Know Yourself

'Know Yourself' did more than any other song on If You're Reading This It's Too Late to convert Toronto's nickname 'the 6' from local slang into a globally recognized brand. Production is credited to Boi-1da, Vinylz and Syk Sense, and the song moves in two halves: a slow, almost meditative first section over a brittle looped vocal, then a sudden trap-drum drop that detonates into one of the most-recognized chants of the 2010s. Drake is widely read as narrating his return to Toronto after early-career years on the road, naming neighborhoods, friends and old loyalties, while the call-and-response hook built around 'running through the 6 with my woes' became an instant inside-joke-as-anthem, with 'woes' entering the slang lexicon. The song never got a traditional single push yet was certified multi-platinum and became one of the most explosive live moments of the Jungle and Summer Sixteen tours, where the beat-drop is treated as a stadium event. It is one of the central proofs that the surprise February 2015 release was an album in everything but name.