| "Best I Ever Had" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byDrake | ||||
| from the albumSo Far Gone andThank Me Later | ||||
| A-side | "Fancy (double A-Side)" | |||
| Released |
| |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Genre | Hip-hop | |||
| Length | 4:19 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Boi-1da | |||
| Drake singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Best I Ever Had" is a song by the Canadian rapperDrake from his third mixtapeSo Far Gone. The song was later re-released on hisdebut EP of the same name. The song's popularity helped Drake decide to releaseSo Far Gone as an EP, available for purchase. "Best I Ever Had" is also included as a bonus track on Drake's debut studio albumThank Me Later in certain countries. The song samples "Fallin' in Love" byHamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds and "Do It for the Boy" byLil Wayne, and was produced byBoi-1da.
It was released as the first single from the tape as a digital download on February 11, 2009, and later as the third single from the EP in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2010, as a double-A-side single with "Fancy", which would later appear inThank Me Later. The single peaked at number two on theUSBillboard Hot 100, becoming Drake's first top-ten single. It remained his highest-charting single as a lead artist (as bothRihanna collaborations "What's My Name?" and "Work" reached number one) in the United States until "One Dance" (2016) peaked at number one.
The song was nominated twice at the52nd Annual Grammy Awards:Best Rap Solo Performance andBest Rap Song, although it lost both awards. In early 2010, the song was nominated for Single of the Year at the2010 Juno Awards, but it lost toMichael Bublé's "Haven't Met You Yet".
The artwork originally showed the single as a file on a computer with a plain white background,[1] designed by artwork designer Darkie; this was deemed as too generic by iTunes; a new cover was created by Darkie.[2]
Kia Shine credited himself with the production of the hit single, claiming he co-wrote the song for Drake, entitling him with part ownership of the song. Shine had produced a mixtape track for Lil Wayne titled "Do It for the Boy" which "Best I Ever Had" interpolates. By this point, Shine had already received awards fromBroadcast Music Incorporated for "Best I Ever Had".[3] Drake maintained that he had never met Shine and admitted that he sampled the Lil Wayne song, but called the claim to the credit "distasteful".[4]
In a lawsuit filed on June 24, 2010, Drake was sued for copyright infringement by Playboy Enterprises over allegations that "Best I Ever Had" samples American rock groupHamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' 1975 hit "Fallin' in Love", a song to which Playboy owns the copyright. The suit named Drake, as well asCash Money Records andUniversal Music Group, and asserted that Playboy "has suffered, and will continue to suffer irreparable injury" from the alleged infringement. The lawsuit demanded that "all infringing works be recalled and destroyed". As part of its claim, Playboy also alleged that "each defendant either knew, or should have reasonably known, that the sound recording was protected by copyright".[5]
Drake toldMTV News before his show atManhattan'sSOB's that he was in the process of putting together a music video for the song. He explained: "I been working with people on some ideas," he explained. "I don't wanna say who yet, because everything isn't confirmed yet. It should be pretty solid in the next few days. The biggest thing about that song is that a lot of women come up to me and say, 'That's my song, because it really makes me feel special.' So I told the directors that were interested that I just want the visuals to coincide with that feeling. I want women to feel special when they watch the visual and say, 'I wish that was me,' or 'I know that feeling.' That's the goal with the video — to be genuine and not sappy. Be sexy and keep it together, but still make women smile."[6]
The video, directed byKanye West, was shot inBrooklyn,New York atBishop Ford Central Catholic High School.[7]Trey Songz,Fabolous,Consequence, and the song's producerBoi-1da made cameos in the video, as well as artists signed to Young Money Entertainment, such as Lil Twist, Shanell, and Lil Chuckee.[8]
A clip of the video was shown June 30, 2009, onIt's On with Alexa Chung, and the full version of the video premiered on the internet on July 1, 2009.[9] The full version of the video made its television debut onAMTV on July 2, 2009. There was criticism of the video in the media, including an article in the British newspaperThe Guardian,[10] highlighting the gratuitous focus on the unsupported implanted breasts and prominent posteriors of the female basketball players that Drake coaches in the video.
