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Although Drake’s new track, “Losses,” doesn’t list any features, Dennis Graham (Drake’s father) is the voice behind the song’s intro, interlude, and outro. The OVO boss sampled an Instagram Live broadcast he did with his father earlier this year.
Genius contributor Nathaniel Hall breaks it down in an annotation:
This isn’t the first time Dennis Graham has appeared on one of Drake’s songs. The rapper sampled his father’s voice for the interlude on “Jodeci Freestyle” with J. Cole in 2013. Last year, Drake publicly clashed with his dad after Dennis claimed Drake lied about their relationship to sell records by depicting him as an absentee father. Drake previously rapped about their sometimes-strained relationship on songs like “From Time” and “Look What You’ve Done.”
On “Losses,” Drake further plays up the Dennis Graham sample with a reference to both Instagram and his family’s surname:
Being here wasn’t in the plans
I do it for the Grahams, not the ‘Gram
I do it for the fam, but still fuckin’ Uncle Sam
I tried to change for you, but that wasn’t who I am
“Losses” is produced by OZ, Foreign Teck, Elyas, and Sevn Thomas, and finds Drake reminiscing on a relationship that went off-track as he became famous:
I took you up under my wing and you just stayed there
You was supposed to grow some wings, get your own pair
We started this from the bottom, now you alone there
Sh*t, you treat it like it’s home there
Dependent on me, you was supposed to get your own share
The song appears on Drake’s new mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, which serves as a precursor to his upcoming sixth album dropping this summer.
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Drake’s “Losses” on Genius now.
