Drake has been a powerhouse of an artist for over a decade at this point and has become one of the most decorated rappers of all time. His projects are always highly anticipated, and since the release of his major label debut, Thank Me Later, in 2010, he has grown artically and continued to adapt.
Akin to Kanye West, Drake’s albums are unpredictable. From South African amapiano UK drill, he constantly explores new genres and tries to incorporate them into his work with exciting fusion tracks and unexpected features.
In 2018, Drake (real name Aubrey Graham) released what many consider his best album, Scorpion. It was an outstanding body of work that boasted smash hits, such as ‘God’s Plans’ and ‘In My Feelings’. However, another viral single was the anthem’ Nice For What’.
Drake’s ‘Nice For What’ was produced by multiple artists: Murda Beatz, Noah “40” Shebib and Corey Litwin all contributed to the creation of the song’s beat. It was released as the second single of Scorpion and, unsurprisingly, debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as the UK Singles Chart. It has been certified five times platinum in the US and two times platinum in the UK.
The track was nominated for ‘Best Rap Performance’ at the Grammy Awards but lost to Jay Rock’s legendary song ‘King’s Dead’ featuring Kenrick Lamar, Jay Rock and Future, which featured on the soundtrack of the Black Panther movie.
In an interview with Rap Radar, Murda Beatz unveiled that they produced the beat and wrote the track at Drake’s house, disclosing, We picked the part, chopped it up, I made the beat while he was playing NBA 2K. He sat there, wrote the sh*t in front of me, and cut the sh*t in front of me!”
The beat for ‘Nice For What’ samples the iconic song ‘Ex-factor’ by Lauryn Hill. A plethora of artists have sampled the song, and it is a popular choice for sampling due to its intoxicating chord progressions. In 2018, when sampled by Drake for his album Scorpion, it was also sampled by Cardi B for her single ‘Be Careful’.
However, ‘Nice For What’ out-performed ‘Be Careful’ and was a smash hit almost immediately. The vocals were recorded at Drake’s house. You can hear the isolated vocals of the 2018 hit in the video below.
