Drake is known for his prolific streaks. Since 2009, he hasn’t gone longer than two years between projects and his catalog is filled with a vault’s worth of thrown off songs and features. In the worst-case scenario, some of these songs are released unofficially. To combat this, Drake has decided to drop off a collection of the various leaks and one-off records that have floated around the internet for the first half of 2020.
Dark Lane Demo Tapes, is a 14-song compilation featuring SoundCloud one-offs (“Chicago Freestyle,” “When To Say When”), songs first seeded to TikTok (“Toosie Slide“), and the aforementioned leaks (“Pain 1993,” “Demons”). The project features frequent Drake collaborators like Future and Young Thug, alongside up-and-comers like Fivio Foreign and Giveon.
“My brothers @oliverelkhatib @ovonoel put together a lot of the songs people have been asking for (some leaks and some joints from SoundCloud and some new vibes) DARK LANE DEMO TAPES out everywhere at midnight,” Drake wrote on Instagram. “Also my 6th STUDIO ALBUM DROPPING SUMMER 2020!!! Lucky number 6 😈 soon fwd.”
In mid-April, Drake appeared on Diddy’s Instagram Live to discuss his latest project. “I’m working on the album. I’ve been working on it for a while now,” he said. “I remember the last time I had to sit down was when I tore my ACL. And I made a great album out of that. Obviously, God has us all inside the house right now sitting down, so the amount of focus I’m able to put into this album is probably way different than it would’ve been.”
“Saying all that to say that, definitely, this is the most excited I’ve been about an album in a long time,” Drake continued. “A lot of little stuff has been trickling out but all the stuff on the album is fresh. It’s brand new. I’m excited. This is probably the most music I’ve ever been sitting on.”