Drake has an interesting way of showing love to the Wu-Tang Clan. “Wu-Tang Forever,” the latest off Nothing Was the Same, leaked late Thursday (Sept. 12), yet most of the lyrics aren’t about the legendary hip hop group.
Crooning over a beat produced by Noah "40" Shebib, October’s Own opens by airing out girl troubles. "We used to be friends girl, and back then girl/You would look at me with no hesitation and you’d tell me, ‘baby it’s yours.'"
So what does that have to do with the Wu? Nothing, but there are other less obvious shout outs to the Shaolin collective. For starters, "Wu-Tang Forever" samples "It’s Yourz" off 1997’s Wu-Tang Forever , and just after the hook Drizzy flips the concept as a metaphor for his career spitting, "Young n----a came through on his Wu-Tang/And nowadays when I ask about who got it they say, ‘it’s yours.’"
He also borrows from Reakwon’s "It’s Yourz" verse: "Machine gun raps for all my n---as in the back/Stadium packed, just glad to see the city on the map."
No matter how clever the effort, the title doesn’t quite fit with the pillow-y vocals and some Wu fans aren’t happy. One person tweeted, "Straight sing song trash over 'Itz Yourz' sample. ODB is rolling in his grave," while another likened the track to a "wet noodle."
Others came to his defense calling the work "fire" and the "truth."
Nothing Was the Same hits stores Sept. 24.