Best I Ever Had (Drake Song)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Best I Ever Had" is a song by Canadian rapper
Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...
from his third mixtape '' So Far Gone''. The song was later re-released on his debut EP of the same name. The song's popularity helped Drake decide to release ''So Far Gone'' as an EP, available for purchase. "Best I Ever Had" is also included as a bonus track on Drake's debut studio album ''
Thank Me Later ''Thank Me Later'' is the debut studio album by the Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on June 15, 2010, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Universal Motown Records. Production for the album took place at various record ...
'' in certain countries. The song samples " Fallin' in Love" by
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were a 1970s soft rock trio from Los Angeles. The original members were Dan Hamilton (guitar/lead vocal), Joe Frank Carollo (bass/vocal), and Tommy Reynolds (multi-instrumentalist/vocal), all of whom had previous ...
and "Do It for the Boy" by
Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...
, and was produced by
Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da (a play on Boy Wonder) is a Canadian record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. He is an in-house producer for Drake's OVO Sound label and has prod ...
. It was released as the first single from the tape as a digital download on February 11, 2009, and later as the third single from the EP in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2010, as a double-A-side single with "
Fancy Fancy may refer to: Music Albums * ''Fancy'' (Bobbie Gentry album), 1970 * ''Fancy'' (Idiot Flesh album), 1997 * ''Fancy'' (video), a 2007 video album by Les Claypool Songs * "Fancy" (Bobbie Gentry song), 1969, covered by Reba McEntire in 19 ...
", which would later appear in ''Thank Me Later''. The single peaked at number two on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Drake's first top-ten single. It remained his highest charting single as a lead artist (as both
Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...
collaborations " What's My Name?" and "
Work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an ani ...
" reached No. 1) in the United States until "
One Dance "One Dance" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake from his fourth studio album '' Views'' (2016). It features guest vocals from Nigerian afrobeats artist Wizkid and British singer Kyla. The artists co-wrote the dancehall and afrobeats song with its ...
" (2016) peaked at number one. The song was nominated twice at the
52nd Annual Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares P ...
:
Best Rap Solo Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance was awarded from 1991 to 2011, alongside the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously, a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. In 2003, this award was split into separate a ...
and
Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several c ...
, although it lost both awards. In early 2010, the song was nominated for Single of the Year at the
2010 Juno Awards The Juno Awards of 2010 honoured music industry achievements in Canada for the latter part of 2008 and for most of 2009. These ceremonies were in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada during the weekend ending 18 April 2010. Primary ceremo ...
, but it lost to
Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...
's "
Haven't Met You Yet "Haven't Met You Yet" is the first single from Canadian singer Michael Bublé's fourth studio album, '' Crazy Love'', released on August 31, 2009. According to Bublé, the single and its official music video are "about everyone's dream of finding ...
".


Artwork

The artwork originally showed the single as a file on a computer with a plain white background, designed by artwork designer Darkie; this was deemed as too generic by iTunes; a new cover was created by Darkie.


Controversy

Kia Shine credited himself with the production of the hit single, claiming he co-wrote the song for Drake, entitling him with part ownership of the song. Shine had produced a mixtape track for Lil Wayne titled "Do It for the Boy" which "Best I Ever Had" interpolates. By this point, Shine had already received awards from
Broadcast Music Incorporated Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organisation, performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BM ...
for "Best I Ever Had". Drake maintained that he had never met Shine and admitted that he sampled the Lil Wayne song, but called the claim to the credit "distasteful". In a lawsuit filed on June 24, 2010, Drake was sued for copyright infringement by Playboy Enterprises over allegations that "Best I Ever Had" samples American rock group
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were a 1970s soft rock trio from Los Angeles. The original members were Dan Hamilton (guitar/lead vocal), Joe Frank Carollo (bass/vocal), and Tommy Reynolds (multi-instrumentalist/vocal), all of whom had previous ...
' 1975 hit " Fallin' in Love", a song to which Playboy owns the copyright. The suit named Drake, as well as
Cash Money Records Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald "Slim" Williams and Birdman (rapper), Bryan "Baby" Williams. The label gained prominence in the late 1990s for having signed and released albums for New Orleans– ...
and
Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...
, and asserted that Playboy "has suffered, and will continue to suffer irreparable injury" from the alleged infringement. The lawsuit demanded that "all infringing works be recalled and destroyed". As part of its claim, Playboy also alleged that "each defendant either knew, or should have reasonably known, that the sound recording was protected by copyright".


