Drake

Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ Becomes His Latest Track To Surpass One Billion Spotify Streams

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While Drake’s Certified Lover Boy album announcement has dominated the news, one of his previous releases quietly passed a major milestone. Drake’s 2016 track “Hotline Bling” (the best song of the 2010s, we reckon) has apparently become his latest song to achieve the impressive feat of surpassing one billion streams on Spotify.

The achievement was first reported by the Twitter account Chart Data, though the song’s streaming numbers currently sit at 165,000 over the one billion mark.

“Hotline Bling” is far from Drake’s first song to reach one billion streams on the music platform. Drake’s track “One Dance,” which also appears on his 2016 Views album, was actually the first song on Spotify to reach one billion streams, which it did just a few months after the album’s release. Today, “One Dance” has nearly doubled in streams and now boasts well over two billion listens on Spotify.

Drake’s popularity on Spotify truly comes as no surprise as he’s constantly one of the top artists on the platform. Not only was Drake the most-streamed artist of the last decade, but he was also Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2015, 2016, and 2018. On top of that, Drake became the first Spotify artist to have 50 billion listens on his music this past January, meaning his Certified Lover Boy album is sure to perform well on the streaming service.

Drake Shows Off What Seem To Be ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Lyrics With Billboards In Toronto

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Drake has been teasing Certified Lover Boy over the past year or so, but now he’s locked into album rollout mode. Yesterday, he confirmed that the album is set for release this Friday, September 3. He also shared the cover art, which features a series of pregnant woman emojis, and which (probably by design) caused quite the stir online. Now it looks like he’s teased some of the album’s content with some billboards that have gone up in his Toronto hometown.

The signs show off what appear to be lyrics from the album. The phrases include “I don’t miss… Let alone miss you,” “Should’ve said you loved me today / because tomorrow is a new day,” and “Something other than me has got to give.”

Furthermore, Drake drove around Toronto yesterday handing out CLB merch.

Meanwhile, not long after Drake unveiled the Certified Lover Boy cover art, Lil Nas X came through with a perfect parody, replacing the women’s heads with male heads and claiming it was the album art for his own upcoming album, Montero. Drake also recently had a big assist for a fan in need, as it was reported that he gave a wheelchair-accessible van to the sister of one of his supporters.

Trippie Redd Said He Didn’t Realize Drake Was Dissing Kanye On ‘Betrayal’

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Unwittingly, Trippie Redd became involved with one of the longest cold wars in hip-hop — the one that continually flares up between Drake and Kanye. With Kanye gearing up to released his ever-evolving Donda project (which he now claims was put out without his approval), and Drake’s long-awaited Certified Lover Boy finally on the horizon, these two have reason to be going at each other again as they vie for the top spot in the genre. Meanwhile, Trippie was just stoked to release his latest album, Trip At Knight with a Drake feature on it.

When the song in question, “Betrayal,” dropped with Drizzy rapping: “All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know / Forty-five, forty-four (Burned out), let it go,” he raps, which probably references Kanye’s age of 44, though his other GOOD Music rival, Pusha T, is also 44 years old. “Ye ain’t changin’ shi*t for me, it’s set in stone / Rollin’ stones, heavy stones (PinkGrillz) / Precious stone, let me make my presence known.”

Trippie, however, was completely in the dark as to the significance of the bars. “I thought he was talking about a strap or something, forty-five, forty-four,” he told 92.3 Real in an interview. “I didn’t know what he was talking about. It is what it is.”

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 Gives A Fan A Brand-New Wheelchair-Accessible Van For His Disabled Sister

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Back in 2018, Drake used a streak of seemingly random acts of charity as the basis for his video for “God’s Plan” ahead of the release of his album Scorpion. At the time, some fans saw it as a cynical vehicle for drumming up buzz for his album and while that might have been the case, it was still good to see. Even better, though, is that Drake has apparently continued to see it as a viable strategy, as over the weekend, a viral post demonstrated Drake’s generosity ahead of his Certified Lover Boy release date announcement.

As Instagram user @rocketrob_90 posted on Saturday, Drake apparently donated a brand-new wheelchair-accessible van to the fan to help his sister Dora. “God is good,” he wrote. “This has been a wild year, to say the least. My sister, Dora, was gifted a 2021 Dodge Pro Master wheelchair conversion van by @champagnepapi!
Those that know me, know he’s my favorite rapper/artist of all time. He has been a HUGE blessing for me and my family. Glad to call him brother and friend. I don’t have to use the pickup truck to take her to her appointments anymore. We can all ride comfortably, especially Dora, to her doctor appts with little effort. This has changed our lives for the better.” In response, Drake commented, “Love my g love to the family!!! Big wheels keep rolling!!!”

Earlier this year, one of the recipients of Drake’s altruism posted her graduation pictures after Drake gave her a $50,000 check in 2018. As it turns out, even if Drake only gives to benefit his public image, those gifts still have solid benefits for the people receiving them.

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 Fans ‘Vandalized’ Kanye West’s Childhood Home With Signs Calling Him A ‘Burn Out’

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Kanye West and Drake’s beef flared up last week after the former dissed him during a guest verse on Trippie Redd’s “Betrayal.” The act seemingly led to West posting and deleting Drake’s address to his Toronto mansion, which for the record was already public information. It’s no telling where the back and forth will head next, but the beef has now extended to the rappers’ fans as West’s South Shore Chicago childhood home was visited by Drake fans.

Three signs were left at the GOOD Music rapper’s former house that dissed him, promoted Drake’s upcoming album Certified Lover Boy, and took a shot at Justin LaBoy.

Each of the signs were placed against an individual step at West’s childhood home. Top to bottom they read: “45 44 burnt out,” referencing Drake’s lyrics from “Betrayal,” “F*ck Justin LaBoy,” who’s helped promote West’s upcoming album Donda, and “CLB coming soon.” For what it’s worth, it should be easy to repair this “vandalism” as throwing out the signs will return the home to its normal state.

Last year, West purchased the home for $225,000 and is currently in the process of renovating it. A replica of the house was also at the center of his most recent listening event for Donda. As for Drake, the rapper recently announced that Certified Lover Boy would arrive on September 3. On Friday morning, the rapper “hacked” an episode of SportsCenter on ESPN to share the news. It comes as Donda is rumored to finally drop alongside Certified Lover Boy on September 3.

You can take a look at the “vandalism” in the post above.