Last week, Drake was occupying not just first or second, but first, second, and third place in Billboard’s Hot 100. Sitting pretty in third place was his most recent single, ‘Lemon Pepper Freestyle’. If you haven’t heard the hit, then you need to stop what you are doing and Spotify that song right now. We’ll wait.
Did you catch it? A little more than halfway through the rap, Drake says:
“And that’s facts, Hamdan Mohammed like my third cousin (facts)
Mansoor Mohammed like my real brother (facts)
Dubai embrace me like a Emirati (facts)”
Well, as a matter of fact, the rapper did post a picture of himself with Sheikh Mansoor in 2015. The two were casually leaning against the railing of a yacht with the Dubai Marina skyline in the background. His caption at the time was, “Finally found my long lost brother.” Sheikh Mansoor, for his part, reposted the photo and caption, merely adding, “He is AWESOME!”
However, this is not the first time the artist has mentioned Dubai in his lyrics. Back in 2017, he rapped in ‘Sacrifices’ “I got Dubai plates, in the California state.” His other song from 2017, ‘Free Smoke’, also gave our beautiful city a shoutout. He seemed to be working through some issues with old friends because he said, “I wanna move to Dubai / So I don’t never have to kick it with none of you guys.”
We want you to move to Dubai too, Drake. Perhaps you can ask your cousin or your brother to give you UAE citizenship? They’re kind of a big deal.
