Drake, Drizzy, Champaign Papi, October’s Very Own, OVO, The Chris Paul of the Fall, or however else you want to call him, is the most successful Canadian music artist of all time. Over the past decade, Drake has been blessing our ears with banger after banger. As a shamelessly massive drake fan, I decided it would be fun to create the ultimate Drake album using only his songs from his solo albums/mixtapes. I’ve decided to go with a 15 track project that best displays Drake’s ability to wear many hats as an artist for the ultimate Drake album.

Whereas most artists have one lane that they tend to stick to, Drake has never been scared to switch his music from a fast rap about gang activities to sad, slow songs about his mother. For this ultimate Drake album, I’ve tried to capture the best of both worlds in 15 of my favorite tracks that not only sound good by themselves but also flow well with each other. This tracklist is very subjective and just my humble opinion. Without further ado, Drake’s Greatest Hits.

There were a few songs that I knew I wanted in this project before I even began to think about it. Those songs were Headlines, Pound Cake, Marvin’s Room, Look What You’ve Done, Summer Games, and Over.  For this project, I wanted a darker, slower, and more sentimental them to the album as those are the type of Drake tracks that make him stand out from the rest and are also my favorite type of Drake songs. With that being said, Drake is nothing if not diverse. I also needed a number of his hype songs that you would hear at parties and events throughout the past decade, and this was how I wanted to kick start the album; I needed a bar fest on track one. In my opinion, there was only one way to start the project, and that was with the opening track off ‘Nothing Was the Same,’ Tuscan Leather. Many see Tuscan Leather as one of the best intro tracks of all time and Drake’s best intro track of his entire discography, and I would have to agree with those people.

To stay on the theme of the more upbeat music to start the project off, for tracks two and three, I decided to go with a couple of classic Drake songs, “Over” and “Miss Me,” respectively, both off Drake’s first studio album, ‘Thank Me Later.’ “Over” is a bar fest throughout and features one of Drake’s most incredible hooks that has become even more known now than it was 11 years ago when it first came out. “Miss Me” is less known now than “Over” and has almost turned into one of Drake’s long-lost gems from years past. More importantly (for this project), “Miss Me” bridges the gap from the more bar-heavy and fast intro songs to the next part of the album; sentimental Drake. “Miss Me” is an upbeat track featuring Drake’s mentor and rap legend, Lil Wayne. Despite the track being very bar-heavy and aggressive, Its hook and ending are melodic and almost sad, a perfect bridge to track four. For the following few tracks, I’ve gone with slower songs with more sentimental messages behind them. I went with “Crew Love” for track number four off of Drake’s most well-known project, ‘Take Care.’ “Crew Love” features another Toronto artist, The Weeknd. I’ve gone with another song from ‘Take Care”, “Marvin’s Room” for track five. Marvin’s Room is often referred to as Drake’s ultimate sad song and has become the most popular song off of Drake’s most popular album.

Continuing with the sentimental music, for track number six, I’ve gone with another ultra-famous classic Drake song and quite possibly Drake’s most well-known work of art, “Best I Ever Had.” “Best I Ever Had” was Drake’s first real introduction into the mainstream music scene and was Drake’s career was never the same after it came out. I thought it only fitting to put the song that “put Drake on,” if you will, on this project. Moving on to track number seven, I decided that I had to have either “Look What You’ve Done” or “You & The 6” in this album. Both tracks are heavily geared to Drake’s relationship with his mother. In the end, I leaned towards “Look What You’ve Done” because not only do I simply just like it more, but it also has a verse directed at both Drake’s mother and his uncle, his two of his biggest influences growing up. One of the things that have made Drake so popular over the years is his ability to be relatable to young people regarding heartbreak, relationships with loved ones, and sadness in general. The song “Look What You’ve Done” captures all of those emotions into one track. For track number eight, I thought it was time to look into Drake’s more recent work, specifically his 2016 album, ‘Views.’ Views has been Drake’s most successful album to this date and has aged like fine wine. From ‘Views,’ I only picked one song to go on this project, “Feel No Ways.” “Feel No Ways” is the song that has aged to best out of and song on the album since its release. Whereas songs such as “Hotline Bling” and “One Dance” were mega hits on the billboard charts when first released, I don’t think their longevity and replay value has been as good as a lot of other songs off the album, including “Feel No Ways.”

My next goal with the project was to shift it back into Drake’s “hype” music, and there was no better track to do that with than “Furthest Thing” from ‘Nothing Was the Same’ This song starts slow and sentimental, but it’s second half if upbeat and bar-heavy. With nine tracks down, I had six spots to fill with my favorite Drake songs that I loved, fit well with each other, and told a story. For track 10, I went with quite possibly the best song Drake has ever made; “Pound Cake,” featuring legend Jay-Z. Arguably the two greatest rappers of the 21st century outdid themselves on “Pound Cake,” making for what I think is Drake’s most slept on song in his entire discography. For track 11, I went way back in the Drake discography, to Drake’s 2009 mixtape, ‘So Far Gone’ with “Say What’s Real.” This track is in this project simply because I love it. Most people wouldn’t even think about adding it to their ultimate Drake album, and I completely understand why, but for me, It will always have a special place in my heart. The 2009 song is filled with bar after bar of Drake’s success he was feeling at the time and the success he predicted he would one day obtain (of course, he got every inch of success he dreamt of.)

For tracks 12 and 13, I switched back to focussing on Drake’s more sentimental side of things. For track 12 I went with what is, in my opinion, Drake’s most therapeutic song: “The Resistance.” I’ve always said that as long as “The Resistance” is free to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, or SoundCloud, I will never need to pay for therapy in my life. Now, I know most people would roll their eyes at that statement, but I don’t care; I love that song. Track 13 is, once again, a sad, slow Drake song. For this song, I went with the only track I’ve selected from Drake’s post-2016 work; “Summer Games” from ‘Scorpion.’ “Summer Games” isn’t most people’s go-to from ‘Scorpion’ but it gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. I have to put it in this project despite not having the critical praise that other songs would have. For track 14, I shifted back to Drake’s ‘Take Care’ once again. This time I went with an absolute banger; “Underground Kings.” “Underground Kings” is a classic Drake song; it’s got a couple of iconic verses and, of course, a classic Drake hook to tie it all together.

Finally, track 15. I am as big a Drake fan as it gets. I have no shame in admitting that I listen to probably too much Drake. I’ve been listening to Drake since 2011, my grade 5 years of elementary school, and I remember exactly where I was when I heard the sweet nectar of Drake’s voice for the first time. I was sitting at the back table in Mrs. Johnson’s class with my two best friends who had older brothers and cousins who were into Drake’s music. It was there that they told me to listen to “Headlines,” and from that moment on, “Headlines” by Drake has ruled my earbuds and speakers. For track 15, I’m going with what I genuinely believe to be the single greatest piece of art ever created and the single greatest piece of art that ever will be created: “Headlines.”

That’s it, that’s my “Drake’s Greatest Hits” album. I know there is a lot of debate to be had, and that’s was I love so much about Drake. If a hundred other Drake fans had to make their own “Drake’s Greatest Hits” album, they would all have very different albums, with no two albums being remotely close to each other. And that’s the genius of Drake.