Drake performed the first show on his nationwide It’s All a Blur Tour with 21 Savage in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday night (June 5). Kicking off one of the most notable tours in music this year, the Chicago date saw Drake in a feisty mood, evident in his stage design and effects. Most notably, while he played his 2011 smash hit “Headlines,” a ticker underneath the stage displayed the phrase: “The overrated and over-awarded hit song ‘This is America’ was originally a Drake diss record.”
Videos by American Songwriter
While Drake did not add any commentary to this jab, it’s clear he wanted this to catch the attention of Childish Gambino, who released “This is America” in 2018. Widely known as a commentary on race relations in the U.S.A., “This is America” does not appear to be related to Drake in any capacity on the surface. However, during an interview with GQ earlier this year, Gambino explained that the song started off as a Drake diss before it evolved into a social justice anthem.
“Time is the oven that makes something special,” Gambino said. “I had that idea like three years before. The idea for the song started as a joke. To be completely honest, ‘This Is America’ – that was all we had. It started as a Drake diss, but then I was like, ‘This shit sounds kind of hard.’”
Gambino never clarified why he was planning on dissing Drake, but evidently, even the idea of getting into a war of words with the Toronto rapper was enough to rub Drake the wrong way. With his subliminal-but-not-really-subliminal tactic Wednesday, Drake’s mention that the song was “over awarded” is likely the most pungent portion of the diss, considering “This is America” not only hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 but also took home four awards at the 2019 Grammys. In two of those four categories, Gambino edged out Drake’s “God’s Plan” for the victory.
Along with the Gambino diss, the first night of the It’s All a Blur Tour included more fascinating aspects. One of the most important moments was when Drake touched on his upcoming album For All the Dogs, slated to release at some point this year. On top of saying he has “an album coming out soon for y’all” and specifying that it will see a return of the “old Drake” stylistically, the 36-year-old spoke on why he has been releasing music so frequently as of late, considering this will be his fourth album since 2020.
“People like to complain about how much music I put out, but I look around at all these faces and I know it’s summertime, I gotta give you [new music],” he told the crowd. “I don’t know about these guys that go away for three, four, five years that wanna chill out and all that. That’s not me.”
Until For All the Dogs releases, though, it does not look likely that Drake will perform any of the LP’s songs live on the road. In fact, Drake’s stacked setlist was revealed hours before the show yesterday, and it includes hits and B-sides from all throughout his career, such as “Look What You’ve Done” from Take Care (2011), “Jungle” from If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (2015), and “Jimmy Cooks” with 21 Savage from Honestly, Nevermind (2022).
Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage
