There’s content overload, and then there’s whatever the hell Drake did yesterday. On Tuesday (Aug. 6), the 6ix God took his burner Instagram off private and very casually unveiled the link to 100Gigs.org, a virtual museum showcasing a whole lot of sh*t he’s done the last 13 or so years. Titled 100 Gigs on Your Headtop, it’s a repository for all things Drizzy; a cross-decade care package that provides a glimpse at the technique, the logistics and the humanity behind one of the most meme-able and most talented artists of the last 20 years.
The data dump begins with new music. There’s the ominous 21 Savage and Young Thug-assisted track “It’s Up;” the vibey Latto-featured “Housekeeping Knows,” a kinetic collab that sees Drizzy tap into his freaky bag once again; and the island-inflected “Blue Green Red.” Beneath the new tracks is a treasure trove of Drizzy history. Ever wondered what Drake was wearing when he made “Hotline Bling”? He’s got you. Want a rare glimpse at studio life during the Certified Loverboy era? Boom, it’s in there. Want a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Honestly, Nevermind? There’s footage of that. A lot of footage for a lot of stuff. It’s not exactly a documentary. It’s not a new album. It’s not a compilation. It’s 100 Gigs of stuff, and much of it is pretty compelling, especially during a time when everyone’s wondering just how Drake will bounce back following his explosive beef with Kendrick Lamar.
It’s unclear whether this is an answer or just a transitory part of the 6ix God marketing campaign—a stop gap between his new PartyNextDoor joint album and a reminder of what he’s done and why he is who he is. Maybe he would’ve done this without “Not Like Us.” Maybe not. Either way, it’s time to dive in.
Here are 12 things we learned from Drake’s 100 Gigs On Your Headtop.
What inspired “Hotline Bling” and the possibility of Future appearing on the song
It took Drake and Future nearly a decade of collaboration to score their first No. 1 single together. But if the 6ix God had acted on a passing thought he had 7 years prior, it would’ve been a lot sooner. Sifting through his data dump, we found footage of Drizzy working on “Hotline Bling” in the studio, and in one of the clips, he briefly mentions the possibility of putting Hendrix on the track. It’s not exactly hard to see that collab exploding; it’s a jovial sound that would’ve provided a more natural synergy for the rhymers than anything they made during the What a Time to Be Alive era.
Later, he also explains that the song title was inspired by a nickname he’d given a particular hook-up partner. "We used to be in bed together—we just finished f*cking and her phone would be blowing up," he said. "So I saved her name in my phone as 'Hotline Bling.' That's always been her name on my phone."
And just like that, Courtney From Peachtree’s got new company.
“Too Good” was about Serena Williams
Who would’ve thought Drake would be bold enough to have his ex sing on a track about another ex? In a super intimate studio sesh, Drizzy tells his mom that "Too Good," which features Rihanna, is actually about Serena Williams, a woman he’s been romantically connected to at various times in the past. (He's also obviously been romantically connected to Rihanna in the past.) The revelation came alongside an intriguing look into his songwriting methodology.
"When I make songs about women, I also make songs for them,” he said. “If I'm gonna talk about them, I'll at least do them the justice of making them a song that they like. I know Serena very well, and I know that she’ll hear it loud and clear, but she’ll also not hate me for it, because it is lighthearted.”
Drake and Cam’ron shared a moment before the Apollo show
After securing Cam’ron’s trusty pink coat for his Apollo performance in 2023, The Boy ended up on FaceTime with the Harlem vet. Moments after the conversation, Drizzy takes a second to rein in the totality of the whole thing. “I grew up staring at this jacket,” he says. Honestly, Drake is at his most endearing when he's stanning early 2000s rap.
Drake's alt covers go pretty hard
Drake covers haven’t been all that great lately, so it’s a bit surprising to see how dope some of these alternatives are. The images here range from delicate beauty to artfully cartoonish, with each of them being better than the options Drizzy eventually ended up going with. See alternatives for Certified Lover Boy, Her Loss and Dark Lane Demos—originally titled Care Package 2!—above.