Music video

Drake told
MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...
before his show at
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
's
SOB's SOB's is a live world music venue and restaurant in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. S.O.B.’s is an abbreviation of Sounds of Brazil. Larry Gold opened SOB's in June 1982 with the purpose of exposing the music of the Afro-Latino d ...
that he was in the process of putting together a music video for the song. He explained: "I been working with people on some ideas," he explained. "I don't wanna say who yet, because everything isn't confirmed yet. It should be pretty solid in the next few days. The biggest thing about that song is that a lot of women come up to me and say, 'That's my song, because it really makes me feel special.' So I told the directors that were interested that I just want the visuals to coincide with that feeling. I want women to feel special when they watch the visual and say, 'I wish that was me,' or 'I know that feeling.' That's the goal with the video — to be genuine and not sappy. Be sexy and keep it together, but still make women smile." The video, directed by
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...
, was shot in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
at
Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a private, Roman Catholic high school in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Open from 1962 through 2014, it closed following a period of steeply falling enrollment and with an esti ...
.
Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...
,
Fabolous John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977), known professionally as Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition for his ability upon performing live on DJ Clue's WQHT, Hot 97 radio show. Jackson then signed ...
,
Consequence Consequence may refer to: Philosophy, science and social sciences * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * Consequent, in logic, the second half of a hypothetical proposition or consequences * Consequent ...
, and the song's producer
Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da (a play on Boy Wonder) is a Canadian record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. He is an in-house producer for Drake's OVO Sound label and has prod ...
made cameos in the video, as well as artists signed to Young Money Entertainment, such as Lil Twist, Shanell, and Lil Chuckee. A clip of the video was shown June 30, 2009, on ''
It's On with Alexa Chung ''It's On with Alexa Chung'' is an American live interactive talk and variety program that aired weekdays on MTV from June 15 to December 17, 2009. The show, a "successor" to MTV's ''Total Request Live'', was hosted by British model-turned-tele ...
'', and the full version of the video premiered on the internet on July 1, 2009. The full version of the video made its television debut on ''
AMTV ''AMTV'' (formerly known as ''Music Feed'', sometimes known as ''AMTV's Music Feed'') is a television programming block on MTV in the United States that first aired unofficially as a sneak preview on March 26, 2009, and launched officially on M ...
'' on July 2, 2009. There was criticism of the video in the media, including an article in the British newspaper ''The Guardian'', highlighting the gratuitous focus on the unsupported implanted breasts and prominent posteriors of the female basketball players that Drake coaches in the video.


Synopsis

A women's basketball team prepares for a game, primarily by stretching. Their coach, Drake, references a clipboard of basketball diagrams in the stairwell. Coach Drake hands out jerseys in his office. In a locker room, he gives an encouraging speech to the team before a championship game. He assures the members of the team that they are all the best. Their opponents, in green jerseys, come out onto the court and are revealed to be much taller and fitter than Drake's team. They are much more successful at scoring points than Drake's team. Drake complains to the referee, who rolls his eyes. Drake calls a timeout and delivers a rousing pep talk, replete with sexual innuendo, to his team. They protest that all he taught them how to do was stretch. The game resumes and the opposing team continues to prevail, winning with a score of 91 to 14. Drake's team is increasingly distraught. In the closing shots, Drake sits in his office alone, dejected.


Remix

The official remix of the song features American rapper and singer
Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...
, who was labelmates with
Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...
on
Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...
's
Young Money Entertainment Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne in 2005. It was launched as an imprint of Cash Money Records — a joint venture colloquially branded as Young Money Cash Money Billionaires (abbreviated as YMCMB ...
at the time, appearing on two of the label's compilation albums together ( ''We Are Young Money'' in 2009 and ''Young Money: Rise of an Empire'' in 2014), although their contracts for the label would be fully expired by 2018. The remix is included on Minaj's third mixtape, '' Beam Me Up Scotty'', which was released on the 18th of April, 2009. The song appears as the 11th track on the album, and, when the mixtape was reissued on the 14th of May, 2021, the song appeared as the fifteenth track, called "Best I Ever Had Remix". The remix is credited as featuring Drake, as it retains some of his vocals from the original version. Other artists to add an additional verse after Drake's first hook on the track include fellow singers and rappers
Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
,
Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Mase (often stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper. Best known for his work with Sean Combs, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records, he signed with the label in 1996 ...
,
Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...
,
Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ in 1994. At the age ...
,
R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), known as R. Kelly, is an American former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with prolific commercial success in R&B, hip hop, and pop music recordings, earning nicknames suc ...
and
Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...
,
Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...
,
Ace Hood Antoine Franklin McColister (born May 11, 1988), known professionally Ace Hood, is an American rapper. Born in Port St. Lucie and raised in Deerfield Beach, Florida, he was discovered by DJ Khaled and became the first act to sign with his rec ...
, and
Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and songwriter. After being discovered by record producer Troy Taylor (record producer), Troy Taylor in 2003, Songz ...
, the latter of whom appeared in the official music video for the track and officially collaborated on a composition with Drake, specifically on the second and final single for ''So Far Gone'', " Successful", which also appears on Trey's third studio album, ''Ready'' and features Lil Wayne.