A women's basketball team prepares for a game, primarily by stretching. Their coach, Drake, references a clipboard of basketball diagrams in the stairwell. Coach Drake hands out jerseys in his office. In a locker room, he gives an encouraging speech to the team before a championship game. He assures the members of the team that they are all the best. Their opponents, in green jerseys, come out onto the court and are revealed to be much taller and fitter than Drake's team. They are much more successful at scoring points than Drake's team. Drake complains to the referee, who rolls his eyes. Drake calls a timeout and delivers a rousing pep talk, replete with sexual innuendo, to his team. They protest that all he taught them how to do was stretch.
The game resumes and the opposing team continues to prevail, winning with a score of 91 to 14. Drake's team is increasingly distraught. In the closing shots, Drake sits in his office alone, dejected.
| "Best I Ever Had Remix" | |
|---|---|
| Song byNicki Minaj featuringDrake | |
| from the albumBeam Me Up Scotty | |
| Released |
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| Genre | Hip-hop |
| Length | 5:26 |
| Label |
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| Songwriters | |
| Producers |
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The official remix of the song features American rapper and singerNicki Minaj, who was labelmates withDrake onLil Wayne'sYoung Money Entertainment at the time, appearing on two of the label's compilation albums together (We Are Young Money in 2009 andYoung Money: Rise of an Empire in 2014), although their contracts for the label would be fully expired by 2018.
The remix is included on Minaj's third mixtape,Beam Me Up Scotty, which was released on 18 April 2009.[11] The song appears as the 11th track on the album, and, when the mixtape was reissued on 14 May 2021, the song appeared as the fifteenth track, called "Best I Ever Had Remix". The remix is credited as featuring Drake, as it retains some of his vocals from the original version.
Other artists to add an additional verse after Drake's first hook on the track include fellow singers and rappersTank,Mase,Busta Rhymes,Swizz Beatz,R. Kelly andWiz Khalifa,Rick Ross,Ace Hood, andTrey Songz[citation needed], the latter of whom appeared in the official music video for the track and officially collaborated on a composition with Drake, specifically on the second and final single forSo Far Gone, "Successful", which also appears on Trey's third studio album,Ready and features Lil Wayne.
The song debuted at number 92 on theBillboard Hot 100 in the US and went on to peak at number two for four weeks behindThe Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" before falling to number three, making Drake the third Canadian rapper to have a song chart on the Hot 100 (the first beingKardinal Offishall with "Dangerous" at number five, followed byK'naan with "Wavin' Flag" at number 99). The single rose to number one on theHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs due to high airplay and downloads.[12] It debuted onHot Rap Tracks on May 9 at number 24 and peaked at number one. Drake became the first Canadian rapper to achieve a number-one song on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Tracks charts, simultaneously. He is the second Canadian artist to reach the summit of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs afterDeborah Cox's "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here". Within the first two weeks of its availability for sale on iTunes, "Best I Ever Had" garnered over 300,000 units sold. According to the June 29 edition ofThe New York Times, these sales earned Drake the number four best selling single, behind only songs fromThe Black Eyed Peas andSean Kingston.[13] The single peaked at number 49 on thePop 100 chart before the chart was discontinued. By December 2010, "Best I Ever Had" had been downloaded over 2,000,000 times since its release.[14]
On May 28, 2009, an unauthorized albumThe Girls Love Drake, released by a label named Canadian Money Entertainment was released toiTunes, which featured the song as well as theYoung Money Entertainment song "Every Girl". Both songs jumped on theBillboard Hot 100 due to heavy downloads of the album, at the positions of number 18 and number 35 respectively. After a couple of days it was removed at the request of Drake's management, with Drake filing a lawsuit against the label.[15]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[32] | 2× Platinum | 140,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[33] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[34] | Diamond | 10,000,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[34] Mastertone | Platinum | 1,000,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