“Trance” was supposed to be on ‘Honestly, Nevermind’
Metro Boomin already explained why Drizzy didn’t end up on the final version of “Trance,” but now we know that Drake was planning to include the track on Honestly, Nevermind. It’s included in the pre-release tracklist for the LP.
It could have slid right in, but glad it ended up on which is a great album, instead.
We’ve been getting “Know Yourself” lyrics wrong for nine years straight
Everybody knows the lyrics to “Know Yourself”—or, at least, we thought we did. In a new in-studio video, we see Drake clarifying the lyrics for the track. It’s not, “You know how that sh*t go,” it’s “You know how that should go.”
Yeah, total mindf*ck. Genius needs to provide an update asap.
'Dark Lane Demos' was originally going to be 'Care Package 2'
Drake released completely new projects at a near-constant rate between 2015 and 2018, so by the time Scorpion dropped, it made sense that he took a small break. But it was more like a work vacation.
In 2019, he tapped into heavy nostalgia vibes when he released Care Package, a compilation of loosies he’d unloaded over the years. For his second pre-Certified Lover Boy release from that period, he unleashed Dark Lane Demos, a compilation that, like its title suggested, included a lot of demos. But according to this image from the Drizzy Data Dump, it was originally going to be a sequel to the original Care Package.
His Jay-Z collaboration “Talk Up” came down to the wire
It turns out that Drake’s 2018 Jay-Z collaboration, “Talk Up,” came together in the 11th hour. In footage, we can see Drizzy and Noah “40” Shebib plotting the logistics of getting Hov’s verse, with Drizzy trying to anticipate the timeline for the moment he receives the bars.
In a comment he posted to Instagram, Jay’s audio engineer, Guru, recalls Hov telling him to set up a studio at the venue Hov and Beyoncé were supposed to be performing at that day.
He’s Got an Unreleased Song Sampling Yasiin Bey
Yasiin Bey might not think much of Drake the rapper, but Drake most certainly appreciates the Brooklyn legend—at least enough to sample him in his music. In a clip from the site, we can see footage of Drake spitting over a track featuring a sample of Bey’s 2004 track, “The Panties.”
To date, the track remains unreleased.
Drake’s view of Lil Yachty’s “Poland”
It’s unclear if anyone appreciates Lil Yachty more than Drake. He’s collaborated with Lil Boat multiple times on high-stakes projects, and based on the recent “SOD” leak, it doesn’t feel like he’ll stop working with him any time soon. You can see another layer of Drake’s Yachty appreciation in the clip above. In it, Drake explains the Atlanta rapper’s whimsical greatness, showcasing a level of admiration that’s honestly kind of heartwarming.
"It's such an incredibly frustrating song for any other artist because nobody’s that free of a thinker,” he says, preaching about the quirky creativity of someone whose swag is obviously worth borrowing from.
“Over My Dead Body” was made inside of a makeshift hotel room studio
By the time Drake was recording Take Care, he’d already solidified his status as a rap superstar. So then, it’s a little surprising to see him making the LP’s opener, “Over My Dead Body,” in a completely unremarkable hotel studio setup, even if we’ve seen ’Ye, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne do it before.
But Drizzy's arrangement is even more bare. If you’ve ever operated a “home studio” you appreciate the particulars here; the condenser mic hanging in the entrance of the closet, the bathroom towels hovering behind it for some makeshift soundproof technology. His friend is laying at the edge of his bed, both of them are hunched over their MacBooks.
Simpler times.
The original “U Wit Me” was very different from the version on ‘Views’
Released on Views, Drake’s “U Wit Me” embodies Toronto’s icy cool. But the OG was all about the soul. In the footage, we see Drizzy smoking hookah as he soaks up the sounds of the Curtis Mayfield-sampling OG mix for the track. Or, at least we think it’s OG. Maybe it’s a remix that never got a release date. Either way, it’s a mesmerizing take that feels more cinematic than the released version—even if it’s not necessarily better. Both versions have their merits.
Interestingly, the beat eventually went to OVO Sound signee DVSN, who used it for the track, “Dear Summer Sixteen.”
