The Canadian rapper keeps it in his comfort zone as he taps into “Hotline Bling”-style energy for his new Some Sexy Songs 4 U single
Drake is taking it back to Nineties club nights (even if he toys with a phone from the Eighties). On Monday, the rapper released the nostalgia-harnessing video for “Nokia” from his Partynextdoor collab album, Some Sexy Songs 4 U.
The black-and-white Theo Skudra-directed video sees Drake walking through walls of LED screens showing a game of Snake going on. The video then jumps to Drake rapping his lyrics surrounded by a sea of women dressed in Carnaval attire.
“Stop teasin’ me, yeah, what? Stop teasin’ me/I could change your life so easily,” he raps. “I keep beggin’ you to stay, but you’re leavin’ me/Leavin’ me, we got sticks in the club illegally.”
The clip then highlights a large group of female dancers dressed in two-piece latex looks dancing to the single as Drake walks around with an Eighties-esque novelty cell phone, subtly nodding to the phone-driven visual for “Hotline Bling.”
“How many hos in this club?/Is it really just me, my love?” raps the musician. “You know my dad ‘nem pimpin’ for real/You ever been down to Memphis, Tennessee, my love?”
His collaborative LP with Partynextdoor, Some Sexy Songs 4 U, also featured singles “Gimme a Hug” and “Somebody Loves Me.” A Rolling Stone review of the LP read: “Even taking the beef aside, it feels like Drake is leaning perhaps too hard on his strengths, opting for safe bets at a time when risks come with a higher cost. It’s hard to say how much of this is his fault.”
