‘Wah Gwan Delilah’: The most tragic song Drake has ever recorded
Drake has undoubtedly produced some exceptional songs during his career. Whether it’s ‘Hotline Bling’ or ‘God’s Plan,’ people cannot deny the pure excellence of his discography. However, many have seen the quality of his work decline rapidly in recent years, and although some songs may be considered bad or subpar, others are simply garbage.
Drizzy’s 2023 project For All The Dogs elicited some harsh critiques, and frankly, much of it was warranted. Still, irrespective of the album’s poor reception, many were still willing to see it as a blip, a mere mistake in an otherwise flawless catalogue. However, others were more critical and saw it as a symptom of a more significant problem and began to see a more damning pattern.
Many have argued that since the release of Scorpion in 2018, which included hits such as ‘God’s Plan’ and ‘In My Feelings’, Drizzy’s albums have worsened, with each project being more disappointing than the last. Furthermore, the industry has subtly confirmed this as the record sales and chart positions reflect this timeline of decay.
Still, nothing reflects this more than ‘Wah Gwan Delilah’. In hip-hop, you win and lose battles, which has been a part of the culture for many decades. However, Drizzy’s response, which is still playing out, has been an eye-opener for the culture. The Toronto native hasn’t just responded with a lawsuit, accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) of defamation, but shortly after his loss, the emcee decided to team up with Canadian artist Snowd4y for ‘Wah Gwan Delilah’.
The track was initially released through SoundCloud, and many assumed, due to its low quality, that it was an AI-generated song, asserting that it was too silly and ridiculous to be an actual release. However, shortly after, it was confirmed that the song was an unofficial release authorised by Drake and put out with his blessing.
The song is a parody of a 2005 song from Plain White T’s but hears Drake attempt to use Jamaican patois as he sings in a horrifically nasal fashion over an acoustic guitar with an ear-piercing amount of autotune. As streamers and cultural commentators reacted to the track, many concluded that the musician was having some kind of mental breakdown.
Nobody will ever know Drake’s intent when recording the song, but the mere fact that he did concerns many. Some responded by saying he was trying to troll the industry and the culture after losing to Kendrick Lamar in a rap battle. However, it wasn’t aimed at Lamar and didn’t make anyone except himself look bad.
It was a tragedy on so many levels and made actual Drizzy fans begin to mourn the loss of a once-great artist. The sentiment in hip-hop was one of pity for the artist. Following the song’s release, he was simultaneously appearing at events, making rants about having no friends, playing Beyoncé and then began jumping on streams calling hip-hop “weird”.
Internet users have described it as “crappily produced” and packed “with awful fake patois” which it is but, as far as Drizzy goes, it is the most tragic song he has ever recorded to date and is arguably one of the most tragic tracks ever made by a hip-hop emcee since the genre was created.