Maybe it was just a bad joke?
Drake really made fans question what was up on June 3. The rapper, still reeling from the Kendrick Lamar beef, decided to post a Toronto-slanged version of “Hey There Delilah.” The title? “Wah Gwan Delilah,” of course. We already covered how bizarre Drake’s decision was, and how social media reacted (not well at all), but the rapper’s social media has us questioning whether it was all a troll. Drizzy knows how to utilize narratives to his advantage, and the way he promoted the song on Instagram made it seem like he knew how bad it was
Drake posted a screenshot of the song on his Instagram Story with the caption: “Wake up the city.” The city being Toronto, of course, which is where the other artist on the song, Snowd4y, also hails from. The rapper then added a laughing emoji and the emoji blowing smoke. The first a seeming acknowledgment of how bad “Wah Gwan Delilah” is, and the second a troll of how little heat it’s going to generate among fans. The song wasn’t added to streaming platforms, and is only available on YouTube or Soundcloud. It could very well be a troll on the rapper’s part, like his last Soundcloud release, “Taylor Made Freestyle.” The latter, however, had clear intentions.
Drake Acknowledges The Cover’s Poor Quality
By using AI to recreate the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg, Drake was using Kendrick Lamar’s heroes to tear him down (or at least, that was the idea). “Wah Gwan Delilah” has actually sparked a similar level of confusion among fans, with some initially thinking it was AI-generated. Drake could very well be on a next level troll here, but the intention of this cover is extremely unclear. It’s hard to envision how a truly, truly bad cover would bolster the rapper’s reputation at this particular moment in time.
Drake has been in troll mode since the atom bomb that was “Not Like Us” dropped. He hopped on the Sexyy Red single “U My Everything” and even rapped over the “BBL Drizzy” beat as a means of taking the sting out of the Metro Boomin challenge. It didn’t really go over, though. Fans pointed out that Drake was falling into the same pattern that Lamar predicted on his disses. The rapper has a few features lined up for the upcoming Camila Cabello album. Regardless of how they fare, though, Drake needs a hit. The trolling (if it is trolling) is cool, but fans desperately want to see him return to form. “Wah Gwan Delilah” will hopefully represent a speed bump for the 6 God, and not the beginning of the end.