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{{Infobox song | {{Infobox song | ||
| name = Slap the City | | name = Slap the City | ||
| Line 9: | Line 13: | ||
| writer = {{Hlist|[[Aubrey Graham]]|[[Qendresa|Qendresa Sopa]]|Bradley Baker|Lucien Dunne|[[Noel Cadastre]]|[[Kanye West]]|[[Jeff Bhasker]]|[[No I.D.|Ernest Wilson]]}} | | writer = {{Hlist|[[Aubrey Graham]]|[[Qendresa|Qendresa Sopa]]|Bradley Baker|Lucien Dunne|[[Noel Cadastre]]|[[Kanye West]]|[[Jeff Bhasker]]|[[No I.D.|Ernest Wilson]]}} | ||
| producer = {{hlist|B4U|Lucid|Cadastre}} | | producer = {{hlist|B4U|Lucid|Cadastre}} | ||
| misc = {{External music video|type= | | misc = {{External music video|type=song|{{YouTube|sYWD68Tve2M|"Slap the City"}}}} | ||
}} | }} | ||
"'''Slap the City'''" is a song by Canadian rapper [[Drake (musician)|Drake]] featuring British-Kosovar singer [[Qendresa]]. It appears on Drake's album ''[[Habibti (album)|Habibti]]'', one of three studio albums, alongside ''[[Iceman (album)|Iceman]]'' and ''[[Maid of Honour (album)|Maid of Honour]]'', that he released simultaneously on May 15, 2026.<ref name="cbc1">{{cite web |last1=Harmsen |first1=Natalie |last2=Adams |first2=Kelsey |last3=Kinos-Goodin |first3=Jesse |title=Kendrick, Canada, extra albums and more: takeaways from Drake's Iceman |url=https://www.cbc.ca/music/iceman-drake-takeways-new-album-9.7200095 |website=CBC Music |date=May 15, 2026}}</ref> | "'''Slap the City'''" is a song by Canadian rapper [[Drake (musician)|Drake]] featuring British-Kosovar singer [[Qendresa]]. It appears on Drake's album ''[[Habibti (album)|Habibti]]'', one of three studio albums, alongside ''[[Iceman (album)|Iceman]]'' and ''[[Maid of Honour (album)|Maid of Honour]]'', that he released simultaneously on May 15, 2026.<ref name="cbc1">{{cite web |last1=Harmsen |first1=Natalie |last2=Adams |first2=Kelsey |last3=Kinos-Goodin |first3=Jesse |title=Kendrick, Canada, extra albums and more: takeaways from Drake's Iceman |url=https://www.cbc.ca/music/iceman-drake-takeways-new-album-9.7200095 |website=[[CBC Music]] |date=May 15, 2026}}</ref> | ||
== Background and release == | == Background and release == | ||
"Slap the City" was released as part of a surprise triple-album rollout. Drake had spent months teasing the release of ''[[Iceman (album)|Iceman]]'', including installing a large ice sculpture in downtown Toronto and hosting a livestream series titled ''Iceman Episode 4''. At midnight on May 15, 2026, he unveiled that two additional albums, ''[[Habibti (album)|Habibti]]'' and ''[[Maid of Honour (album)|Maid of Honour]]'', would accompany ''Iceman'', bringing the total release to 43 songs across the three projects.<ref name="cbc1" /> | "Slap the City" was released as part of a surprise triple-album rollout. Drake had spent months teasing the release of ''[[Iceman (album)|Iceman]]'', including installing a large ice sculpture in downtown Toronto and hosting a livestream series titled ''Iceman Episode 4''. At midnight on May 15, 2026, he unveiled that two additional albums, ''[[Habibti (album)|Habibti]]'' and ''[[Maid of Honour (album)|Maid of Honour]]'', would accompany ''Iceman'', bringing the total release to 43 songs across the three projects.<ref name="cbc1" /> | ||
== Composition and lyrics == | == Composition and lyrics == | ||
"Slap the City" features vocals from [[Qendresa]], who also appears on three other tracks across Drake's three albums: "[[Fortworth (song)|Fortworth]]" and "[[Gen 5 (song)|Gen 5]]" from ''Habibti'', and "[[Stuck (Drake song)|Stuck]]" from ''Maid of Honour''. According to Qendresa, "Slap the City" was the first song Drake sent her during their collaboration, and he described it to her as sounding like a blend of both artists' styles.<ref name="billboard">{{cite web |last=Saponara |first=Michael |title=How Rising Artist Qendresa Landed on Drake's 'Habibti' & 'Maid of Honour' Albums: 'I've Always Been Inspired by Him' |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/drake-slap-the-city-habibti-qendresa-interview-1236266170/ |website=Billboard |date=June 8, 2026}}</ref> | "Slap the City" features vocals from [[Qendresa]], who also appears on three other tracks across Drake's three albums: "[[Fortworth (song)|Fortworth]]" and "[[Gen 5 (song)|Gen 5]]" from ''Habibti'', and "[[Stuck (Drake song)|Stuck]]" from ''Maid of Honour''. According to Qendresa, "Slap the City" was the first song Drake sent her during their collaboration, and he described it to her as sounding like a blend of both artists' styles.