In The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. The column is now biweekly, alternating with The Alternative Number Ones on Mondays. Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music.
In 2024, Drake went into the fight of his life, and he was demoralized right from jump. Drake's feelings were often hurt. He might be the most feelings-hurt rap star in history.
Drake spent years mining his own hurt feelings for gold, and he usually found it. But this time, he faced massed forces that didn't care about his feelings. Suddenly, half of rap's A-list was arrayed against him.
It was a "20 v. one," as he put it. Drake's real enemy in that moment, the one who he truly had to worry about, was past and future Number Ones artist Kendrick Lamar. But when Drake launched his first volley in that feud, his opening words didn't have anything to do with Kendrick.
Here's how Drake started things off: "I could never be nobody number one fan/ Your first number one, I had to put it in your hand." He was talking to Future, and he was talking about "Wait For U." Does Drake have actual friends? He has remained tight with the small Toronto crew that came up with him, and a lot of those guys seem to have prominent roles in his various business interests to this day. Drake also forged long collaborative relationships with a bunch of his rap peers, but that always seemed like a series of mutually advantageous business arrangements, less like real love.
In that 2024 moment, all of Drake's foes were his former collaborators. But for whatever reason, Future was the one whose participation hurt his feelings the most. Future, the codeine-fogged hedonist prince of Atlanta trap, wasn't the type to get involved in rap feuds, and he and Drake went way back together.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
