Less than a week after Kendrick Lamar dragged his named through the mud in front of an estimated 133.5 million people during the Super Bowl halftime show, Drake is back in the spotlight with a new album alongside Mississauga singer and long-time collaborator PartyNextDoor.
A collaborative project, titled “Some Sexy Songs 4 U” (stylized as ”$ome $exy $ongs 4 U” or ”$$$4U”), drops at 12 a.m. on Friday, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
”$$$4U” will mark Drake’s first studio album since 2023’s “For All the Dogs.” It’s the first major release from the embattled Toronto rapper since his headline-dominating feud with Lamar erupted last spring. PartyNextDoor’s most recent project, “PartyNextDoor 4,” was released last April.
What do we know about ”$$$4U”
Drake and PartyNextDoor have been frequent collaborators since the latter signed with Drake’s record label OVO Sound in 2013, but the two have never jointly released an album. The two artists, along with OVO Sound, started teasing a joint project in August of 2024.
On Feb. 3, the duo shared the album’s title and release date, along with two short snippets of songs that are expected to be on ”$$$4U.” The next day, Drake shared a promotional video on his Instagram featuring a short, Valentine’s-themed sketch by Toronto YouTube personalities and siblings Jermaine and Trevaunn Richards.
On Feb. 11, Drake shared the official album cover, which shows him and PartyNextDoor decked out in oversized fur coats during a snow storm in front of Absolute City — those iconic twin towers in Mississauga. On Thursday morning, the duo shared the album’s 21-song track list, but didn’t reveal whether the project will feature any guests artists.
Few other details exist at this point, but based on the album’s imagery, titles and promotional materials, it seems like Drake does not intend to respond in any official capacity to his feud with Lamar. Instead, the project feels hyperlocal to Toronto and Mississauga, and seems to centre on familiar themes of women, romance and self-loathing. We shall see!
Rap fans accuse Drake and PartyNextDoor of ripping off Freddie Gibbs
After ”$$$4U” was announced, hip hop fans were quick to point out that the album title bore a striking resemblance to ”$oul $old $eparately” or ”$$$,” a 2022 album by American rapper Freddie Gibbs.
Those accusations ramped up again on Thursday, after fans pointed out that the track list art for the Drake and PartyNextDoor project featured cartoon rabbits, which was also a motif on the Gibbs project.
“Damn they even stole the rabbits too,” Gibbs chimed in on X. “I’m flattered.”
Neither Drake nor PartyNextDoor have addressed these accusations.
Who is PartyNextDoor?
PartyNextDoor is the musical moniker of Jahron Anthony Brathwaite, a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and producer from Mississauga. He released his self-titled debut EP in July 2013, shortly after becoming the first artist signed to Drake’s record label OVO Sound. Featuring beloved songs like “Break from Toronto” and “Right Now,” the icy, atmospheric project was met with critical acclaim, and is considered a highlight and a major influence on the alternative R&B sound that emerged from the GTA in the early 2010s.
Since then, PartyNextDoor has released four self-titled LPs, and worked as behind-the-scenes hitmaker for a long list of artists, including Rihanna, Usher, Post Malone and others.
What has Drake been up to?
It’s been a tough year for Drizzy.
In May 2024, Lamar released “Not Like Us,” a searing diss track. The song reached number one on the Billboard charts and broke several streaming records on Spotify. Its meteoric success was widely considered a knockout punch in the rappers’ months-long feud.
Just days after the song’s release, a shooting occurred at Drake’s Bridle Path Mansion in Toronto, in which the rapper’s security guard was seriously injured.
In January of this year, Drake filed an explosive federal defamation lawsuit against his record label Universal Music Group (UMG), claiming that the company “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”
The lawsuit also revealed dramatic new details about the Bridle Path incident, which the suit says was one of three attacks the suit says took place in the wake of a high-profile rap battle with Lamar, who is also represented by UMG.
The suit adds that these events caused Drake to fear “for the safety and security of himself, his family, and his friends.” It also states that Drake pulled his son out of the elementary school he attended in Toronto due to safety concerns.
“Not Like Us” would go on to win five Grammys, including Song and Record of the Year.
