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Drake · S7 E6
Passionfruit
Dancehall production, UK garage undertones, and Drake's most effortless pop moment
March 18, 2017. Eight tracks into a 22-song 'playlist' that nobody knows how to categorize, 'Passionfruit' floats to the surface and becomes the one song everyone agrees on.
Drake, Gyalchester (2017). Live at the Billboard Music Awards. More Life opens with pure aggression: Drake over a booming trap beat, listing everything he's built and daring anyone to question it. But buried eight tracks deeper in the same playlist lives something completely different, a song so soft it barely raises its voice.
Gyalchester, Drake (2017)
'Gyalchester' hits like a statement of dominance. The production is stripped to essentials: a cavernous 808, a clipped hi-hat pattern, and just enough melodic texture to keep the track from feeling empty. Drake's flow is aggressive and clipped, rattling off wins and possessions with the precision of a CEO reading quarterly earnings. It's the polar opposite of what 'Passionfruit' will do eight tracks later, and that contrast is the entire point of More Life.
The Producer Nobody Saw Coming
While tracks like 'Gyalchester' announced Drake's dominance, 'Passionfruit' came from somewhere unexpected. Nana Rogues was born in Nigeria, raised in London, and working quietly in the UK's production underground when the song made him one of the most talked-about beatmakers in the world. His sound sits at the exact intersection Drake had been chasing: West African melodic warmth filtered through British electronic production.
“When I made the beat I was thinking of clouds. Like clouds in a jungle filled full of love. But not love from a girl. Love from life, and appreciation. Just a nice fluffy, bouncy.”
— Nana Rogues, Genius Deconstructed: The Making of Drake's 'Passionfruit', 2017
TAP TO REVEAL: What makes 'Passionfruit' structurally unusual compared to most pop hits?
Notting Hill, London
Home of the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's largest street festival, where Caribbean sound systems and UK electronic producers have been colliding since the 1960s. The dancehall-meets-garage fusion in 'Passionfruit' traces a direct line back to this annual cultural exchange in West London.
Passionfruit: The Numbers
Teenage Fever, Drake (2017)
If 'Passionfruit' is More Life at its most outward-facing, 'Teenage Fever' is its most intimate. Built on a sample of Jennifer Lara's 1982 reggae ballad 'I Am in Love,' the track turns Drake's voice into something gossamer and fragile. It's a love song about wanting to feel young again, and the sample does half the emotional work before Drake even opens his mouth.
Teenage Fever, Drake (2017)
Read the lyrics while you listen. 'Teenage Fever' sounds like warm water, but the words are ice: Drake cataloging everything he's afraid of losing while pretending he's not afraid at all.
What genre of 1990s British electronic music heavily influenced the rhythm of 'Passionfruit'?
Drake isn't just making music anymore, he's building an empire. Next: Oliver El-Khatib, the OVO Sound label, and how a WordPress blog became the most powerful brand in hip-hop.
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