Sample Snitch-Drake’s Secret Weapon

by Dan-O

Hypothetical scenario: you step into my sight with a twelve gauge pump action Mossberg shotgun and tell me I have five seconds to name the best Drake song; doesn’t take me three. The answer is Jungle from If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. I have heard everything he has done and haven’t heard anything crystalized as beautiful and pure. A lot of it rests in that hook.

I was reading youtube comments that referenced a name on the song I hadn’t heard of. Gabriel Garzon-Montano was credited with the hook and I thought to myself maybe this is some Fania records salsa guy from the 70’s……nope. Born in 1989 signed to Stones Throw Records.  I’ve seen him described as a multi-instrumentalist which is what they describe you as when the music falls in that weird ravine between soul and funk that confuses people. Not only is the hook COMPLETELY his but the chorus is sampled from his song 6 8 which is so much more sonically interesting.

Drake uses the sample as well as you could hope. His emphatic “are we still good, are we still gooood” and “This $h_T is everything” add a lot, he sways along with the song very mad that his love interest is on social media (this is a big theme of the album and latter Drake as he does not trust women he’s with to navigate social media). It is a song full of silly complaints like OH NO SHE SWITCHED MAJORS! The sampled hook and the pure slap that backs it up gives weight to them, keeps them from floating off into the manchild complaint zone a lot of Drake content lives.

Gabriel Garzon-Montano is the real deal. 6 8 starts with a stampede of drums and the lush lilt of his voice nailing the chorus followed by the piano which comes in as he coos. The hook from Jungle is repeated as it morphs and resituates in the foreground as the background evolves. The snippet 40 pulls for Drake is about three minutes and twenty seconds in. It turns out Jungle is 40’s greatest achievement; he found the perfect sample that includes the best sonic accompaniment for it. He just mirrored that and kicked in jungle sound effects at the right time while giving Drake the space to spice it up.  Shout out to Drake’s secret weapon Noah “40” Shebib for keeping his ears to the underground. Shout out to Gabriel-Garzon Montano who I have been listening to non-stop since I found 6 8 and the rest of his catalog.

When you talk about how dominant Drake is know that you are talking about 40 as well. The same way when you talk about Sade you’re not talking about a lady, it’s a band.

Check the Drake version

The Original