The song that links Drake and Cardi B

Drake has had a massive impact on hip-hop. His arrival in the culture shifted the sonics of the genre from a purely rap-based art form to a more melody-driven sound. By seamlessly fusing R’n’B’s soul with hip-hop’s aggression, Drake is partially responsible for the contemporary sound of rap music.

From his beginnings as Lil Wayne’s protégé, he has become one of the most successful rappers of his generation and is now one of the most decorated artists in hip-hop. With four Grammy awards, 13 BET awards and a whopping 34 Billboard awards.

In fact, for the 2010s, Drake was awarded the accolade ‘Billboard Artist of the Decade’, beating pop-music powerhouses such as Rihanna and Adele. However, some Drake songs are more renowned than ever, and one of the emcee’s most well-known songs is his 2018 hit ‘Nice For What.’

Released as the second single for his fourth studio album, Scorpion, the track debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Charts and, unsurprisingly, like many Drake tracks, quickly achieve multi-platinum status selling over five million units.

However, this 2018 single links Drake to Cardi B in a strange way, and it concerns the songs instrumental. ‘Nice For What’ was produced by multiple artists: Murda Beatz, Noah ’40’ Shebib and Corey Litwin and samples the 1998 single ‘Ex-Factor’ by Lauryn Hill.

Written and produced by Lauryn Hill, ‘Ex-Factor’ was released as the second single for Hill’s first and only solo album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. However, Drake was far from the first person to sample ‘Ex-Factor’. The song has been sampled by a plethora of acts, including The Wu-Tang Clan, Tory Lanez and, of course, Cardi B.

Cardi sampled it for a track released in the same year as ‘Nice For What.’ Released in 2018, ‘Be Careful’ samples ‘Ex-Factor’, and although the song didn’t top the charts, it still performed well and managed to reach number 11. Becoming extremely popular, the song spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Both Cardi and Drake released hit singles in 2018, sampling Lauryn Hill and did so with great success. You can both tracks in the videos below.