Nonstop

Album: Scorpion (2018)
Charted: 4 2
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Drake references his abilities as a rapper and boasts about his wealth on this bass-heavy, combative track. He admits on the first verse that his light skin tone makes him an easy target for those who claim he doesn't fit into the black hood culture.

    Yeah I'm light skinned, but I'm still a dark nigga

    Drake is not ashamed of his mixed heritage (his father is African-American, his mom Jewish-Canadian). The Toronto MC counters the accusations that he's not an authentic black rapper by stating that although he isn't dark physically, he is "a bar spitta", "a hard hitta" and "dark" in personality.
  • During the second verse, Drake flexes his shrewd business moves that has enabled him to build the OVO empire.

    Future took the business and ran it for me
    I let Ollie take the owl, told him brand it for me
    I get 2 million a pop and that's standard for me
    Like I went blind, dog, you gotta hand it to me


    Drake shouts out his DJ, Future the Prince, who was brought in to manage the business-end of his career in 2013, as well as OVO founder Oliver El-Khatib.
  • The song has a distinct Memphis influence and the hook is a sample taken from the Bluff City based rapper, Mack Daddy Ju's "My Head Is Spinnin." That track can be found by on a 1995 underground Memphis tape recorded by Mack Daddy Ju with D.J. Squeeky. Drake's links with the Tennessee city date back to his childhood when he spent his summers with his father in the East Shelby Drive area located in the south east of Memphis.
  • The hard-hitting 808-filled trap beat is courtesy of Tay Keith. Drake has worked with the Memphis producer before - Tay Keith is BlocBoy's regular producer and he supplied the instrumentation towards BlocBoy's Drizzy-featuring hit "Look Alive."
  • Tay Keith did not expect his beat to land up on such a successful song. He recalled Billboard:

    "It was one of those records, I didn't expect it to be as big as it was. It was one of those, 'Oh, I'm just gonna cook this up in a pack and see where it goes.' Drake hopped on it and was f--king with it. I didn't expect it to be at # 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. For it to be just a beat I cooked in a pack, too? It wasn't made for anything specific. It was a random type of blessing."
  • The anglophile rapper frequently makes allusions to UK culture, and here he shouts out London in the first verse ("I move through London with the Euro step"). This probably explains why Drake filmed the song's music video in the English capital rather than the more obvious Memphis.

    The Theo Skudra-directed clip begins with footage of Drake prepping for his set at London's Wireless Festival and continues with him partying with Quavo, French Montana and Noah "40" Shebib, sipping English tea on a rooftop, and traveling through central London on one of the city's famous double-decker buses.

Comments: 1

  • Success from Apo, AbujaDRAKE is the best canadian artist
see more comments

Editor's Picks

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Francis Rossi of Status Quo

Francis Rossi of Status QuoSongwriter Interviews

Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.