Drake: "Energy"
Of all the middle fingers Tough Drake flips on If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, “Energy” is the tallest, the most knuckly, the one that comes closest to popping out eyeballs. Worlds away from his days as hip-hop’s preeminent Mister Softee, Drake is now the supervillain you can’t help but root for—the raging kingpin perched aloft his Toronto penthouse, yelling at those sad plebs down below with a mix of pity and disgust. Like so many of the greatest shit-talking tracks, “Energy” is about everyone and no one: Drake is ushering wannabes into Ubers headed straight to Nowhere, he is putting a moratorium on saving other rappers’ careers with his hooks, and he is barking every word like his entire being is composed of indestructible titanium alloy.
But perhaps the most damaging lines here involve one of this former punching bag’s favorite punching bags: the Internet. For someone who might be the most meme-able modern pop star this side of Beyoncé, the 28-year-old is not OK with those who live between bytes. “Fuck going online, that ain’t part of my day,” he scoffs, essentially spitting on the matrix lifestyle so many of us are plugged into at all times. Elsewhere, he cuts the beat to emphasize brutal bars that should really make a lot of people consider deleting their Facebook accounts: “I got bitches askin’ me about the code for the Wiiiii-Fiiiiii/ So they can talk about they tiiiiimeliiiiiiine/ And show me pictures of they frieeeeeends/ Just to tell me they ain’t really frieeeeeends.” Remember, this is the same millennial who once took down secondhand Tumblr aesthetics, saying, “It’s scary man, simulation life that we’re living.” All of which makes “Energy” that much more crushing. This is not just a chest puff aimed at Kendrick, or Big Sean, or Tyga, or that porn star who blew Drake up last month—this is an indictment of anyone too glued to their phone to fully understand the real-life domination of Aubrey Graham. That is: If you’re reading this website, it’s already too late.
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