<ref name="billboard">{{cite web |last=Saponara |first=Michael |title=How Rising Artist Qendresa Landed on Drake's 'Habibti' & 'Maid of Honour' Albums: 'I've Always Been Inspired by Him' |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/drake-slap-the-city-habibti-qendresa-interview-1236266170/ |website=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |date=June 8, 2026}}</ref> Musically, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' noted that the track reworks the beat from "Show Me a Good Time," a [[Kanye West]] co-produced highlight from Drake's 2010 debut album ''[[Thank Me Later]]'', framing the song as a callback to Drake's earliest work.<ref name="rollingstone">{{cite web |last=Ihaza |first=Jeff |title=Drake's 'Iceman' Trilogy Turns 'Not Like Us' Inside Out |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/drake-review-iceman-habibti-maid-of-honour-1235564438/ |website=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=May 18, 2026}}</ref> Reviewing ''Habibti'' for ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'', Matthew Ritchie wrote that the song "revs up" partway through the album and credited Qendresa's "[[Aaliyah]]-like vocal runs on the hook" with giving the track its energy. He described the song's lyrics as opening on Drake questioning why his Toronto mansion feels empty, before turning to lines about his body count that Ritchie said came off as a double standard. Ritchie called the result "hollow" even while allowing that it "sounds hypnotic."<ref name="pitchfork-habibti">{{cite web |last=Ritchie |first=Matthew |title=Habibti |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/drake-habibti/ |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=May 20, 2026}}</ref> | ||
The song includes a lyric referencing [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]], Ontario, in which Drake raps about someone attending the school and later graduating. The line drew attention from Queen's students and affiliates, including the university's rector, following the song's release.<ref name="queens">{{cite web |last=Sheahan |first=Eva |title=Breaking news: Drake puts Queen's back on the map |url=https://www.queensjournal.ca/breaking-news-drake-puts-queens-back-on-the-map/ |website=[[Queen's Journal]] |date=May 25, 2026}}</ref> | |||
== Commercial performance == | |||
"Slap the City" debuted at number 39 on the U.S. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]] chart the week the three albums were released.<ref name="billboard" /> ''Habibti'', the album on which it appears, debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' [[Billboard 200|200]], while ''Iceman'' debuted at number one and ''Maid of Honour'' at number three: the first time an artist held the top three positions on the chart simultaneously. The achievement also gave Drake his 15th number-one album on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], tying him with [[Taylor Swift]] for the most number-one albums by a solo artist.<ref name="cbc2">{{cite web |last=Harmsen |first=Natalie |title=Drake becomes 1st artist to simultaneously hold top 3 spots on Billboard 200 albums chart |url=https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7210972 |website=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] |date=May 25, 2026}}</ref> | |||
== Critical reception == | |||
In a review of the three albums for ''Rolling Stone'', Jeff Ihaza rated ''Habibti'' three-and-a-half out of five stars, describing the record overall as feeling like the more romantic, R&B-oriented Drake album audiences might have received had the [[Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud|2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar]] never happened. The review singled out "Slap the City" as one of several tracks marking a return to a warmer, more melodic register after the combative tone of ''Iceman'', and highlighted its interpolation of "Show Me a Good Time" as a deliberate nod to Drake's earlier catalog.<ref name="rollingstone" /> Ritchie's ''Pitchfork'' review placed "Slap the City" among a run of songs in ''Habibti''{{'}}s back half that he said swing between brief moments of isolation and longer, less interesting stretches about "keeping score and who's fucking who." He wrote that the song's hook was one of the album's more hypnotic moments even as its verses struck him as thin.<ref name="pitchfork-habibti" /> The song, and Drake's mention of [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in particular, also drew notable attention from Canadian university communities and Toronto media.<ref name="queens" /> Some commentators contrasted the warm reception to "Slap the City" with more mixed reactions to other lyrics across the three-album release, which some listeners characterized as uneven in quality given the volume of material released at once.