20. OB O'Brien feat. Drake "2 On / Thotful"
Man, you know I hate to wait / That's why I get it first and you get it late
This remix of Tinashe's "2 On" was an early showcase of new OVO artist OB O'Brien. It's a lesser version of the tonal shift in "0 to 100 / The Catch Up," which doesn't make it bad, it's just that this beat works best with Tinashe and not on this mixtape track.
19. P Reign feat. Drake & Future, "DnF"
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If you not drinking with me you force me to turn up alone
This song is best listened to without the video, because the skit at the video is probably one of the most WTF things Drake has ever done. Once you get into the song, it sounds like one of those jams that comes on in the club that makes you go request the song you actually wanna hear from the DJ.
18. OB O'Brien feat. Drake & P Reign, "Schemin' Up"
I used to drive the Acura to school / Now I don't touch the wheel unless it's new
This song first leaked as Rich Homie Quan's "Tell Me Why," but Drake lifted his verse and put it on this track with OB O'Brien. The original version is reportedly supposed to appear on Rich Gang 2, but this a much better use of Drake's version with an assist from OB that greatly improves on his "2 On" freestyle.
17. Nicki Minaj feat. Drake, Lil Wayne, & Chris Brown, "Only"
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Ass on Houston, Texas, but the face look just like Clair Huxtable
Soooo here's the thing. Drake has had much better verses than this. Nicki's verse slays and this beat is sick, but it's hard to listen to "Only" without realizing how problematic Drake and Lil Wayne's verses about how much they want to fuck Nicki are. It's rather odd that Nick allows herself to be talked about like she were some random video ho, but thankfully The Pinkprint kills on every other track. The upside of the video is how fine Drake looks in it.
16. Romeo Santos feat. Drake, "Odio"
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Sometimes I question if this is all real / Then I grab on that ass and I firmly believe it
Drake SINGS IN SPANISH, in case you needed to be impregnated today.
15. "Draft Day"
I think I'm on my eighth flow / Just watch me paint flow / We all do it for the art so I can never hate though
This ode to Johnny Manziel plays as really outdated now and it loses all the points for shouting out Jennifer Lawrence. That Lauryn Hill sample is >>>>>> though.
14. PARTYNEXTDOOR feat. Drake, "Recognize"
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Swear I'm withholdin' my urges till you get this one-on-one shit like your name Katie Couric
I'm not entirely convinced that I'll be interested in much of PARTYNEXTDOOR's music, but his production is on point, and this is his best track of the year thanks to an assist from Drizzy.
13. Lil Wayne feat. Drake, "Grindin'"
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Someone said, "N***a, they takin' you seriously now" / I’m like, "I think they just might be scared of me now."''
A dope collabo between Wayne and Drake that sounds better live, as you'll know if you caught the Drake vs. Lil Wayne Tour. It's not quite as good as "Believe Me," but that's probably because Drake only raps on one verse in this track.
12. Nicki Minaj feat. Drake & Lil Wayne, "Truffle Butter"
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Two things I'm about are talking blunt and staying blunted
Sampling Maya Jane Coles' house track "What They Say," completely completely out of fucking left field and it is awesome. Drake and Wayne rap like they're on a sequel to "The Motto" and Nicki joins in the fun, making me wish this had been her single instead of "Only." Instead, it's relegated to a bonus track on The Pinkprint. Hopefully it has a "Super Bass" breakout in 2015.
11. "Heat of the Moment"
Who am I gonna be when it's all over? When it's all over?
This track, produced by Noah Shebib, was one of the three songs Drake released toward the end of the year to prevent them from leaking. It's a solid slow jam that doesn't necessarily hit it out of the park, but play it when you're about to get it on and it won't make much of a difference.
10. Lil Wayne feat. Drake, "Believe Me"
On the road, I do One Direction numbers, I don't fuckin' miss
THIS. When this came out, people who weren't already seeing Drake and Wayne's tour snapped up tickets immediately. Wayne sounds more vibrant than he's sounded in forever, and both of Drake's verses go all the way in while he raps about holding it down while Wayne was in prison: "When Wayne was gone for eight months, we put this thing up on our back / And I was snappin' off on every single track though / Collect call from the boss like where we at though / I was like, "Hah, it's our time, n***a" / He left Rikers in a Phantom, that's my n***a."
