Following a Grammy Awards and a Super Bowl halftime show in which he featured heavily in absentia — at least as a punchline — life goes on for Drake, who released his first new album on Friday since his much-publicized beef with Kendrick Lamar.
The album, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” a collaboration with PartyNextDoor, a longtime Drake associate with success as an enigmatic R&B singer, pop songwriter and producer, was released via multiple record companies at a fraught moment: Drake is currently suing his own label, Universal Music Group, or UMG, for defamation and harassment.
In a lawsuit filed last month, lawyers for the Toronto rapper, born Aubrey Graham, said that UMG’s release and promotion of Lamar’s diss track and No. 1 smash “Not Like Us,” which accuses Drake of pedophilia, was an example of valuing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
Still, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” bears the digital stamp of UMG and its Republic flagship on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, in addition to OVO Sound, Drake’s boutique label that is home to PartyNextDoor and is distributed by the Santa Anna Label Group, a subsidiary of UMG’s corporate rival, Sony Music.
Representatives for Drake, who is on tour in Australia, and UMG did not respond to requests for comment.
“Not Like Us” won five Grammys this month, including song and record of the year. A week later, it was the centerpiece of Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, in which Lamar rapped “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young” but stopped short of performing the line calling Drake and his crew “certified pedophiles,” replacing the controversial designation with a prerecorded scream.
Released on Valentine’s Day, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” mixes rap and R&B in a patented Drake style across 21 tracks and 74 minutes, although the album dips into guitar-strummed pop on “Die Trying,” with Yebba, and even traditional Mexican music on “Meet Your Padre,” which features Chino Pacas, a singer at the forefront of the urban sierreño subgenre.
Drake seems to address his bitter battle with Lamar, which began last spring and carried into this year via Lamar’s victory lap, on “Gimme a Hug,” which begins with the lines: “Drake elimination, fake intimidation / take a minute, take a deep breath, have a little bit of patience.” Later, he adds, “[expletive] a rap beef, I’m tryna get the party lit.”
While “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” is Drake’s first official full-length release since “For All the Dogs” in 2023, it is not his first batch of new music that seemed to hint at dissatisfaction with his traditional record deal.
Last summer, Drake began to release new songs and archival video for free download via a minimalist website called 100gigs.org. Eventually, some of those tracks were released on streaming services as the “100 GIGS” EP via OVO and Republic.
In the lawsuit against UMG, lawyers for Drake invoked looming contract negotiations between the company and the rapper, whose deal is up for renegotiation this year, as a potential motive for the label’s aggressive promotion of “Not Like Us.”
“By devaluing Drake’s music and brand, UMG would gain leverage to force Drake to sign a new deal on terms more favorable to UMG,” the suit says.
PartyNextDoor, a fellow Canadian, is best known for his series of eponymous albums, as well as his contributions as a writer to hits like “Work” by Rihanna, featuring Drake, and “Wild Thoughts,” another Rihanna single released with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller. The cover art for “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” depicts Drake and PartyNextDoor, each draped in fur, in front of Absolute World, a two-tower condominium complex, in Mississauga, Ontario.
The pair previously collaborated on songs like “Recognize,” “Preach” and “With You,” while PartyNextDoor is featured as a writer and producer on Drake tracks including “Elevate” and “Legend.”
