Drake shares the eagerly awaited Certified Lover Boy

Drake released his highly anticipated 6th studio album, Certified Lover Boy today (September 3).

The sprawling 21 track album features a star-studded set of collaborators with Lil Baby, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Future, Young Thug and more making appearances.

Nicki Minaj makes a spoken word cameo on ‘Papi’s Home,’ and Drake samples The Beatles’ ‘Michelle’ in opener ‘Champagne Poetry’ – with Paul McCartney and John Lennon receiving co-writing credits.

A number of acclaimed producers helped put the album together, with contributions from Noah “40” Shebib, Oliver El-Khatib, Metro Boomin, PARTYNEXTDOOR, TM88, OG Ron C, Vinylz and Nineteen85.

Disgraced rapper and singer R. Kelly is credited as co-lyricist on ‘TSU,’ with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland also receiving credits on the track. Drake samples Right Said Fred’s ‘I’m Too Sexy’ on ‘Way 2 Sexy’ as well as Montell Jordan’s ‘Daddy’s Home’ on ‘Papi’s Home.’

Rumours that Drake might be dropping the highly-anticipated record surfaced after a cryptic message suggesting a release date appeared on ESPN’s Sports Centre. Drake confirmed the release date three days later.

Did Drake just announce Certified Lover Boy’s release date of next Friday on SportsCenter? 😳pic.twitter.com/nTq3s4OvpM

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) August 27, 2021

Billboards began appearing all over America on Wednesday (September 1) teasing guest artists in the artists' hometowns. Billboards in Toronto seemed to include lyrics from the album and they began to go viral as fans discovered and shared them online.

Drake confirming Certified Lover Boy features on billboards in different cities 👀 pic.twitter.com/UTPO91LkCc

— XXL Magazine (@XXL) September 2, 2021

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The rap superstar originally announced that the album would drop in January back in October 2020, but it was delayed as he took time to recover from a leg injury.

Drake recently reignited his 2018 beef with Kanye West, with a feature on Trippie Red’s new album Trip At Knight. The hit-maker took aim at Kanye on ‘Betrayal.’

“All these fools I’m beefin’ that I barely know/ 45, 44 (burned out), let it go/ Ye ain’t changin’ s--- for me, it’s set in stone,” he raps.

Drake also tried to set up a showdown between the pair with the release of their latest albums. After Kanye scheduled the release of Donda for this weekend, Drake did the same with CLB. Kanye subsequently brought his album forward to August 29th.

Certified Lover Boy is Drake’s first studio album since 2018’s Scorpion which spawned the hit ‘God’s Plan.’ The 34-year old also dropped the Care Package compilation album in 2019, the Dark Lane Demo Tapes mixtape in 2020.  The rapper tied fans over with the Scary Hours 2 EP in March this year.

Listen to Certified Lover Boy below.