Holy Shit, Drake Just Put Out a Song at a Normal Time and Hinted at His Next Album Release Date

It's called "0 to 100," and there's a lot going on.

June 2, 2014, 12:21am

Anyone who has spent any time following rap closely or, worse, blogging about rap songs, knows that Drake is a Machiavellian asshole. He tends to put out songs at miserable hours, thus forcing people to pay attention to him because there's nothing else at 5 AM to pay attention to. He takes shots at other rappers but in ways that are subtle enough that he also might not be taking shots at them. He turns everything into a dumb spectacle.

Which, of course, is why Drake chose to finally release his newest song at a reasonable hour. Because, see, it also coincides with Hot 97's Summer Jam, one of the year's biggest rap concerts, the one rap show of the year that the rap media is definitely talking about, as well as the one show where the point of the show is for artists to do something worth talking about. And instead here we are, talking about Drake because Drake just put out a song on which he not only lays out his own personal career narrative but also ostensibly announces a rough album release date for both himself and all the artists on OVO Sound (before next spring). He shouts out basketball player Steph Curry and Chicago drill rap meme Lil Mouse. It sounds like he has James Blake on the outro. There is what could be either a Hit-Boy diss or a Hit-Boy shoutout. This song is a laundry list of talking points, and Drake is well aware.

See, he also says a bunch of stuff that could be regular boasting but could also be taken as quiet, subtle shots at his competition—i.e. "you know that if you wasn't you you'd be dissing you, dawg," "maybe they're just stagnant and they ain't moving at all." Check mate? Are we even playing chess here? Either way, your move, Rest of Rap.

Listen to "0 to 100" below: