Under Ground Kings
Drake · Take Care (Deluxe Version)
Hustler's ambition wrapped in bravado and murky values
What do these signals mean?
- Edifying: Points the heart toward God, truth, hope, or love.
- Worth Weighing: Real good and real concern together. Test it before you take it in.
- Take Caution: Leans toward what could dull or mislead. Approach carefully.
- Consider Avoiding: Celebrates what Scripture warns against. Little here builds up.
Weighed against Scripture
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
The song's repeated self-crowning ('I'm the greatest man, I said that before I knew I was') sits in direct tension with Scripture's warning that pride goes before a fall.
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Drake frames dropping out and chasing money as the obvious right call. Jesus's question about gaining the world at the cost of one's soul offers a different accounting of what a life is worth.
“And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
Qoheleth also chased everything his eyes desired and took pride in his labor. His conclusion that it was all vapor gives context to what Drake's hustle-and-crown narrative leaves unresolved.
This is Drake's origin-story track, tracing his path from scraping by in Toronto to crowning himself an underground king. The hustle narrative is honest and at times compelling, but the song's vision of the good life centers on wealth, status, female attention, and outlasting rivals. The one nod to heaven is wielded as ego rather than faith. There is real ambition here, but it points inward and downward more than upward.
Frequent profanity and racial slurs throughout, references to strippers and objectifying women, and casual boasting about wealth and status. No graphic violence, but the language is consistently coarse.
The song is largely self-focused, celebrating hustle, material success, and street credibility. There is a thread of genuine ambition and personal history, but the horizon stays fixed on earthly reward and reputation. One line ('you ain't gotta die to get to heaven') uses spiritual language as self-flattery rather than theological reflection.
Drake is telling an origin story, reflecting on early days and the choices that shaped him. The intent reads as personal testimony about grinding toward success, not a call to harm. Still, the values on display, chasing money, women, and clout, are presented without critique.
When you picture the crown Drake says he'll take to the grave, what do you imagine yours being made of, and who gave it to you?