Donkey_Kong_GameplayA drake is a male duck.

To me, Drake will always be the kid in the wheelchair from the new Degrassi series. To the rest of the world he’s probably in the Top 5 List of “Biggest Rappers in the World”. I don’t listen to a lot of mainstream rap, but the last few singles out of Drake are more than just song releases, they become instantly embedded into pop-culture. Endless quoted, meme’d and all over the place. Just off the top of my head I know the melodies and hooks for “Started From the Bottom” and “Hotline Bling”, I’ve never once actively made any effort to listen to these songs.

So imagine my surprise when the latest Drake mega-song came out and it appeared to be an ode to Mario in Donkey Kong, with Drake repeating “Jumpman, Jumpman, Jumpman” again and again. This isn’t just for comedic effect here, my geek brain literally went to “Mario” before it went to “Michael Jordan.” That’s pretty damned nerdy.

So yes, I was briefly under the impression that hip-hop superstars Drake and Future were rapping about an arcade game that came out in 1981 and not about a basketball star who retired in 2006. Much more current.

Then I looked up the lyrics and found out that they’re not even really about Michael Jordan either, let’s have a look. I’m not going to share all the lyrics here, because there are a lot. But first, let’s take a look at what lyrics might actually be about Michael Jordan or even basketball. I mean, other than repeatedly saying “Jumpman”, which, could just as easily be about Mario.

It takes an intro and a full verse to even be remotely about Jordan:

Jumpman, Jumpman, Jumpman, fuck was you expecting? Woo Chi-Town, Chi-Town, Michael Jordan just had text me, woo

Who was I expecting Drake? I was expecting Mario. I guess this to show how cool Drake is by referencing the fact that Michael Jordan texts him. Maybe Michael Jordin texts him to say “hey, don’t use my nickname in the same song where you say ‘Taliban, Taliban I’m gon’ shoot you'”. I’ve gotten ahead of myself, but also I’m not kidding. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…