Drake continues his timestamp series with the surprise release of "8AM in Charlotte" ahead of the expected rollout of his new solo album For All the Dogs.
Overnight, the "Summer Games" sequel denier shared a video for the new track to social media. The video opens with Drake asking his five-year-old son, Adonis, about “your beautiful piece of artwork” he recently sold him.
Per Adonis, the art in question—featuring the hand-drawn character recently used as Drake and SZA’s official “Slime You Out” cover—shows a goat running away from monsters while a burning flower blocks the way. The goat’s name, he reveals, is Daddy Goat.
"That makes perfect sense to me," Drake tells his son.
From there, the 6 god gets deep into timestamp mode over a Conductor Williams beat. Early into the song, we hear Drake reflecting on the weight atop his “moral scale” as he prepares to hit the road on his and 21 Savage’s It’s All a Blur tour:
"Breaking news, they tried to kill ‘em, but the boy prevails
I leave for tour and my n****s fuckin’ go to jail
Preachin’ to the dogs about wantin’ more for themselves
It’s weighin’ heavy on my moral scale"
Drake also works in direct mentions of or allusions to Jordan Peele, Lauryn Hill, 21 (“Savage got a green card straight out of the consulate”), Oliver el-Khatib, Shania Twain, T.D. Jakes, and more.
Drake turns up the heat in the third verse, advising younger artists to set some of their income aside while also calling out those who are “obsessed” with him. Later, he ponders holding a grudge until he’s 75 years old:
"You n****s obsessed with me and it’s not on no hetero vibe
Handle beef so quiet, you think that I’m lettin’ it slide
Next thing you know, we tip-toeing past enemy lines
Diss me so long ago, we makin' your memories fly
Conspiracy theories start floatin' 'round like the Kennedy guy
I'll prolly hold a grudge against you guys 'til I'm seventy-five"
As fans will point out, “8AM in Charlotte” is preceded in the timestamp series by the Her Loss cut “3AM on Glenwood,” which stands alone in the series due to 21 taking the lead instead of Drake.
For All the Dogs is expected to be released Friday. At the time of this writing, "8AM in Charlotte" was only available on social media and had not yet been made streamable on Apple Music, Spotify, etc.