<ref name="queens" /> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote that "Slap the City" follows some generic lonely-boy material on ''Habibti'' and gives Drake appealing bars about a situationship. ''Variety'' also compares its mood to a pre-breakup conversation at the restaurant Sotto Sotto, with Qendresa's Aaliyah-style runs adding to that mood.<ref name="variety">{{cite web |last=Berry |first=Peter A. |title=Drake's 'Iceman' Is Exactly the Fun and Vindictive Comeback Record He Needed: Album Review |url=https://variety.com/2026/music/album-reviews/drake-iceman-album-review-1236750318/ |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=May 15, 2026}}</ref> Elsewhere in the review, said Drake gets in his own way on the song by drifting into "placeholder playboy lyrics", and that it is a loss when he gives up the specificity that is one of his strengths.<ref name="variety" /> He called ''Habibti'' the most restrained of the three albums, one that rarely reached the highs of the other two.<ref name="variety" /> ''[[The Fader]]'' included the song as the fifth track on an alternate single album of the three albums, which it trimmed to 24 songs and about 80 minutes.<ref name="fader">{{cite web |last=Medithi |first=Vivian |title=What if Drake had dropped one perfect album? |url=https://www.thefader.com/2026/05/20/what-if-drake-had-dropped-one-perfect-album |website=[[The Fader]] |date=May 20, 2026}}</ref> | |||
The collaboration with [[Qendresa]] was widely credited with significantly boosting her public profile. She reported a jump from roughly six-figure to multi-million monthly listeners on [[Spotify]] following the songs' release.<ref name="billboard" /> | |||
== | === Other reactions === | ||
Drake wears a fur coat in the "Slap the City" music video, it is patched with the logos of [[Canadian Tire]], [[Sleep Country Canada|Sleep Country]], [[Royal Bank of Canada|RBC]], [[Manchu Wok]], and [[Molson Canadian]], prompted responses from several of the brands themselves. Canadian Tire and Molson Canadian both posted screenshots from the video on Instagram, with Molson asking followers, "Should we actually make this?" RBC used the video to congratulate Drake on the three albums, and Manchu Wok wrote, "ManchuWOK has entered the chat."<ref name="nowtoronto">{{cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Beatriz |title=Sleep Country Canada giving away free mattresses to Drake fans in Toronto today |url=https://nowtoronto.com/news/sleep-country-canada-giving-away-free-mattresses-to-drake-fans-in-toronto-today/ |website=[[Now Toronto]] |date=May 19, 2026}}</ref> | |||
On May 19, 2026, Sleep Country Canada gave away free king-size mattresses at its store at 8 [[King Street (Toronto)|King Street]] East in Toronto to fans who showed up wearing a fur coat similar to the one in the video, with faux fur encouraged. The giveaway began at 10 a.m. and ran while supplies lasted.<ref name="nowtoronto" /> | |||
The | == Music video == | ||
The accompanying music video features Drake wearing a fur jacket bearing patches for Canadian brands including Canadian Tire, Sleep Country, RBC, Manchu Wok, and Molson Canadian.<ref name="cbc1" /> | |||
== Personnel == | == Personnel == | ||
| Line 43: | Line 47: | ||
* [[Qendresa]] – featured vocals | * [[Qendresa]] – featured vocals | ||
== | == Charts == | ||
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" | |||
|+ Chart performance for "Slap the City" | |||
! scope="col"| Chart (2026) | |||
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position | |||
|- | |||
! scope="row"| Australia ([[ARIA Charts|ARIA]])<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 25 May 2026|magazine=The ARIA Report|publisher=[[Australian Recording Industry Association]]|issue=1890|page=4|date=May 25, 2026}}</ref> | |||
| 83 | |||
|- | |||
{{single chart|Canada|40|artist=Drake|rowheader=true|access-date=October 14, 2026}} | |||
|- | |||
{{single chart|Billboardglobal200|60|artist=Drake|rowheader=true|access-date=October 14, 2026}} | |||
|- | |||
! scope="row"| New Zealand Hot Singles ([[Recorded Music NZ|RMNZ]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/hot-singles/2026-05-22|title=Hot 40 Singles|publisher=[[Recorded Music NZ]]|date=May 22, 2026|access-date=October 14, 2026}}</ref> | |||
| 11 | |||
|- | |||
{{single chart|Billboardhot100|39|artist=Drake|rowheader=true|access-date=October 14, 2026}} | |||
|- | |||
{{single chart|Billboardrandbhiphop|25|artist=Drake|rowheader=true|access-date=October 14, 2026}} | |||
|} | |||
== References == | == References == | ||