporters should be happy to hear that the project will be in their hands within the next few months.

You can watch a clip of the conversation above.

Drake Celebrated His Artist Of The Decade Award By Accepting It With His Son In His Arms

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While coveted career-spanning awards can sometimes feel canned or phoned-in, there’s nothing that feels phony about calling Drake the artist of the decade. With over 200 entries into the Billboard Hot 100, a whopping nine No. 1 albums, and the kind of culture-defining force that few artists ever get to wield, he has undoubtedly changed the face of rap, pop, and R&B all at the same time. But to accept this monumental award, he didn’t enlist any celebrities or famous friends to present it to him, opting instead to have his friends and family lining the back of the stage while he accepted it.

And it wasn’t just his mother and father, other relatives and closest friends who were there with him. As he walked out onstage, Drake was holding the hand of his young son, Adonis, and even gave the trophy to the toddler to hold while he gave his heartfelt, off-the-cuff acceptance speech. For those who remember the accusations leveled against Drizzy during one of the lowest moments of his career — Pusha T’s venomous declaration “you are hiding a child” — tonight’s acceptance felt like a direct rebuttal to that attack. Putting it to bed once and for all, Drake dedicated one of the biggest awards of his career to Adonis, holding him up for a final celebration before heading offstage.

Congratulations Drake, artist of the decade… now can we please get Certified Lover Boy in time for summer? Watch his full speech above.

Drake’s ‘What’s Next’ Video Is An Exasperated Flex Full Of Snowy Late Night Drives

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The Boy is back.

Though rumors about Certified Lover Boy have been swirling since 2021 began, the timeline has been a little jittery so far. Fans were sure Drizzy’s next album was going to drop a few weeks ago, but his producer 40 insists that although they’ve been working all through the pandemic, it’s going to be some time still — but within the next two months. Drake, rather infamously, has been recovering from a pretty severe knee injury, but that doesn’t seem to limit his mobility in the new video that dropped tonight, the “What’s Next” video that comes alongside the release of a new mixtape, Scary Hours 2, which is obviously the follow up to Scary Hours.

In the meantime, he’s also been busy relaunching the OVO Sound Radio Show with SiriusXM, notably moving the show away from its former home at Apple Music. Back to his imminent new album, for fans who are eager to trace Drake’s evolution from the early days of So Far Gone all the way up to the superstar he’s become, check out our timeline leading up to the release of Certified Lover Boy here. But if you’d rather hear more exasperated flexes and watch him take snowy night drives, check out the video above.

Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Will Reportedly Arrive Within The Next Two Months

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As 2020 came to a close, Drake fans believed they would start the new year with the rapper’s highly-anticipated sixth album, Certified Lover Boy. That’s because last October, Drake announced it would arrive at some point in January. Unfortunately, the album was not released last month as he was forced to push it back due to the time and energy he spent repairing and rehabbing his injured knee. The delay did not come with a new release date, so fans were left to continue the wait and hope it would drop sooner than later.

However, thanks to a recent report from YouTube and media personality Akademiks, fans can now expect Certified Lover Boy to drop within the coming months. “‘CLB’ update. I’ve seen some people say, ‘Oh, it was supposed to drop tonight’, as in Thursday night. No. No, it’s not dropping then,” he said while hosting a livestream earlier this week. “Drake told me that it’s going to be dropping before April so he’s not waiting until summer to drop his sh*t. I don’t wanna say before April… April or before.” He added that the rapper wouldn’t make Certified Lover Boy a surprise release because “he’s spent so much time on this project.”

As the wait for his sixth album continues, fans can enjoy new music from Drake thanks to his “Talk To Me” collaboration with Drakeo The Ruler.

You can listen to Akademiks’ comments here.