9. "Trophies"
I'm just trying to stay alive and take care of my people / And they don't have no award for that
Drake clears up a lot of shit in this track. He does not stay at the Intercontinental. He does not drive rentals. This shit is NOT a love song. "Trophies" was left off 2013's Nothing Was the Same, but Drake dropped it online on Dec. 30, 2013. It was officially released in 2014, ensuring that Drake would dominate every playlist in that transition from 2013 to 2014.
8. "How Bout Now"
Yeah, you ain't really fuck with me way back then / But how 'bout now?
The braggadocio on "How Bout Now" is OOC in the best way possible. Sounding like a throwback to So Far Gone, the beat is a slow burn that Drake raps over while taunting a woman who didn't want anything to do with him in his Acura days and is now, like the rest of the world, parched for some Aubrey.
7. "Days in the East"
I'm terrible at invitin' myself, call me over / Those nights when you need someone else, call me over
As I said, PARTYNEXTDOOR's production is top-fucking-notch. The day after releasing the just OK "Draft Day," Drizzy dropped "Days in the East" and wheww. This song literally melts in your eardrums while you listen to it. It's Drake at his best, and it was more than enough to tide fans over until he was ready to announce his 2015 album.
6. "We Made It" Freestyle, feat. Soulja Boy
And if by chance she don't know who I am, she just know that I'm famous / Imma just hand her a business card and say, "N***a we made it!"
This track, along with "Trophies," was released just before 2013 ended, and "N***a we made it!" became Drake's "Started from the bottom now we here" of 2014. The track is made even better with samples of Kenny Powers quotes from HBO's Eastbound and Down.
5. Future feat. Drake, "Never Satisfied"
Me and that boy Future could probably start a group / On some K-Ci and JoJo shit, have these bitches loose
When "Never Satisfied" first appeared on Future's album Honest, these two pulled a Rihanna's "Birthday Cake" and pretended like fans were really about to be OK with a song shorter than two minutes. Luckily, producer Mike WiLL Made It released a full version to SoundCloud later in the year in anticipation of his solo album.
Drake and Future collabs never disappoint, and when Drake raps that maybe they should "start a group," everyone scribbled that on their 2015 wish list.
4. "0 to 100 / The Catch Up"
Fuck all that rap-to-pay-your-bill shit / I'm on some Raptors-pay-my-bills shit
Without announcing his new album yet, when Drake dropped this in the summer it was throwing down the gauntlet. Proclaiming "fuck all that Drake you gotta chill shit," he goes hard for nearly three minutes before slowing it down to sing on "The Catch Up." Drake's best tracks are always when he seamlessly flows from rapping to singing and that was no different, which is why it dominated radio for the rest of the summer.
3. YG feat. Drake, "Who Do You Love?"
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We turnt up in the studio late night / That's why the songs that you hear are comin' real tight
DJ Mustard made no better track in 2014 than this one for YG. YG goes hard on it. Drake goes hard on it. The beat goes hard. This could still come on at a party in 2015 and the dance floor would lose it.
2. "6 God"
Nobody really likes us except for us / Yeah, all I ever needed was the squad so that's what's up
Of course, one of the most insane beats of the year is on a solo Drake track. One of the three songs he released himself so they wouldn't leak, "6 God" is the obvious standout. Every single thing about this track is fire and the streets are full of people hopping on the beat to spit their own freestyles. Drake's album scheduled for 2015 is Views From the 6, and if this song is any indication, it could be his best.
1. ILOVEMAKONNEN feat. Drake, "Tuesday" (Remix)
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Squad goin' up, nobody flippin' packs now /
I just did 3 in a row, them shows is back-to-back to back now
This hypnotic ILOVEMAKONNEN song was perfectly fine on its own, but when Drake jumped on the track to lend a verse... it became otherworldly. "Tuesday" is one of the best songs of 2014 and Drake's flipping back and forth between rapping and crooning in ILOVEMAKONNEN's key adds an extra level of humor to a song that's as dope as it is funny.
If you want to know this song's impact, just look at how many of your friends' Instagram captions every Tuesday are some variation of "club goin' up on a Tuesday."
Here's to another year of Drizzy bangers.