Chart performance

The song debuted at number 92 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US and went on to peak at number two for four weeks behind
The Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group formed in Los Angeles in 1995, composed of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (rapper), Taboo. Fergie (singer), Fergie was a member during the height of their popularity in the 2000s, and ...
' "
I Gotta Feeling "I Gotta Feeling" is a song by American group the Black Eyed Peas from their fifth studio album '' The E.N.D.'' (2009). It was written by the group members with the song's producers David Guetta and Frédéric Riesterer. The song was released a ...
" before falling to number three, making Drake the third Canadian rapper to have a song chart on the Hot 100 (the first being
Kardinal Offishall Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall ( ), is a Canadian rapper and record producer. Often credited as Canada's "hip-hop ambassador", he has been regarded as one of the country's most prominent ...
with " Dangerous" at number five, followed by K'naan with "
Wavin' Flag "Wavin' Flag" is a song by Somali Canadians, Somali-Canadian artist K'naan from his album ''Troubadour (K'naan album), Troubadour'' (2009). The song was originally written for Somalia and aspirations of its people for freedom. The original sing ...
" at number 99). The single rose to number one on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
due to high airplay and downloads. It debuted on
Hot Rap Tracks Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...
on May 9 at number 24 and peaked at number one. Drake became the first Canadian rapper to achieve a number-one song on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Tracks charts, simultaneously. He is the second Canadian artist to reach the summit of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs after
Deborah Cox Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before ...
's "
Nobody's Supposed to Be Here "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" is a song by Canadian recording artist Deborah Cox, released as the lead single from her second studio album, '' One Wish'' (1998). Written by Montell Jordan and its producer, Anthony "Shep" Crawford, the song wa ...
". Within the first two weeks of its availability for sale on iTunes, "Best I Ever Had" garnered over 300,000 units sold. According to the June 29 edition of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', these sales earned Drake the number four best selling single, behind only songs from
The Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group formed in Los Angeles in 1995, composed of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo (rapper), Taboo. Fergie (singer), Fergie was a member during the height of their popularity in the 2000s, and ...
and
Sean Kingston Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is an American former singer and rapper. Born in Miami, Florida, and raised in Jamaica, he signed with J. R. Rotem's record label Beluga Heights Records ...
. The single peaked at number 49 on the
Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles ...
chart before the chart was discontinued. By December 2010, "Best I Ever Had" had been downloaded over 2,000,000 times since its release. On May 28, 2009, an unauthorized album ''The Girls Love Drake'', released by a label named Canadian Money Entertainment was released to
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
, which featured the song as well as the
Young Money Entertainment Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne in 2005. It was launched as an imprint of Cash Money Records — a joint venture colloquially branded as Young Money Cash Money Billionaires (abbreviated as YMCMB ...
song " Every Girl". Both songs jumped on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 due to heavy downloads of the album, at the positions of number 18 and number 35 respectively. After a couple of days it was removed at the request of Drake's management, with Drake filing a lawsuit against the label.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


See also

* List of R&B number-one singles of 2009 (U.S.)


References


External links

*
Best I Ever Had song lyrics
!-- Licensed lyrics provider --> {{DEFAULTSORT:Best I Ever Had (Drake Song) 2009 songs 2009 singles Drake (musician) songs Songs written by Drake (musician) Young Money Entertainment singles Cash Money Records singles Song recordings produced by Boi-1da Music videos directed by Kanye West Songs written by Lil Wayne Songs written by Boi-1da Universal Motown Records singles Best I Ever Had Remix (Drake Song)