Drake has garnered support from Kanye West, who has had a complicated relationship with him, and from his close friend and collaborator Young Thug, after releasing his new album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U.
Kanye, who recently called Drake his “nemesis,” returned to X (formerly Twitter) this past weekend to express his admiration for the project—especially one particular track.
“‘Gimme a Hug’ is incredible. Sheeeeesh,” he tweeted, and also shared a post from Chart Data about the song reaching the top of Apple Music’s U.S. chart.
Thugger also showed his excitement about the album’s early success, posting: “That boy back number one.”
Kanye west shows love to Drake’s “Gimme a Hug” pic.twitter.com/kt0CgIuJ3A
— Drake Charts ⁶ (@DrakeChart) February 15, 2025
That boy back number one
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) February 15, 2025
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U has received mixed reviews since its release on February 14, with much of the criticism focused on the album’s long duration and the lack of cohesion between Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR, despite their usual strong collaboration.
Nevertheless, the album has made a big impact on streaming platforms. It garnered 56.6 million first-day streams on Spotify, making it the second-largest debut of the year, just behind The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow.
On Apple Music, the album set a new record for the most single-day streams for an R&B album.
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U also allowed Drake to momentarily surpass his rival Kendrick Lamar for the most single-day Spotify streams by a rapper this year, with 92.4 million.
The album is expected to make a significant impact on the next Billboard 200 chart, though it’s unclear how many first-week units it will accumulate.
Regarding the album, Drake seemed to address his ongoing rivalry with Kendrick.
In the bold opening verse of “Gimme a Hug,” he rapped: Drake elimination, fake intimidation / Take a minute, take a deep breath, have a little bit of patience / ‘Drizzy, you amazing, you the inspiration / You set the bar for the next generation / You Neo in The Matrix, these n-ggas just Nemo in the ocean / Small fish, making kids feel emotion / Using you for promotion,’ truer words have never been spoken.
“N-ggas want to see ‘RIP me’ on a t-shirt like I’m Hulk Hogan / I appreciate the fans rocking with me, this is really just a small token / Really fucking with a visionary / Only reason I ain’t got a girl and I ain’t getting marriеd / ‘Cause I’m really out herе, filling up the itinerary ’til I’m six feet in a cemetery.
“Bulletproof doors so heavy, got me rolling ’round like a dignitary / Funny how it’s only bitch n-ggas that are waiting on The Boy’s obituary / ‘Cause if I die, it’s these n-ggas that become the sole beneficiary / And what the fuck are they gon’ do with it? / Have the girls up at 29 on stage twerking with a dictionary?”
