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PandaDesiigner
“Panda” is inspired by the white BMW X6—Desiigner notes the luxury car’s resemblance to the endangered animal. Watch the official music video featuring Kanye West on TIDAL. The Brooklyn-based rapper had the vision for this breakout track while playing the video game Grand Theft Auto V. Desiigner uploaded the song to Soundcloud in Dec. 2015—it quickly amassed more than a million plays. In Feb. 2016, Kanye West incorporated two verses of this track into “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2,” for his album The Life of Pablo. He’d announce Desiigner’s signing to G.O.O.D. Music at the Feb. 11 TLOP listening session at Madison Square Garden. On April 25th, 2016, Billboard released their Hot 100 chart information regarding the week of May 7th’s top 10, with Panda becoming No. 1. By doing so, Desiigner broke the 41 week streak of non-Americans holding the No. 1 spot in the Hot 100. Manchester producer Menace says he sold the “Panda” beat to Desiigner for $200. He was inspired by DC Comics character the Joker when creating this “He’s dark and gritty and my production is dark, gritty, taking-over-the-world type of production.”
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One DanceDrake
“One Dance” is an afrobeat song with dancehall inflections, featuring a slowed down sample of the vocals and chord stabs from a 2008 UK Funky house anthem, Kyla’s “Do You Mind,” produced by London collective Crazy Cousinz. In an interview with Pitchfork, Kyla commented on how quickly the song came They got my track, cut the bits out that they wanted, and just made a song out of it. They explained to me that two tunes [from Views] had been leaked, so they weren’t going to send the song over to me. They played a little snippet of it over the phone. They were very much like, “Let’s run with this version, there’s no time for recording it or anything like that. We’re getting hacked left, right, and center.” I thought it was going to be a good few weeks before it dropped, but I saw it in the paper on Monday, and Tuesday it was out. It was really crazy, really quick. “One Dance” also features Nigerian singer Wizkid—he and Drake teamed up in 2015 to remix his track “Ojuelegba.” The song reached #1 on the Hot 100, becoming Drake’s first ever number one as a solo artist. Previously, he had been featured on Rihanna’s number one singles “What’s My Name?” and “Work”, and had reached #2 solo with “Best I Ever Had” and “Hotline Bling.”
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I Hate U I Love UGnash
Olivia O'Brien and Gnash pair up to create this conflicting love story. Gnash simply described the track missing someone sucks, but it’s important to feel This is not the only time that this duo have worked together. Gnash has produced some of Olivia’s tracks and its safe to say that there could be more from them in the future.
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Too GoodDrake
“Too Good” is a song about a couple who go out of their way to treat each other well, while they feel like their love is taken for granted. Carrying a similar island-vibe to that of “Work,” their most recent duet, this is the fourth collaboration between Rihanna and Drake (after “What’s My Name?” and “Take Care”). All four songs focus on relationships. In his interview with Zane Lowe, Drake spoke about the song ‘Too Good’ came to fruition after we did ‘Work.’ I was like, I think I have one that would follow this one up really nicely. She got in the studio and just bodied it. It was like a flawless victory when she sent it back … We have a genuine energy between us Rihanna and Drake used to be in a relationship,—while their recent return collaborations has started rumors that they’re together, Rihanna clarified that she’s still single and their reunion is only professional. Drake’s third verse interpolates Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan’s “Love Yuh Bad”—and the track includes a direct sample of Popcaan’s verse on the outro.
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ControllaDrake
“Controlla” is a dancehall-infused song in which Drake details his commitment to a woman. It features a similar vibe to Drake’s collaboration with Rihanna, “Work.” On March 29, a version of “Controlla” leaked online which featured Jamaican dancehall artist Popcaan. However, in the album version, Drake decided to scrap Popcaan’s verses and added a sample of Beenie Man’s “Tear Off Mi Garment.” Beenie Man told Billboard that it meant a lot to him that Drake’s team reached out to have him on ”Controlla”: It’s a big deal. For somebody to take a song that I’ve been done for 15 years, to release and put it out—it’s a big deal. It’s always great. For him to idolize me like that, it’s a big deal.
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Side to SideAriana Grande
“Side to Side” is a reggae-infused track featuring a verse from rapper Nicki Minaj. It was released as part of Ariana’s Dangerous Woman 10 day countdown on Instagram. The song was premiered on Apple’s Beats 1 Radio, following the scheduled release of a new track daily until the release of the album. “Side to Side” marks Grande’s and Minaj’s third time collaborating. Their first was on Jessie J’s “Bang Bang” and second on Minaj’s own “Get On Your Knees.”
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