Knife Talk

Album

Certified Lover Boy

Label

OVO Sound

Genre

Horrorcore

Duration

2:00

Composer(s)

Aubrey Graham;Shéyaa Abraham-Joseph;Patrick Houston;Leland Wayne;Peter Lee Johnson;Jordan Houston;Rakim Mayers;Robert Mandell;Jerami Davis

Entered Chart

Sep 18, 2021

Peak Date

Sep 18, 2021

Released

September 3, 2021

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

OVO Sound

B-Side

n/a

This Memphis-inspired cut finds Drake teaming up with 21 Savage to play out their gangsta fantasies. They exchange six verses during which they spit on a range of topics, from gangs to weapons to sex. Drake concludes proceedings with some braggadocio bars about how his son will inherit the rewards he's garnered from his hard work. "Knife Talk" marks the fourth collaboration between 21 Savage and Drake, following Drake's 2016 single "Sneakin," the unreleased leaked track "Issa," and "Mr. Right Now" from 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's joint album, Savage Mode II. The song starts off with an intro from Project Pat sampled from his verse on Juicy J's 2017 cut "Feed the Streets." Pat is the older brother of Juicy, who cut his teeth in the Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia. The ominous production is courtesy of: St. Louis producer and frequent 21 Savage collaborator Metro Boomin. Metro helmed most of the tracks on Drake and Future's 2015 joint mixtape What a Time to Be Alive. He also co-produced "Feed The Streets." Ariana Grande's regular violinist Peter Lee Johnson. He co-produced five tracks on 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's Savage Mode II. Pianist and producer Kiefer plays the piano on this track. Kiefer has also lent his production talents to Anderson Paak, co-producing two tracks on his Grammy-winning Ventura album. Pablo Rochat directed the black-and-white horror film-inspired video. The clip mixes some classic old-school cartoons with dimly lit shots of the three rappers wielding big knives. Rochat also inserts footage from the 1962 American horror flick Carnival of Souls and the 1971 Italian slasher movie o Strangolatore di Vienna.

I gotta feed the streets, my pistol gon' bleed the streets
Ski mask on my face, sometimes you gotta cheat
To stay ahead in this bitch-a (gang), drank syrup like it's liquor
Street life'll have you catchin' up to God quicker (yeah, gang)
Sticker, AK-40 to your liver
Let the chopper bang on you like a Blood or a Cripper (gang)
Flipper, so much bread, I'm a gymnast
Made so much money off of dummies, off of dummies (yeah, gang)

I'm mister body catcher, Slaughter Gang soul snatcher
Ain't no regular F-150, this a fuckin' Raptor
No capper, street nigga, not a rapper
Chopper hit him and he turned into a booty clapper
Smith & Wesson, I'm 4L Gang reppin'
We done baptized more niggas than a damn reverend (yeah)
Kappa Alpha, me and my gang, we do all the steppin'
Who you checkin'? This FN shoot East to West End (gang)

Yeah
I heard Papi outside
And he got the double-R droppy outside
Checked the weather and it's gettin' real oppy outside
I'ma drop this shit and have these pussies droppin' like some motherfuckin' flies
Type of nigga that can't look me in the eyes
I despise
When I see you, better put that fuckin' pride to the side
Many times, plenty times, I survived
Beef is live, spoiler alert, this nigga dies

Keep blickies, and you know the weed sticky
My finger itchy, the Glock like to leave hickeys
Your shooters iffy, a street punk could never diss me
I come straight up out the 6, and we don't spare sissies

I fuck with her, and fuck with her, and her
I hit up err and tell him do the err, for sure
Voodoo curse, it got him while I flew to Turks
Know the dogs had to hit them where we knew it hurts

Gang shit, that's all I'm on (yeah)
Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Nigga, gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Nigga, gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Nigga, gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on

Let it bang, bang, let it bang, bang
'Til his brains hang and his mama sang
And the pastor sang and them bullets sang
And them choppers sang and the choir sang

I'm on everything
Jacob charged me four-fifty for a tennis chain
US Open, had it on us at the tennis game
Tell the coach don't take me out, I like to finish games
And my pen insane, and my men insane
There's like eighty of us now, that's the scary thing
Shit they doin' on that other side embarrassing
We in Paris with it, hundred carats with it
All this shit is for my son, 'cause he's inheritin' it

(If Young Metro don't trust you I'm gon' shoot you)
Gang (yeah)
(Metro)

Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Nigga, gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Nigga, gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on
Nigga, gang shit, that's all I'm on
Gang shit, that's all I'm on, yeah